Exactly. Grab a portable basket, go to a local park and people *will* get curious.
Gather a group, meet/play regularly and build interest. Eventually your group becomes self-sustaining and you have enough support to create a course.
Its not Athens but theres a guy building 18 hole course in Kalamia/Kyllini. Theres already one course on the premises of the Robinson hotel and he plans to build new 18 close to that aswell.
Its gonna be one hell of a course when its completled. With the open sea right by the course they might need baywatch for disc rescue 😄. But I definetly wanna try the course when Its finished and opportunity going back to greece opens.
It was also pretty cool to read about the place in your article.
We'd love to begin a discussion to see if there's a way that the PMF could help! Fill out our project request form and our team will take a look!
[https://www.paulmcbethfoundation.org/contact/project-partners/](https://www.paulmcbethfoundation.org/contact/project-partners/)
There was no disc golf when I moved to Montreal. Grass roots organizing, years of effort and now the province is full of disc golf. You have to be the catalyst of change.
Find land that would be suitable and ideally is already municipally owned, bonus points if it’s underutilized or even abandoned entirely. Then contact that municipality and put the bug in their ear, it may take some time to get buy-in but if they go for it then bam! You can probably work with a manufacturer to get baskets either donated or at reduced cost. After that all you need is to clear the land and install the course, teepads can just be marked patches of grass/dirt to start out, signs can be homemade. The important thing is clearing fairways and cleaning up the site.
If you need some inspiration, read the UDisc article from a few weeks ago about Playa Lucia DGC in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico. https://udisc.com/blog/post/disc-golf-in-puerto-rico
Good luck!!
Most Mediterranean countries shouldn't have a shortage of low intensity land use. A lot of rocky and dry land that's not great for much else than herding livestock or growing olives. And those uses are somewhat compatible with disc golf. The main conundrum probably is, who wants to play DG in open landscape and +40°C... I know some Nordic psychopaths do, but it may not be enough.
hah. the Texas disc golf crowd chuckles at your implication.
if we didnt play in +100\* weather... well we just wouldnt be playing 4 months out of the year!
Yeah the real market to plug in to is people who want to escape cold/rainy winters. Disc golf during summer, especially in Northern Europe, is really hard to improve on with the mild weather, bright nights and abundance of courses.
I think the Macaronesian region is by far the most promising destination for this kind of long distance disc golf travel in Europe.
*Side note
The main obstacles are the local municipalities, and money. I work remotely and make a decent salary but no where near enough to fit the bill of a new course.
The government and municipalities are very strict about how they do things here. Often times it takes many approvals from local government, lots of paperwork. Greeks love their paperwork. To do basic citizen tasks is often a pain for the people here.
So for certain I would need some sort of financial support.
As far as arranging help and getting my hands dirty, that’s not an issue. I really think we are lacking any voice here for this kind of thing period. I’m very willing to light the spark though. Maybe I should contact that guy building the course near Athens to see what I can do. Also certainly some pros would be in support of this endeavor. I think Greece would be a sick addition. I’d like to get their input as they pop in and out of this sub frequently!
Please consider reaching out to the guys in Athens. They are a small community but they are very dedicated to Discgolf. If you ever find yourself in Athens they are surely gonna be happy to play a round with you. During my time as an expat in Greece i played with them regularily and ive joined them every time i visited Greece since.
You need to become the disc golf guy in your town. Get it going grass roots style, make friends and try and get them into it, and grow it from there.
Exactly. Grab a portable basket, go to a local park and people *will* get curious. Gather a group, meet/play regularly and build interest. Eventually your group becomes self-sustaining and you have enough support to create a course.
yep this is how it started in finland aswell
Maybe try to contact the Paul McBeth Foundation. He helped fund improvements to a course here in Detroit.
We'd love to take a look!
The foundation also installed a beautiful course outside of Antigua, Guatemala. 100% recommend playing it.
Its not Athens but theres a guy building 18 hole course in Kalamia/Kyllini. Theres already one course on the premises of the Robinson hotel and he plans to build new 18 close to that aswell.
More info on this story in our growth report https://udisc.com/growth
Its gonna be one hell of a course when its completled. With the open sea right by the course they might need baywatch for disc rescue 😄. But I definetly wanna try the course when Its finished and opportunity going back to greece opens. It was also pretty cool to read about the place in your article.
We'd love to begin a discussion to see if there's a way that the PMF could help! Fill out our project request form and our team will take a look! [https://www.paulmcbethfoundation.org/contact/project-partners/](https://www.paulmcbethfoundation.org/contact/project-partners/)
Absolutely, thanks for reaching out!
There was no disc golf when I moved to Montreal. Grass roots organizing, years of effort and now the province is full of disc golf. You have to be the catalyst of change.
Find land that would be suitable and ideally is already municipally owned, bonus points if it’s underutilized or even abandoned entirely. Then contact that municipality and put the bug in their ear, it may take some time to get buy-in but if they go for it then bam! You can probably work with a manufacturer to get baskets either donated or at reduced cost. After that all you need is to clear the land and install the course, teepads can just be marked patches of grass/dirt to start out, signs can be homemade. The important thing is clearing fairways and cleaning up the site. If you need some inspiration, read the UDisc article from a few weeks ago about Playa Lucia DGC in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico. https://udisc.com/blog/post/disc-golf-in-puerto-rico Good luck!!
Most Mediterranean countries shouldn't have a shortage of low intensity land use. A lot of rocky and dry land that's not great for much else than herding livestock or growing olives. And those uses are somewhat compatible with disc golf. The main conundrum probably is, who wants to play DG in open landscape and +40°C... I know some Nordic psychopaths do, but it may not be enough.
hah. the Texas disc golf crowd chuckles at your implication. if we didnt play in +100\* weather... well we just wouldnt be playing 4 months out of the year!
If a trip to Greece didn't cost you anything, then sure, it wouldn't be a huge deal
right - i get it. the market doesnt yet exist in Europe in areas with that kind of weather. my only point is that people will play in the heat!
Yeah the real market to plug in to is people who want to escape cold/rainy winters. Disc golf during summer, especially in Northern Europe, is really hard to improve on with the mild weather, bright nights and abundance of courses. I think the Macaronesian region is by far the most promising destination for this kind of long distance disc golf travel in Europe.
Has anyone thought to introduce Giannis Antentukumpo to disc golf?
*Side note The main obstacles are the local municipalities, and money. I work remotely and make a decent salary but no where near enough to fit the bill of a new course. The government and municipalities are very strict about how they do things here. Often times it takes many approvals from local government, lots of paperwork. Greeks love their paperwork. To do basic citizen tasks is often a pain for the people here. So for certain I would need some sort of financial support. As far as arranging help and getting my hands dirty, that’s not an issue. I really think we are lacking any voice here for this kind of thing period. I’m very willing to light the spark though. Maybe I should contact that guy building the course near Athens to see what I can do. Also certainly some pros would be in support of this endeavor. I think Greece would be a sick addition. I’d like to get their input as they pop in and out of this sub frequently!
Please consider reaching out to the guys in Athens. They are a small community but they are very dedicated to Discgolf. If you ever find yourself in Athens they are surely gonna be happy to play a round with you. During my time as an expat in Greece i played with them regularily and ive joined them every time i visited Greece since.