Disc Golf: Do it All For The Money!

Disc golf does not cost a lot of money to play. Because of this, it can have a far reaching impact on your financial lives. It can even have implications on how long you have to work at your job! This post outlines how choosing disc golf can drastically alter your financial outlook in life. That’s a big ask, I know. Let’s see how close I get to convincing you…

Let me start you off with a little hypothetical. Let’s say you are a ball golfer (what the rest of the world just calls “golfer”). And to your credit, you are pretty good. Let’s say you are a 12 handicap.

Now, let’s say you want to have the ultimate golf experience. You want to go to Pebble Beach and you want to play well.

So, aside from all the extra practicing you do in hopes that someone famous will notice you and ask you to join the pro tour, you also get yourself a new driver so you can be at the peak of your powers.

So far, does any of this sound outlandish? It doesn’t to me…

And just to wrap up, you go and play and have a great experience (despite not getting that pro tour offer) that you’ll remember forever.

Within a month, the credit card bill comes and you are on the hook for $1,150 for the round of golf and the club. But, you tell yourself, it was a life-long memory and so it was all worth it…

Now, let’s pretend you did the same thing for disc golf.

How much does that end up costing you when that credit card bill comes? $50? $60?

Whatever the price is, it’s not even close to the ball-golf experience. In fact, for the money spent on that one day and one club for the ball-golfer, you could equip yourself with a great set of discs and happily play disc golf for 10 years.

So, today we explore the massive money-saving implications of choosing disc golf as your go-to sport for the foreseeable future.

Disc Golf Versus Ball-Golf

I want to compare disc golf to ball-golf for a few reasons. First, I think that both games are very highly feasible to play long into retirement.

In fact, I make an argument for disc golf being the best retirement sport you can choose in my post 9 Reasons why Disc Golf and Retirement are a Perfect Match. Give it a look. I think it bolsters this argument considerably.

Another reason I want to compare the two sports is because they have a lot in common. From the rules, to the lingo, and everything in between, they are naturally comparable.

So, fairly or otherwise, they are getting compared. Let’s begin.

The Math of the Two Golfs

Google tells me that the average ball-golfer (incidentally, disc golf will finally know it’s made it to the big time when google starts using “ball-golfer” in its terminology) spends about $2,750 per year.

That is about what I would have guessed as well. Between new clubs, greens fees, cart rentals and all the rest, that number works out for me.

Google then tells me that the average disc golfer spends between $400 and $500 per year. That seems high to me, but what do I know? I’ve probably spent that this year to get my basket (which I highly recommend. To explore basket options, click here), my discs and my bag. But I plan to keep my baskets, discs and bags for a long time, so I don’t see that price sustaining over time…

Nevertheless, Google knows all, so I will capitulate. But I’m using the $400 figure!

So, $2,750 – $400 = $2,350 more dollars per year spent on ball-golf.

You “save” $2,350 per year by choosing disc golf over ball-golf.

And I think it’s really important to look at the implications of this over time.

After 5 years, that total difference is $11,750. Nothing to sneeze at. At 10 years, it’s a difference of $23,500 dollars. 20 years =$47,000. 40 years (ages 30 -70) = $94,000.

Long term, those are huge savings!

But that doesn’t have to be the whole story either… Let me explain!

Investing your “Savings”! – Planning Retirement

If you are wondering why I keep putting “savings” in quotation marks it’s because of my brother. He loves to tell me how much he “won” on his scratch tickets.

My brother: “I made $20 today on scratch tickets.”

Me: “How much did you spend on scratch tickets?”

My brother: “$20”

Me: “So you made nothing?”

My brother: “Shut up.”

I guess the point of it is that we’re still spending money on disc golf. According to google we’re spending $400 per year to play. But we have to live our lives don’t we?

Nevertheless, it’s an important distinction… And some day I’ll do a post on investing and disc golf. But reach out to me if you are interested (contact or comments) and I’ll do it sooner (that goes for almost anything disc golf related btw).

I’ve always had an interest in investing that was cultivated by my parents. Recently, their lessons finally sunk in and I’m starting to see the sheer power of investing over time. As I write this, I just wish I had acted sooner.

But like me with disc golf, it’s better late than never…

So, with that in mind, I want to briefly share what could (there are no guarantees in this world) happen to your “savings” if you chose to invest it.

But, to do so we have to make a few assumptions. 1. We have to assume that the market will continue its 8% upward trend since its inception. (the market goes up and down but over time it has averaged about 8% improvement per year over time) 2. We have to assume that you will invest in low-cost investments (some are laden with fees.)

To do the calculations I just use the compounding interest calculator found on nerdwallet.

With that in mind, here is what could happen to your money invested over time that you saved by playing disc golf over ball-golf…

Years	Money Saved	Money after investing
5	$11,750	$15,037
10	$23,500	$36,983
20	$47,000	$116,610
30	$70,500	$288,520
40	$94,000	$659,658

So, if you look at the column on the right, the numbers speak for themselves. If you choose to invest your “savings” it could add up to life-changing amounts over time.

One other important note is the power of time on investments. So, if you happen to be younger and reading this, then you can put time on your side and reap the benefits of compounding interest for longer…

And now that you see the numbers, let me know if a post on this intrigues you slightly more…It’s something I enjoy but you have to know your audience as well…

So, let’s look at how this can play into your retirement.

Money, Disc Golf and Retirement

Essentially, there is an equation you need for planning out your money for retirement.

At the very basic level, you can see how much money you need per year and subtract that from how much money you make per year (side gigs, social security benefits, etc.). Then, with that information you can see how long your savings (typically called your “nest egg”) will last you.

So, if I spend about $30,000 per year and make about $5,000 in side hustles then I need to take $25,000 per year from my savings (nest egg). That means $500,000 lasts me 20 years.

If I spend $80,000 per year and make $20,000 per year then I need $1.2 million to get me to that 20 year mark.

As you can see, how much you spend, has a huge impact on how much you need to save.

My thinking: If I spend less then I need less. If I need less, than I don’t need to save up as much money to retire. Also when I spend less, I can accumulate money (work) for less time (because I need less). If I can work for less time then I have more time to be disc golf’n around (reference to the name of this site that I try and crowbar in as much as possible).

Then, when you factor in the mind-numbing power of investing, you can see how those times and numbers can work more and more in your favor…

Essentially, my general plan right now is to work 5 – 9 more years (depending on market/savings) and retire into a life of even more disc golf. I plan to do all this by harnessing the power of investing. As you see, from the numbers above, it can come true far more quickly than the traditional retirement age of 65…

Final side note: I wish all these ideas were my own, but they are not. If you are interested in this way of thinking than google FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) and go down the rabbit hole like I did. If you want me to guide you down said rabbit hole then simply say the word…

For now, let’s just look at a few more of the many potentially money-saving factors you can get by embracing disc golf.

Kids/Family

If you have kids or you plan to have kids, disc golf is a great activity to do in terms of bang for your buck.

I’ve dedicated an entire post to how great disc golf is for kids and parents, but for now let’s stick to the money aspect.

In the book Atomic Habits (reviewed with a disc golf slant here), there was a section in which the author, James Clear, discusses the famous chess family from Hungary, the Polgar family. You can read a nice write-up about them here. Basically, the father of 3 daughters was a researcher and fascinated with genius. He studied the common elements found in the lives of many geniuses including Einstein and others.

Then, he set out to create these conditions using his 3 daughters and the game of chess. Essentially, his family was giant social experiment. The result? Mind boggling. With each successive daughter, the results became more and more productive. To this day, his 3rd daughter, Judit, is widely considered to be the best female chess player of all time…

If you are interested, I outline how the book, Atomic Habits, can improve your game (and life) in this post Atomic Habits in Disc Golf. Check it out and see if you think it’s worth your time to read…

So, Mr. Disc, are you telling me my future kid is going to be Gannon Buhr and I don’t have to worry about money?

Sadly, no, I am not. But, one of the conditions that Polgar created was total immersion. His daughters’ worlds became chess. To them, chess was the most important thing on Earth.

Scale that way, way down and look at my 3 year-old. If you asked him which is a bigger sport, ball-golf or disc golf he’d answer disc golf unequivocally. Why? Because his father is clinking chains (and swearing under his breath) every day. In his little world, disc golf has import.

And I’m assuming that, if you are reading this, it also has import in your life. So, if you can manage to cultivate this interest in your kids/future kids (much more likely than with a non-disc golfer) then you could reap the financial rewards later down the line.

Consider this. The average trip to Disney World vacation costs about $5,500. What if, instead, you could get your family to do a disc golf vacation? I don’t think it will shock you to hear that it will cost far, far less.

This is just one example, albeit slightly exaggerated, of how disc golf can be extremely friendly to your budget. Over the long term these things add up! And as we saw before, these amounts can accumulate over time (especially if invested) and add up to life-changing amounts…

But will this financial favorability with disc golf last forever? Let’s look!

What’s The Sustainability of Disc Golf’s Affordability?

It would be natural to assume that with the rising contracts and purses for pro disc golfers that disc golf prices will rise accordingly.

And I’m sure they will. I just don’t think it will rise at nearly the same rate.

Why, you ask? Because disc golf is still a relatively low maintenance sport. In ball-golf you have to have lawn mowers and greenskeepers and all these jobs designed to maintain a larger, more delicate course.

The fact that discs are thrown and baskets are elevated saves so much money right off the bat. Playing disc golf down narrow corridors with bushes and shrubs is completely normalized. This makes for a far easier job of upkeep and far less salaries to pay to do so.

Then, throw in the fact that disc golf and ball-golf have vastly different audiences that they market to, and you can see how disc golf will never go the way of ball-golf.

I could be wrong. I’ve been plenty wrong in the past. But from where I sit now, I think that disc golf will remain a highly entertaining and affordable sport to play for a long time to come…

In Summary

Disc golf is a very affordable sport. At its surface this is just one more benefit in a sea of many, as it pertains to disc golf…

Dig a little deeper, and project it over time, and you can really start to appreciate the true value of such an affordable sport.

Compared with other sports, like ball-golf, a life of disc golf can have major implications on how many years you have to work on your job.

Should you choose to invest those differences, the effects can be even more staggering.

So, whether it’s with family, friends, or on your own, if you are playing disc golf, you are looking at an affordable game that will pay dividends (perhaps literally) many times over in your life.

As a result, money is just another reason I’m happily disc golf’n around with my life.

Thank you for reading. As always, if you have questions/comments about what I’ve written please feel free to put it below. I also welcome you to contact me any time and/or subscribe so you can get my posts directly in your inbox free of charge (obviously). I look forward to seeing you again soon.