Every Disc Golf Town Has A Story: Tell Yours

One of the things that made the Game of Throws League so successful in Baton Rouge was that we self-produced and distributed video coverage of the event every single week.  Whether it was just a handful of slow-motion shots taken with an iPhone over some music, to fully edited 60-minute multi-camera productions with graphics and commentary, we made sure to post something week in and week out to keep players engaged and to make everyone feel like they were part of the action.

So for today’s blog, I’d like to discuss the Top 5 Reasons to Self-Produce Video Coverage of your Discmania Game of Throws League:

1.  Get to know the players: 

I have been lucky to get involved with a number of disc golf clubs over the years, in New England, Colorado and Louisiana, and I have become convinced that every disc golf town has in it some truly fascinating characters.  Some of these will be incredible athletes, others will be incredible personalities, and most of the time there’ll be a quiet kid hanging around, watching, observing, absorbing, and biding their time ready to storm the ranks. 

But more often than not these stories go untold – clubs partition themselves into divisions, age groups, and other cliques, and although we may know everyone from the parking lot or the player’s meetings, we may not get to see them compete and get to know them as a player.

Through weekly self-produced video coverage, your community will get a chance to know the personalities, the playing styles, the rivalries, and all of the other color and detail that disc golfers enjoy when they are out doing their thing, but often miss out on from players who they don’t get to play with very often.

2.  Create shared-stories:

We’ve all heard fantastic tales circulating around our local disc golf scenes: amazing aces, unbelievable birdies, course records broken and the like.  These things spread like lore around the water cooler, but are hardly-ever witnessed first-hand. 

Just imagine the scene around the water cooler when your club members can dial up last week’s round on Youtube and see the shot that it took to birdie the hole that you swore could absolutely never ever – not in a hundred years – be two’d.  It will give a whole new meaning to the term ‘local legend’.

3.  You’ll get help:

Filming, editing, and posting video coverage week after week may sound like a daunting task, and, frankly, it is a lot of work.  But the good news is that you are likely to get help.  Start simple with a single cell phone camera and ask the cameraman to whisper commentary like they were live on the tee at The Masters.  Now upload this video – no editing, no graphics, no studio commentary – to your club’s Facebook page, and voilà! you’re in business.

If my experience is any guide, just by posting these raw unedited videos you’ll draw the attention of the local disc golf community and before you know it there will be volunteers looking, not just to get on camera, but also to get behind the camera.  Which brings us to our next item…

4. Discovering Hidden Talent:

It may even turn out that some of these volunteers are really good at what they do!  Near the end of the second season one of our regular players, Jules Beshears – who happens to be an experienced Youtuber and technology reviewer – decided to bring out his camera equipment to capture some footage.  What he produced was jaw dropping: beautiful shots with smooth motion, creative angles, and a great over all professional look.  I joked that he was lucky that I didn’t find out he could all of this until near the end of our series, otherwise I may not have allowed him to play any disc golf.

Another great find was Chris Pennington, who would become known as the ‘voice of Game of Throws’.  Chris is an active member of the Baton Rouge disc golf scene – sitting on the board of Kingfish Disc Golf Club and taking it on himself to do a lot of course maintenance, both of which are crucial but thankless tasks that benefit everyone who plays in the area.  He was one of many club members that I dragged into my home studio during the early stages of Game of Throws to do post-produced commentary, but before long he was my go-to guy for this role (and not just because he lived in my neighborhood and usually brought beer).

What made Chris great in this role was that he not only had a razor sharp wit, knew most of the players in Baton Rouge, and could skillfully roast anyone at anytime for any reason, but he did it with a good-natured and impersonal manner that allowed even the victims of his bite to enjoy the sting.  If this sounds like someone in your community, then take my advice and grab that person, stick them in front of a microphone and some edited footage of your Game of Throws league action, and wait for the magic to happen.  (If the magic takes too long, try adding beer.)        

5.  It’s better than anything else you can put in a player’s pack (except maybe a new Cloud Breaker – those seem to be pretty popular):

Disc golfers love souvenirs – tournament shirts, discs, towels, bag tags and, if we’re lucky, maybe a winner’s trophy.  Whatever it is, we look fondly on these tokens as reminders of a great experience – fun times, with our favorite people, at or favorite places, doing what we love most and sometimes even rising to the occasion in big moments.

Better than anything that can be hung on the wall as a token of our memories, however, are the memories themselves – safely tucked away on Facebook, or Youtube, or any digital archive that will store the images and sounds of the fun you worked so hard to create for your players.  If ever they should forget, say – next year when you are trying to promote the second season of the event – then all you have to do to remind them is post a link to last year’s highlight reel.

Every Disc Golf Town Has a Story: Tell Yours.