The Indianapolis Disc Golf Club (IDGC) formed in 1988 to cultivate the then fledgling sport of disc golf in central Indiana. Notable founding members include Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) & Indiana Disc Golf Hall of Famer Al “Speedy” Guerrero, Indiana Disc Golf Hall of Famer Jerry Suiter, Henry Aldridge, Kevin Welch, John Wyse, Dave & Dick White, Kent & Lori Brauer, Randall Hughes, Dan Rubadue, and Rick Davis.
“Push-ups and football were out. Yoga and Frisbee were in. ”
“When a ball dreams, it dreams it’s a Frisbee.”
The early IDGC’s direction was clear: promote disc golf to the community of Indianapolis. They flipped Frisbees downtown during public demonstrations and for special groups like the Boy Scouts & Indiana School for the Deaf. They organized competitions for players like leagues and tournaments. And they worked hard to cultivate a close relationship with Indy Parks to maintain existing courses and to fund and develop new tracts where their discs could swoop and soar.
Disc golf did not get off the ground in Indy as quickly as it did in other nearby midwest cities. The city’s first course, the 9-hole Eagle’s Crest at Eagle Creek Park, was disbanded to make room for the ‘87 Pan Am Games. Local players Bill Bailey, Al Guerrero, and Henry Aldridge worked with the City in 1987 to relocate the course’s 9 baskets to newly available space at George Washington Park after the Indianapolis Zoo moved downtown.
In 1988, the IDGC organized and promoted the first PDGA competition held in Indianapolis. Two weeks after Penske Racing celebrated its 50th major victory in Championship car racing at the ‘88 Indy 500, more than a hundred disc golfers converged on George Washington Park to compete in the first annual Checkered Flag Open (CFO) disc golf tournament. Indiana sportswriting great Terry Hutchens previewed the event for the Indianapolis News.
The ‘88 CFO attracted a lot of the early national touring professionals to Indy. Disc Golf Hall of Famer Steve Wisecup, who would be crowned World Champion in 1989, finished in 1st place. HOFer Dave McCormack, founder & owner of Gateway Disc Sports, finished in 2nd place. HOFer & Hammond, Indiana native Brian Cummings tied with Ken “the Logo” Gill for 3rd place. For full results, visit: https://www.pdga.com/tour/event/18408.
Jerry Suiter recalls: “We had like 100 players at the tournament. 5-somes on every hole. Finished in the dark. We had no idea what we were doing!” It was Suiter’s first tournament experience as a player too, and he finished tied for 5th place with HOFer Brent Hambrick. The CFO just celebrated its 32nd iteration in Fall 2021 (the event took a year off in 1992).
With one successful tournament in the books, the IDGC set its aim higher: to host a World Championship. Riding a wave of economic enthusiasm for amateur sports in Indianapolis around this time, the IDGC successfully petitioned Indy Parks to expand the course at Washington & to install a new course at Brookside Park that could accomodate a Championship event.
The Club’s aim was true: the 1992 PDGA Amateur World Championships were held at Washington & Brookside Parks in Indianapolis. On the eve of the tournament’s final round, “Steady” Ed Headrick, former Wham-O executive and the Father of disc golf, reportedly gave one of the greatest speeches in disc golf history, ending it with a call for all assembled to “stand up and hug somebody.”
