Exchange Program for Tournaments

Women's Lessons

    Of all the ideas I've run across, this seems to be one of the most effective to get new women involved in disc golf. The idea is to have free lessons for women by other women. This can be set up as an informal league that meets once a week. The idea is to create a very non-threatening environment for new female players to learn the game and gain some skill. It can be very intimidating for a new player to step out on the course and try to throw when they see a number of quality players already playing. This way they can learn in a little more isolated environment before striking out by themselves in front of the local crowd.
    This method has found success in Des Moines, IA, Kansas City, MO, and Medina, OH (to name a few).
    Below is a description of just such a league by IA golfer, Becky Zallek

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    Kris O'Malley of the Des Moines Disc Golf Club came up with the idea of free women's lessons in 1995. We've had seven complete summers of the lessons and have discovered what makes the lessons successful. We conduct the lessons at a course that has amateur and pro tee pads. We play from the amateur tee pads. The average length of the short tee is 250 feet. After a couple of weeks of lessons, the women are able to score well and encourages them.
    The first thing we do each year is advertise the free lessons for women. We hand out flyers to participants of World's Biggest Disc Golf weekend and post brightly colored flyers on course bulletin boards. We contact the local free weekly paper and the paper runs a paragraph each week the lessons are given. The last three years we have advertised the lessons in the city's adult education summer calendar.

EQUIPMENT
    We keep a box of disc (many of them are light weight) in the car that we loan out to the women who need them. We give each woman two stable drivers and a putter. After they've played a few times, the women usually go out and buy some discs of their own. But they don't need to if they don't want to, because we share the discs anytime.

FORMAT
    The first year of lessons, Kris divided the groups up and put one experienced woman player with two or three new players. Everyone would play nine holes. Then the next week she divided up the groups again and made sure the new players would go with a different experienced player than the one they went with the week before. This worked well because each of the experienced players had different techniques for different types of shots, and we'd let the new players know that they could try the different techniques and see what works best for them.

    During the second year of lessons, Pro Woman player Juliana Korver volunteered to help. This was truly exciting for everyone who attended the lessons to have a pro woman help out! Juliana would start out each Thursday with a half-hour lesson on technique. Each week she focused on something different such as: driving, putting, approach shots, UD shots and how to throw when you're behind a tree or in the trees. We'd then break up into groups again and one experienced player would go with the new players.

    The last three years, Barb Thacker and I have been giving the lessons. We shortened the lessons to six weeks only, for two hours once a week. The first two weeks we concentrate on approach shots, the next two weeks we practice putting, and the last two weeks everyone learns how to drive.

PRIZES
    Kris received donations of discs and shirts from The Des Moines Disc Golf Club, Lance Coles, Brian Malone, and The Disc Golf Journal. She gave these out to the new players after attending three or more times. She also had putting and driving contests where only the new players could participate. Barb and I have donated discs to the new women players, after they have been to the lessons for a few weeks.

WHAT WE LEARNED
    Make sure when you start your women's lessons, that you have them at one of your smaller courses. It's best to have the lessons at the same course and at the same time each week. We also gave a handout to each woman the first night they show up, explaining what disc golf is all about.

    Continue to be as positive as possible. After the first year of lessons, we had three women players who started attending the mixed league and participating in tournaments.

Last Modified June 17, 2003


Of all the ideas I've run across, this seems to be one of the most effective to get new women involved in disc golf. The idea is to have free lessons for women by other women. This can be set up as an informal league that meets once a week. The idea is to create a very non-threatening environment for new female players to learn the game and gain some skill. It can be very intimidating for a new player to step out on the course and try to throw when they see a number of quality players already playing. This way they can learn in a little more isolated environment before striking out by themselves in front of the local crowd. This method has found success in Des Moines, IA, Kansas City, MO, and Medina, OH (to name a few). Below is a description of just such a league by IA golfer, Becky Zallek	Mailing List Statistics Awards Mulligan Other Ideas Index
Kris O'Malley of the Des Moines Disc Golf Club came up with the idea of free women's lessons in 1995. We've had seven complete summers of the lessons and have discovered what makes the lessons successful. We conduct the lessons at a course that has amateur and pro tee pads. We play from the amateur tee pads. The average length of the short tee is 250 feet. After a couple of weeks of lessons, the women are able to score well and encourages them. The first thing we do each year is advertise the free lessons for women. We hand out flyers to participants of World's Biggest Disc Golf weekend and post brightly colored flyers on course bulletin boards. We contact the local free weekly paper and the paper runs a paragraph each week the lessons are given. The last three years we have advertised the lessons in the city's adult education summer calendar. EQUIPMENT We keep a box of disc (many of them are light weight) in the car that we loan out to the women who need them. We give each woman two stable drivers and a putter. After they've played a few times, the women usually go out and buy some discs of their own. But they don't need to if they don't want to, because we share the discs anytime. FORMAT The first year of lessons, Kris divided the groups up and put one experienced woman player with two or three new players. Everyone would play nine holes. Then the next week she divided up the groups again and made sure the new players would go with a different experienced player than the one they went with the week before. This worked well because each of the experienced players had different techniques for different types of shots, and we'd let the new players know that they could try the different techniques and see what works best for them. During the second year of lessons, Pro Woman player Juliana Korver volunteered to help. This was truly exciting for everyone who attended the lessons to have a pro woman help out! Juliana would start out each Thursday with a half-hour lesson on technique. Each week she focused on something different such as: driving, putting, approach shots, UD shots and how to throw when you're behind a tree or in the trees. We'd then break up into groups again and one experienced player would go with the new players. The last three years, Barb Thacker and I have been giving the lessons. We shortened the lessons to six weeks only, for two hours once a week. The first two weeks we concentrate on approach shots, the next two weeks we practice putting, and the last two weeks everyone learns how to drive. PRIZES Kris received donations of discs and shirts from The Des Moines Disc Golf Club, Lance Coles, Brian Malone, and The Disc Golf Journal. She gave these out to the new players after attending three or more times. She also had putting and driving contests where only the new players could participate. Barb and I have donated discs to the new women players, after they have been to the lessons for a few weeks. WHAT WE LEARNED Make sure when you start your women's lessons, that you have them at one of your smaller courses. It's best to have the lessons at the same course and at the same time each week. We also gave a handout to each woman the first night they show up, explaining what disc golf is all about. Continue to be as positive as possible. After the first year of lessons, we had three women players who started attending the mixed league and participating in tournaments.