Women in Disc Golf Survey 2025
We launched this survey to answer a few core questions about what motivates women to play and compete in disc golf.
The map above shows responses by state. Only 323 respondents provided a valid ZIP code, so map totals will not match the overall number of survey responses. Across many results, totals vary because some participants skipped questions or were screened out by earlier “No” answers.
Who did we survey?
The survey only collected responses from Women with about 89% of respondents age 30 or older (including 12% who were 60+), and about 12% under 30.
How are women introduced to disc golf?
When asked why they started playing disc golf, the top three reasons were direct introductions from people they knew—significant others, friends, or family. Twenty-one respondents also said that simply living close to a course got them interested.
Are women joining the PDGA?
Regarding membership, 46.4% reported being current PDGA members, 40.6% said they are not, and 13% were former members.
The most common reasons for leaving the PDGA included not having time to compete, disagreement with PDGA policies, and cost. Other reasons included injury, a lack of women’s participation in their area, limited local tournaments, and the mental demands of competing.
What motivates women to compete?
Top motivations for competing in tournaments were the desire to improve by playing against others, followed by meeting new people.
Supporting local clubs and receiving player packs/giveaways/payouts ranked third and fourth. Five percent of the respondents said they wanted to post about achievements, and 3 percent were motivated by the goal of getting sponsored and joining the pro tour.
What type of disc golf events do women prefer?
When asked what types of events they participate in, sanctioned tournaments were most common, followed closely by unsanctioned events and league play.
14% of respondents said, “I don’t participate in disc golf events; I only play recreationally.”
Additionally, 11% of respondents join putting leagues, tag matches were lowest at 9%, and 2% selected “Other.” For details on “Other,” contact owner@goodbird.store.
Women-only events were preferred, but the difference was small—more ‘Strongly Like’ than ‘Like’.
One-round, one-day events were liked more than two-round, one-day events or multi-day, multi-round formats. Dislike was relatively uncommon overall, but two-round, one-day events drew the most “Dislike” or “Strongly Dislike” responses.
What type of disc golf events do women want more of?
When Women were asked what types of events they would like to see more of, Women Only Events were the overall winner, with Learning Clinics taking second, followed by Doubles/Team Events. The results vary by state.*
*Confidence levels and margin of error detailed in the “Statistics” section do not apply to individual state results. Contact owner@goodbird.store for details.
When is it optimum for women to participate in disc golf events?
Saturday and Sunday were identified as the best days for women to compete.
Seasonal preferences varied by state*: only Arizona and Florida were optimal in winter; Missouri, Nebraska, and Washington were optimal in summer; the remaining states leaned toward spring or fall.
*Confidence levels and margin of error detailed in the “Statistics” section do not apply to individual state results. Contact owner@goodbird.store for details.
What types of disc golf courses do women prefer to play?
Respondents ranked course types across four categories: wooded & long (holes over 250 ft), wooded & short (holes under 250 ft), open & long, and open & short.
The data showed no clear preference between wooded and open overall, but shorter courses (<250 ft) were liked more strongly than longer courses.
Do you have a question about women in disc golf that you need answered?
We're making this an annual survey, so if you have specific questions you'd like answered, reach out today.
The Statistics
To ensure statistical relevance, we considered the estimated number of women disc golfers in the U.S. to be between 30,000 and 70,000. Using the lower bound (30,000) as our working population, we closed the survey at 394 responses. At that sample size, results carry approximately a 95% confidence level with a margin of error ±5 percentage points. In practical terms: if we surveyed all 30,000 women disc golfers, we’d expect the results to fall within about five points of these findings, 95 times out of 100, with the exception of the event requests by state and season preference by state.