What's frisbee golf & why you need to keep reading

This is a little embarrassing but I’m off on an overseas adventure next month to throw frisbees at a metal basket in Finland. 

That’s not even the embarrassing bit. I’m paying an exorbitant amount of money for the privilege. I was selected as New Zealand’s top female professional player to play in the pinnacle elite event of the 2025 tour - the World Professional Disc Golf Championships.

Michele Simpson

There are no age divisions, I’m playing with the serious pros who make this sport a full time job. It’s the equivalent of a seniors tour golfer being asked to play at the Masters in Augusta.

Here’s the embarrassing bit - I’m 55 years old and I’m going with my Kiwi male counterpart - Francis - he’s 21. It’s going to be like a chaperoned mum and son trip. Embarrassing probably for Francis…not for me. I will be driving him around in an old manual Skoda, getting him accustomed to Hey Ya by Outkast before I drop him off with kids his own age while I warm down in our apartment’s sauna and settle in for the midnight sun. So Finnish, even the cheapest digs have saunas!   

Two pretty unlikely Kiwis thrown together to fly the flag for New Zealand in a sport that combines the mental toughness of golf with similar skills to that of baseball and racket sports but sadly has the fans of none of them. 

Sure, it has a dedicated following of DGGs (Disc Golf Geeks) and I keep telling people it's one of the fastest growing sports in the world (fact unchecked). However, most people out there are unsure if a dog is involved, you play it at the beach  or you perhaps juggle the frisbee in a series of tricks. Brad Pitt and Jimmy Fallon definitely don’t make disc golf  an easy sell as a serious sport. 

In a nutshell, you hurl a plastic frisbee from a teepad,  just like in golf, as far down a fairway, just like in golf and then you take your next shot from where that frisbee came to land - just like in golf. You do this until you get to the green and then you putt the frisbee into a metal chain basket - which is not like golf.  But as per the stick and ball version, disc golf involves a lot of mental anguish because you’ve thrown your frisbee into a tree, a telephone poll, out of bounds or god forbid - at a totally oblivious person who was just out enjoying their park walk.

On that last point - frisbees designed as drivers in the sport of disc golf - are generally not for throwing or catching - they’re made to get as far down the fairway as possible. 

Most of us who play the sport religiously/seriously will use a spotter or fellow player to ensure we don’t hit people. NB If you see a metal basket, please do not place your picnic rug beside it.

Frisbee golf and disc golf are the same thing in case you are wondering. It got called disc golf in the United States because Wham-O still has the word Frisbee trademarked in America. It differs from all other plastic throwing and juggling sports because you don’t carry just one frisbee. Here’s the disc golf business model in a nutshell, you carry a lot of different frisbees. When I carry my bag, I look similar to a five year old dwarfed by their overstuffed backpack on the first day of school. Why so many frisbees? Well some have pretty pictures and come in pretty colours. Some are heavier or lighter and do different things when you throw them and some have amazing New Zealand native birds on them. Shout out to my sponsor and only New Zealand disc manufacturer RPM Discs who give their frisbees cool uniquely Kiwi names like Kea, Ruru, Kotare and Takapu.

Americans cannot pronounce any of these names so they have discs called things like Thrasher, Cloud Breaker, Destroyer, B52 Bomber - I made the last one up but there probably is one of those in the pipeline. The business model I refer to is that DGGs like to buy many many discs - at around $30 a pop in New Zealand - one or two sounds like a cheap sport. However, you lose them all the time or just want more. A wayward disc usually has the owner’s name and phone number on the back and more often or not the finder ignores this vital piece of evidence and mi casa su casa. I picked up the sport of disc golf in lockdown and lost a frisbee at the Bethell’s course in Auckland. Last year a friend found someone playing with that same disc in Wanaka. 

But it’s not just discs you buy.There’s a bag or cart to carry your haul, chalk bags to dry off sweaty hands, a rain jacket for your bag, a rain jacket for you, shoes, shirts, hats, umbrellas and extendable grabbers that are used to fetch discs from trees, out of rivers or wedged under a car’s chassis. 

I have seen a couple of young guys turn up to my home course of Bottle Lake Forest in Christchurch one week carrying a couple of discs in a supermarket shopping bag  then the next week they are all kitted out sporting a swag of plastic like true disc addicts. 

Ok, that’s great Michele - thanks for a dummies guide to disc golf but what’s the point?

The point is, Finland might be the happiest country in the world but certainly isn’t the cheapest.

I had to fundraiser to get there and last month I reached out to a few New Zealand companies to help in my endeavour to get to the world championships in Tampere and Nokia. Most either did not come back to me, moved my emails into spam or offered much appreciated yet product-less moral support. Thankfully, some of them were only too happy to help.

These are the awesome companies that said yes to me: 

Arepa I saw the founders of this drinks company speak last year and they were genuine and I truly believe they have a great product. They call it the brain drink and because I have some left over from the gift packs I auctioned, I thought I would try them. I’ll let you know if I can summon up more calm and clarity when I’m standing in front of a 20m clutch putt to save par in Finland.  Thanks to the lovely Anne at Arepa HQ who said: “Wishing you all the best with your fundraise and the world pro champs ..take no prisoners!!”

That’s It products speak to me because I need them for not only disc golf but hiking. Husband and I walked from Mexico to Canada a couple of years ago on the Pacific Crest Trail. If I had had That’s It products I would not have suffered as long as I did with blisters and cracked feet. Thankfully disc golf is not that arduous but I have used their lip balm and it now lives in my disc golf bag to stop cracked lips from all the elements while I’m out on a round. Ness from That’s It sent me the winter bundles with a lovely note that made me feel very humble that total strangers would be so supportive. Thanks That’s It! 

Saint Clair Family Estate. Katie and her lovely team sent me a three-pack to auction off and a handwritten note : “We hope you have a great time and make us Kiwis proud!”.  Forever grateful to you guys, thanks so much.

Before he was Plus1 promoter and awesome bassist for Stellar, Kurt Shanks was an award winning and fellow journalist with me at The North Shore Times. He donated tickets to upcoming concerts that got snapped up…but if you remember how awesome 10cc are/were or you belted out Vienna alongside Midge Ure in the 80s then get online, book and go people! 

Swanndri. I reached out to this iconic Kiwi brand thinking they’d ignore me because, well for a start I spelt Swanndri with one n in the email! Duh. Number one rule of reaching out in fundraising - spell the name of the company correctly. However, they came back to me with a few cool ladies accessories. They make shackets - cross between a shirt and jacket and it has pocket and that’s all I’ll say because, I am a massive fan of pockets in dresses, pockets in skirts, pockets in shirts! 

Banks & Co I already had a hand cream from these guys and so I approached them because I love their products. They sent me a whole box of lovely creams, body lotions and soaps.

The Sisters. This wine label is part of Lawson’s Dry Hills & when I got in touch they were only too happy to help me out. Their motto is; wine for women who do extraordinary things every day. And then Julia sent me three delicious bottles and said: “We are thrilled to support yourself and women’s performance sport with our brand and look forward to seeing your campaign.” 

Easys. I don’t know how many times I have been on multi-day hikes and sat in the DOC huts wishing for a cocktail. These guys have come up with a solution. Sachets that are light weight and can either just go with water for a mocktail or take a cheeky hip flask, add a splash and you’ll be everyone’s friend in the hut for the night! Brayden and Conor have a small company but big hearts. They sent me some sachet packs and wished me all the best for Worlds! Cheers to you guys. 

Barker’s of Geraldine. Such a lovely story behind this company and its yummy spreads and sauces. It’s a family business out of Geraldine and they heard my story and sent me a yummy pack to help with fundraising.

Pure Wild & Tribal Earth. These guys sent me a whole bunch of things from uniquely Kiwi hand creams to cool NZ inspired bandanas and pot plant covers. 

Rothbury Insurance. I didn’t  know that if you’re playing professional sport overseas then a bog standard, off the shelf travel policy,  might not cover you. Rothbury got me cover, for not much more than the aforementioned usual travel insurance. You might not think accidents happen in a sport like disc golf but it does - I’ve seen people slip over crossing bridges between holes, slipping off teepads and falling into brambles. I feel safe in the fact that I am covered if anything should happen.