Starkville is a town that has embraced disc golf for some time, with courses at J.L. King Park, the Wise Center, and Lakeside, and a Mississippi State club team that has won multiple National Collegiate Disc Golf National Championships in both the men’s and women’s competitions.
But there wasn’t a store or organization devoted solely to the sport until Andy Hunt opened Disc and That in December 2021, only a few months after co-founding the Starkville Disc Golfers’ Association.
Three years later, Hunt sat in the front of his store July 9, reflecting on a weekend that saw the largest number of disc golfers at a Golden Triangle tournament in history compete in the Double Dawg Dare tournament.
“Disc golf is growing for sure,” he said. “You can spend as little or as much on it as you want with it.”
Hunt went with the latter.
He was a relative newcomer to the sport just a few years ago. Before he and his family moved to Starkville in early 2021 they lived in Hattiesburg, where there are several well-maintained courses. Hunt got in the game at the right time, as the sport was about to take on a host of new casual and diehard players.
“I started playing in Hattiesburg in 2019, so I’ve not been playing that long compared to a lot of folks,” he said. “I started before the COVID boom, but just barely. When COVID hit everything shut down, and people were looking for things to do outside. It’s relatively inexpensive. You can just get one disc and play around, or you can be like the people who eat up with it and carry 25 discs to play. It’s hiking with a frisbee.”
Hunt’s store offers a personal experience, with customers offered expert advice from clerks. His staff will even point you to outside sources that help to better understand the different types of discs, which ones will bend or fly straight, and how best one can add to or build on a collection. It’s an experience Hunt caters to the individual, whether they’re a pro or starting that day.
On an average week, Hunt sees anywhere from 60 to 100, but when it comes closer to tournament time he sees about that much in a single day.
More players, more places to play
Hunt and his family had lived in Starkville previously, and they “jumped at the chance” when his wife’s career led them back. Hunt quickly got in with the local disc golfing scene and again jumped at the opportunity to make it something greater with the SDGA.
“It has grown ever since the club started,” he said of the sport. “We had people playing disc golf here, but we didn’t have a league or an association, and now it’s just taking off.”
Despite the sport’s rising popularity after the pandemic, it is still hard to imagine its growth without SDGA and Hunt. Before 2021 there was only one 18-hole course in Starkville. Now there are three 18-hole courses and a 10-hole course, as well as talks of adding a course to other parks in town. SDGA also recently lent its help to installing a tournament-level course at Legion State Park near Louisville.
That sort of work takes more than funding, it takes people who will give their time, energy and know-how to complete and maintain projects.
Hunt is one of those people, and he already sees the results. He sees kids as young as middle schoolers playing in the SDGA league, people who will bring their little ones to play, and people in their 70s playing. Along with recreational use, the city has been able to host several tournaments up to the standard of the Professional Disc Golfers’ Association.
This year alone Starkville hosted the Catalpa Creek Classic and Double Dawg Dare with Dawg Daze coming up in August, with close to 100 players registered to compete. The SDGA was also selected to host the third annual Mississippi Disc Golf Hall of Fame tournament in October.
Starkville is on the map as a disc golf town, and Hunt is happy to be a part of it.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 47 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 47 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
