Fifty million rounds of disc golf were played in 2020 around the world. That’s almost 100 games started every minute, according to UDisc’s
2021 disc golf growth report. They also reported a 50 percent increase in courses built from 2020 to 2021.
Each year, more people try their hand at disc golf, and that includes Indiana.
Hannah Lengel, who graduated from
Grace College in 2012 and now lives in Winona Lake, has been playing for a few years and is at the highest female amateur level. She is the highest-rated amateur woman in Indiana and the second-highest-rated woman overall in Indiana.
Lengel started playing disc golf in 2019 when a friend introduced her to the sport. She liked it, but it wasn’t something she took seriously–until the COVID-19 pandemic hit. While sports have long been one of Lengel’s passions, the pandemic caused the cancellation of many of her favorite sports, so she turned to disc golf.
“I really like the outdoors, and it was an active thing to do by myself,” Lengel says.
![]()
Disc golfer Hannah Lengel is the highest-rated amateur woman in Indiana and the second-highest-rated woman overall in Indiana.The more she played, the more she enjoyed it. Lengel played her first tournament in 2019, and she went to even more tournaments after the pandemic. In 2021, she competed in an A-Tier tournament, a high-level tier with about 40-60 people, and won. With proof that she could compete at a higher level, she competed in the PDGA Amateur Disc Golf World Championships in 2022 with 74 competitors, and she placed sixth.
Last year, she played in 12 sanctioned PDGA tournaments.
There are three nine-hole disc golf courses in Warsaw that Lengel visits most often: Grace College, Lucerne Park, and Harrison Elementary. The Grace Course is open with a few tree obstacles, the Lucerne course has more obstacles, and Harrison is open. She’s also visited a new course in North Webster, Ind.
![]()
Disc golfer Hannah Lengel is the highest-rated amateur woman in Indiana and the second-highest-rated woman overall in Indiana.As the popularity of disc golf grows, so does the need for places where community members can come together to share their interests. Andy Phipps and Alaister McFarren, both graduates of Grace College, recently opened Circle Disc Golf in Warsaw, a local store devoted to supplying discs for competitive and recreational players alike.
In 2020, Phipps started Circle Disc Golf as an online store, and last summer, he approached McFarren about opening a brick-and-mortar store. Phipps needed someone who could be in the store every day and who shared his passion for disc golf–McFarren was that person. Within a month, they found a building, renovated it, and opened their store.
Although McFarren had been on the ultimate frisbee team in college, he didn’t actively play disc golf until his senior year when Phipps, his friend since freshman year, shared his interest. Now, between running the store, helping to coach the Grace ultimate frisbee team, and still playing regularly with Phipps, McFarren has made disc golf a big part of his life. With six months of tournaments under his belt, McFarren plays in the amateur division, but he hopes to move to higher divisions in the future.
![]()
Andy Phipps and Alaister McFarren, both graduates of Grace College, recently opened Circle Disc Golf in Warsaw.“For me, the biggest thing is that it gives me something fun that I can constantly be improving,” McFarren says. “I can always tweak my form, work on my disc selection, or go for a personal best at a course.”
Both Lengel and McFarren have played disc golf more over the past few years, and they aren’t the only ones. Before the pandemic, Lengel might not have seen anyone else while she was practicing, but now she sees multiple people out every time she goes.
“I felt like I was alone with maybe 10 other people in town who liked disc golf three years ago, but now there’s a bunch of people,” Lengel says. “It’s a good social sport. It’s very easy to invite your friends who don’t know what it is.”
McFarren has also seen an increase in popularity since the pandemic, and he has also noticed an increase in the diversity of people playing.
“As someone who loves the sport and wants to see it grow, it's been really encouraging,” McFarren says. “It's a great individual sport; it's a great couple sport; and it's a great group sport.”
![]()
Disc golfer Hannah Lengel is the highest-rated amateur woman in Indiana and the second-highest-rated woman overall in Indiana.Since the increase in popularity, Lengel has also seen a difference in the courses themselves. She noticed that reviews for the
Grace College course on UDisc increased when the concrete tee pads and signs were added. She has also seen an increase in Grace students using the course.
As the disc golf community grows and expands, apps like UDisc and stores like Circle Disc Golf offer a place for anyone–from disc golf enthusiasts to beginners–to interact with each other.
“Disc golf gives me an opportunity to be around people who are different from me and I might not be around otherwise,” Lengel says. “I have enjoyed the opportunity to get to know people and see them grow in their lives and love them through that.”
To find more Indiana disc golf courses, check out
the UDisc site.