UC recaptures national championship in disc golf

UC beat defending national champions the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, which won a sudden-death playoff against UC last year.

“Last year ended tough for us,” UC’s Young said. “Losing was a strong motivator for us. It felt pretty good to capitalize on it.”

He is a third-year student studying operations management in UC’s Lindner College of Business.

“This win really speaks to the level of disc golf talent we have in Cincinnati. The caliber of competition here is fierce,” UC Assistant Professor and club faculty adviser Sam Antoline said.

Disc golf is one of the fastest growing sports in the United States, club President Thomas Young said.

“People really started picking up disc golf during the COVID-19 pandemic. There was a real spike in interest,” he said.

Disc golf is sometimes called Frisbee golf, but the discs are smaller and heavier than Frisbees. The game has rules similar to golf. Players try to get their disc into a metal basket in the fewest number of throws on a wooded trail typically consisting of 18 “holes” or baskets.

Greater Cincinnati has nearly 50 courses, including one at Burnet Woods next to UC’s Uptown campus where the Discats play most Mondays. (Find a course close to you.) Players compete in tournaments such as the LWS Open at Idlewild in Kentucky, on Aug. 22.

Even new players can quickly get the hang of throwing a disc. But getting good enough to be competitive takes lots of practice, Antoline said.

College players typically use a variety of discs designed to go farther or straighter during each hole. But everyone seems to have a favorite. Groh writes his phone number on his disks in case he can’t locate an errant shot, he said.

“I have a propensity to lose other people’s disks unfortunately,” he said. “I lost my favorite disc for a couple months and someone sent it back to me. Thank goodness, because it was my baby.”

Groh is studying mechanical engineering in UC’s College of Engineering and Applied Science. He is taking part in UC’s co-op program, in which students divide the year between classroom instruction and employment with companies in their chosen field. Groh plans to return to the Louisville consulting company CMTA this summer for his second co-op rotation.