Making disc golf more accessible for women presents one of the best opportunities for growing the game. Just look at the numbers: The Professional Disc Golf Association's 2024 year-end demographics showed that a mere 7.3% of its members were women, while UDisc's measure of players who volunteered demographic information in 2025 found that 13% of players identified as women or non-binary.
Initiatives like the annual PDGA Women's Global Event and UDisc's free in-person women's clinics with touring pros Ella Hansen and Holyn Handley have provided a space for those who are more dialed into competitive disc golf to connect with other women. On the local level, hundreds of women's clubs offer a lower barrier to entry for those looking for a friendly, community-focused outlet.
The San Diego Birdie Babes is an example of the latter. A women’s disc golf club that runs tournaments, leagues, no-cost skills clinics, and casual get-togethers, the group's flagship event is a flex-start league that travels to a different course around Southern California's San Diego County each week. The format allows women from all over the region to connect with players at the course (or courses), and during the times, they find most convenient. With eight-week winter and summer seasons, the league now has more than 80 participants.
Going Flex-Start Kept More Women Playing Disc Golf
According to league founder Emily Hardy, the event series wasn't always as successful as it is now at retaining the women who gave it a try.
When the Birdie Babes launched in 2022 with one-off events, Hardy noticed a trend: Women would show up to play with the group, and even become regulars, before their attendance eventually fell off.
It wasn't due to negative feedback or a lack of desire to play, but rather the realities of life getting in the way: Changing work schedules, the needs of their families, moving, or getting married – women who loved disc golf were not able to commit like they initially had and would give up the game.
"We would plan a get-together on Saturday morning or Sunday morning, but a lot of players here work in hospitality or in the medical field, and they're not available in the morning on the weekend," Hardy said. "So I was trying to think of how to include them."
A mother of two and special education teacher herself, Hardy had a hunch that providing more flexibility for people who were as busy as she was would lead to greater participation and a stronger community. So, taking advantage of the variety of event formats supported by UDisc Leagues, Hardy created a league with novel features that would work for more women.
Instead of restricting competition to one day a week, Hardy built the league as a week-long flex start. As long as league members check in on the app and log a round at the assigned course sometime between Monday and Sunday, they make the leaderboard and appear in the overall standings.
"Many local women play a lot but just not on the weekend due to their work or kids, and so I wanted to involve them," Hardy said. "Once we opened up a flex-start, we saw that those women were – yes – they were indeed coming. They wanted to be part of the league and the Birdie Babes even though they couldn't be there on the weekend."
Allowing Multiple Rounds Motivates League Members to Play More
In fact, Hardy said the change has resulted in even more disc golf being played since participants get to keep the best score they record throughout the week.
"There were certain weeks we'd see players logging seven league rounds," she said. "One player was going out every single day, sometimes playing twice in a day, because she logged an OK score and she knew she could do better."
League member Christina Viola loves the flexibility and extra motivation to play the format offers.
“The flex-start format works really well for me because I can meet up with friends at convenient times during the week but still feel connected to the whole league," Viola said. "It’s flexible without losing the community aspect. Being able to play more than once and improve your recorded score also adds a fun competitive element and encourages me to keep getting out and playing.”
Building Disc Golf Community, No Payouts Required
Hardy didn't want a flex-start format to kill the communal vibes, though, so the league still hosts a "weekend gathering" at each course for women who have the room in their schedules. It provides the best of both worlds: Women who have the time can connect, while those who can't still have a platform for participation. And even if they miss out on a weekend meetup, the continuity of the events lets league members know that, when the time is right, there will be an opportunity to get out with the larger group.
There's more than just the scheduling that makes Birdie Babes successful. First and foremost, the leagues are free to play. Not only does that make participation more accessible, but Hardy said earning a monetary payout is not why women show up each week. Instead, she and fellow Birdie Babes merge their love of disc golf with other hobbies and make handcrafted prizes. One player makes their bag tags with resin and dried flowers, and Hardy even learned how to print custom t-shirts and socks using her local library's free makerspace.
"Women want to join us because they want to make friends," she said. "They want to have someone to walk the course with. They want to connect with other women. I think disc golf is really good for our mental health and our physical health, too."
Card sizes throughout the week also keep with the spirit of flexibility. While having three players in a group is encouraged, scores from pairs are accepted. This makes it easier for women to either find another woman who has a similar schedule (often through a private Birdie Babes WhatsApp group) or to get a round in with male cardmates, who are also allowed to join the league.
"A lot of women will go play with their partner, a friend, or a son or father, and so we had to think of a way for them to get into the league and have at least two players on their card," Hardy said. "So we added in the Bros division…It's fun to have our supporters involved in some friendly competition. We have certain guys who really identify with our community. This is the kind of community they want, too."
Notably, though, during the weekend gatherings, any Birdie Bros in attendance are grouped solely with other bros, keeping the larger group events as a space where women connect and play exclusively with other women.
Hardy believes sticking to this convention has been key to both attracting and retaining players. She pointed out that women who start playing with men often end up underestimating their own skills (an observation other women's league organizers have shared with us before). Once they team up with other women, they realize they are better than they think, and that boosts their confidence and makes them want to come back for more.
"They learn a lot [from the other women]," Hardy said. "Typically, if we can get them to separate from their guy for a round, they tend to want to continue playing with us. Sometimes it's more fun because we're just chatting about life and kids, anything!"
Welcoming families is also crucial to Birdie Babes' success. League members are ready to pitch in with childcare and other tasks so that women can enjoy their time on the course.
"When you have kids, you have more commitments – it's really hard for working moms to continue to play, so we have to make it easy for them to come," Hardy said. "Bring your baby. Bring your kids. They're all welcome, always. We'll help you hold your baby. Nursing? That's fine. We have space for you. The whole league is built on being inclusive."
That same ideal – inclusivity – inspired Hardy to offer a non-binary division throughout the league season, too. Though no one has registered there yet, she feels it's important to provide visibility and encouragement for prospective players, no matter their gender identity.
"We have to think of options for players that aren’t cisgender," Hardy said. "I feel like if we offer a non-binary division, there is an opportunity for somebody to recognize they are welcome. Even if they don't enter, we are here, we're trying, and you're welcome to join us."
There's more that goes into growing the local community, like no-cost skills clinics with local pros, and Hardy has even extended the league schedule outside San Diego County, aiming to bring women from Murrieta's Mountain Pride Park into the fold. The Birdie Babes have also teamed up with women in the greater Los Angeles area, including many female leaders from Oak Grove Park in Pasadena, for the Birds in Paradise Series of women's-only tournaments for those who want to flex their more competitive muscles.
According to Hardy, all of these efforts have made an impact beyond the course. And that's the most important reason she and her fellow disc golfers keep coming out each week and putting in the extra hours that go into organizing.
"We see a lot of women become really close friends," Hardy said. "They're hanging out together playing disc golf, of course, but they are also having barbeques, going camping, traveling together, and doing non-disc golf stuff, too. That's what I really love.
"That people connect – that makes me so happy."
