I think some cool things to look at are the evolutions over time.
The honorable Andrew Duvall
Stay Gold
The Throw Pink Women’s Championship is in just its 5th year, which means history in the making. Kristin Latt is the current defending champion and Missy Gannon the inaugural champ (in 2021). With Kristin not playing in 2025, it means a new winner is bound to happen. There are so far no repeat champions on FPO side for Throw Pink since 2021. See last page of our profile for more on past winners.
A championship level disc golf course on a college campus. With enough water and elevation changes to rival top courses on tour. Being a campus ‘rec area,’ the course design makes use of many elements. Which, it pretty much has to with tennis courts, baseball field, and a multipurpose park area. The 2025 layout, like many years before it, makes use of extensive OB, well sprinkled hazard areas, 8 holes with a single mandatory (mando), 1 hole (first hole) with a double mando, and then 2 more holes with triple mandos.
Withrop is a course that since its inception in the 1990’s, the fairways were designed to be tight. Compact, while making excellent use of space. Course designers Harold and Andrew Duvall, along with USDGC TD Jonathan Poole and Dave Dunipace set out to create a course for the future of disc golf. In 1999, USDGC launched at Winthrop, with room for the spectators, as an objective of design. A way to grow the the sport, and immerse fans of the game in a PDGA Major. All relatively new at the time. And all part of a growing tradition.
From Setback To Success:
US DG Team Delivers
Like most events on the pro tour, prepping the course for the big event is half the battle. There’s months of ongoing maintenance, tweaking layouts based on slight changes to hole designs, and dealing with unexpected challenges.
Less than 2 weeks before the start of the 2024 Pro Major, Hurricane Helene moved through southeastern part of the U.S. leaving damage like the above pics (or much worse). According to spokesperson for the US Disc Golf Team, they worked tirelessly to whip it back into shape. On a course that makes use, of water, grass, wood chips and sand, their typical upkeep consistently displays an immaculate course. In 2024, that challenge was magnified, and the Team adapted.
Hole 7 and the iterations of the bamboo wall. It went from something that had to be thrown over, to something that could be thrown over or through, to the triple mando version it is today. It even was toppled in a storm and held up for play by the staff one year.
Andrew Duvall
Photo credits
All logos and graphics courtesy of US Disc Golf Team Media
All images credited to Chad LeFevre Photography