San Diego Disc Golf does Social Media

How do you find out about what’s going on in the local disc golf world?  Well, this site, obviously.  And talking to your friends, for sure.  But what else is out there?  Here’s a non-exhaustive, incomplete, somewhat biased list of where you can find disc golf info using some of our popular social media tools.

Facebook – Yes, it’s everywhere…Facebook this, Facebook that.  I know.  But Facebook has some great tools that make communicating about disc golf easier to do.  With a Facebook account you can connect to your friends who play disc golf by “friend-ing” them (and even put them in a group, so they don’t infect your other friends), send messages (and now Facebook e-mail), create calendar events, create groups of people you want to communicate with and then you can “Like” (but not “Dislike”) all of these things.  You can even create advertisements and target certain groups of people to receive those ads (I’ve been doing that to promote tournaments for a while).  Some local disc golf pages from Facebook include ours: San Diego Aces, as well as pages for Kit Carson Park DGC  Morley Field and Montiel Park. 

Twitter – Do you tweet?  Some of us do, and you can add the San Diego Aces to that list.  @sandiegoacesdgc is our Twitter name and even if you don’t use Twitter, you’ve probably seen our tweets.  That’s because this website allows us to display tweets over in the right margin via a widget, and because the Aces Facebook page can also receive and re-post tweets.  That allows us to quickly update both the web page and Facbook page by simply tweeting once.  It’s twoo!  Other popular disc golf Twitter feeds are @innovadiscgolf, @disc_golf (DGA Discs), @discraftdg and @csusmbdiscgolf (Cal State Monterey Bay, one of the hosts of 2011 Pro Worlds).

Gowalla – What is Gowalla, you ask? Gowalla is a social networking site that uses your smartphone’s GPS location to help you find cool places nearby, and then let you “check in” and leave your electronic mark and comments.  Most restaurants, clubs, stores and points of interest have “spots” on Gowalla, and users collect “stamps” for all the places they check in at as well as “pins” that reflect the number of check-ins or types of places they check in at.  You can friend other Gowalla users and share with them where you have been and your comments about your stop there.  You can even create “trips”, which are collections of Gowalla spots that have a common theme.  There are trips that are are sight-seeing excursions, pub crawls and scavenger hunts.  And now there’s a Gowalla trip to San Diego disc golf courses.

Discgolfers’r’us – One of the earliest disc golf social media sites – definitely one of the first that was set up specifically as a social media tool.  On DG’r’us you can set up a free account with your own home page.  There are discussion boards, picture and video uploads and on-site “clubs” that anyone can set up.  Home pages are also customizeable – if you know a little html programming you can bring in your own apps and widgets. 

And of course, there are other ways of communicating that may not be specifically social media sites, but they have communication tools.  PDGA.com is the web site of the Professional Disc Golf Association, and along with their list of upcoming tournaments and their on-line course directory, they host the DISCussion board, a message board that covers a wide varety of disc golf topics.  You have to be a PDGA member to post messages, but anyone can read them.  You can find a fantastic on-line course directory at dgcoursereview.com, along with course reviews and a message board.  This site probably has the best mapping tools for finding disc golf courses. Another site with a full listing of courses is discgolfscene.com.  Discgolfscene allows users to set up profiles and post comments for their friends, and also has pages for each course where you can leave comments and pictures.  Both dgcoursereview and discgolfscene have tools for tournament directors to list upcoming events at a course, and both have tools for you to input your scores and track how well you play individual courses.

This list is by no means complete.  If you know of a web site or smartphone tool that is useful for disc golfers who want to communicate – post a comment!