The BYU disc golf team travels to compete in college disc golf tournaments in the Intermountain West but does not have official recognition or financial aid from the university.
Adam Marshman is a BYU student from Augusta, Georgia and a member of the disc golf team. He began playing disc golf when he was eight years old and has always looked up to the collegiate players near his hometown.
The small squad of BYU disc golfers formed the team just a few years ago. Marshman himself was the impetus for the BYU team and contacted the former president of the BYU Disc Golf Club.
“I went to (the former president) and I said, ‘Have y’all ever considered making a disc golf team?’ He said, ‘I didn’t know there was collegiate disc golf,'” Marshman said.
Ryan Hunter, one of the team’s top scorers, was also present for the formation of the team and continues to play now.
“We really love playing as a team, that’s what makes college disc golf so much fun. Disc golf is normally an individual sport and you get to play with a group of guys and we get to be a team,” Hunter said.
Since then, the team has competed against schools across the Intermountain West like the University of Utah, Utah State University, Utah Valley University, Colorado State University and the Colorado School of Minds.
“We, I would say, are in there with those as the best teams in the conference. We’re normally top three, last year I’m pretty sure we won pretty much everything,” Marshman said.
The league the team competes in is not regulated by NCAA. That means the team can go to tournaments as BYU students and host events thanks to fundraisers, donations from contributors like John and Aria Stoddard and their own monetary contributions.
“We don’t represent BYU in any official capacity, but there is a difference when we play with other schools and they know we’re students at BYU, and it’s kind of cool to be BYU ambassadors in the BYU college disc golf scene,” Hunter said.
Despite these challenges, the team continues to travel to competitions and will participate in a UVU hosted tournament in American Fork on Nov. 18.
