By Isabella Ying
At the national Disc Golf Championship a few weeks ago, one of Lovett’s very own physics teachers, Danny Bayless, was one of just 14 out of thousands of players to make an “ace.” Or, as many of you may know it, a hole-in-one, the term used in traditional golf, disc golf’s older sibling.
The two sports are essentially identical, Mr. Bayless explained to me in his classroom one day after chapel, “but instead of balls going in holes, you have Frisbees going in baskets.”
Mr. Bayless claimed that disc golf is “the largest sport that you’ve never heard of.” This was proven true by the several thousand players in attendance at this year’s North American Disc Golf Championships in Austin, Texas.
Disc golf differs from many other sports in that the players run the sport: they enforce the rules on both themselves and other players, and host tournaments while simultaneously competing in them. Everyone in the community is “there because everyone loves disc golf, and everyone does their best to make disc golf better, enjoyable, and inclusive,” Mr. Bayless said.
Mr. Bayless competed in his first tournament only a year ago, but he is already making a name for himself in the disc golf community. This is the result of tireless dedication, as he spent his summer practising and playing in as many tournaments as possible.
These tournaments are crucial, as each win helps him “set myself up to compete up for the national title,” he explained. “You win one of these national amateur events and you qualify for the national championship.”
In addition to his hard work, Mr. Bayless also uses his physics knowledge to succeed in disc golf. “Flying through the air is nothing but physics,” he said. This includes “adjusting for wind or distance or elevation change and getting the speed to spin ratio right on the disc.” He thinks about these factors every shot, “and my knowledge very much helps with that,” he said.
Over the summer, Mr. Bayless primarily competed in amateur events, but he also occasionally played in the professional division. In professional disc golf, Mr. Bayless is always the youngest player. As a result, he is often doubted at professional tournaments, but manages to shock the spectators and competition.
Mr. Bayless has a unique swing, which makes him an entertaining player to watch. So when he performs well with his unique swing, “it’s a shock to everyone that a player so new did so well at such a high level,” he explained, then added, “including myself.”
After competing in many of these amateur and professional competitions, Mr. Bayless was finally ready to elevate his game to the national stage.
At first, he was hesitant to make this jump because his school attendance is usually perfect. He said that the only “personal days I will take over the next decade are to do something like that.” As such, it was a very odd experience for Mr. Bayless, and he spent much time reassuring himself that his students would be alright.
Eventually, Mr. Bayless’s family, friends, and fellow disc golfers convinced him to compete. But first, arrangements were in order, because “taking a day off requires more work than just coming to school that day,” Mr. Bayless said. “It has to be done perfectly because you’re not here to make a change if something isn’t done correctly.”
And in his case, it was an entire week that he was taking off. So, the process of planning for all the classes he would miss was “painstaking,” to say the least. “A lot of time went into figuring out how to make up the time that I was going to be off,” he explained.
Luckily, “we got caught back up within a week or so and I mean, everything’s back on track,” Mr. Bayless said.
After he made plans for his absence, Mr. Bayless was off to the tournament. He wasn’t alone. Mr. Bayless goes everywhere with his dog, Dexter, so he initially feared that issues would arise during boarding or flying. However, the process was so smooth that he claimed it was his easiest travel experience in a long time.
For the first two rounds, Mr. Bayless started off hot. “I was set up to win,” he said. His proudest moment came in the second round of the championship, when he hit his ace shot, becoming one of the few players in the tournament to achieve such a feat. And, as if that was not enough, the cherry on top was that he experienced this moment alongside a fellow Atlanta-based disc-golfer. The two had played together just the weekend before, and sharing that moment with him was “a very special thing,” Mr. Bayless said.
Unfortunately, his unique swing prevented him from taking home the victory in Austin. In the end, he “wasn’t able to pull it off,” he said. “But it was my first time.”
Mr. Bayless is excited to return to disc golf next year. “I would very much like to have a national amateur title before I start playing almost exclusively professionally,” he expressed. However, at the end of the day, he has his priorities. “I am certainly a physics teacher before a professional athlete,” he said.
