Just Getting Started
“We hope to create a brand that provides functional and stylish apparel, custom designed for women disc golfers.”
Shari Benko
I started playing disc golf 3 years ago when we moved to a neighborhood across from a disc golf course. Neither of us (my husband Jesse and I) had ever played and the closest I had come to disc golf was a friend describing how amazing it was 15+ years ago. My husband bought a starter pack and we both figured it wouldn’t be that difficult. I threw the disc like you would a frisbee and it went 20 feet at best. Both of us were confused as to why these things (discs) were so different from a frisbee - so we looked up “How to play disc golf” on YouTube and wound up watching the entire series of tutorials from Latitude 64 with Jonathan Fastborg.
“Yes, I do remember throwing a +11 on a single hole.”
We realized there was more to disc golf than we had initially thought and from there Disc Golf became an obsession. An obsession to throw farther, try every new disc, putt better, get those birds, stop throwing +11 on hole 3, etc. Yes, I do remember throwing a +11 on a single hole back in those days. My obsession with the sport stems from the fact that it is the only kind of exercise that exercises both my body and my mind at the same time. It is the ultimate stress reliever. When I bike, walk, or workout, my mind still wanders back to the stresses that I am trying to escape. With disc golf I am always thinking about where my disc landed, what disc I am going to throw, what direction the wind is coming from, what discs I have in my bag, etc.
“My confidence on the course skyrocketed because I felt like I looked good.”
After that first year, my husband who knows me well, bought me the gear (bags, towels, visors, hats, shirts, etc.). We also started watching the FPO tournaments and saw Kristin Tattar and Ohn Scoggins looking amazing and killing it on the course in skorts. We started to joke about the skorts being “birdie shorts” because everyone who was wearing them was “gettin them birdies”. So, he bought me some skorts. Once I started with the skorts I couldn’t stop. My confidence on the course skyrocketed because I felt like I looked good. I stopped being so nervous in front of a crowd - and I was able to get past the tournament jitters a lot earlier than I had been. I will be honest - it still takes me 6 holes to get past those jitters, but that number is down from 18!
“I started to wonder if there were specific things I wanted from clothes as a female disc golfer.”
I hunted for new clothing, but found myself searching for golf or tennis clothing. I started to wonder if there were specific things I wanted from clothes as a female disc golfer. After thinking through what I wanted on the course, I started asking others what they wanted to wear on the course, and from there Good Bird Disc Golf Apparel was born!
We are just getting started, but we hope to create a brand that provides functional and stylish apparel custom designed for women disc golfers.