Humans are competitive. Some take this to an unhealthy level, others only find the joy in a rousing game of Scrabble, but we all seem to enjoy playing the game.

I used to feel the larger varieties on the regular when I’d do things like:

• Play intramural sports in college
• Race my bike a bit before the kids came
• Run a few 5ks or 10ks each summer

As the years went on, bike races became chasing the Strava KOMs that sat between me and the office during my daily commutes in Colorado.

And then…nothing. Until this weekend, it’d been years since my last true sense of competition.

Disc Golf

As many of you know, disc golf has captured my heart the last couple of years. The mental and strategic aspects of golf that I played in my youth, the satisfaction of watching a disc fly from my college years playing ultimate frisbee, the simple pleasure of walking through a grassy park or wooded trail, all wrapped into a fun, cheap, accessible sport.

It wasn’t long before I heard about local tournaments, but they were all sanctioned by the PDGA and, as a result, pretty competitive.

Finally, I found the perfect event: The Old Main Hill Challenge. A temp course would be setup on a famous, grassy hill at my Alma Mater (Utah State), you could bring one of your own discs, but then you’d be given two other discs to use as well.

Best of all, it had a recreational division.

Fun x 3

For the first time in years I felt some nerves. For the first time in years I challenged myself against some competition. For the first time in years I saw my name on a leaderboard.

Listen, there is absolutely a place for bringing in top-level events at which your guests might want to be spectators, but I think we need to think more about fun, simple, attainable ways we can give guests a chance to be competitors.

Things like The Big Smuggle family race.
Things like PowMow’s Trail Trials 5k series.
Thinks like a non-sanctioned disc golf tournament with a one-round, recreational division.

Just because most folks’ bodies don’t let them compete at the same level they used to, doesn’t mean that fire still smolders in their bellies. Maybe another way to get folks to your mountain in 2022 is to give normal people a chance to taste that thrill again.

About Gregg & SlopeFillers
I've had more first-time visitors lately, so adding a quick "about" section. I started SlopeFillers in 2010 with the simple goal of sharing great resort marketing strategies. Today I run marketing for resort ecommerce and CRM provider Inntopia, my home mountain is the lovely Nordic Valley, and my favorite marketing campaign remains the Ski Utah TV show that sold me on skiing as a kid in the 90s.