Circle One DGC - A Disc Golf App
Social media. Some love it, some hate it, but we all use it. On paper, social media was supposed to bring the world together and promote community, creation, and comradery. The truth is social media may be the biggest driving force that is dividing people into extremes no matter what subject is being discussed. In Disc Golf, platforms have vastly different vibes. I think Twitter Disc Golf is not nearly as negative as Reddit Disc Golf, but even this basic opinion can stir up a whirlwind of chaos and comments. But what if there was a platform exclusively for Disc Golf? Would that help simmer down the animosity and vitriol that we experience on these other platforms? There are two people out there who are willing to find out. The app is called Circle One DGC and was founded by Dave and Brandy Baumrucker. They were willing to share their journey with us this week.
First, we need to learn about their discovery of disc golf. Dave recalls, “I discovered disc golf my junior year of high school ('03). My friends and I would take me up at Oakwood Park (Cottage Grove, MN) to play a few rounds after school and on the weekends.” Dave went off to college at Bemidji State University, where he continued to play at the short 9-hole course, often squeezing in rounds between classes. “After moving out west, disc golf continued to be a great outlet during Grad School at University of Montana - Missoula and be a way to get out and enjoy the mountains. Since then, I have moved back to Minnesota and have continued playing in tournaments and leagues whenever I can.” For Brandy, she, “Discovered disc golf back in 2015 when I began playing off and on during my college years at the University of Montana – Missoula then in 2019 I began to pick it back up again more regularly while living in Minnesota.” And like many of us, she was able to play more rounds during the pandemic years, and this was the spark that ignited her passion and love for the sport. “I enjoy being outside and disc golf provides me with the opportunity to meet new people and explore different courses. I really like that disc golf is a life-long sport where I can continue developing my skills and refining my game,” she says.
Like so many inventions, it was necessity that motivated the creation of Circle One DGC. They began considering the idea of an app in the fall of 2019. Dave says, “I was co-running a local doubles league and quickly discovered that all the players that would come out to play were divided amongst different social media platforms, private groups, and some where not on any social media at all. I quickly discovered that many people had strong opinions and preferences toward their social media of choice, and I received push-back on using one platform over the other; resulting in a need to post in multiple areas each week to get the word out.” Keeping current on so many platforms was exhausting, and it was clear that there was no central space to communicate effectively with each other. “As a result, we began searching for a solution and when we didn't find anything, we decided to dive into creating a solution ourselves,” Brandy says. “This began our entrepreneurial journey into the tech and developer space. Since we had nothing but time, we took it upon ourselves to learn during the COVID years. This has been, and continues to be, a passion project! Any free time we had outside our day jobs was poured into this project. There was a huge learning curve and countless hours spent exploring how we can make this community fit the needs of the sport.” After all the blood, sweat and tears, Dave and Brandy were able to launch the mobile app in 2021, as well as create an official Circle One DGC business.
Without getting into too many details, Dave and Brandy say, “The base software development for the community was outsourced. The other details that make the look and feel of the Circle One disc golf community cohesive were engineered and customized by us.” They were able to do this without any prior programming experience. Brandy says, “As we started this project, we slowly began the journey of teaching ourselves about word press, servers, basic coding, photo, and video editing, and UI/UX design. Little did we know that this journey would take us on a multi-year path towards developing the Circle One disc golf community that you know today.” It was important that the platform be accessible outside of the mobile version. Dave says, “We also understand that the way disc golfers prefer to connect can vary, so we also developed a platform that can be accessed by desktop computer or tablet via the website www.circleonedgc.com. We created the mobile app to connect out on the course and while traveling. Everyone has a phone with them wherever they go, so back in 2020 we knew the importance of developing a mobile app for the community.” The whole journey taught them both the importance of self-education, cross-training, and taking time to teach each other the skills they took on individually, allowing them to use a divide-and-conquer approach to complete this monumental project.
Ok, now it’s been built, what is the purpose of putting all this effort into an app just for disc golf? It’s a simple but lofty goal, to build a central space for the sport that invites players, leagues, clubs, creators, and entrepreneurs to come together online where we can all meet, learn, and support each other. “Our goal is to make it easier to connect, because currently, the sport is fractured across multiple social media platforms and there is a growing number of players not on social media at all,” they say. “One of the most powerful things within the sport of disc golf is the community, especially the inclusive nature of community. Circle One DGC is designed to highlight this unique and dynamic aspect of the sport. The way in which we do this is by making it a free community, having a member directory, groups, forums, blogs, live messaging, and a global news feed. This provides users with the ability to connect with their local, national, and international disc golf communities”, Dave says. “Additionally, we wanted to create a player-centered experience, where your profile highlights you! This includes your involvement, team(s), PDGA #, UDisc handle, what you're looking for, links to your social media accounts, and your disc golf business,” Brandy says. By setting up the platform this way people can learn more about you, support you, and get to know the person behind the player, not just read your comments on a random thread. With all this in mind, they say their goal for the app is, “To unite the sport of disc golf across the world. We seek to do this by providing an option that hosts all the familiar features that we've come to know and use in a space solely dedicated to the sport of disc golf. By creating one central space that acts like the town hall for disc golf, we elevate everyone's opportunities to connect, grow, and thrive within the sport.”
I asked if Circle One DGC will be the new Twitter. They said, “In a way, we see this becoming the central hub for the sport worldwide. We're not trying to replace legacy social media, rather we're trying to create a unique space centered around the sport of disc golf. In building the community, we've identified the features that are attractive on other legacy social media platforms, and we've combined them into our online community. Our global newsfeed (Twitter), groups/live messaging (Facebook), forums/discussion (Reddit), player profile (LinkedIn), and the ability to create and bookmark blogs (Brand/Personal Website). With the season beginning, we have both paid and organic marketing campaigns in the works. We have a few projects in development that will enhance the community and make it more engaging. A few items may include reactions to comments and the option for people to create their own polls.”
Dave and Brandy believe in “The power of community and feel that having a central space to meet, collaborate, and support one another is the catalyst for the sport to become a household name, while retaining the culture and values that make this sport so great.”
Dave and Brandy have personally funded the development of this project since 2019, and hope to make this app the centralized app for the global disc golf community. So far, they have had moderate success. They say, “Our mobile app is available in the Apple and Google play stores in these following countries: U.S.A., Australia, Austria, Belize, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom. Currently, we have players joining us from 35 states (Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin) and 5 other countries (Austria, Belize, Netherlands, Norway, and Canada {Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Ontario}).”
Dave and Brandy say, “Looking ahead to 2024 and beyond, our longer-term goals include continuing to develop and enhance the user experience while growing our community around the world. With the growth of a global community, we also anticipate that a translation feature may be needed to make communication more convenient. Additionally, Circle One DGC is interested in exploring the potential for partnerships and other collaborations as the community grows,” they say. As for monetization of the app in the future, they say, “We thought about this before and ultimately concluded that having no barrier to entry and allowing it to be a free community was the most important factor to our company's mission. If possible, we'd like to keep the community free for everyone as long as we can, and in the future, we may decide to offer a paid membership option depending on the need to do so to cover scaling costs. This is a great experiment and we're hoping that there's enough revenue through our shop and/or donations to help support the greater community on the platform/mobile app. The unknown variable is the cost of scaling the online community as it continues to grow. Our goal is to allow the sport a free option to connect, grow, and thrive together. We've taken great care and spent time thinking about how we can create a free community without ads. An ad-free space really enhances the user experience by limiting needless distractions and allowing you to focus on what matters. We understand that peer-to-peer support is vital to a healthy disc golf community, so anything related to companies/brands or buying/selling/trading is required to be in a private group, so it doesn't show up in the global newsfeed. This allows the global newsfeed to remain centered on connections and public activity. Our ask is that if anyone likes what we're doing and wishes to help support this project, that they simply buy an item or two from our online shop.”
As usual I asked for any closing remarks, and they said, “We're grateful for the tremendous support and feedback from everyone who has been with us along our journey beginning in 2019. We're excited to invite everyone to create a free account. You can add your own unique community URL handle and start connecting with players in your area today. We welcome your feedback and would love to connect with you inside Circle One where we have open dialogue with the community. Disc golf invites players from all backgrounds to come together for the love of the sport. The Circle One disc golf community is our passion project and we're excited to host a space where it allows other disc golfers to pursue their passions as well.”
If you haven’t already, please check out the app or desktop versions and help grow this amazing new and free platform.
