The boom, the WGE, and start of your era
In 2012, three women played in Australia’s first PDGA Women’s Global Event. One event across the whole country. Three players. By 2022 that number reached a hundred women across seven events, from Perth to Sydney. The numbers kept climbing. While the pandemic accelerated the growth of the sport worldwide women did not get left behind. Female participation kept pace with overall growth, remaining steady at around 14% of the playing base even as total player numbers exploded.
And the playing standard has gone to another level. While still fragmented and geographically dispersed, the era of a single dominant player has passed. This shift was signalled when Kairi Koobakene claimed the Women’s Tour title in 2019. Players like Emma Winkworth, Toosje Frequin, Nicole McPherson and Julie O’Donoghue formed a strong base, and soon a wave of high‑level Ultimate players transitioned into disc golf and began contending regularly for top honours—Gina Hill, Sarah Lee, Sue Summers, Kirsty Murray, and Clare Hussey among them. What has emerged is a competitive field with genuine depth. Other divisions have grown too, the newly created masters division is often the largest women’s field at an event. And the pipeline is stronger. A new generation of juniors is coming through with skill, confidence, and ambition. Anita Weber, Miley Nicholson, Lily Nicholson‑Love, Charlotte Davies, and Lydia Philpott are among the names to watch as the next era of women’s disc golf in Australia continues to unfold.
A lot came together in the 2020s. COVID was part of it. Lockdowns shut down team sports and gyms and people found disc golf – something you could play outdoors with a single disc that cost less than lunch. Courses that had been sitting quietly in suburban parks for years suddenly had traffic on them.
But COVID just accelerated something that was already building. The real story is the work.
But it is not just on the course that has seen growth. Women are out the front in leadership positions ensuring women play a role in guiding our sport and across the country they are creating spaces specifically designed to bring other women in. Leagues, social days, beginner clinics, mentoring, dedicated women’s events. No one embodies this more than Sue Summers. In 2021, Sue ran Run the Chains for WGE in Perth, achieving the highest female participation ever for an Australian disc golf event. At the time Sue was on the ADG board and was president of Mundaring Disc Golf, becoming the first woman to hold the presidency of an Australian disc golf club. Currently, Sue serves on the WFDF Disc Golf Committee, where her primary focus is women’s participation, gender equity, and inclusion. Sue was integral in bringing the WFDF World team championships to Australia in 2024, taking the event to the next level as co-TD with husband Ken Summers.
The Women’s Global Event has been a valuable stepping stone for new female TDs: in 2022, five of the seven Australian WGE events were run by women. Women are also leading the country’s largest tournaments. In 2024, Michelle Shultz of SA won the inaugural Tournament Director of the Year award for her work on the Eruption, widely regarded as the most sought-after event on the ADG Tour. That same year, Sharon Costa co‑TDed the Australian Disc Golf Championships in Molong, NSW and was awarded volunteer of the year award along with husband Kevin Costa for their work at Central West Disc Golf. The award nomination cited their work encouraging women across all divisions from Juniors to Masters.
Helping with the visibility of women in the sport are groups like the Birdie Babes. Run by QLDs Tenyse Dark and Ash Dooley, Birdie Babes provides a place to see women playing, to hear what women are doing to help grow female participation and to celebrate women around the country
And the women who started all of this haven’t gone anywhere. Gail P. Lynch, who was the only woman in the room when the AFA formed in 1976, is still on the Melbourne Disc Golf Club board, still securing grants, still pushing for access and inclusion fifty years on. Emilie Cameron guided the national body through its most transformative period before stepping into a general member role after 15 years as Secretary. Cassie Sweetten is still making the national team. The pioneers didn’t just start this. They’re still here.
That’s what fifty years of women in Australian disc golf looks like.
This year marks fifty years since a group of curious players gathered in a South Melbourne park and threw their first Frisbees. In the five decades since, women have been at the heart of Australian disc sports as players, organisers, mentors, and pioneers.
To celebrate this milestone and the 2026 PDGA Women’s Global Event, we’re telling that story in a four-part series. Each week, we’ll share a new era – from the very first throws in 1976 to the thriving community we have today. Along the way, you’ll meet the women who built this sport, often as the only woman on the card, and the new generation who are making sure that’s no longer the case.
Be sure to follow the 50 Years of Flight campaign on Facebook for even more stories, photos, and celebrations as we honour half a century of disc sports in Australia.
Whether you’ve been playing for decades or you’ve never picked up a disc, this story is yours too. The 2026 WGE runs May 15–25, and every woman who shows up is writing the next chapter. Find your nearest WGE event on our website.
We want to take a moment to thank everyone who has helped put this together. A project like this doesn’t happen without the people who capture and embody the spirit of our sport. A special thank you to Emilie Cameron, Cassie Sweetten, Gail P. Lynch, Tenyse Dark, Kingsley Flett (for his photography), and the many other photographers and historians, both known and unknown, whose images and stories help tell the story of Australian Disc Golf. Your contributions are what make something like this possible.
If you would like to help grow the game for women and girls, consider making a donation through the Australian Sports Foundation. This fundraiser is dedicated to supporting the 2026 Women’s Global Event, helping to lower barriers to entry, get more women and girls on the course, and build a future where no one has to be the only woman on the card. Every donation is tax-deductible, and every dollar goes directly toward making disc golf more welcoming and accessible for women at every level. Donate at asf.org.au/preview/back-women-s-disc-golf–wge-2026