User:John Houck

John Houck (born ) is widely considered to be disc golf's premier course designer, with more than a dozen courses for PDGA World and National Championships, and over 80 designs spanning his career. During this time he helped Texas become the first state with 50 disc golf courses; and as PDGA Commissioner 1995-96, John brought stability and accountability to a fractured organization that needed help. Innovative, creative, patient and fair-minded, John Houck has made it his business to spread the joy of disc golf to the world.

As a disc golf promoter and entrepreneur, John Houck simply has no equal. He created the World's Biggest Disc Golf Weekend to annually introduce hundreds of new players to the game, became director of the popular Circular Skies Over Texas tour and National Doubles Championships, hosted dozens of top-ranked PDGA events including two World Championships, and started Circular Productions, home of Millenium golf discs and Houck Design.

Contribution to Disc Golf
John Houck started playing disc sports around 1975. He played in his first tournament, the Western New York Open, in August of '78. He won the World Freestyle Championships in 1984 and 1985, and that's about the same time he started running tournaments.

In the late '80's he created the Circular Skies Over Texas Tour, which was initially the biggest regional disc golf tour in the country and that's the time he started designing courses.

In the early '90's he designed, started, and ran the PDGA National Doubles Championships. In 1991 he created World's Biggest Disc Golf Weekend, his international event to spread the love of disc golf.

He also co-founded Millennium Golf Discs with Harold Duvall in 1994. He was Commissioner of the Professional Disc Golf Association from 1994 to 1996 and ran the Pro Worlds in '94 and '95 in Port Arthur, Texas. In those days he was emcee for many of the disc world's biggest events and he was doing the commentary for the video coverage PDGA Worlds. He made the first instructional video. He was inducted into the Disc Golf Hall of Fame in 1998. He opened his private courses at Circle R ranch in Wimberley, Texas to the public in 1999, and in 2002 he opened Circle R2 Ranch for public play with three premium championship courses in San Saba, Texas. In 2006 he became President of Millennium Golf Discs, which is his custom brand of premium discs designed for accuracy and course management.

Disc Golf Courses
John Houck continues to define the cutting edge of disc golf course design. Included in the 80+ courses he's designed thus far are a record 12 courses for World and National Championships. His contribution to course design includes an additional 20+ consultations, and he is the premier disc golf course designer in the world, not by sheer volume, but mainly by the quality and the standard he sets in the industry. He continues to passionately design and consult regularly even today.

Present
These days John Houck is President of the Disc Golf Foundation and Head of Design at the International Disc Golf Center in Augusta, Georgia. He is President and Founder of Circular Productions, LLC and he makes contributions to the disc golf world with his work through HouckDesign, Millennium Golf Discs, and World's Biggest Disc Golf Weekend.