Interview with Timmy Gill
Minneapolis, MN
PDGA #9293

Timmy Gill is the President of DiscGolfTV.com as well as the tournament director of the Minnesota Majestic. He was the Amateur World Champion in 1995 and has since become one of the most respected pros, and promoters, on the PDGA Tour.

How did you get started with DiscGolfTV.com?

Myself and Co-Owner Alan Hansen Begg both own Disc Golf companies, Alan owns Long Tee disc golf, a screen printing company, which supported many of the local events that I ran through my business Par 72 Disc Golf. We became close friends and starting sharing ideas how to make Disc Golf a household name. With the internet changing the world as we know it, and online Video becoming more of an everyday resource for people, we came up with Disc Golf TV.

Start up ventures are usually tougher than most people can appreciate. Have there been any unexpected hurdles that you just didn’t see coming?

Of course. We’ve changed our web designer, upgraded bandwitdth several times, invested a lot more time and money than we had budgeted for and sacrificed our own games to make the dream happen.

I would think YouTube would be helpful in creating additional visibility, and potential traffic back to DiscGolfTV. Is that also a negative though, in that all this free content complicates a viable business plan?

YouTube is great. We have some video’s on there, but the quality is not the same as our site. Disc Golf is an action sport, and YouTube clips do not handle fast moving clips very good. We will continue to put various clips on YouTube, but it will not be our main focus for drawing traffic.

I think disc golfers are pretty loyal overall. Especially to those in the family, so to speak. What can the disc golf community do to support your site?

Spread the word really. Bookmark our page and visit it daily. If you or someone you know has a camera, videotape a course, interview a local mover and shaker, put together a short film and submit it to us. The more content from all around the world the more viewers we will have. We are at 25,000 unique IP address’s (unique viewers) per month right now , which is a great number, and we are getting closer to being able to attract outside the sport advertisers, which then allow us to take it to another level.

We have been contemplating making an optional pay portion to the site, with higher quality video on a larger screen. Hopefully Disc Golfers will see that paying a small fee to help us make it happen will not be too much to ask for. We are not in this to make it rich, our #1 goal is to expose just how great our sport is to the international internet audience.

You just directed The 20th Anniversary Minnesota Majestic, one of the biggest events of the season. Give us your favorite story of the weekend that most people wouldn’t know about.

Weeks before the event, we put out flyers at 30 or so of the local courses. On that flyer it stated 12-Time World Champ Ken Climo is coming to town to try and take down defending champ, local favorite Cale Leiviska, come on out and watch!!!! That could not have been scripted any better with the battle coming down to a sudden death playoff between the two. The “ROAR” when Cale tied it up on the last hole of the final 9 was not only the loudest “Roar” I have ever heard in my time with the sport, but it was the most satisfying moment ever as a TD and promoter. We all dream of our sport getting to that next level, for me, that was it. Huge crowd, high drama, and a cheer that many pro sporting events don’t get. When the Majestic DVD comes out, you will all be able to see the other angles that we did not show on DGTV, it was AMAZING!

Sounds like Cale Leviska had a great weekend. How did it make you feel to watch him perform at such a high level?

It was a great feeling. I am still a fierce competitor, but if I can’t be in there I kinda live vicariously through Cale. He’s a great golfer, with all the talent in the world, but more importantly he’s a great person. I’m honored to say I had a hand in bringing him along. He’s a great friend and I am excited to see what he will accomplish in the coming years.

We all checked out Cale’s putt on the final hole of the final 9. That was awesome video, and even better audio. Is that one of the best clips you guys have posted online?

Yes and no. We posted a great angle, but we have other angles where it really shows the crowd, the sound, the reactions, it was PRICELESS. Another great clip was from the USDGC last Fall, when Brinster had the Ace on hole one pop out. Alan ran back to the car and had it posted on the site within minutes of it happening, all the live scoring fans really enjoyed that one!

Now he and Ken were involved in a little controversy as things got tight down the stretch. Can you give us any insight into how all that went down from your vantage point?

Yes and thank you for the opportunity to clear the air. As many of you have seen on DGTV, after Cale pulls the disc from the basket he slapped his putter on the ground with a curl to it. After the others had putted out, Ken called Cale on the “extra shot”.

They brought it to me as the TD, and I did the only thing I could do which is leave it to the group to decide. Another player needed to back up the call. It was a Sevensome for the Final 9, and none of the others saw it or backed up the call. Shortly after that, my staff brought it to my attention that it was a moot call, Cale’s round was over after he pulled the disc out of the basket. The two carried on and put on a great show, going to the 4th playoff hole, where Ken won his first MN Majestic.

Many were surprised that Ken made the call, but it is his right to make a call if he feels a rule was broken. Thankfully one had not been. We caught the whole thing on tape, so before anyone passes judgement, watch the DVD when it comes out, till then don’t believe what you read on the message boards. Two great competitors battled through an emotional roller coaster, and put on a great show for our MN fans.

The Twin Cities area probably has more disc golf courses within a reasonable drive than any other place on earth. What have been the key factors to such significant growth?

Our club is one of the oldest clubs in the world. In my opinion, Minnesotans cherish the outdoors more than most places. Winters can be tough, but when Spring, Summer, Fall comes around we get out there and take advantage of it. I have 5-6 more course designs coming up in the next 3 years, I really enjoy designing, and plan to have my own pay to play facility in the near not to distant future.

With the Majestic behind you, are you now planning to focus more on competing for the remainder of the season?

Thats a tough one. I still have the drive to compete, but it’s equally invigorating for me to work on DGTV projects and all the other Disc Golf related opportunities that I have. I really will focus on playing well at KC coming up, then it will be on focusing on the USDGC. I placed top 20 last year and would love to make it into the top 10. The Championship is the most inspiring event in our sport, I can’t thank you guys enough for what you bring to our game!

Thanks Tim. Keep up the great work and best of luck this season.