Meet the Board

Pete Cashen

Pete's introduction to the sport started with playing catch and freestyling in his neighborhood with his brother Dan, who first introduced him to disc sports in the mid to late 1970s. Pete started playing ultimate with Kansas City Ultimate in the late '70s and then played with the Ultimatoe's until the late '80s. Pete played a little disc golf on the side, but back in those days, you either played ultimate or disc golf!

Pete and his brothers took over the family business (TMS Mechanical) in 1988 and he focused on the business until his brother Dan, strikes again and takes him to Waterworks Disc Golf Course in 1999. That was all it took and Pete was hooked and became a PDGA member. Pete became an accomplished disc golf player and traveled the United States and the World competing and meeting new friends along the way. A highlight was a trip to Japan which was amazing! Pete has also served on the KC Disc Golf Club Board of Directors for many years and has put countless hours and resources into growing the sport of disc golf in Kansas City. He also is a gracious host and many of the World's top players have made a stop at his Frisbee mecca of a home in Kansas City, Kansas.

Pete has been a mechanical contractor for the last 40 years and is looking forward to retiring so he can spend time on tour and playing new Disc Golf Courses around the country. He belongs to 3 non-profit Boards of Directors and enjoys giving back to my community in any way he can. 

Laura Hayes

Laura Hayes is relatively new to flying disc sports.  She was introduced to the sport while on a business trip (thanks to a middle seat on an airplane and a great conversationalist one seat over!). He further introduced her to the Kansas City Disc Golf Club. After that flight, she played her first round at Swope Park in 2015, and from then she’s been hooked. 

Laura has competed in a variety of disc golf tournaments and is known to have a mean hyzer flip shot.  But she doesn’t stop at competing as she also volunteers substantially. She has been on the Kansas City Disc Golf Board of Directors for four years; the first three as Secretary and currently the Vice President of Kansas. She’s also involved in a local group that formed Rosedale- The Rogues of Rosedale. The Rogues spend much of their time maintaining the course and have committed over 700 hours of volunteer work over the past four years. Lastly, Laura has been a co-TD for several tournaments, most notably the 2018 and 2021 Down Under Invitational at Rosedale Disc Golf Course. When not acting in a TD/Co-TD role, Laura enjoys helping where she can to help make local KC based tournaments run as smooth as possible 

Laura graduated from the University of Missouri with a major in Psychology in 2014 and currently works as a Financial Solution Architect at Netsmart Technologies. She lives in Overland Park, KS.

Christopher Mattison

Christopher was first introduced to flying disc sports in the early ’80s as a young boy watching his older family members play catch. Always mesmerized by the soft graceful flight of the disc, he was hooked from day one. As Christopher got older, toss and catch turned into ultimate as more of his friends began to play. In 1997 as a freshman in high school, Christopher was introduced to disc golf and was hooked again. As he got better he began playing local leagues, eventually competing and ultimately joining the PGDA in 2004.

Since his family and business is a current priority, traveling and competing have taken a back burner. Filling that void, Christopher enjoys collecting flying disc history. From disc’s to memorabilia and other artifacts of historic nature, he has one of the top collections in the world!

Christopher has been happily married since 2003 and is a proud father of two 2 daughters. He is also the 4th generation of a family-owned heating and air conditioning company in Hutchinson. Eventually, Christopher partnered with his cousin to buy the business to preserve its legacy for generations to come. 

Christopher enjoys spending time with family, backpacking the Rockies and getting together with friends to play disc golf. Along with this association, he is a board member of the Kansas Disc Golf Scholarship Foundation, a course designer and does product testing for Bushnell’s Disc Golf division.

Eric McCabe

Eric was born and raised in Emporia, Kansas and that is where he makes his home with his wife and family. Not only is he a Professional Disc Golf World Champion, but he is also a world-class disc golf course designer. In just over 13 years, he has designed more than 52 courses in 23 states, some of which have been utilized in the PDGA Amateur and Professional World Championships. His courses are prominently featured in the world’s largest disc golf tournament, the week-long Glass Blown Open tournament in Emporia, Kansas.

Eric has over 26 years of playing flying disc sports and some of his accomplishments include; 86 PDGA victories, 2-time major champion, Presidents Cup Player, USA Team Captain, Glass Blown Open Founder and Dynamic Discs Tour Manager.

His course design philosophy is inspiring as it emphasizes the character, uniqueness and flow of the prospective land. His designs will provide a challenging but fair layout with safety being the number one priority. But he also seeks a sense of imagination combined with a sense of competitive sport, difficulty and charm that only somebody that has competed at the top levels can visualize. These characteristics create a more successful and enjoyable course that not only stands the test of time but will also challenge players of all skill levels. Some of his more notable designs include:

·       Moon Mountain Disc Golf Course-Ruidoso, New Mexico

·       MacArthur Island-Kamloops, British Columbia

·       The Reserve at Meier Lake-Fishhook, Alaska

·       The Farm at Quail Valley-Winfield, Kansas

Bill Paulson

Bill was introduced to a Frisbee in 1975 in Augsburg, Germany. Those fun times influenced his decision to join the Pittsburg State University Ultimate team in 1978 after returning stateside. His first round of “Folf” was after practice that first year in 78 and his first "basket" round was at the Oklahoma Frisbee Championships in 1979 in Tulsa. An old Ultimate teammate of Bill's, Ted Smethers, gifted him his PDGA membership (#3543) when he was Commissioner of the PDGA.

On the field of competition, Bill's trophy case is full with B, C and local level tournaments in Open and every age-related pro division up to Legend. He won the 1995 State Frisbee Championship along with a state Master’s record in MTA with a throw of over 10 seconds. In 1998, he qualified to play for the American championship team of the Second International Match Play Tournament “Culture Clash” ran by Scott Stokely in Colorado. He won the A-tier Pro GM KCWO in back-to-back years and the Glass Blown Open once. He has two top 10 finishes at World’s, grand master in Minnesota and senior grand master in Charlotte in the Pro Grand Masters Division.

Other flying disc contributions include: Being a charter member and officer of both the Kansas Disc Golf Association and the Air Capital Disc Golf Club; designing, manufacturing and marketing the first Disc Golf Board Game called “Holes”; starting and running the Kansas High/Jr. High State Championship series; co-founding (with Jeff Priest) the Kansas Disc Sports Scholarship Foundation; designing many disc golf courses in the Wichita area as well as Thornfield in Kansas City; collecting early examples of the homemade disc golf baskets and targets used around the state; writing three books that all relate to the history or the practice of disc golf in Kansas.   

Bill spent the majority of his career in Wichita and worked in the cabinet industry until 1985 when he became an Industrial Arts teacher until retirement in 2013. He currently lives in Valley Center with his wife and chases his grandchildren around the disc golf courses in the area. He also has a sizeable collection of minis, early Frisbees, first-run golf discs and autographed discs that keeps him busy.

Rich Smith - President

Rich began playing Frisbee as a teenager in the mid to late 1970's with friends in his neighborhood and at Lake Shawnee in Topeka, KS. He has a soft spot for the Wham-o Master as it is the first disc he remembers playing "throw and catch" with.  As he got more serious about the sport, he honed his skills at Gage Park, with members of the Heart of America Frisbee Club. While in High School, he along with friends Marc Wisbey and Mike McClure, formed a Frisbee Club at Topeka High School called “The Twisterzzz.” Many Ultimate players from this team went on to play in college and beyond.

Rich's first competitive Tournament was the US Frisbee Championships in Colorado Springs in 1981. While Rich competed in all events, his area of specialty was Freestyle.  In the early to mid 1980's, Rich was a multiple State champion and medalist in Distance, SCF, Freestyle and Disc Golf (PDGA #3086).  He also placed in several National Tournaments in Freestyle and Discathon and won the Amateur disc golf title at the FT. Collins National Championships in 1983. In 2022, Rich competed at the WFDF Overall World Championships in San Diego and placed 2nd in the world in his age group.

Rich is an ambassador for the sport and did a plethora of exhibitions at schools and at halftime shows at sporting events in and around Kansas, Kansas City and the Midwest. As a part of these shows, he was sponsored by Sunkist and the Jammers. He continues to speak to schools educating children on the benefits of flying disc sports.

Rich is currently the President Emeritus of Henderson Engineers headquartered in Kansas City, a company he has worked at for 29 years. He has an undergraduate and master's degree in Mechanical Engineering and Architectural Engineering from the University of Kansas. He lives in Overland Park, KS with his wife (Carol) of 30 years, his four kids, their dog Rosie and a large collection of Frisbees.