StatMando – the brand, the data, the engaging posts, and the people behind them – are now part of the PDGA family.  

For many disc golf fans, StatMando’s data analysis and insight has enhanced the experience of following the world’s top professional disc golfers competing on the Disc Golf Pro Tour (DGPT) and at PDGA Majors. This exciting acquisition ensures the continuation of those touchpoints – and of the StatMando brand – while bringing plans for new digital tools and experiences to the PDGA membership at large.  

StatMando History in Brief 

Launched in 2021, StatMando was a passion project shared by its three founders.  

Dion Arlyn, a former disc golf touring professional, brought that unique industry background plus a business career to the team. Arlyn would focus on the product strategy and building revenue for the fledgling platform.  

Hans Anderson, a full-stack developer added the proven coding and technical expertise necessary to build a complex, sport-wide database from scratch. 

And Evan Kerns, also a full-stack developer with a passion for sports analytics, would lead the way in data curation, analysis, and content creation for the platform. 

“Together, we wanted to fill a ‘gap’ in the sport for stat collection and analysis,” said Arlyn. “Other sports, like Major League Baseball, have statistical reference tools. We wanted to be that for the DGPT and for the disc golfing public.” 

The StatMando founders – Evan Kerns, Dion Arlyn, and Hans Anderson.

The first StatMando product – the website – went live during the PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Championship of 2021. Soon after, StatMando began interacting with the disc golf community on social media platforms and began providing real-time data to live Disc Golf Network broadcasts. 

“Once we figured out how much value we could provide, we wanted to scale it up into a commercially viable entity,” added Arlyn. 

StatMando became more than just the “side project” of its three founders. In a short time, an open-source community of passionate researchers and collaborators would contribute to the organization’s analysis and output volume. StatMando hired members of this engaged community as contractors and began generating revenue. 

The Relationship Takes Shape 

By early 2022, StatMando and the PDGA formed a strong working relationship – PDGA historical records provided a significant source of the raw data populating StatMando’s database. Eventually, conversations between the PDGA technology team and StatMando turned to the topic of finding more direct ways to benefit PDGA tournament directors and members via various digital projects. By late 2023, ideas became future initiatives and today StatMando – its staff and assets – are officially part of the PDGA team and the PDGA brand family.  

What the Future Holds 

To date, most of StatMando’s production has focused on individual touring disc golf professionals and on professional disc golf competition. Fans of the pro tour can rest assured that StatMando will continue to enhance the fan experience via existing and new interactions with the DGPT/DGN teams. However, the benefits of existing and new data-driven tools will now extend to all stakeholders within the PDGA organization, including members, tournament directors, and clubs. 

Each founder of StatMando now holds a role within the PDGA and is ready to give his full-time effort to the mission. Evan Kerns and Hans Anderson will join the technical team at the PDGA and look forward to growing the capabilities of both platforms. Dion Arlyn will join the PDGA as the director of product and apply the lessons learned throughout his professional journey in enhancing value across the member facing experiences. 

“Bringing the StatMando team and platform in-house is a huge step forward for the PDGA,” said Peter Crist, PDGA director of technology. “There are so many opportunities and challenges in disc golf scoring and statistics, and we're thrilled to begin a new era of technology in our sport!”