Lexi Marx goes from ‘pathetic’ to professional in disc golf

Lexi Marx was a student at Illinois State University during the COVID-19 shutdown, so Marx and her friends were looking for things to keep them busy.

That’s when Marx first tried disc golf.

“We went and bought a starter set from Dick’s Sporting Goods,” Marx said. “We each had one disc and went out there. It’s a lot harder than it looks. With my competitive edge, I was like, ‘OK, I need to get better at this’ because it was kind of pathetic at first.

“Then I fell in love with it and just kept playing. Now I play every day.”

Marx, a La Salle-Peru graduate who is now a PE/health teacher and basketball coach at St. Bede, went from “pathetic” to professional in just a few years. She now competes in the Professional Disc Golf Association and is a member of the Discmania team.

Marx discovered a league in Bloomington and saw promise in her game.

“I realized that I obviously had potential in the sport, so I started doing leagues more,” said Marx, who played basketball at L-P and at IVCC. “After leagues came tournaments. Then I played a couple FA3 tournaments (in the PDGA), which the lowest amateur division is FA4, and won. I played in FA2 a couple times and was placing pretty well so I moved up to the highest amateur level, and my first year playing FA1 tournaments I won 12.

“After that I was like, ‘I might as well try making some money doing it.’ That’s when I decided I should play in the open field.”

The PDGA offers tiers of tournaments at the Pro Open level with the Elite Series and Majors being the more prestigious events with larger payouts.

To get a spot in a Major or Elite Series event, players typically need to have a rating, which is calculated based on a player’s finishes throughout the season and comes out the second Tuesday of every month, above 900. Marx sits at 920 after starting at 771 in November 2021.

The 42 players who have a tour card get the first opportunity to sign up for tour events. For any open spots after that, which is usually around 10 or so, Marx said, signups are tiered based on player ratings.

Marx’s first “big” event was the PDGA Champions Cup, which is one of four majors, in April 2024. She placed 44th.

Marx had three top-40 finishes at Elite Series events last season, including a 34th at the Des Moines Challenge during which she threw a hole-in-one, which landed her in the No. 6 spot on SportCenter’s Top 10 plays.

In 2025, Marx has stepped up her game even more.

She placed 25th at the PDGA United States Women’s Disc Golf Championship, a major, June 19-22 and brought home her largest career payout at $1,120 and followed that with an 11th-place finish June 27-29 in the Discmania Challenge, which was formerly the Des Moines Challenge.

“I would say I can throw the disc pretty far. That’s an advantage, especially when you play the pro tour tournaments, because there’s a lot more par-4s and par-5s, whereas locally it’s a lot of par-3 courses” Marx said. “I think being able to throw backhand and forehand is something a lot of players don’t have, so that’s good I can utilize both aspects of the forehand and backhand game.

“My weakness is probably my short game and my putting, but I did switch my putting stroke around when I hurt my shoulder, and I think that’s why I played so well the last three weeks (in June).”

After traveling to Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa for tournaments in June, Marx used the first week of July to “decompress,” but beyond that, she generally practices daily.

She’ll play local courses Lehigh Park in Oglesby, Baker Lake in Peru or Rotary Park in La Salle. Marx also has a basket in her backyard along with a basket and net in her basement so she can practice her form in the winter.

Marx hopes her work helps her “cash” at more events this summer.

“I definitely want to cash at the Ledgestone Open (Aug. 14-17 in Eureka), which is one of the biggest tournaments in the world,” Marx said. “Last year when I played there, I was like one stroke out of the cash line going into the final day, and then I didn’t make it.

“I had a goal set that I wanted to cash at every big event I played this year. I did not cash in Minnesota. I didn’t play very well in Minnesota. But I did cash in Wisconsin and Iowa. That was my first time cashing at a big event. I’ve cashed locally at C tiers, B tiers and A tiers, but never in an Elite Series or Major, so that was really cool. I’m hoping I can keep the streak going at Ledgestone and also at the DGLO (Discraft Great Lakes Open on Sept. 4-7 in Michigan).”

Long term, Marx said she thinks she could go on tour full-time and make a living, but doesn’t think that’s the lifestyle she wants.

“I don’t know that I would enjoy living out of a van or RV,” Marx said. “My fiancé and I bought a house a couple years ago and have our roots established here. My job at St. Bede is like a dream job for me. I like the people I work with and work for. I like the kids. So it would be hard to leave all that to try pursuing disc golf year-round. But I don’t want to say never, because I don’t know.

“I want to continue playing as much as I can in the summer. Being in Illinois is good for that, because the Midwest swing is in the months of June, July and part of August, so I can make it to a lot of those events.”

Marx also hopes to continue helping the sport grow.

“At St. Bede we’ve had a disc golf unit the past two years that I’ve taught there,” Marx said. “We have nine baskets, and we have such an awesome campus. The kids are enjoying that. I think the sport is growing so fast. We have four or five courses in the area. When I first started, we had Baker Lake and IVCC. Now Mendota just opened one. Rotary Park opened. Lehigh Park opened. There’s a lot to look forward to.

“I think disc golf is being put on the map. Being on SportsCenter last year was a big deal, because disc golf has only been featured on SportsCenter a few times, so that was pretty cool. The sport is growing so much, and I think you’ll see more and more people playing it. I hope it gets to a level of professional sports that a lot of other sports are at right now.”