There was a wee bit of confusion as six of us walked up the steep hill to a sign announcing the map for our two hour adventure. Only one of us had ever tried the sport – my son - who only played nine holes. You might imagine with that descriptive we were about to venture onto a beautiful smooth green with a PGA approved tee box, but we weren’t. Instead, we were venturing onto a Disc Golf Course, five minutes from my home on rolling hills that surround and dot our horizon.
With bright colored discs in a carrying bag, which I purchased in anticipation for trying this new sport with my son’s fiancée and her athletic parents along with me and my husband, we wondered how to play the game. None of us actually looked up the directions until we lost two discs into the woods on the second hole. “Wait a minute,” I said to our investigative players deep in the weeds, woods and poison ivy, “I think we better see what happens when a disc goes out of bounds and read the rules.”
The Higginbothams and Pioppis in a fun game of Disc Golf - First timers
By the time we realized we had lost two new discs, we found two others with the names and numbers of their owners on them. How wise! Now we knew, we needed to do the same with ours since the game of Disc Golf is typically played near or in woods, overgrown bushes, streams, small lakes, and beautiful vistas found around every turn. The only way to tell where the next hole began was on an electronic map on my son’s phone, the white pads you stand on to throw your first disc, and eventually the iconic wired baskets (aka the holes) where you aim and eventually score to move onto the next hole.
If you like nature, hikes, scenic seasonal flowers and bushes, along with critters and bugs, you will love Disc Golf. A red bridge appeared over a quaint stream on one hole, followed by a flat, mowed, open lawn on the next, followed by a trip back into the woods in the middle of tall trees. It is an adventure of sorts and we all thought that was pretty cool. We only wished we brought bug spray, water, more discs (yes we lost a few more), and sweat rags to wipe our brow by the time we were done. All in all, we burned close to 700 calories each in a span of 9 holes and each couple scored the same score.
Here are some of the comments from my guests regarding Disc Golf:
* It is harder than they thought.
* They wondered if it was easier to play in snow?
* Shorter holes are much easier than the longer ones
* It was very scenic.
* It was aerobic and used many muscles.
* It is not as frustrating as real golf.
* It is less expensive than golf with no course fees and only the need for discs.
So if you are looking for a new kind of sporting adventure and you have “adventurous” friends willing to try, we all recommend Disc Golf complete with colorful discs, a carrying bag/backpack to carry everything, bug spray, water, camera, and a healthy sense of sporting fun.
