Backhands, Baskets, Birdies In Disc Golf

Judah Berman, 10, of Rougemont winds up for a throw at 2019 NC Junior Disc Golf Cham­pionship in Durham. He won his age group. (Photo by Caroline Gilmore)

Caroline Gilmore

Disc golf is played much like traditional golf, but instead of hitting balls with clubs toward holes, disc golf players throw flying discs toward targets. Disc golf can be played by people of all ages, gender identity and economic status and is easy to learn.

A casual round takes one to two hours and can be played alone. Like traditional golf, disc golf provides upper and lower body conditioning, aerobic exercise and mental stimulation. In the average 18-hole disc golf round, a player may walk more than three miles! Per­haps the greatest attribute of the sport is its low barrier to entry. Most courses are free to play and a professional quality disc costs rough­ly $13 to $20; it only takes one disc for basic play.

The first game of disc golf was played in 1926 and consisted of several elementary school friends throwing tin lids into 4-foot-wide circles drawn into the sand of their school playground in Saskatchewan, Canada. Modern disc golf began in the early 1960s, and really started to progress and expand after the invention of the Frisbee in 1966 by Wham-O employee “Steady Ed” Headrick, long considered the “Father of Disc Golf.”

That same year, Headrick installed the first official disc gold course at a park in Pasa­dena, CA, and, one year later, founded the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA), disc golf’s governing body. In 1975, Head­rick invented the well-known disc golf target with chains and a basket. And, later in 1982, Headrick held the first Disc Golf World Cham­pionships in Los Angeles. In 1983, Dave Dun­i­pace invented the modern golf disc. Dunipace went on to found Innova, a well-known disc manufacturer.

Currently, disc golf is a rapidly growing sport worldwide and is the fourth fastest growing sport in the US, behind mixed martial arts, roller derby, and parkour. Between 2007 and 2017, an average of 400+ new courses were added each year in the U.S. There are now almost 9,000 disc golf courses worldwide, and, the PDGA had almost 125,000 registered members spread across about 40 countries worldwide as of July 2019.

Disc golf courses usually have nine or 18 holes and often are built in more natural and less manicured environments than traditional golf courses and are laid out in and around wooded areas with diverse terrains. Many city parks provide free disc golf courses, while converted golf courses and private pay-to-play venues continue to open. More than 80 percent of the courses listed on dgcourse­review.com are public and free to play.

In disc golf, play begins at the first tee and ends at the last target. At each hole, a player throws from the tee area and then makes successive throws from the previous throw’s resting place until the player throws the disc into the hole’s target basket.

After completing a hole, the player then proceeds to the tee area of the next hole until all holes have been played. Players record the number of throws needed to complete each hole of the entire course. The object of the game is to complete a course with the lowest number of total throws.

A disc golf tee position is usually a pad of concrete, asphalt, rubber, gravel or artificial turf. Modern courses typically use standard disc golf baskets as targets. The target baskets are typically metal and are designed with a central pole that holds a “catching” tray and a set of chains that run from the chain support above to the basket below.

I have played traditional frisbee for about 40 years and played one season in the Tri­angle Flying Disc Association’s Ultimate Frisbee Winter League in Raleigh almost 20 years ago. I couldn’t continue to play ultimate because I had knee issues, so was interested in learning about disc golf as a low-impact flying-disc alternative.

To start, I purchased a beginner’s 3-disc set from Amazon. My friend and I started practicing throwing these new smaller, more specialized discs at a local park on a Friday night in August. The first lesson I learned was not to try to catch these discs. The edges of the mid-range and driver discs are sharper than traditional discs and catching them can really hurt your hands.

Shortly after our first practice, we played my first round of disc golf on the Cornwallis Road Park course in Durham with three very experienced disc golfers. Luckily, we didn’t keep score. I did pretty well at putting (the putter disc is most like the traditional disc is shape and flying behavior), but my mid-range and long-distance throws needed work. There is so much more to disc golf than just throwing a disc—there are obstacles all over the course and multiple strategies to get around the course in as few throws as possible. The second lesson I learned was to wear good shoes for cross-country walking and protective clothing for the brambles, poison ivy and the like.

On a mid-September Saturday morning, I attended and photographed the first annual North Carolina Junior Disc Golf Champion­ships at Cornwallis Road Park in Durham. Twenty-two kids, ranging from 4 to 18 years of age and hailing from across the state, competed in the tournament. It was tons of fun to watch the kids compete and to learn about the almost limitless opportunities for kids in this sport.

For example, Judah Berman, age 10, of Rougemont has been competing in PDGA events for three years, has two disc golf sponsors and is an Innova Junior team member.

I played in the Bull City Disc Club’s Fall Pick-Up League a couple of Saturday mornings. The more experienced players were very welcoming, supportive and willing to teach me some basic disc golf skills and techniques. The first time I played in the doubles league, the opponents we faced ended up winning the entire doubles purse with a score of 38 on an 18-hole par-3 disc golf course. I was very inspired!

I continue to practice and play disc golf. I hope to continue to play for many years and make it my new lifetime sport. Maybe I will see you on the course.

Discs, Public Golf Courses