How did you start playing?

[Toro71]

My buddy and I debate about the course and the year of this...

But I think my first true DG round was in 1990, Kentwood, in Raleigh, NC, visiting said buddy who was at NCSU. He was in a frat that was pretty serious about ultimate, so a lot of them also DGed.

Kentwood's rated 2.76. I may have played 10 rounds total in the 90's, mostly Reedy Creek and Kilborne, but so I don't count them or those years in my 'years playing,' honestly. Never really took it seriously, just a reason to, er...do things that make it hard to remember the exact when/where.

First round that really 'counts' was at Reedy Creek here in CLT. 3.62 rated.

 

[grodney]

Hey all, I poked around on the forums and never saw a thread like this. I feel like there has to be one though...

Stories here:
http://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16117

 

[Kenny53691]

When I was working in Cincinnati, OH, we needed something to do on some downtime. A lot of my co workers played disc golf, so I tried it out and was hooked instantly.

 

[NOStheBOSS]

Cousins at the time boyfriend invited me to play because he needed a ride. I was instantly hooked. Went and bought a starter kit a week later. Been playing ever since. Hoping to get into tournaments next year.

Your cousin, who at the time was your boyfriend, asked you to play?

 

[nat16dick]

What do you reckon the average rating of everyone's first course would be?

1.8 ?

Lots of people started out on dinky 9-holers.

3.33 It was the only course in town at the time. Found a couple Cyclones in my garage, did some research, headed out with a buddy. He plays occasionally. I'm addicted.

 

[demon102]

I played a bunch with some cousins back in late teens/early 20s here and there not really knowing how to play. Then degened it up in my 20s, got fat and unhealthy and me and a buddy decided to start hiking to get in shape. We ran into some cages and I was like DISCGOLF HELL YA!! We got some discs and 3 years later Im a freaking junkie for it.



Lost like 20 lbs and gained muscle, am a lot healthier now as well as let go of my bad habits. Im now introducing the sport to other degen friends of mine. One of them had a belly that he could use as a shelf for his booze back in the day, now after going with my like every other day he lost that shelf. Still fat but he's in a hell of a lot better condition now.

 

[Ceej1978]

When I lived in NC, Kelsey Scott Park was right around the corner from my apartment. My neighbors had played and invited us. I ended up buying a DX Valk and DX Aviar (which I still have 13 year later). The course was a small flat 9 hole and I played it several times a week. Sometimes we'd have a few drinks and jump the fence at night to go play. It was so much fun. We took several trips to the Charlotte area to play courses down there but I can't remember which ones. I took several years off when I moved back to WV, but here I am again!

 

[TimSyl]

Live a mile from Meyer Broadway. Nephew from the other side of the state asked if he could stay at my house while he and his buddies checked out the courses near me. It was March and still snow on the ground. I went with them. Played MB first, shot about 88. Then went to Oshtemo, played the longs. Shot about 95. Nephew and his buddies beat me by 30-40 shots per round. Too competitive to stand for that. The addiction has worn off, but played pretty much every day for about two years. They are high 900 (one is 1000) rated golfers...have beaten each of them at least 2 or 3 times.

 

[kevdiv48]

What do you reckon the average rating of everyone's first course would be?

1.8 ?

Lots of people started out on dinky 9-holers.

4.23

 

[fritothedog]

Stories here:
http://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16117

Oops, the mods can combine if they wish.

I am enjoying hearing these stories though! Keep 'em coming!

 

[ru4por]

Had a buddy talk my girlfriend and I (now my wife) to double date picnic at Starr Park in Royal Oak Michigan. There was a course there he had played. The four of us play a couple rounds with our 171gm Masters Whamo's. I had played a lot with a lid and found the new idea a ton of fun. Frequented the park quite a bit. Stopped into the local party store for a six pack of ginger ale on time and found my first golf disc. A Discraft Photon+. A new world opened up from there. That was back around 1982 or so and the wife and I still play often. OK, all the time. What a great way to spend time together. Thanks Don. Yea, it was a dinky 9 holer, with a minature train that ran through the park. It is still there, don't seem to get there anymore though.

 

[Johnny Conservative]

My nephew asked me if I ever played. I said "no, but I think it might be fun, I don't think there are any courses around here though." He laughed and said there were two courses a couple of miles from my house. I played and enjoyed it much more than I even thought I would....the rest is history.

 

[UncleSweat]

My Brother asked me to play. I did to see how lame it was. What a knocked it til I tried it douche.

 

[SteezeOG]

Sophomore year of high school some guys who were juniors that I lifted with during football practice asked me if I wanted to go. We hit up WalMart because at the time in Emporia you could only get discs from there or Wizards music shop. WalMart of course had innova and the music shop had mostly discraft although they did sell innova too I think. I got a dx shark then eventually a cheetah, proto stamp banshee, and tourney pro cyclone. After a year or so and getting much better they graduated and I didn't have any other friends that played.

About fifteen years later as I was approaching thirty I found out a few friends had started playing and then we got some people who used to play back into it. Now everyone is getting back into tournaments and having fun. The disc scene is much bigger now with DD headquarters here but even then the first place I went to get discs was the music shop lol. I had forgotten about DD I didn't play so never went in there. Now, I haven't been in the music shop for about two years but they can't keep me out of DD despite their best efforts.

 

[dashiellx]

For 6 - 8 grade I went to Pine Grove Middle School, our gym teacher mentioned it, but it wasn't part of our curriculum and I never play it.

Fast forward to 2012, my son was out of school due to medical issues and I was home with him. Once he was able to, we started hiking and happened upon Druid Hill Park where he saw the baskets. I explained what they were for and he wanted to play. After talking to my neighbor, I found out he played. He loaned us a few discs to try out.

I have since spent way too much money on discs and a bag and played most of the courses around my area, including my old middle school.

 

[OpposableThumbs]

My humble beginnings story takes us back to 02-03, when I was but a freshman in HS. As someone kinda hinted at earlier in the thread, the concept of DG was simple; throw a disc towards a basket and more importantly, partake in nefarious imbibery. There were maybe 4-5 of us who would pile into our one friends' windstar (the only one of the 'crew' who could drive at the time!) and head out to Hudson Mills in Dexter, MI (http://www.dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=448&mode=ci). This was the only course we knew about in the area, despite there being several well above-average courses in about a 50 mile radius hidden right under our noses. Again, as someone mentioned before, it felt like this strange game must be unique to our area. We'd never heard of it, and in our puerile, mid-pubescent minds that meant obviously it couldn't exist anywhere else! I carried a Pro teebird-l, some variety of an eagle that I can't recall and a first run pro aviar p&a, which I still carry as my go-to putter. I mostly threw OH to about 75' and in, then basically threw 'catch-style' to try and putt until we saw enough experienced players shred the course to give us an idea of how to disc 'right'.

Fast forward past a lot of non-DG related events to last April, my roommate and I start going to Bandemer Park in Ann Arbor, MI (http://www.dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=2471) with a third friend of ours who was marginally more serious about the game than we were (and we weren't playing at all at the time..). I lost all of my discs except the aviar and went online to look for where to buy new plastic. This is how I found DGCR, DGR, DD, DN, the myriad YouTube videos and all of the other amazing resources and communities that have formed around DG. I now play 4-6 days a week, with 2 rounds for leagues. Since last April I've played in 4 states including several 'landmark' courses in Charlotte (Renny, Hornets Nest, RL Smith etc), Idlewild (burlington, KY) the Toboggan course (Milford, MI), I've played in 4 tournaments (MA4, MA3 placed middle of the pack), joined two leagues. Also, I've improved immensely and enjoyed myself immensely.

Man, I love this game.

 

[thrembo]

Got this book in 1975. Started playing object golf right away. First played on a basket course at West Park (3.62) in 1979.

 

[ChrisWoj]

In March of 2005 my parents got me a set of disc golf discs for my birthday. I wanted ultimate discs, so I could more easily run practices at Bluffton University where I was trying to get an actual ulty team organized for competition. I was pretty annoyed. But I took them out to a course (coincidentally - the course I played the Freedom Flight at this past weekend: Ohio Northern University) and enjoyed it. Played my first tournament a month later.

I took 9th of 20 in Rec.
http://www.pdga.com/tournament_results/11040
Looks like I shot an absolutely blistering 750 rated level. I also apparently won some merch, and left because I had no idea that disc golf paid people out beyond the top 3.

Two months later...
http://www.pdga.com/tournament_results/11067
Almost 900 level. Now if only I could make another leap like that... I could use some 1100 rated rounds.

 

[bcos4life]

My buddy called me and asked me to play. I played a couple rounds and thought "I should go get my own set" and got the usual Innova DX starter kit. Over a year later, I have 40 more discs, and a lot of rounds under my belt. It's my favorite thing to do now.

The only disc from my original starter kit to survive and still be in my bag is my Stingray.

 

[chrishysell]

One of my friends from high school used to call me to go "throw". We were already old guys about to turn 30 that were throwing our lids from the 70's at light poles around schools and office complexes. One day he called and said they were going to have a disc golf demonstration at one of the local parks. We went and watched. The disc golfers invited me to play in their local weekly event the next day. I won with a lid and a shark. A few weeks later they drove me to Kentwood in Raleigh NC to play in a tournament and I was hooked. It's been 20 yrs. I haven't talked to my high school friend in about 19 1/2 years.