The Beginning....

[maniak]

This may have shown up in the forums before but I couldn't find anything...

I am interested in how everyone here began playing disc golf as it is really not yet a mainstream sport?

For myself, I've had a course near the house I grew up in as long as I can remember and just sort of decided one day I'd give it a try. As soon as I heard those chains with my 6th or 7th throw on a 290ft hole with an ultimate disc...well I was hooked and haven't looked back since.

 

[Greg Layton]

I was an ultimate player in college and some of my friends dragged me out to play the campus object course one day. I kind of sucked throwing the smaller discs, so I didn't play again in college. Obviously I regret that now.

Last spring I found myself wanting to get outside as much as possible after my first Michigan winter, so one of my friends and I found some drivers on craigslist and went out and played a course that's just up the road from where I work. After we'd played a few rounds I got my wife to come out and give it a try. The rest, as they say, can be found in my scorebook. I'm hooked. I'll never take another vacation where there isn't a possibility of some disc golf action and I find myself daydreaming of hitting the chains everyday at work.

 

[DannyM]

The park near my house, which is now my home course, has a recreation center, and a walk path that winds around/through the property, and the disc golf course is visible off the path. My wife and I used to walk through it about 1-2 times a month. I had grown up playing with frisbees a good bit growing up in Florida, and when I saw some guys playing, I went out and got a frisbee to try and play. One of the course "pros" saw me out there and told me that they actually make special discs just for playing and showed me some that were in his bag. Golf discs were sold at the rec. center, so I went and bought one <a dx roc>, and after playing a round or 2 I was hooked.

 

[solomon.trenton]

a friend of a friend of a friend introduced a group of us too.

 

[craigd]

My brother who lives in different state played all the time. He would discuss it from time to time when we'd talk. On one of his visits to Georgia he talked me in to playing a round. I haven't looked back. I play a few times a week now. The good thing is that scene he is just up in Tennessee we get to play together pretty often. Thanks for introducing it to me RD. (arrdee33)

 

[Hamilton]

i never knew it existed (or didn't care to notice) before feb of last year...several guys at the new job i had started played regularly at lunch and finally convinced me to go try it...at first it just sounded kind of fruity, but after a few times, i rather enjoyed it...bought a few discs, improved, but still though "take it or leave it" kind of thing...when i tried backhand (started forehand) after a while, and figured out that i was actually decent at it, i was hooked solidly...now i constantly think about when my next round will be, what disc i plan on getting next, etc...i've never been this hooked on a hobby...

 

[optidiscic]

As a kid in the 80s I would play safari with ultimate lids in the park with my brother and any friend I could get hooked. Great fun...through the covered bridge...around the trees....over the creek ...hit home plate on the basefield field..hit the flag pole..etc what a blast.....I went with my brothers with the ultimate lids numerous times to Tinicum Park.....we could throw those lids pretty damn far and with so much hyzer and glide...we used to laugh at the nerds with their bags and 20 discs.....then a co-worker, other workers and I started playing with minis ....it became a routine 'end of day meeting on our work grounds...hey it was better than work no doubt...he was building a course and I was interested in helping out..well he was the first to take me to Tinicum and attempted to teach me to throw disc golf discs...frustrating as hell.but I got hooked on playing and then the building process...I still am not that good but I am definetely hooked to the friendliness of the sport and the creative challenge of our unique game

 

[splash_4]

I started about 20 years ago when a course opened up about 20 miles away. Being stupid and single, I played about 10 rounds and then got married (which stopped the long drives to go play). A couple of months ago a friend invited me to play at a local park which had installed a course and I got really hooked. Then so I could keep playing I got my wife involved. Now the two of us play 2-3 times a week.

 

[magictenor1]

A friend of mine went to Boston U and played Ultimate there. He came back to MS for the summer and we made an object Dg course. Then when I went to Southern MS after JUCO they had an object course on campus. Then I had a hiatus for years and rediscovered DG with baskets about 9 years ago.

 

[harr0140]

I was looking for something to do to break up our 24 hours of drive time from Milwaukee to Fort Mers FL. I did some research and I found the World's Largest Ball of Paint, that my wife and I eventually got to paint in our school colors (Maroon for Minnesota). That was in central Indiana. SO I needed to find something for the Kentucky Tennessee area, and in my search I found Freeman Lake Park in Eliabethtown Kentucky. I didn't inted to find disc golf, I just thought the park looked cool. As I searched through the things to do in the park, I saw walking trails, 18 hole disc golf course, etc, etc, etc. That was a perfect place to stop because we would be arriving around noon. SO thinking of my wife and myself I figured we would go for a nature walk on the trails then play a round of disc golf for me. (It's kindof an inside joke because whenever we play frisbee I aways end up chasing her throws, so now I found something for her to do, where she has t chase her own bad throws!!!!) I bought 2 discs for each of us (matching colors I had a red valkyrie and shark, and she had a baby blue valkyrie and shark). I was getting excited the entire time leading up to our trip. I think I bought the discs 2 days before we left. When we arrived at Freeman Lake there were chains across the entrance with stop signs on them. I was pissed!!! The reason was because they have christmas in the park where you can drive through the park. To think I almost never got to play my first round of disc golf! Anyways I was smart enough to print off the park info and found a # to call. We called and they said we could play the accessible 9 and to get to the course we needed to park up by Target up the road and we can walk right out to the 5th teebox. So our game was back on. We broke their rules and ended up playing all 18 because the decorations and stuff were not really in our way much, I just don't think they wanted us getting near it incase we were vandals or something. So anyways that was round 1. I was so pumped after round 1, when we arrived in Fort Myers I did some web searching and found DGCoursereview. Using this site I found 3 places to go in Fort Myers where my parents live 6 months of the year. I played 5 rounds at these 3 courses in 7 days along with 6 round of golf (Or thats ball golf to all you disc golfers, I find that hilarious as the original sport is golf from over a hundred years ago, and yet you still need to call it ball golf instead of golf. I am first a golfer as that has been my sport since I was 13, and I am a low single digit handicap, and I now hope to be as good of a disc golfer as I am regular golfer). So we had another 24 hours of driving to do when we left my parents on Friday the 9th. So I printed out a variety of places using people recommendations fom DGCoursereview. I found Northside Park in Gainesville, where my wife and I stopped for lunch and played 1 round. I also found a bunch of places in Chattanooga where we spent the night. I knew I wouldnt hve any daylight when we arrive so I planned on getting up early in the AM to play a round or two. Well we had a snowstorm that we would have had to drive through in Chicago so we delayed our departure until 11:00 AM. I was hoping my wife might want to just spend another night but she didn't we had to get home. Anyways I played a 9 holer in construction Shepherd Red Center. I enjoyed it's elevation changes and short holes so I played it twice. Then I headed to The SInks and also played it twice, what an awesome course! So by this point I can't get enough, we were going to be passing through Bowling Green around 1 PM so I located two places right off the interstate. Keriakes and Lovers Lane. I am psyched could I possibly play 5 rounds in one day spread ut in two states and 4 courses? Well it was too good to be true, the rain was really coming down, now don't get me wrong if I was alone I would have played and I might not have made it home that day, but because my wife was with me I couldn't put her through the rain, or make her wait in the car that long so we had to just bypass it. We arrived home and all Icould think about was my two missed rounds. SO the next morning I wake up and head out to the course thats open all winter Dretzka in Milwaukee. I played a not so good round as I adjusted to playing in the snow with no runups. Anyways that was 10 days ago and I have been back there 4 more times since in the 10 days (1 day I played twice (24 holes and lots of up and down hills in 1 foot of snow) and two rounds at another 9 holer Spassland Park.

So you asked how we got started in the game, thats my start! 267 holes played at 8 courses in 4 states. All that in the span of 1/1 - 1/23. Am I hooked? Well I check DGcoursereview everyday. And I stay on it for an hour at a time, sometimes twice a day. . . . or more.


And it's funny I alwys wanted to play the sport but never hd a reason to start I guess, I was too into BALL GOLF.

 

[trifocal]

My buddies and I played catch with Wammo Frisbees for hours and hours back in the REO Speedwagon days. Beach, frontyard, parks. We had a 9 hole object course on our block that wandered between houses and across streets.

Flash forward 35 years.

The County Park where I run my hound has an 18 hole DGC. As winter turned to spring, baskets appeared, then cars in the parking lot, then more cars in the parking lot. One day I decided to give it a try with an Ultimate ( I played Ultimate for awhile until my knees said " No More.") Disc that had been reserved for playing with the hound.

For about 10 holes I was sorta having fun, but the Ultimate Disc just wasn't doing it for me...great from 100 feet in, but it took at least 2 throws on most holes to get to that range.

On 11 or 12 a dude caught up to me. He had a bag and it was full of plastic. He looked at my disc. I think we both had the same thought for each.other..this guy is fool. lol. He asked to play through. Sure, no problem. It was a sunny afternoon. The sky was blue. A nice breeze. Birds singing.

Then he casually x stepped a hyzer...340. 15 feet from the basket.

A little light went off in my head and I asked him where I could get a disc like that.

The next morning I bought 2 Roadrunners, 2 leopards, a Shark and a Chain Magnet. Oh, and a bag.

I went to a park to practice a bit and then went to the DGC. I think I had 6 or 7 pars my first round. The second round, which began 5 minutes after the first round....I think I had 7 or 8 pars. And that evening I swear I could hear chains in my sleep.

 

[Fore]

Back in 1998, I worked with a guy who had played and owned a few disc. He used to carry his bag in the trunk of his car along with and Ultrastar and a few lids. After work a few of us would walk over to a field that was close by and toss the lids around. We followed him to his car and saw the disc golf stuff in there. After inspecting the disc we decided lets go give it a try. There was a sporting goods store that we all went to and bought 2-3 disc each. We were hooked after the first round.


We all got laid off and 3-4 of us would meet up and hit a few of the corses up. We would play 3-4 days out of the week and pulled alot of all day discing. We played regular until 2000 then it became harder to meet up. I got married and ended up selling alot of my plastic (it still pains me when I think about it) for extra cash.


Out of the blue one day a co-worker at my new job says something about disc golf. We started talking about things and ended up throwing a few days later. This has been about a year or two ago and we throw regular. This is also the first time either of us have throw through the winter. I have made contact with two of the other guys I used to throw with and they both still own their disc. We will all be coordinating a local road trip this summer. I can't wait.

 

[lomanzini]

I was on a scholarship to East Carolina University for cross country and track. Some of my team mates and I were looking for something we could play where we could be competitive, but with no risk of getting hurt....although I did read the post about that guy who busted his ankle playing on ice! Fortunatly we never had any incidents like that. We all had only one disc each (mine was a gazelle), no putters and we played like madmen! Luckily the course was right by the track so we would hustle out before practice play a round, go to practice and as soon as the workout was over we would squeeze in another around. Weekends we weren't traveling, we were playing disc golf....life was good. After I graduated I moved to Wilmington NC. By this time I had a bag and a good selection of discs and was playing on a regular basis. Then one day my discs got stolen out of my truck....WTF! Who steals a bag full disc golf discs? After that I got really into Ultimate and played with a traveling Open Division team and that took up all my free time, plus the throws don't really compliment each other....but that could be a whole other thread! About 5 months ago I started playing DG again....and realized, damn I've missed it. I've met up with all the local players and played in my first tournament, it's become a big part of my life again and I say.....life is good!

 

[buzzinb]

My younger brother was introduced to the sport about 18 mos. ago by a friend that he had worked with. He kept lobbying to get me to try it many times untill I finally relented last Feb. I had no idea how cathartic it could be slinging a plastic disc at far away targets. I was instantly addicted and have since played way more than my 40+ year old body wants to let me. The ironic thing is that I have lived the last 4.5 years in a community that is well known for its DG courses. In fact, I remember seeing those "odd looking contraptions" we know as baskets for the first time when I went fishing at Basil Griffin park. I also saw some tees and a sign that had a map of the course. I could not conceptualize the appeal at the time as I perceived frisbees as merely something you tossed when you got bored at the beach or at a family reunion...little did I know.

 

[bayouace]

In 1992 at my in-laws I read about DG in the BREC offerings in the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate. Went up to Highland Road with my two boys, ages 7 and 6 to look at the course. A really nice guy(I won't say his name here) was coming off the course with his pull cart and gave them, not me dang it, each an old disc. We played a few holes and went back the next morning and bought some Sharks and got hooked. No courses where we live so we only played when we went to Grandma's. Later started going to Port Arthur and playing on vacations in Texas. The boys are grown and gone and I am still throwing. Now we have a new 9 hole course in Lake Charles, and my wife has taken up the game. We always play on getaways - Zilker, William Cameron, etc. I'm 62 and DG is great to fight off old age. Well, at least I'm going down kicking and screaming.

 

[harr0140]

I'm 62 and DG is great to fight off old age. Well, at least I'm going down kicking and screaming.

Well that's good to hear, I now have two sports I can play for a long time. I will always crave competition and exercise.Hopefully my body can hold up to golf ad disc golf, although I came up with a theory . . . I am working my core muscles both directions. With golf it goes from right to left and with disc golf it goes from left to right, so the strain on the muscles should cancel each other out!!! RIGHT?

 

[ERicJ]

How it all started for me

In July 2007 First Colony opened a new disc golf course at their Aquatic Center. I thought it would be a fun thing to try for my girlfriend and me. We played for the first time that July. We started out not knowing any of the rules other than "get the disc in the basket". We didn't have any regulation discs, we didn't even know they existed. We were each playing with a single Aerobie Squidgie Disc because we were afraid of hitting cars, people, etc. on our first time out. Of course it took us about eight strokes to make it to a basket with those, and that's not a long course.

After playing three times with the Squidgies we upgraded to some $3 regular issue Frisbees and played twice with those. Then we met a guy on the course who showed us what real disc golf discs were. So I went to Play It Again Sports and bought each of us the requisite three discs. I didn't really know what I was buying at the time but I ended up getting a Champion Orc, Star Shark, and Champion Aviar P&A for me and a Champion Valkyrie, X-out Shark, and DX Polecat for my girlfriend.

I read in the Community newsletter that there was going to be a disc golf tournament at the Aquatic Center course in December. They had a beginner division and it said you got a disc with your entry, so for only $15 each I signed both of us up.

We played one time with the real discs from Play It Again a month before the First Colony Open I. I heard that started as a little local tourney that got sanctioned and grew to almost 100 players. So the FCOI was just my second time playing with a real disc golf disc and I threw for par from the Rec tees in my second round and finished in 2nd place in the Rec division. One of my sporting accomplishments of which I'm rather proud.

That tournament was an eye-opening experience. We'd shown up with three discs in hand, not knowing what to expect but ready to play. My girlfriend got to play on a card with two Pro women who helped her learn the ropes. I had the benefit of a non-playing (injured) ProMaster who was walking the course with my card coaching one of the Junior players who was there. He was nice enough to offer my whole card of beginners some advice. It was funny because we saw all these people with bags slung over their shoulders full of discs, and we wondered "What could you possibly need all those discs for? You can only throw one at a time right?"

Well... fast forward a couple months and I'm a card carrying PDGA member playing my next tournament with my own Innova Competition bag filled with discs. I've watched instructional videos on YouTube and read all sorts of articles. I've retooled my grip and my throw as well as learning to X-Step. I've bought a bunch of discs on ebay looking to inexpensively try out all that I can. I've given away discs to friends to get them playing this game. I'm printing my own score cards, mapping courses with a handheld GPS, measuring distances with a laser range finder, and I've got a year's worth of tournaments penciled in on my calendar... I think I'm addicted.
What a great sport; I just wish I'd started sooner.

ERic

 

[Ishulebest]

Shorewood Park in Shorewood Illinois.(1989) I was just looking for a nice spot to stop and eat my lunch. I just happen to notice an entrance to a park, so I pulled in to find a shady spot to eat. I noticed these odd contraptions and wondered what the hell are those things? While eating I saw a few people here and there throwing what appeared to be small frisbees since I had never seen an actual disc. I noticed them them throwing into the contraption. Well curiosity made get out of the car and ask what on earth were they doing. Frisbee golf I was told, and they explained how to play. Well on my next day off I dug my 165 gram regular Whammo frisbee out of the garage, and went down to the park and try it.I had a great time just flinging the whammo along the course, and was told by someone the actual discs used to play were sold at a local record store. Well I didn't really care about that none, I was just happy to be in the park futzing around the course with my frisbee. In Jan of '96 I moved to Fla. and didn't play until one day about 8 years ago. A friend of mine called me up one Sat. and said he was going down to Wickham Park in Melbourne to play disc golf and asked me if I wanted to go with. Well I told him I don't even have a frisbee anymore, let alone discs. He said not to worry, he had plenty of discs, so I said well, let's go then. I had a blast, even though my drives were 100 ft, go left. On hole 18, a 250 ft or so shot across the water I declined to throw, since I didn't want to lose any of his discs. Well he insisted, and I promptly threw 4 straight into the water. He laughed and said not to worry. After finishing the whole there happen to be a guy from South Fla. who was passing through on his way back from Daytona. Well he sold discs out of his van, so I replaced the 4 of my buddy's, and bought 5 of my own, and have never looked back, the hook was set, the addiction was firmly in place.

 

[dangitboy]

In the summer of 2001 I moved to Nashville from a one horse town called Tullahoma about 1 hour south of Nashville. A few close buds and myself just decided to move to the "big city" and get the heck outta "Dullahoma". It was just one of those towns where if you didn't get out after high school, then you just work at the poolhall and get a doublewide with your highschool girlfriend. Anyway, we were in the parking lot of our new apartment complex tossing around one of those floppy discs made by Aerobie. A neighbor of mine saw us throwing and invited us to take a look at "this". He gets his bag out of the car and proceeds to tell us about the sport and that there was a course about 3 miles from us. I didn't know any better then to not ask a disc golfer to borrow their discs! He was a good sport ad gave us a dx Cheetah and a SE Teebird to borrow but not before echoing the words, "Don't lose 'em!" haha. I thought to myself, "how could we lose them?" So needless to say we went out and were hooked. We stopped at the gas station close to the course on the way back and they had discs! So we bought a few and never looked back!

 

[DiscChainBasket18]

I threw a frisbee almost every day as a teen in the S.F. Bay area & in particular at the beach in Santa Cruz, CA. I'd heard of 'Ultimate' but not disc golf. Fast forward 30 or so years & my friend from my Table-tennis club asks me if I've ever played disc golf. Nope I say but I'm pretty good with a Firsbee (pre-throw cockyness) so it should be easy for me. Hah! Little did I know. We go to a local 9 hole course (Fletcher, NC). It's a pretty open layout. My buddy lets me try a disc & I throw it (RHBH) & it goes straight up inot the air & fades hard left. Hmmm. let me try that again.. same result, only now the disc came all the way back behind where I was throwing (Doh!). My buddy steps up & rips a nice long drive, straight to the basket. OK now I'm pissed. The harder I try & throw, the worse the outcome. OK, I'm pretty competitive (especially with something I'm supposed to be already good at) so now I have to learn how to throw a disc golf disc the right way. Hence the 365/24/7, all time consuming, all family encompassing, eat (oocasionally), sleep (awww, do I have to?) & play disc golf (yes!!) thing I have going on here. This game rocks!