Want to play disc golf? Get started at these scenic sites
You might live near a disc golf course and not know it.
While many of the nearly 5,000 courses in the U.S. boast grand vistas, glorious flora and some fauna, others are tucked along steep terrain and small creeks, providing a use for parkland not suitable for much else.
“Disc golf courses can be built on land that is sometimes deemed ‘unusable’ by other potential park amenities,” says Scott Keasey, general manager of the California-based Disc Golf Association Inc., a manufacturer of disc golf equipment. “We like trees and we like hills. All of that is used in our course development.”
Disc golf equipment often is inconspicuous on the course: The metal baskets for catching discs and the concrete or rubber pads for teeing off camouflage easily among the trees, boulders and tall grasses that provide obstacles.
Ed Headrick, who designed and patented the Frisbee for Wham-O Toys in 1966, later invented the disc-catching, metal-chain baskets that helped turn Frisbee tossing into the disc-golf sport. He established DGA in 1976 and also the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA), based in Georgia, as the governing body for both professional and recreational disc golf. Headrick died in 2002.
“Compared to traditional golf, it’s an infant,” says Keasey, who’s been playing the sport for 20 years. “But disc golf has some legs.”
The sport is growing fast, says Brian Graham, PDGA executive director; membership in the PDGA grew by 18 percent to 25,000 members last year.
In disc golf, players tee off at each of nine to 18 holes (or more), trying to land their discs in a Disc Pole Hole (the basket) in as few throws as possible. Discs whip around trees and might even roll or bounce along the ground. The player with the lowest cumulative score wins.
Most of the courses are on public land; playing usually is free. John Bird, of Longmont, a longtime disc-golf player and course builder, is partial to Colorado’s courses, ticking off ones in Aspen, Snowmass and Conifer as among the more scenic. The PDGA lists the Aspen Mountain course as the highest in North America – more than 11,000 feet above sea level.
Kris Bellmore “putts” on the #9 hole at the Cottonwood Creek Park Disk Golf Course Thursday, March 8, 2012. On Thursday, the Colorado Springs Parks and Recreation Advisory Board gave unanimous support for a proposal by local disc golf enthusiasts to build five new courses here. Photo by Mark Reis, The Gazette
Kyle Anders “putts” on the #9 hole at the Cottonwood Creek Park Disk Golf Course Thursday, March 8, 2012. On Thursday, the Colorado Springs Parks and Recreation Advisory Board gave unanimous support for a proposal by local disc golf enthusiasts to build five new courses here. Photo by Mark Reis, The Gazette
This undated photo provided by Disc Golf Association shows a basket for disc-golf on a course in Watsonville, Calif. (AP Photo/Disc Golf Association)
This undated photo provided by Disc Golf Association shows a basket for disc-golf on a course in Watsonville, Calif. (AP Photo/Disc Golf Association)
This Feb. 26, 2015 photo provided by courtesy of Conrad Meyer Photography and Disc Golf Association shows a professional disc golfer Cameron Lincoln lines up a putt during the final round of the 2015 Memorial tournament at Fiesta Lakes disc-golf course in Fountain Hills, Ariz. (AP Photo/Disc Golf Association, Conrad Meyer Photography)
This Feb. 26, 2015 photo provided by courtesy of Conrad Meyer Photography and Disc Golf Association shows a professional disc golfer Cameron Lincoln lines up a putt during the final round of the 2015 Memorial tournament at Fiesta Lakes disc-golf course in Fountain Hills, Ariz. (AP Photo/Disc Golf Association, Conrad Meyer Photography)
This May 17, 2014 photo provided by Disc Golf Association shows a man playing disc-golf on a course in Watsonville, Calif. (AP Photo/DGA, D.J. Ellis, La Bella Vita Photography, Inc.)
