Do you ever have a couple of free hours and you have no idea what to do? Play Frisbee golf. Everyone should play Frisbee golf at least once in their lifetime.

Frisbee golf, also known as disc golf, “has come a long way since 1975, when the PDGA had just one course in its course directory,” Nick Oza said in his article Disc Golf Flying High In Arizona.

The game is very simple.

“Disc golf is similar to traditional golf in that players navigate around trees and water hazards to reach a goal,” Oza said. “But they do it with different sized discs and, instead of holes, disc golfers target chain baskets that catch their discs.”

Like golfing, you get a point per attempt, in this case per throw and the winner is the person with the least amount of points after finishing the course.

First, this is a great sport to try because many courses are in public parks, which means it is free of cost. There are a number of courses that require pay, but often it is relatively cheap.

“Disc golf courses have sprung up around the world, going from just under 2,000 courses internationally in 2005 to more than 5,500 last year,” according to the Professional Disc Golf Association in Oza’s article.

Disc golf also remains fairly cheap because it only requires a few Frisbees. A professional or experienced player may arrive at the course with a bag full of close to 30 discs; however, in order to play the game a beginner really only needs about three. There is a driver which is light in weight for long range, a mid-range disc, which is a bit heavier than a driver and a putter, which is heavy for a close range toss.

“Throwing discs around a typical course only takes a couple hours,” Oza said.

Oza said to complete a course  often takes a couple hours, however the great thing about disc golf is that you do not have to complete the course if you run out of time. You may play at your leisure and if you are short on time, then you can end your game early.

Finally, the most appealing thing for a new player is that it is easy to learn the basics. 

Most people have thrown a Frisbee before, and though experienced players may approach certain throws differently, you are able to play at your experience level and do just fine.

“Once I learned there were professional disc golf events, many ‘televised’ live online on YouTube  and similar sites, I became a fan of watching the best make shots on courses I can only drool over,” Calvin Daniels said in his article “The potential of disc golf to grow.”

Whether you are brand new to the sport and you just want to observe the basics or you are hooked on the game and you want to raise your level of experience, there are many YouTube videos set up to explain each throw.

California Lutheran University has now brought the game of Frisbee golf to their own campus.

“I wanted to play disc golf, so I had to search around the whole country, and there was only one company that really rented them out,” Dominic Lunde said, an intern for recreational sports at Cal Lutheran. “They were in Maine. We shipped it over from Maine, and we set it up.”

According to Lunde, student participation was high. People of all experience levels were showing up to play, but he saw mostly new participants.

It is important to get out of your comfort zone and try something new, so what better to try than Frisbee golf.

Makenna Pellerin
Staff Writer
Published April 6th, 2016