It's been far too long since I've spent quality time hanging out with my friends. But I plan to rectify that this weekend. The gang and I are planning to try our flippers at a round of disc golf. There's a new course that recently popped up on the shore of the Great Swamp, the name we affectionately call Land of Lily Pad. If you're not familiar with disc golf you're not alone. This will be my first experience with it and I understand that it's not popular everywhere...at least not yet.
The game follows the general rules of regular golf and can be played on either a 9-hole or 18-hole course. Players throw a frisbee-like disc from a tee area toward a target, usually a wire mesh basket that is raised up on a pole. Players throw their disc again and again from the place it lands each time until the target is reached. Each player seeks to complete that "hole" in the least number of throws. The lowest number of total throws wins the game.
Disc golf is older than you might think, having been invented in the early 1900's. The first game was held in Saskatchewan, Canada in 1926. Ronald Gibson and a group of his elementary school buddies played a game of throwing tin lids into 4-foot wide circles (1.22 meters) drawn in a sandy patch on their school playground. They called it Tin Lid Golf. They continued to play the game until they grew older and went their separate ways. In the 1970's, disc golf was reintroduced to Canadians at the Canadian Open Frisbee Championship in Toronto.
Modern disc golf emerged in the early 1960's and there is still a debate as to who was the first to come up with the idea. The consensus is that multiple groups of people played independently throughout the 1960's. Students at Rice University in Houston, Texas, held tournaments as early as 1964. two early coordinators of the sport are George Sappenfield and Kevin Donnelly who through their similar backgrounds and with the help of Ed Headrick of the Wham-O company, were able to individually spread the sport in their California cities.
Before 1973 and the invention of the disc golf target, called the disc pole hole, there were only a few disc golf object courses throughout the United States and Canada. Ed Headrick from Wham-O designed and patented the first modern frisbee. he also designed and installed the first standardized target course. Headrick also coined and patented the term "Disc Golf" when formalizing the sport. To his credit is also the patent on the Disc Pole Hole the first disc golf target to incorporate chains and a basket on a pole. He started designing the target because he was tired of arguing over what counted as a scoring disc with his friends. Headrick also founded the Professional Disc Golf Association and the Recreational Disc Golf Association.
Disc Golf has its own scoring terms and there are different types of discs for different types of shots...just like regular golf. The discs are made of plastic and there are even different throwing styles.
While my friends and I don't expect to get very good after only one game, it'll be fun to "give it a shot" and see how good (or awful) we are. We may never try it again...or we may love it so much we become "enthusiasts." Only time will tell.
Whatever you decide to do this weekend, I hope you're able to "catch" a little fun. Until Monday, I wish you all
PEACE.
The game follows the general rules of regular golf and can be played on either a 9-hole or 18-hole course. Players throw a frisbee-like disc from a tee area toward a target, usually a wire mesh basket that is raised up on a pole. Players throw their disc again and again from the place it lands each time until the target is reached. Each player seeks to complete that "hole" in the least number of throws. The lowest number of total throws wins the game.
Disc golf is older than you might think, having been invented in the early 1900's. The first game was held in Saskatchewan, Canada in 1926. Ronald Gibson and a group of his elementary school buddies played a game of throwing tin lids into 4-foot wide circles (1.22 meters) drawn in a sandy patch on their school playground. They called it Tin Lid Golf. They continued to play the game until they grew older and went their separate ways. In the 1970's, disc golf was reintroduced to Canadians at the Canadian Open Frisbee Championship in Toronto.
Modern disc golf emerged in the early 1960's and there is still a debate as to who was the first to come up with the idea. The consensus is that multiple groups of people played independently throughout the 1960's. Students at Rice University in Houston, Texas, held tournaments as early as 1964. two early coordinators of the sport are George Sappenfield and Kevin Donnelly who through their similar backgrounds and with the help of Ed Headrick of the Wham-O company, were able to individually spread the sport in their California cities.
Before 1973 and the invention of the disc golf target, called the disc pole hole, there were only a few disc golf object courses throughout the United States and Canada. Ed Headrick from Wham-O designed and patented the first modern frisbee. he also designed and installed the first standardized target course. Headrick also coined and patented the term "Disc Golf" when formalizing the sport. To his credit is also the patent on the Disc Pole Hole the first disc golf target to incorporate chains and a basket on a pole. He started designing the target because he was tired of arguing over what counted as a scoring disc with his friends. Headrick also founded the Professional Disc Golf Association and the Recreational Disc Golf Association.
Disc Golf has its own scoring terms and there are different types of discs for different types of shots...just like regular golf. The discs are made of plastic and there are even different throwing styles.
While my friends and I don't expect to get very good after only one game, it'll be fun to "give it a shot" and see how good (or awful) we are. We may never try it again...or we may love it so much we become "enthusiasts." Only time will tell.
Whatever you decide to do this weekend, I hope you're able to "catch" a little fun. Until Monday, I wish you all
PEACE.
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