SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) – It has the sound of pure silver – a disc golfer’s driver finding chains, holing out. Or it could be a putter. The farther it flies, the louder the sound.
It’s a familiar clang at High Bridge, Downriver Disc Golf Course, Sekani. There, under sunshine, the shimmering rustle of chains, followed by a report of cheers, echoes perpetually among the pines and stone ridges.
Disc golf. The rules can be inferred from its name, as it shares many similarities with the traditional game of golf. One major difference exists: It is one of the fastest-growing sports in the nation.
According to a survey put out by Infinite Discs in January, nearly 50 percent of the 1,421 disc golfers polled nationwide have been playing for two years or less. The number of courses in the U.S. has doubled in the last eight years.
Those who might view the sport as simply a mash-up of rules employing a cheap toy from childhood may want to reconsider.
In 1964, California-based toy company Wham-O patented a 119-gram plastic flying disc and named it, “Frisbee.” Under the disc cover, below the copyright, was printed: “Play catch. Invent games. To fly, flip away backhand. Flat flip flies straight. Tilted flip curves. Experiment!”
Disc golf was inevitable.
Gordy Crafts, treasurer of the Spokane Disc Golf Association and owner of Gordy’s Sichuan Café, started playing target or “object” golf with his high school friends in Santa Cruz, California, in 1971. They followed Wham-O’s maxim and invented new games, throwing discs at wooden posts with high and low marks that defined the target area.
But they weren’t the only ones with ideas.
“By 1978 some friends of friends were announcing a Frisbee golf tournament up in the hills above Corolitas, a little town east of Watsonville, California,” Gordy said. “The first thing we realized was that the other players were throwing these smaller and far denser discs than we were and were already at the next dimension in disc golf in terms of technology.”
In 1983, Dave Dunipace sought to meet the developing equipment needs of players. He founded Innova Discs and created “the Eagle,” what Innova calls the world’s first disc designed specifically for the sport of disc golf. The Eagle still serves as a favorite among disc golfers today.
Disc golf engineers employ a complex set of equations, which would appear like hieroglyphics to most of us, to determine the speed, accuracy and flight path of a particular disc. Too fast a disc in amateur hands will fade severely, without distance, right off the tee, while other discs with a lower speed and higher glide will travel farther, straighter.
Most novice players gravitate toward Innova’s Valkyrie or Sidewinder for a driver, then a Roc or Discraft’s Buzz for midrange. Choosing a putter comes down to simply deciding what feels best.
Discs, depending on the quality of plastic (“Champion” plastic is a good starting point), vary between $16 and $22.
There are no green fees at public courses, and most private courses ask only for a minimal fiscal contribution. A great online resource is www.dgcoursereview.com, where you can search for courses nationwide by ZIP code and read reviews, as well as get all the info you need per directions and tee times.
Disc golf brings people out for different reasons. All players should remember the aspects of the sport that make it unique from any other, including the environment in which it resides. Players strive to remember simple etiquette, such practices as keeping groups at five players or less, or if playing within a larger group, to allow smaller groups to play through. Treat the park like you would any wild area. Respect all nature. And most important, “Pack your trash!”
Jeff “Papa” Crum, director of Disc Golf Uprising and co-designer of the Camp Sekani Jamboree course, says his favorite part about disc golf is something that transcends the sport.
“You can always learn to do better,” he said. “At the next hole, there’s always hope, to do better.”
In disc golf, after a hole is done and you’ve picked up your discs, tallied your throws, a new tee box awaits, and past it, a labyrinth of trees, bushes of rocky mountain junipers. A dirt path winds between them.
A new goal sits blurred in the distance, a silver lining hemmed in yellow steel. Chains wait to ignite and kindle hope.
Durango-area courses
Fort Lewis College: 18 holes
Durango Mountain Resort: 9 holes
Colorado Timberline Academy: Private seasonal 18-hole course on land owned by the boarding school, open to the public on Sundays only; call 247-5898 for information and hours.
