disco is dead but not disc golf

The Bro, The Dude and The Sweet – Free Recreation in Pueblo

Bro, City Park is the Central Park of Pueblo, and while last I checked I didn’t see any movie stars walking their pug-a-poos, there are two things we have that many New Yorkers envy – Disc Golf and a Skate Park.

Dude, the disc golf course is no joke. A world-renowned 18-hole track, the challenging course has hosted the Colorado Disc Golf Championships. Before its redesign in 1999 it was reputed to be the 3rd oldest course in the United States, the course at City Park is free to play and most of the time not overcrowded, although there are times when you might have to wait to play and watch out for flying objects. But to capture the spirit of the game I went to the source and found some local Pueblonians who play disc golf. Anthony XXXX has been playing disc golf for 22 years and remembers well the changes of ’99. “It was shorter before the redesign. It’s still basically the same,” XXXX said. “The new design requires you to have a more dynamic range of throws. Now you need to have a roll to reach some of the longer holes,” he added. The best part of the sport is the accessibility XXXX relates, “you don’t need to drop a ton of money to get into this sport, you can get one or two discs and start playing new courses for free.”

Disc golf, so called because of copyright issues with the word Frisbee that is owned by Wham-O, is very similar to real golf with few exceptions. The most notable differences are the penalty associated with a falling putt and the ability to move closer to the hole on certain shots, otherwise the concept is the same – get the disc in the hole in fewer tries than anyone else and you win.

As you might guess, the residents of Colorado are really into an outdoor sport where you get to throw stuff. Thusly, Pueblo has not one but two disc golf courses. In 2005, the newest course was built on the southern perimeter of The University of Colorado – Pueblo. The CSU-P design is over much tougher terrain spotted with tarantulas, cacti, rattlesnakes, and on certain holes, students on their way to class. Colorado has 87 disc golf courses and hosts two nationally know events, Kiss the Sky in Aspen and the Federal Classic in Denver both in July. The Colorado Disc Sports Association lists 24 events statewide. CDSA is one of many disc sports associations in Colorado.

Today Park Circle in North Charleston, South Carolina is known as a Mecca for disc golf enthusiasts. Renown for its course design, magnificent natural beauty, and large number of serious players in that area, Park Hill is the model for all new disc golf courses. According to parkcirclediscgolf.com, the game originated in the Vancouver in the 1920’s. Then called Tin Lid golf, the game really got going with the lids from the Frisbee Bakery in Connecticut. In the 1960s and 70s there were two men, George Sappenfield and “Steady” Ed Headrick, who transformed the sport from throwing pie lids to modern courses and the Professional Disc Golf Association replete with touring pros earning thousands of dollars traveling the world. In 2008 the total prize money was more than $2 million. As an interesting side note, “Steady Ed” died in 2002 and his ashes are embedded in discs that sell between $50.00 and $250.00 dollars with the proceeds going to a “Steady Ed” memorial museum.

It’s hard to be exact when figuring how many people play disc golf; however, the PDGA estimates that there are 500,000 regular players, and 12,226 people are official members of as of July 8, 2009. People across the world won’t have a tough time finding a place to play either. Thousands of courses are scattered all around the world with more being built every year. National events draw hundred of players and more people pick up the sport almost daily. Disc golf’s close relative, Ultimate, (the disc version of football) is estimated to be over 100,000 people around the world although Ultimate was played as an exhibition sport in the Olympics.

For more information visit these sites:

Coloradodisc.com

PDGA.com

Innovadiscs.com

discgolf.com