Disc Golf and Church

Summer is a time of almost daily disc golf for me.  Whether by myself or with friends, it is the exercise my body desperately needs and the Zen my soul craves.

However, when I approached Valley Regional Park the other day, the lot was overflowing.  Valley is a multi-purpose park, so it is not unusual to see it jam-packed due to sports tournaments, fairs, or other community happenings.

As I pulled in to meet a friend for a round, I saw a sign at the entrance -"Free Event!"  I knew instantly what the temp stage and bouncy houses in the distance meant.  Such vague signage could mean only one thing: Church Event.

Not just any church... these were obviously evangelicals.  No one else could be so gauche.  I know the Evangelical playbook well.  "Church in the Park" is one way that a completely insular group can convince themselves they are a vital part of the community.

I have been out of church life for about 6 years.  I have returned on occasion for a few Catholic Christmas services and a Mormon baptism or two.  In that time though, I had forgotten how truly awful Evangelical services really are.

First, there was the music.  What a cluster @#$% of mind control.  Chorus lines repeated over and over and over reminding everyone how terrible they are... and how lucky they are to have a God who condescends to love them in spite of how terrible they are.  After a few dozen cycles of that message, we moved on to various choruses of "Our God is so much better than everyone else's god!"

I was having a noticeably more visceral reaction to this than my ex-Mormon buddy, but he did agree it was pretty tacky.  Though annoyed by the triggering cult music of my past, I was still on par by hole 3.

We were out of earshot on holes 5-7.  I was grateful for the brief respite.

Somewhere along the eighth fairway, we came back into audio range.  The service had moved on to the sermon and the pastor was dutifully hitting every trope - the "world" thinks it is enjoying life, but they aren't.  Other religions think they know God, but they don't.  Meaning can only be found in our faith.

He wrapped up the sermon with an emotional appeal to Jesus.  I was grateful to be heading out to the back nine before he could build to the ol' sinner's prayer.

When I got home, I looked up the church to take a peek at their event calendar.  I now know which days this summer to visit another course.

Getting Started With Disc Golf

So you have heard about Disc Golf and you are thinking about giving it a try.  I am only a few years into it myself, so let me give you a couple of tips about getting started.

Disc Golf is one of the fastest growing sports in the United States right now.  There are over 2500 courses in America, so odds are you live fairly close to one or more.

I talked about the various benefits of  Disc Golf in a previous blog, but to sum it up - Disc Golf is inexpensive, social, and gets the body moving.

I have to say that the game is less social for me than it used to be.  I play A LOT and I have not joined up with the local league yet, so most of the time I am throwing by myself.  This is fine for me though.  I play a podcast or some music and I am totally Zen for a little over an hour.  If you want it to be social, you can most likely hook up with a local club.

But let's get you started.  The first thing you should do is download UDisc on your phone.  It is a Disc Golf app that will keep and track all of your data regarding scores.  However, most important for starting out is that, using GPS, it will show you the location of all of your local courses.   One more click and it will transfer you to Google maps to take you there. It can also, usually, give you a map of the course.  I love UDisc because it finds courses for me when I am out of state.  The free version of UDisc will give you all you need to get started.

Next, we need to get you some discs.  There is a lot of opinion about what discs to start with but, honestly, I don't think it matters much.  Your throw will be pretty raw and inconsistent in the beginning so one disc will be as good as the next.

With that in mind, I suggest the starter pack from Discraft.  It will give you one putter, one mid-range, and two drivers.  It also includes a bag which will hold about 8 discs and a water bottle.  Amazon usually sells them for under 40 bucks, which is a good price... and about what one round with a cart would cost you at a ball golf course.

Those first four discs will teach you a lot about your throw and disc behavior.  Once you notice that you start selecting one driver over another for certain throws, you are probably ready to start adding a few more discs to your collection.  Each disc has a tendency towards certain behaviors.  As your throw becomes more consistent, you can begin to rely on getting certain behaviors out of certain discs.

If you never progress beyond a few games a year by yourself or with friends, the starter pack will probably be plenty for you.  But even if you stay with the game and grow on to bigger bags and more discs - you will still have use for that starter pack.  You can have a friend use it when you take them out to introduce them to the sport.  You can also use it as a secondary bag.  There are two courses by my house that have a reputation for "eating" discs.  I keep my original starter bag filled with older discs that would not pain me to lose when I play these courses.

Let me know how it goes!

See You At The Tee Box!

It took until my late 40s, but I finally am into sports. Playing that is, not watching.  Also, it is only one sport.

Disc Golf.

My love of disc golf, like most things in life, happened by chance. I went with some friends one evening to give disc golf a try.  They had played before, years ago, and wanted to give it another run. I did not imagine that I would particularly enjoy the game, but it was something to do.

One game led to another game, and another.  I became interested enough to buy my own discs. I watched some videos to improve my throw.

Before I knew it, I was hooked.

As I thought about it, I realized it grabbed me on a few levels:


1. It is a chatty sport - I enjoy conversation and this was a sport that let me do that.  I grew up playing baseball, and baseball was enjoyable, but not very talkative.  Most sports are all about the game itself.  Disc Golf is another way for me to further conversation.  I have played a few rounds solo, but this sport is best when played with friends.

2. It makes me walk - Most of my pleasures in life are pretty sedentary.  Disc Golf gets me moving. A course it typically 2-3 miles of walking, often at varying elevations.

3. It is FREE - Well, mostly free.  I have invested a few hundred dollars in discs and bags, but to go out and play a round only costs you the gas to take you there.

4. Disc collecting - I have a strand of my personality that likes collecting things.  Discs tap into that. Discs have three distinct purposes -  Driver, mid-range, and putter.  A disc will then vary according to a scale on how far it will throw, and where and when it will turn.  There is quality of plastic. They also differ in weight from 130-180 grams.  Then there is color and print.  I presently have around 40 discs... which is probably 25 more than I actually need.

Disc golf is often compared to traditional ball golf, but I actually find it more analogous to miniature golf.  In disc golf, you spend a lot of time going around, under, and over obstacles.  Big, open power drives exist, but probably on less than a third of the baskets.  Some disc golf courses exist entirely within the woods.

By the way, disc golf goes great with beer.