Frisbee Golf

About seven or eight years ago, I can remember being at my aunt and uncle's house down in Illinois for the day with my family.

My older cousin and his buddies had plans to play Frisbee golf that afternoon, and I was secretly hoping that they'd ask me to come along. I'd never heard of it and I didn't know how to play, but that was no matter to me. When it was time for them to leave, my dad and my uncle and my brothers were invited to go, but I was left behind to spend the day visiting with the other women in my family, and boy was I disappointed.

Ever since that day, I have thought of Frisbee golf as an exclusive, "cool" thing to do. I finally got to try my hand at it on Sunday, and while it was pretty fun, I think I was bound to be a little let down after such an extended buildup in my mind.

I'd recently heard of a park in the Milwaukee County Parks system that has an 18-hole Frisbee golf course within it, so we – me, Dave, mom, Dale and Alex – decided to try it out.

The park is Dretzka Park and it's located 15-20 minutes north of downtown at 12020 W. Bradley Rd. Before we could hit the park, we had to get discs, so we hit up Dunham's Sporting Goods first. The store had a wide selection of discs for disc golf but they were more expensive than I had anticipated: one disc went for about ten bucks. I decided to just get a set of six (with a bag to carry them in) for $50.

Dretzka Park was really spacious and beautiful. We passed a few disc golf holes before we parked the car so once we got out we headed back in the direction we'd seen them in. We were all pretty confused about how the course was laid out, so we just started at hole #15.

We realized right away that we wouldn't be able to play an actual game, even if we split into teams, since we only had one set of discs. It would be like only having one golf ball for everyone to use in a game of golf. To play an actual game, everyone would've had to have had their own set of discs, and never having played before and not even being sure we'd like it, we weren't prepared to spend $50 a person! So instead, we played as one big team, each person taking a turn at getting the disc closer to the hole.

Everyone's first few throws were atrocious. Just like regular golf, being good at disc golf doesn't really have much to do with athletic ability – it's a skill that must be learned. We all got the hang of it after the first couple of holes, but we found that it was pretty uneventful to play as one big team. Staying in the same rotation, one person always got stuck throwing it the final two feet into the hole, while another person always got to be the one to tee off. Plus competition always makes things more interesting.

So after three holes, we wandered into an open field and spent the next hour playing catch with the six discs. Well, I wouldn't call it catch – those things are a lot harder than Frisbees so it hurts your hand to try and catch them. We more or less heaved them as far as we could each time, and took turns trying not to get hit by them, running to swipe them off the ground so we could be the next one to throw them, and fetching them out of the nearby trees and brush.

We saw tons of people actually playing – way more people than you'd see on a golf course at any given time. Each person had their own bagful of discs, which means they must do it on a fairly regular basis. Some seemed to take their game very seriously, and others were walking around with a disc in one hand and a beer in the other, simply enjoying the park and camaraderie.

I had a lot more fun just chucking the discs around and enjoying the sunny afternoon than playing on the course, but that's obviously because we didn't play as we were supposed to.

I'd like to give it another go once I can play with people who have their own sets of discs.

That's right – I have my own set now. I'm one of the "cool" people.

Comments

[Christi]

ha! I love Frisbee Golf. Well, I suppose like anything I love it for the first few holes and then my ADD kicks in and I need something new to occupy my mind. That's the one reason I never really got into golf, or bowling for that matter. It's the same thing over and over again (for the most part). Too repetitious for me.

I think I'd enjoy the 9 hole version and then some "catch" afterwards =)

[Bob Saget]

If you had a full set of discs why couldn't you all just take one disc? I usually just play with one "driver" and one "putter" but the putter isn't even necessary.

[Scott Zsori]

Long time reader, first time poster. :)

Another great disc golf course in the area is at Valley View Park in New Berlin. It's just southeast of the Ridge Cinema. The course is mostly wooded and quite hilly, meaning you end up having to make much more difficult throws (between trees, around corners, over bushes, etc).

As Bob pointed out, you really only need 2 discs to play properly. My wife and I each have a driver and a putter, and although we're not very good, we can't blame our poor scores on a lack of proper equipment. :)

[Amanda]

I'd like to try it out sometime. I don't know much about the sport, but I'm sure that I could find a course here in MN.

Glad that you feel part of the "cool" group now. :)

[Mark]

I new some of the other comments would clear up the "set of discs" situation. You definitely only need - well actually - one disc to play. Just throw your driver the whole time. My god, I have about six discs and I've been playing for ten years!

Scott - Valley View is a much easier course than Dretzka so that difficulty thing you're talking about doesn't make much sense to me. I haven't been there in years though ever since the insane crowds came along.

And Amanda? There are TONS of frisbee golf courses in MN. Good ones too!

[Heidi]

OMG, I love frisbee golfing!! I suck so bad at it, and my husband is such a pro at it, but it's so much fun!!! And you can get such a good tan, and good exercise too. That park is the only park I've been to. The worst part is that there'd always be a huge group behind us that would have to wait for my slow butt - cuz' sometimes it would take 10 throws to get to the basket. So, most of the time we'd let those people go ahead of us.