Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Frisbee Golf

When we were in Grand Junction, CO, we took the dogs to a large off-leash park in nearby Palisade.  The park has a Frisbee golf course, and there was a state tournament in progress, dozens of 4-person teams.  We'd seen a few of these courses in our travels but rarely saw people playing the game, had no idea it was such a big deal.  A state tournament?  Really?  Who knew?


The players were mostly 30-ish guys, each with 20+ discs stuffed into a rectangular duffel bag mounted on a miniature refer dolly.  We chatted up one of the foursomes and hung with them for awhile, got a little education.  One team member, tall guy, nailed a hole in one from about 500'.  Unbelievable!  He had us sign his Frisbee, as witnesses.  Holes in one are as rare as they are in regular golf; the guy was ecstatic.



The discs have various weights and are labeled like golf clubs: driver, midrange, putter, etc.  The player stands on the concrete tee-off pad, eyeballs the course and obstacles - there were lots of trees in the park - selects the appropriate disc, does whatever style of approach he/she has developed, and wings it down range hoping to miss all the trees and get within putting distance of the goal.

There are over 5K courses in the USA, and it's played in 31 other countries also.  There's even enough prize money in the larger tournaments to generate a few professionals.  I've used the term 'team' above but I think it's the individual's score that counts; I suspect the foursomes are put together in a random manner.

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