Disc Golf

The other day when I was walking the McKeldin Area of Patapsco State Park I noticed these strange metal baskets littered throughout the park. At first I wasn't sure what their purpose was. Then, when I saw some fellow patrons lobbing frisbees at them, I realized that I was in the middle of a disc golf course. I have heard of disc golf but never actually had seen anyone play up until then. For anyone unfamiliar with it, the game consists of 18 holes spread out over a large course just like in golf, but is played with frisbees instead. After catching just a few brief seconds of the game I was instantly hooked. I went home, told the wife about it, and within 24 hours we had bought some regulation discs of our own.
This afternoon we returned to McKeldin and after a quick re-hike of the area, threw down the gauntlet. That phrase is usually one associated with the challenge of an opponent, but when I say it, I mean we waited for the course to clear out a bit, asked some fellow players directions to the first tee, and waited until no one was looking before we made total fools of ourselves. Discs flew in every direction other than the ones they were supposed to. Muscles were pulled. Backs were thrown out. Curse words were muttered. And most importantly laughs, though all at our own expense, were had. While we may not have had the best game performance out there today, I can assure you that we did have bragging rights to the highest "Tron" references to throws ratio. That mixed with a some Lee Trevino's Fighting Golf jokes and my wife acquiring the nickname "Calico Woods" made for good times all around. Despite the fact that I spent the better part of the afternoon chasing down and hunting for lost discs in some of the most unlikeliest of places, we had fun. Due to time constraints we were not able to play through an entire game. We were not really keeping score either. But with each hole we found ourselves getting the hang of it a little better. When we first rolled up to the course I chatted with some fellow golfers who explained the basic game concepts. The fact that they were all puffing on cigarettes gave me hope. Any sport that you can play while smoking can not be all that hard, right? After trying it for myself I am not so sure. It is more challenging than it looks. But with this, like any challenge, comes the reward of saying that you have done it, when the day is over.My drives were nice. I’ve backed off my run up in favor of focusing on my pull and release. I throw farther if I do it right. I’m much more accurate. My putting was solid. I missed three. A 40 foot on 2, a 30 foot on 11, and a 25 foot on 17.I posted the wrong score to twitter. Oh well.