Lexington, KY - It's pretty simple, really. The disc needs to land in the basket. After each throw, the player must keep one toe on the spot the disc landed for the next throw. Any place the other foot wants to go, however, is fair game, whether two inches away or two yards away. Some players squat or lean off to one side - whatever it takes to get the round, plastic disc inside the basket.
This is disc golf, the hybridized sport that has become increasingly popular in Lexington. It has its own rules body in the Professional Disc Golf Association, which maintains rules and tournament rankings much as the United States Tennis Association and Professional Golf Association do for their respective sports.
Needless to say, as a complete amateur I have very little skill at it.
The Bluegrass Disc Golf Association is the local face of disc golf in Lexington. It has its own dues, tournaments, social events and regular practices. Lexington has two professionally-sanctioned courses already, and the BDGA is working with the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government's Parks & Recreation to build a third: a new disc golf course in River Hill Park, close to where Man O' War and Tates Creek Road cross in southern Lexington. Parks & Rec wanted to create a place for teens to hang out at River Hill Park besides the playground, because the presence of so many teenagers made it difficult for younger, more age-appropriate children to use the equipment. At the same time, park designers wanted to create an easier, shorter introductory course disc golf newbies could warm up on before graduating to the city's other 18-hole courses.
Parks & Rec first approached the BDGA early in August with a rush request for a course design. BDGA member Lyle McCoon - one of several members who are also course designers - drafted a nine-hole, half-mile-long course, which is set to open in early November. With the design in hand, Parks & Rec put up money for tee pads and hole placements, while City Councilman George Myers - whose district contains River Hill Park - contributed money for the baskets and signs.
Meanwhile, I'm out in Shillito Park on the 18-hole professional-grade course (the other one is at Veterans Park) with James Miller and Jerry Dobbins, the organization's webmaster and president, respectively. They're trying to show me how to play, but despite my best efforts I'm failing miserably.
Miller works at The Lexington Clinic, in the IT department. He says that Lexmark has its own disc golf course on the property. He tells me that the employees play lunchtime games and hold contests. He's been playing the sport for two years and has been gently introducing me to the sport so far. "Always mark your disc," he tells me, showing me the flip side of one of the discs he's letting me borrow. It has his name and some contact info written in Sharpie. I see the wisdom of this a few minutes later when, attempting to pull off a daredevil shot, my disc lands in a clump of trees near a creek. It takes three throws to get it back out again.
"We have a wide variety of members here, age-wise, skill-level wise," Dobbins tells me. He's the head of IT for the UK Federal Credit Union and throws his discs with a wiry athleticism I can't hope to match. "It's all handicap-based, so you're really playing against yourself, not other players," he says. I think he's trying to make me feel better.
Just like conventional golf, disc golf has pars and penalties, as well as different discs designed for different situations. Some are drivers, intended for long distance throwing, while others are putters - soft and flexible and just right for that final throw. Avoiding pavement is another important thing to remember, since parking lots, paved trails and roads are all hazards that will cost an extra throw. I'm just hoping to break 100 my first time out.
"It's cheaper than a lot of other sports," Dobbins tells me. "Like golf - if you want to practice, it costs you $30, just to go practice. You can get three good discs for that amount."
In late August I take a trip out to River Hill Park to see the 25 or so UK students who have joined Miller and McCoon to work on thinning out trees and cutting back brush to prepare for the course. "I'm working to balance the remaining stands of trees with making the course interesting," McCoon tells me. He's excited because the BDGA has recently gotten tentative approval from Parks & Rec for an 18-hole course in Jacobson Park.
Building a disc golf course is much more sustainable than alternatives, Miller points out. Tennis and basketball courts require tearing out trees and grass and laying down tons of asphalt, while golf courses must be stripped of many trees and watered frequently. Disc golf is more compact and less resource-intensive than golf, and allows trees and most natural foliage to stand. Rather than take them out, course designers plan around them. It makes for an interesting experience.
I go down to see what the UK students are doing. They're part of UK FUSION - UK For Unity and Service In Our Neighborhood - an all-day volunteer effort held during K-Week at UK for the past six years. Many of the student volunteers are freshmen, but some are older.
Inside the new clearing is no grass, but a carpet of brush and leaves in the woods. Miller tells me that it will be hole 2. He's standing in the middle with a chainsaw, discussing the details of the course design with McCoon while the UK students drag trees out of the woods and away from the course.
When the course is finished it will make a complete circle around the park. After cutting down the last of the trees in the clearing, Miller, McCoon and I head back up the hill toward the parking lot. Miller turns and looks back down. "Wow, that looks spectacular," he says. The park's landscape slopes gently down toward the forest, with a few trees jutting up here and there - sure to pose some challenges when tee pads and baskets are installed.
Miller points to the asphalt behind us at the top of the hill. "This course will be cheaper than that basketball court," he says. McCoon adds that the course will be "more economical, especially in these troubled economic times."
I talk with some of the UK students on their lunch break. Councilman Myers has come by to drop off a cooler full of water for them as a way to thank them for what they're doing. The FUSION program isn't mandatory - no UK student has to participate - so the 1,500 students who signed up to work at more than 90 sites across the city are doing it just for the experience.
Many of them say they are there to help their community. A few say they'll come back to play at the course or others around Lexington. Michael Hasson, a junior, tells me that FUSION is "a neat thing UK does. I should give up one afternoon to help out." Matt Seabold, a freshman, tells me that he's planning on coming back next year to volunteer again.
Standing at the highest point in the park overlooking the baseball field, Miller decides to give us all a disc golf demonstration. He lays his disc bag on the ground and flings disc after disc from the top of the hill down into the field. He gives every one of the UK students who wants to try a chance to throw one.
The discs have fanciful, magical brand names like Stingray, Banshee, Monster and Hummer. (One student turns to another and says, "Man, they have some nice names for these.") One of the students I talked to tries a throw and winds up hitting a tree. It's all about learning how to make that curve.
Back at Shillito Park, on my practice round, I did manage to score 96, which wasn't bad. "You can take a piece of land that's not too accommodating for anything else and as long as you cut some of the brush out you can put a course in," Dobbins says. He's seen courses in West Virginia put in on mountainsides. "You couldn't put anything else in there," he says.
Packing up, I consider trying my hand at disc golf again. For a moment there I had perfected the gentle toss and managed to throw a few discs that didn't wobble. It seems doable. I'll just need to scrounge up a few discs and go practice in my back yard for an hour, or a week or two at least.