Arrrr Maties... Its Disc Golf

Not every adventure is as fun as you'd like it to be, but I like to find ways to have fun regardless. As sure as I say this, I have to tell you my friend Aaron LOVES disc golf. He is a huge guy who dwarfs over most everyone else. He was telling me that Disc Golf is one of those sports that his sized doesnt help him at all. Everyone is equal in Disc Golf. Anyhow - this trip was marked by not by the golfing but by the 'pirate like' antics during the golf. Read on... Dave ************************************************************************************* A good friend and former personal trainer of mine Aaron invited me out for a round of Disc Golf. Having never played before, I accepted. Aaron is a 6’5” 250 pound semi-pro basketball player. He was going to bring along another friend who like me had not played Disc Golf before. We had arranged to meet at Burke Lake Park. This was a very ‘family’ oriented park, In addition to an 18 hole Disc golf course, there was a carousel, mini golf, a train ride and a snack bar. This is just the part of the park that I saw, there is also a traditional golf course and as the name implies a lake. As I was sitting and waiting for Aaron to arrive, a parade of an Asian family started past with 6 children that were very excited to be at the park. I watched with a smile on my face their enthusiasm was more than contagious. Suddenly one of the children stops, points directly at me, and begins speaking to his brothers and sisters in his native tongue. I'm still smiling but clearly confused as his mother rushes to stop him and saying in broken English…. “I told you not to point.” Then looks to me and says “I'm sorry”. I smiled again, and explained that I understood her concern but the pointing really didn’t bother me…. I was however curious over what he had said while pointing and laughing... She smiled politely and kept walking with no answer. I guess I’ll never know. Aaron arrived shortly after. He had brought along very intense friend who was appropriately named Pierce. As they walked up they acknowledged me with grave toned greetings of ‘Ahoy‘and ‘Arrrr’ and then informed me that this was ‘Talk Like a Pirate’ day. Look it up, it’s an official day. Who knew!!?? This Disc Golf course is almost completely in the woods which ironically are where most of my traditional golf game is played. As in ‘real’ golf, there are “T” boxes. These are poured concrete platforms from which if you tried real hard by craning your neck and by commanding your gaze around a maze of trees you could see approximately 2 hundred yards away, the “hole”. This was a metal basket of sorts with chains dangling downward that would entangle a disc as it was thrown into them. The discs are smaller and heavier than those Frisbees’ you may have played with twenty years ago. These are made for a purpose other than being caught. They come in assorted weights and are categorized as ‘driver’, ‘mid-range’ or ‘putter’. As in standard golf, each of these is designed for a specific purpose. There are several ways to throw the disks. The traditional way is by curling the Frisbee in towards your body and then quickly and forcibly releasing it forward towards your intended target. Another was identified to me as “the trigger”. This style of throw has your fingers inside the Frisbees’ edge. The disc is thrown in a ‘side arm’ motion allowing your fingers to ‘flick’ the Frisbee away from you at the moment of release. This was Pierce’s preferred method. Although it clearly did not give him much control, he said that the other way was “less than manly”. The discs would fly off in the direction of the hole but then suddenly bank hard in one direction or the other and begin bouncing off of trees. After a throw one of group would shout in their best pirate voice “Avast….“ in surprise of the discs seemingly unpredictable trajectory or “shiver me timbers…” in disgust. Like the 3 land lubbers that we were, each of us charted our own course to each hole. In just two hours we covered all 18 holes, with the final ‘putt’ by Aaron. As his disc hit the chains he punctuated our finish and his score, tauntingly yelling “Maties… that was Parrrrr”!