Disk golf, Norwood’s newest outdoor recreation opportunity, is a fun, easy and inexpensive way to get outdoors with friends, family and even by yourself. All across Colorado, disk golf is on the rise as its popularity grows with more and more courses popping up, allowing golfers a change of scenery, and a chance to develop their skills with different terrain and features. Norwood’s new disk golf course is located in a field on the southern edge of town behind Cottonwood Creek Estates and the Lone Cone Library. The nine-hole course is blessed by wide-open space, all-day sun and very few obstacles, making it a great course for beginners looking to get into the sport and enthusiasts who just want to brush up on their skills.
What is disk golf?
Disc golf is a lot like golf, but Instead of a ball and clubs, players use a flying disc (basically souped up version of a Frisbee). Golf Discs are different from traditional Frisbees in that they are smaller in diameter, have a bevelled edge and are generally heavier. There are three main types of discs used, the driver or ‘fairway’ and ‘distance’ drivers, the mid-range driver and the putter. The object of the game is to complete each hole in the fewest strokes throws. Disc golf shares the same joys and frustrations of golf, whether it’s sinking a long putt or hitting a tree halfway down the fairway.
Disc golf is often free to play in public parks Disc golf is designed to be enjoyed by just about everyone, making it a great lifetime fitness activity. Because disc golf is so easy to learn, no one is excluded. Players merely match their pace to their capabilities and proceed from there. One of the greatest attributes of the sport is it’s affordability. A professional quality disc costs roughly $15, and it only takes one for basic play. Don’t have a disk of your own? The Lone Cone Library, located diagonally across from Norwood’s course, rents disks for free!
One of the great features disc golf shares with golf is that they are both played in beautiful, outdoor settings. A nine-hole disc golf course can be established on as little as five acres of land, and an 18-hole course uses 30 to 40 acres. A casual 18-hole round takes around one to two hours and may be played alone.
Disc golf is excellent for the body and the mind as it provides upper and lower body conditioning, aerobic exercise, and mental stimulation. Concentration skills increase by mastering shots and negotiating obstacles, and players of limited fitness levels can start slowly and gradually increase their level of play.
How to play disk golf
The concept is the same as golf, a disc is thrown from a tee area to a “hole,” or in the case of disk golf, a basket. As a player moves down the fairway, they must make each consecutive throw from the spot where the previous throw landed. The trees, shrubs, and terrain changes located in and around the fairways provide challenging obstacles for the golfer. Once the “putt” lands in the basket and the hole is completed.
Each hole has a “par,” which is the number of throws in which you should land your disk in the hole. Starting from the tee, throw your disk down the fairway toward the basket. Each throw after will be from where your disk landed during the previous throw. Continue to throw your disk until it lands in the basket, counting each throw along the way.
To score, you will count the number of throws it took to land your disk in the hole. “Par” means you landed the disk in the basket in the number of throws for that hole. “Birdie” means you landed the disk in one throw under ‘par,” and an “eagle” is two throws under “par.” A “bogey” is the term for one throw over “par,” and “double bogey is two throws over “par.” And as for hole-in-one, that would be an “ace!”
For more information on disk golf in Norwood, please visit Norwood Park and Recreation District and check out the Wright’s Mesa Diskgolf group on Facebook!