Our curiosity got the best of us March 7 as we drove home to Igo via Clear Creek Road after our Big Green Egg barbecue demonstration with Backyard Destinations at the Shasta District Fair.
Dozens of cars lined the road in the very place Bruce and I often see clumps of vehicles parked along the shoulder. We’ve often wondered what might attract so many people to such an undeveloped area. This time we stopped.
A young woman sat alone under a pop-up tent. She declined to give her name, but agreed to answer a few questions.
OK, that works.
She said the cars belonged to more than 100 participants who’d come to play the Horsetown Disc Golf Tournament. Players represented different disc golf divisions. Everyone paid a $25 registration fee, some of which was used for prize money.
Off in the distance we saw men trudging over hill and dell, carrying satchels. Occasionally we heard whoops and laughter.
The word “FORE!” also echoed in the air, coincidentally around the time Bruce left to take photographs.
Meanwhile, the young woman told us that the Sunday tournament at Horsetown was the third year at that location. She explained that fundamentally, disc golf is similar to regular golf, except discs are used, not clubs. And disc golf is played on natural, rugged terrain, such as that found off Clear Creek Road where weeds, hills, gullies, ponds, rocks, pine cones, mud and other natural wonders were all par for the course. No manicured greens in sight. Disc golf’s distance is measured in “holes” – both nine and 18.
Finally, the discs are thrown, much as one might toss a Frisbee®, except in disc golf, the players have multiple discs, which cost an average of about $25 to $30 each.
That explains why some guys had their pants rolled up and were wading in the muddy pond to retrieve discs.
From our vantage point we saw one upright metal disc-golf basket that slightly resembled Rosie the Robot’s skeleton. The object of disc golf is to toss the discs into that basket, much as golf’s object is to whack that little dimpled white ball into a hole in the ground.
I don’t pretend to understand some people’s attraction to either of these sports. But hey, whatever floats your boat.
That day, we saw only men players, but the woman (whose boyfriend was playing that day) assured us that women play, too.
As an aside, the woman said that although the Horsetown Disc Gold course may appear completely natural, volunteers actually spent a fair number of hours clearing and adapting that area into a disc golf course – with the property-owner’s permission.
The DGA (Disc Golf Association) website said this about disc golf in this excerpt:
Disc golf is one of the best lifetime fitness sports. It is easy to learn, a healthy activity and accessible to people of all ages and fitness levels. If you can throw a Frisbee® and you like to have fun, you can play disc golf. Today there are over 2,500 Disc Golf Courses in the United States.
Apparently, our north state is home to a number of disc golf courses, too, such as one in Anderson River Park, another in Kids Kingdom, one in Chico and yet another in Mt. Shasta.
The young woman said disc golf is actually more difficult than it looks (I thought it looked plenty hard), which is why she’d rather watch than play.
But for those who’d rather play, there are some websites, like this Redding-area one, that can lead the way.
(If you play disc golf, and you have information to share, feel free to post it in the comments below.)
