Students trade golf clubs for a frisbee

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St. Thomas students are losing the golf clubs and grabbing a frisbee.

“Free has a lot to do with it, obviously college kids don’t have a lot of money,” senior Ian McIntosh said. “It’s kind of nice when you’re just hanging around; you don’t have to convince your friends much to do a free activity.”

A disc golfing audience ranges from serious competitors to people looking to have fun. Junior Tom Parnell’s interest in disc golf grew from his passion for ultimate frisbee.

“I started frisbee golfing as a supplement to playing ultimate. I’ve been playing ultimate for about four or five years now,” Parnell said. “So I just kind of enjoy disc sports in general.”

Similar to traditional golf, disc golfers start at a tee and throw their frisbee toward a chained basket. The goal is to have the frisbee land in the basket. Players have to be careful, however, because getting their frisbee stuck in a tree or stuck in a pond could penalize them.

Most disc golf courses, including the one at Highland Park, are free. With St. Thomas student disc golf interest on the rise, an official club may be in St. Thomas’ future.

“Yeah, if there is a committed group of people that want to get out and compete and have a good group to do that. I think it would be a great idea,” McIntosh said.

Sara Kovach can be reached at kova7636@stthomas.edu.

4 Replies to “Students trade golf clubs for a frisbee”

  1. Disc “golfers” should rename their sport. The resemblance to golf is quite superficial. The good news for us real golfers is that the more people who play disc “golf,” the fewer bad golfers we will find clogging up the courses.

  2. Agreed george, there is barely any correlation between disc “golf” and the actual game of golf.

  3. Ball golfers should quit being such snobs. As a former ball golfer, I can say with conviction that disc and ball golfing are actually quite similar. Of course, disc golf is less expensive to install and to play, much less destructive to the environment, quicker to get a round in, and a lot more fun. So, keep playing ball golf, we don’t need your bad attitude clogging up our courses.

  4. Good Corey, keep playing disc “golf”, we don’t need your GDI attitude clogging up our courses.

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