Disc golf puts a spin on an old game

A new game has been sweeping the nation over the last couple of years; it is called disc golf. Disc golf combines the distance of golf with the accuracy and wind factor of playing Frisbee.On Sept. 29, Western Carolina University cut the ribbon on the university’s first disc golf course. The participants in the tournament started out the course on the old intramural field behind Reid Gym in groups of four, and each person was responsible for keeping their own score. Every hole was a par 3 which means that if the Frisbee disc goes in the basket or is supported by the chains hanging in the basket in less than three throws, the player starts out with a negative number; the object of the game is to complete the nine-hole course in the least amount of throws. The Western Carolinian had a chance to cover the first four throwers who took on the course. The throwers were all of different experience levels, starting from throwers who just picked up a disc for just the first or second time, to throwers who have been playing for months or even years. The game was not as much for competition as it was for bettering one’s self. The hardest hole was the seventh hole because it was 420 feet away and it was very hard to see the basket; all four participants had trouble with this hole as they all were over par by at least one or two throws. Disc golf is starting to catch on at Western Carolina, and it will only be a matter of time before they start hosting actual tournaments with other competing schools.