My son's friend is really into disc golf. My son, not so much … yet. When his friend recently asked "Could you bring your disc?" my son brought the new music CD they had been discussing. His friend meant the "driver" my son recently found at a park.
Driver?" I asked when he'd come home with it. Don't you just play with Frisbees?
Apparently not.
The couple of times I played we did. My son was about half the size he is now and asked about the funny chain basket that dangled from a pole near our picnic site. Thankfully, we had a plastic disc in the car: a free one with a business logo stamped on it.
Like I said, it was a long time ago. I only had two kids at the time, and they were too young to have good aim or even count high enough to track the scores they accrued … on two holes.
Now I'm learning that disc golf, as with any other sport, is something that people buy special equipment for, practice at and get crazy competitive over.
There are drivers, mid-range and putters. I know enough golf vocabulary to understand the uses of each, but in the same way that I wouldn't know one golf club from another, I was curious on how the discs differ. My son, with a couple of games under his belt, gave me a quick run-down.
He is just starting to become aware, and I can see his interest is growing.
It started on the slopes of Mount Hood before the snow came and ski slopes opened. His Boy Scout troop visited the mountain for a day of fun. A ski lift carried them up to the first hole, and the 18-hole course guided them down.
My son also tried his hand at virtual disc golf on his friend's Wii. Naturally, I try to be an encouraging mother, so when he came home and told me that he got a score of 98, I made a generic comment like "that sounds good."
"Not really."
I wasn't going to give up. "It was your first time. It can't be that bad."
He explained that you don't want points, and his friend won with a score of -2.
Thankfully, he did better when he and his friend played a real game at Woodmansee Park. My son shared that with a stroke of beginner's luck, he won.
There's nothing like an early win to ignite interest. Sibling jealousy is even more powerful. After hearing about their brother's disc golfing experiences, my daughters keep asking when they can go. My son hasn't acted too anxious to include them. After all, he and his friend have found something they can do year-round, free-of-charge and away from younger siblings.
I can see this turning into a favorite pastime for my son.
Holly Hamlin lives in Salem with her husband and four children ranging from ages 1 to 13. Kid Trips appears Tuesdays in this section. Write to Kid Trips, Statesman Journal, P.O. Box 13009, Salem, OR 97309-3009. Letters can be faxed to (503) 399-6706 or e-mailed to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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