Disc Golf Lessons

Yesterday my friends, Ann, Alicia, Peter, and I went to play disc golf at Walnut Creek Park. It was perfect weather - 65 degrees and sunny. Ann and Alicia are my best friends from college. We were roommates at Bridgewater where we all went for undergrad. Alicia and Peter have played disc golf before, so they knew what they were doing. It was Ann's and my first time and we learned several hard lessons about disc golf. Here they are:

1. Throwing disc golf frisbees is not the same as throwing ultimate frisbee frisbees. Of course I didn't learn this lesson until after I had lost the frisbee twice in the woods and then thrown Alicia's favorite frisbee in the water. That's when I learned lesson number 2.

2. Disc golf frisbees sink. Fast. They hit the water and go down immediately. Fortunately Peter is part-prophet and as he foretold this would happen, he was down by the edge of the water waiting to see where the frisbee would go in so that he could go retrieve it. Unfortunately, I of course managed to sink it in the very deepest part.

3. Unless you really know what you are doing, disc golf frisbees don't go where they are aimed. For example, had I been aiming for the deepest part of the water, the frisbee would have sailed right on to the land, clearing the water easily.

4. Just because the air temperature in January is warm doesn't mean the water temperature is. Peter was quite cold having to retrieve the frisbee. He never did find it, but he found another one to replace it!

5. Don't stand in front of people when they are throwing a disc golf frisbee. For that matter, don't stand behind them or to the side either. I suggest finding safety in the very top of a tree or else curling up in the fetal position on the ground until everyone else's turn is over. I almost had my head taken off 3 times and I wasn't even standing in the path. I was traipsing through the middle of the woods searching for my long lost frisbee.

6. Disc golf frisbees are colorful for a reason. After trudging up and down bank after bank, looking behind trees and under thickets, I finally found my bright blue frisbee. Thank goodness frisbees aren't brown.

7. It's fun to have a friendly dog with you, especially one named Chaos. It's especially good when your friendly dog doesn't chew frisbees. And if you can teach them to dive under water to redeem sunken frisbees, then you are definitely ready to play this game.