Mesker Park in Evansville, IN in 2009. Walking through the park, I noticed the tee signs and how descriptive they were. Decided to try it out.
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West Park in Joliet IL in 1979. I was already hooked on playing object golf and was happy to get a basket course nearby. Shorewood was next and then New Lenox. We were blessed with having three nearby courses in the early '80s.
West Park was my first out-of-state tournament. Met Gary Lewis there. Brown Deer (OG) was my first course. Played with a friend using a single Black Masters 150g frisbee. Throw a tee shot, retrieve for friend to throw his tee shot, repeat...
Saw someone throwing really far with something clearly not a frisbee, talked to him (either John, Jim or Andy), learned about golf discs, headed to Golf Course pro shop to buy said golf disc...
Game changer...
still have that patent pending Aero...other options were Coupe, Aviar or XD...
Heard about a place that had more selection (Discraft)
Art Smarts Dart Mart and Juggling Emporium...
Art's is still there, but now a whole room dedicated to Disc Golf discs.
Vollrath in Sheboygan was probably next course played, met some guy named "Pickle" there...
Was 1985 then...
Gary Lewis ran West Park for years. Great guy. My first discs were World Class 141g and 165g, a Black Masters and a Super Pro (which I shared with my friends that I introduced to the sport). Started buying golf specific discs shortly after the course was opened from some dude in a van. Midnight Flyers, Kitty Hawks then Discraft, Innova and Lightnings first discs. I gravitated to Discraft early on.
I was in the IFA (International Frisbee Assn) and some dudes from the other IFA (Illinois Frisbee Assn) contacted me because I had golf listed as one of my Frisbee pursuits. They were letting all of us in the area know that West Park was coming and wanting folks to come and play it when completed, which we did of course! Also played a few North side niners early on and one of those had cone baskets originally.
Clyde Fant in Shreveport, LA was my first permanent course I played. The targets were culverts at the time. There was usually garbage in them to make it really special when you were putting out.
I had a son (I NEVER KNEW I HAD) who found me and flew with his wife across the country to meet me when he was 31 years old. brought his discs and played Scott Whitcomb in Lincoln, NE (known locally as Tierra). I'd played casually decades earlier but never got into it. needless to say, I was hooked and I have an unexpected extended family (with grandkids).
lesson here: getting a high school girl pregnant might lead to a new hobby 30+ years later.