Your first disc golf course...

[GMcAtee]

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.

 

[adlacro]

https://www.dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=28

South Mountain is a par 54 wooded course with two tees to every hole. A few holes have multiple positions that are rotated frequently. Good amount of elevation change as the course plays up and down South Mountain, one of the highest points in the Lehigh Valley at around 1,000'. I started playing in '06, the year after the area hosted Worlds.

 

[ejvogie]

The northernmost Ottawa Park. There are only 3, but they all exist within about an hour of each other off I-75 in OH.

Unsure about the date of my first round. I'd gotten a Dick's gift card for my birthday and spent it on an Innova starter pack. Why? WTF knows. Played that first round and the discs sat for a while. Years later I tried again (Ottawa Park again) and was hooked.

 

[Innova63]

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...

 

[thrembo]

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.

 

[Innova63]

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.

Disc sales from a guy in a van...

Brian Cummings had a white van.
Met him probably about the same time as meeting Gary.

Brian was delivering Pepsi/DJing and disc sales if my memory is correct.

 

[Cgkdisc]

April 1989 Moir Park (cone course). Got a map mailed to me from MFA Pres, Dave Bogenhagen, showing where the 5 or 6 Twin Cities courses were located. Moir was closest to my home. Dave said consider all holes Par 3. I took my black Wham-O 141g Master Pro and proceeded to shoot a 27 for the 9 holes and was thinking, "I could quickly become a pro in this sport." I soon discovered golf discs flew 3 times farther when I got crushed in my first MFA event on a "real" disc golf course either Highland or Lone Lake.

 

[thrembo]

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.

 

[Countchunkula]

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.

That's awesome that you were there at the beginning. West Park was probably one of the first 5 courses I played.

Wish we still had a cone course around here.

 

[zontar]

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.

 

[mostlynorwegian]

Buddy at the brewery I spent a lot of time at was telling me about disc golf for several months, and how we should go some morning. So. We went to Dellwood. I brought a Roc, and we had music and beers. He let me borrow some discs for the round to fill things out.
I was hooked.

 

[Chucker60]

Lakeside Park in Woodway 8 months ago

 

[playrecords]

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 took a roadtrip in spring 2019 to play Selah and Trey Texas and the 3 courses at Tyler. Heading to Louisiana after to play Lake Claiborne my alternator went out at the TX / LA border. Had the VW towed into Shreveport and got a rental car the next day while waiting for the repair. Played Clyde (don't remember much about it) and Highland. The latter I remember being pretty fun but in a sketchy neighborhood (maybe because of the police cars rolling around the course). Played Whitetail the next morning but didn't get to play the other as I got a call on the course that my car was fixed and they had limited hours... Thanks for the memory trigger

 

[Tee1]

Sherando Park in Stephens City VA. One of the older courses in the area. The OG layout which was in another section of the park and it opened in 1980. They then moved it across the road to it's current location in 1998. Most players in our area would probably say it's the first course they ever played. I still go out there from time to time for some Ace runs. Fun little course.

 

[Cerealman]

Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, Tenn. (still my home course), late summer, 2008

It was a 9-holer originally. I had finished playing tennis, and I saw a guy I knew who was a pretty good disc golfer going out to throw at the new course. I asked him if he had any extra discs and he lent me a few. I shot +10 on the nine holes and he said that was pretty good for a first time and wasn't being patronizing.

I got hooked and started throwing several evenings a week.

 

[glassila]

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.

There are some great, great stories in this thread, but this will be hard to beat...WOW!!! :clap::clap::clap:

 

[knobby325]

First course was Waterworks Park in Des Moines, IA, in 2008 or 2009. Long since taken out as it was in the flood plain. Wife and I were using a couple of cheap oversized Frisbees. Another couple came along and gave us a couple of their well worn discs. I still have one of them, a Viper.

A few years later, my new job required some hotel stays and my crew lead asked if I had any disc golf discs. I told him, I might have a couple somewhere in my garage. He had just bought some from his roommate. I don't remember which course we played first, but soon after we started is when I found DGCR and I started locating courses in the upper Midwest towns we were staying in. Now I'm hooked way more than he is...

 

[discNDav]

Madeline Bertrand Pk in Niles, MI in 1986.

 

[foxdawg10]

Old Ellison Park layout. Near Rochester, NY. It was the layout they used for part of 1999 Worlds. I threw 2 practice holes with Climo and Al Schack ( I was not a participant, I just happen to be there at same time they were one evening.). At that time there were only 2 permanent courses in Rochester area.

 

[Brockness Monster]

Bryant Park in Albany, OR.

https://www.dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=2609

Great mix of wooded and open field. My buddy from the Navy was going to Oregon State University and I headed out to scout it for their Fermentation Science Program (only 2 in the country at the time). Ended up choosing Oregon State and had a fantastic 4 years playing this course and others that were part of Nate Sexton's home territory.