Your first disc golf course...

[EarthRocker]

1992 or 1993. Reedy Creek in Charlotte.

I can never remember the year exactly. My good friend John and I worked at a local restaurant together. And I know I went to Lollapalooza '93 while I worked there, so it had to be in that timeframe. Plus the fact that I lost my original 2-Chain Aviar just a few years ago, and it had a '92 date on it...

But I was the same as most others: couldn't throw the first time he took me out, and it pissed me off. I grew up throwing beach frisbees and was damned good at it. Figured it would be an easy transition.

It was decidedly NOT that. Everything hooked hard left, no matter what I tried.

But he talked me into going a scond time a few weeks later. To this day, I can't quite remember what he said to me that made me finally rip one that got flat and flew straight. What I do recall is the feeling of "YES!" when it did. And that was absolutely the Hook Moment. Haven't looked back, except for a decade from 1999-2009 during which I tried to learn to play the Other Golf. Thousands of dollars later, I gave that madness up.

Parenthetically, John and I lost touch from about 1996 until one day in 2019, my group and I were playing Plantation Ruins, coming up the fairway on #14.
Over the horizon, a random dude was jogging back towards us, heading from hole 15 back to #13 where (he sort of yells to us, as he's running by) he's forgotten a disc...
Barely glanced at him as he's passing me...and I just had a ZOINKS moment...and the reunion was ON. I get chills thinking about it.
Anyway, after all those years, it was like we hadn't missed a day. We play together as much as we can now. He's my sensei and my brother...And it all started at Reedy Creek. Or, at the friggin' Applebee's in front of the mall, if you want to be all technical about it.

 

[chevis]

i could swear i answered this before, but wasn't in the threads b4 this one (what age did you start, how did you start).
found this though:

ultrastar. not only good for ultimate, but the object course around campus. then there were many a drunken friday evening playing a made up golf game in the park, where if you win the hole, you choose the next; fun times making up your own rules for your 'hole'. one of my favorites was holing out by having the disc go down the playground slide.
then a course with actual baskets went in and i bought 3 golf discs (not sure if it was a starter set): avair, roc, viper

campus course. the course with actual baskets: spring creek

 

[TiltedFlipCurves]

I think I threw some frisbees on a hole or 2 at the original Riverside Park in Hammond as a kid before it was totally neglected and torn out. (a long time ago!)

First "real" round was 4-5 years back when my ex-brother-in-law took me to Pirate's Cove in Milton FL with a friend of his. Of course i didn't know you couldn't float golf discs so the few ok shots were actually trying to make the disc turn right. Same kind of thing my brother took me to Forsythe Park in Whiting later on. Eventually he played tournaments and I decided to start trying to figure out this game too so he gave me some discs and January 2021 I started practicing regularly. Only 200 rating points behind him haha!

 

[Shadrach3]

Probably 2015 or so, Alexander Park in Lawrenceville GA.

My siblings and I used to play ultimate every time we visited my cousins, and one day during a visit someone suggested frisbee golf, so we went to the nearest place. Maybe played twice in the next three years, again only when visiting family.

Fall 2018 got a little boring at school, so I dug out my singular driver and played a few times, thereby hooking my brother when he visited. Started playing regularly and building a small bag.

April 2020 lockdown was the catalyst that got me on the bagging train. I played virtually everything in Atlanta within three months. Best traffic I ever saw there lol.

 

[medicinalfunk]

shaver park in cedar rapids iowa. i was unemployed at the time and some friends invited me out, had nothing better to do. have spent close to thousands of hours our there since that day between playing and work days. we had what was, more or less, a land hurricane fold the city in half in late summer of 2020 where we saw upwards of 80% of the tree canopy wiped out... which of course included the heavily-wooded disc golf course i'd grown to love.

i also had the benefit of one of discraft's old (lol) pros, Adam Olsen, living next door who let me carry his bag around at local tournaments and brought me in to work at the disc golf shop he and a few friends opened right next to said park, where i worked for about 5 years.

we have a proud group of volunteers pouring time into the park now, with the backing of a solid club here which raised money to have it redesigned by John Houck, and it's looking like we'll have the beginnings of destination course this spring to compliment wildcat bluff in urbana.

 

[lee76007]

Tiltedflipcurves reminded me of Oak Grove (Hahamongna Park) in Pasadena California, and I believe the first disc course in 75'. Well, I was throwing frisbees there with family members on picnic days up until 74'. My great-grandmother a little old lady from Pasadena (where have you heard that one before) lived a short way from there. If we hadn't of moved away from our monthly visits from Bakersfield, maybe my disc golfing could have started a lot sooner instead of in 2019.

 

[ReaperDiscs]

My first course was Lagoon Valley in Northern California in 2012. 11 years later and I still play it several times a week. Awesome 27-hole course

 

[puttlikeablowfly]

I believe the first object course I played was likely at a summer camp (LuWiSoMo?) in the 80s. The first basket course was Lime Kiln Park in Grafton, WI, sometime in the mid 90s.

The first course I played with actual golf discs was Elver Park in Madison. I had played a couple of rounds with frisbees, and brought a friend the second time. As we were walking off the course, some guy had set up a table selling discs in the parking lot and saw us with our frisbees. He called us over, showed us some discs, and then offered to sell us each a used one of his wife's (or ex-wife's) old discs for a buck apiece to try out. I got a yellow Comet with the name of some lady, Juliana Bower #7438, written on the bottom. I actually showed her that disc a few years later at the Mad City Open and got a chuckle out of her. Too bad none of her talent came with the disc! After quickly getting hooked, we went to Play It Again Sports to buy our very own new discs. I bought a Raven and a Blowfly ... still use that same Blowfly 20+ years later.

 

[da Crippler]

I would have to ask my buddy Jake, but I think we played two or three times in Janesville, WI in '85 or '86. I don't remember which course we played but I was throwing a lid and Jake had an Eagle and an Aero, neither of which I had never seen before. I didn't play again until 2012 and Jake quit for almost as long.

 

[Mike C]

First course was the now defunct original layout at Arboretum, in Canton, Ohio.

Had a buddy recommend me a Star Leopard and Star Aviar as my starting combo back in the 2000's.

That course is a far cry from the ones that surround me these days. Bunch of wide open holes with no ceilings. Helped me develop my distance but moving south really helped me develop control.

 

[davetherocketguy]

Oshtemo Township Park - 2004 - longs.

 

[Dthunderchicken]

August 1973. A temporary course in Forrest Park (St. Louis MO.). No pole holes, just Hula hoops hung from trees etc. The hoops were spinning in the wind. The course had few obstacles to navigate. The day sucked. We went back home and continued to throw at cans on top of posts in my buddy's side yard. (We called it Target Frisbee.)

 

[Discette]

September, 1996, Sugarbottom DGC, North Liberty, Iowa. My ex and I played a lot of catch frisbee and we thought we were frisbee experts. A friend called us early one Sunday morning and said he played disc golf for the first time in a league and won his division. He said we should try it. So we went to Flying Designs, a local shop and bought some discs and a rule book. We played our first round the next weekend.

We sucked! My 165 gram Shark just hyzered out immediately. We just couldn't get these golf discs to fly far at all. As we were leaving, we saw two guys, Bruce and Todd Takes, throwing discs up and over the trees and parking the holes. We went over and asked them how they could throw so far. They showed us the power grip and suggested we play in the upcoming tournament. They assured us that beginners were welcome and we could learn a lot. Played my first PDGA event in October, 1996 and was instantly hooked. Over the last 27 years, I have played in over 300 PDGA events and played over 600 courses in all 50 states.

By the way, that friend called at 10:00 am on a Sunday. Which used to be early morning to me before disc golf tournaments filled my weekends.

 

[TheOtherBill]

Timmons in Greenville, SC in 2006. A new co-worker took me and my buddy Tom out to play. He had a tie-dye Valk that was the coolest thing ever.
Funny enough, Tom just joined DGCR a couple of days ago even though we've been playing together ever since.

 

[Mando]

Timmons in Greenville, SC in 2006. A new co-worker took me and my buddy Tom out to play. He had a tie-dye Valk that was the coolest thing ever.
Funny enough, Tom just joined DGCR a couple of days ago even though we've been playing together ever since.

I can't think of a better course for your first one. Timmons is awesome !

 

[Central Scrutinizer]

Oshtemo Township Park - 2004 - longs.

Sweet! The front nine was only 4 years old at that time. Boy, have the trees gotten bigger. Unfortunately mother nature did some trimming for that ice storm we had recently, but I've been playing it this week and it wasn't altered too badly.

You've probably seen this, but for those who haven't, here I am playing Oshtemo when it was approximately a 1-year-old course, just a 10-holer at the time. Much of it back then was like an open field especially compared to today. The first hole on this video is today's #9, the one that begins if you walk through to the back of the playground. It's a brand-new hole in this video and I'm playing it actually for the very first time here. For Oshtemo's debut year we had to walk all the way back to today's #10 to begin play because the back nine was installed first. I definitely remember when those pine trees next to 10's short tee were about head-high. We'd throw over them from the back tee and hyzer back in over all the trees on the left. That, of course, ain't happening today!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWuyWX0cXP0

 

[Central Scrutinizer]

Too late to edit, when I say "hyzer back in over all the trees on the left" on today's #10, I meant with my forehand. I've got a couple of 1999 aces that were just big RHFH hyzers with Banshees. Those lines no longer exist. Can you imagine the big sky shots you could have there if most of the trees are under 10 or 15'? Larry LaBond would throw huge annies with Gazelles and pin these holes. I'll never ever forget witnessing him pinning Hole #4 from the longs with an orange Gazelle.

 

[Jukeshoe]

Sweet! The front nine was only 4 years old at that time. Boy, have the trees gotten bigger. Unfortunately mother nature did some trimming for that ice storm we had recently, but I've been playing it this week and it wasn't altered too badly.

You've probably seen this, but for those who haven't, here I am playing Oshtemo when it was approximately a 1-year-old course, just a 10-holer at the time. Much of it back then was like an open field especially compared to today. The first hole on this video is today's #9, the one that begins if you walk through to the back of the playground. It's a brand-new hole in this video and I'm playing it actually for the very first time here. For Oshtemo's debut year we had to walk all the way back to today's #10 to begin play because the back nine was installed first. I definitely remember when those pine trees next to 10's short tee were about head-high. We'd throw over them from the back tee and hyzer back in over all the trees on the left. That, of course, ain't happening today!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWuyWX0cXP0

Man, I love these old videos you post....I can't believe that's Oshy, parts of it are hardly recognizable! The pines are so tiny!!!

 

[Central Scrutinizer]

Man, I love these old videos you post....I can't believe that's Oshy, parts of it are hardly recognizable! The pines are so tiny!!!

Thanks Juke! I'm getting down to only a few of them left in the vault, and they're repeat rounds of the places I've already shown. There's a Christmas 1996 Oxbow round in there I haven't done yet, another early Oshtemo round from 1999. There's a safari course my friends and I played in the huge wilderness that used to exist behind Drake's Pond apartments in KZoo that now has a road, a middle school, and a bunch of residential areas and we carried around a basket for a video once there. I remember losing an Eagle with a 1999 In-Flight Open stamp in there somewhere. I think that's all I have left, wish I would've taped a lot more back then. I also believe I have some field work in the empty field in front of Drake's Pond that now is completely populated with businesses.

 

[MHaas]

Grand Woods up in Lansing was my 3rd course, 7 years after first discovering Oxbow. It wasn't until there that I encountered pros/enthusiasts in a big club, the Capital City Renegades, and the obsession began in earnest there and then.

Anytime one of these 'back-in-the-day' threads comes up I become more sure that you and I would've ran into each other a few times.

Grand Woods was my first course. Had a buddy at Michigan State who was big into ultimate take me out there for the first time in the Fall of 1993 (30 years playing this year!). We would be out there 3-4 days a week for the next 7 years or so. Played a few rounds with the CCR guys, got our hands on a coveted J-Bird stamped cyclone, played the odd tournament here and there. That was probably the only course I played for the first few years, until we finally made it out to Fitzgerald. Then there were eventual road trips to Addison Oaks, Hudson Mills and the Kensington tunnel course when it went in. We always heard the CCR guys talk about Kandahar too, definitely regret never making it out there while it still existed.