My husband has been trying to get me to play frisbee — in all of its incarnations. Like a labador pup shaking a disc all doggy-eyed at his master, he comes to me with great hopes, disc in his hands, thinking that someday, just maybe, I’ll succumb to his floppy-eared cuteness and join him in a game of ultimate frisbee with his pals down at Bush Pasture Park.
No way, man.
So I promised him a game of frisbee golf. And while I knew I would suck from the get go, I didn’t imagine that he would tell me so before we even left our house.
“You’re not going to be very good,” he said.
“I know, thanks.”
“No, really, you’re really going to suck at this.”
“I know. Thanks again.”
“No, we don’t have to do this. You’re going to hate it.”
“Anything for you.”
Adam has his own set of Frisbee golf discs, which include a putter, a long-range driver, and two mid-range drivers. He carries them in a brown bowling bag that he picked up at Goodwill for $1.
You could probably recite the rules for frisbee golf while working the quadratic formula, baking a souffle and doing your taxes all at the same time. And while I can’t say I am enamored with the intricate culture that surrounds the game — backyard grilling has more relevance — I do rather enjoy walking around the sun-scorched grass in every direction, with arbitrary and often unsatisfying goals in mind (this has always been the draw of golf for me).
And I love rushing, urgent, into the wind.
We decided on Timber Linn park in Albany if only because we had to drive to it and, being a member of Tina Brown’s Gig Economy, I need every chance I can get to get out of the house. It seems to be a well-used course, with funny worn-down run-ups at the tees from which golfers have thrown discs for years. Adam says it’s an unconvincing course though, none too interesting, with too many straight fareways and not enough dog-legs. Next time, we might try the field at Cascades Gateway, a little closer to home.
You might think that I’m pulling your chain.
You might think that I am stalling because I don’t want to write a little story about how much I suck.
Well okay, cheeky monkeys, it is true. I did suck. It is exceedingly difficult for Frisbee novices to chuck a disc 400 yards and make it even half the distance without losing the disc to the wind, an overzealous sprinkler system, or a perfectly placed tree.
I generally had to make four, five, even six throws to hear that satisfying ca-chink! of the putter falling into the chained basket.
It was damn fun, though. I’m going back as soon as my arm stops hurting.
There’s a killer course in Newberg. The one I used to play at all the time is the one that’s here in Salem at Corban College, but then they had to go and put in dorms right in the middle of the course. Thus died a legacy. (sigh)
We had heard about that one — good thing we didn’t go looking for it. Any others in Salem? it seems like some of the surrounding communities have well-established Frisbee golfing … ahem… cultures. I’d hate to see that this is another area where Salem, um, dropped the disc.
Don’t tell me you went frisbee golfing instead of hiking one of the most beautiful old growth trails in Oregon. D-O N-O-T.
I know, I’m sorry. Couldn’t get Adam out of bed on his day off. And then we had to breakfast at Word of Mouth. And then we had to talk to our neighbor for an hour. And then and then. Sorry excuse for a new Oregonian, me.
From an email I received today:
There’s a frisbee golf course at Woodmansee park in SE Salem. It’s one of my favorite parks in town because it has a great walk through a mini forest and a nice little creek for the kids to throw stones in. There’s also an area where there are tons of rabbits. I’ve never played frisbee golf there but I do have a disc that I haven’t used in years. I suck at it too.
You can probably get a lot of information from the Capital City Disc Golf club: http://www.capitalcitydiscgolf.com/Site_3/Home.html. They’ve been doing a lot of volunteer work to put together a new course at Keizer Rapids Park, at least until a recent stand-off with a city employee who tweaked their course design in a manner unacceptable to the club. Anyway, it’s an ongoing and unresolved drama at present, and that’s all I know (it’s my husband’s hobby/sport, not mine!).
Frisbee golf drama! That is the best comment yet — and I had no idea there was a club closer to home. Thank you for the link.
[...] was down at Bush Pasture Park playing ultimate as usual when he happened upon an Oregon license plate in the south parking lot. It was strewn upside-down on [...]
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