Thursday, January 14, 2010

bridging the disc golf awareness gap

I sometimes wonder, in a what-if kind of way, how quickly disc golf's ponderous growth would accelerate if I could wave a magic wand and instantly communicate the following to the rest of the world:
  • The game of golf, in both its iterations, is the greatest individual sport ever invented. Millions of people that would otherwise be receptive to this fact remain ignorant because of the many obstacles they rightly perceive as being prohibitive- cost and difficulty chief among them.
  • There is a version of golf that retains nearly all of the facets that make it a great game, while removing these and other barriers.
  • Disc golf, while easy to learn and enjoy, is much more complex than simply "throw, walk, repeat . . . throw, walk, repeat . . . " A skilled player has an almost infinite array of options when deciding how to execute a throw, and a learned eye recognizes art when he/she witnesses a shot that is thrown with just the right angle, spin, and power to turn this way to avoid one tree, then fade that way to miss another clump of bushes, then fall to the ground with just enough power to trickle toward the target, and finally stop just short of the cliff behind.
I think these facts, in combination, imparted to a sports and outdoor-inclined mind, will make disc golf irresistible.

Friday, January 1, 2010

New year, same slow, unstoppable growth

Two thousand ten began at midnight, with an incredibly bright full moon. Good omen, I hope.

Disc golf-wise, this is the biggest unknown I've experienced in . . . . since I started playing in the late 80's. At this point I'm guessing I won't play in the Masters Cup, for the first time in 18 years, just like I missed the Faultline. But on the other hand a couple non-playing ventures might show progress. That's a sign of aging, I guess, having ones accomplishments be 'off the course'.

Happy New Year. Make 2010 the year you squeeze the most out of your potential. The year of the sponge.