As I run and ride through the Nashville Greenways near my house, I’ve always been fascinated by the guys walking up and down hills throwing frisbees in my general direction. They carry Ironman-sized backpacks and seem very serious, but also have an aura of calm. I promised myself that one day I would play this frisbee golf thing. That day was yesterday.
As luck would have it, my neighbor is one of those freaky technical guys who understands everything mechanical. He builds bikes and did a lot of tune up work for me before Ironman Wisconsin. He also has a frisbee-golf-practice-goal planted in his front yard.
It’s actually called “Disc Golf” and I had no idea what I was in for.
As I stood on the first tee ready to toss the frisbee around for a while, I quickly figured out those backpacks aren’t for food. My neighbor pulled his out of the trunk and that thing must have had 30 different discs inside. He explained they are all for different shots based on size, weight, etc. That’s when I officially thought he was crazy.
The discs essentially represent different golf clubs, there’s even a putter disc. But none of that made sense as I took my first warm up throw which promptly landed in a dried up creek below a big tree about 100 feet away.
“Not bad,” said my neighbor before unveiled an 8-point-breakdown on how launching a disc is much different than throwing a frisbee. He explained the 3 step crossover, the explosion point, and a complicated head position. For a minute I thought I was at a swim lesson.
Thankfully an outsider stepped in and asked if I’ve ever played baseball. “Of course!” I said.
He said you might be more comfortable with the forehand-flip. Hell yes I would be.
So that’s what happened most of the day. I channeled my inner middle-infielder by throwing side-arm discs deep into the woods.
By the 15th hole my arm was killing me. Today I’m sore all over, and very happy about it.
I’ve found some different muscles to train in a casual and fun way. It’s not hard-core by any means, but it gives you those twists and turns we don’t get from traditional triathlon training.
Anyway, I’m not sure what the point of all this is, but I think I’m just happy because I’ve found another way to stay young by acting like a child a few times a week.
