Grip it and zip it

Disc Golf is taking off in Maine

By Sam Pfeifle

Back in the halcyon days of early ’90s college life, we naively called it Frisbee Golf. Basically it entailed wasting a sunny Saturday on campus with a few friends by picking out random objects — a bird pool, a bike rack, the far goal post on the football field, my car — pointing at them, and somebody saying “I could hit that in three throws.” Then we would, en masse and indiscriminately, chuck our standard 130 gram Frisbees, acquired at the local brewery and glow-in-the-dark capable, hoping to hit our targets rather than local passers by.

We rarely made it clear beforehand what would happen if we did or did not hit the target in the number of “strokes” allotted for “par,” but it generally involved cheers and hurrahs of some sort. Every once in a while we’d get it together enough to map out a few “holes” ahead of time, and then keep score, but that usually denigrated pretty quickly when we realized our par designations were either too easy or unattainable. Like, say, bowling class, we didn’t take it very seriously.

There are some, however, who take this particular pastime very seriously indeed. And they certainly don’t call it Frisbee Golf. They prefer Disc Golf: Their “clubs” are far from the Frisbees you grew up with — there are drivers, mid-range discs, even putters of many different weights and hardnesses — and they probably don’t want to tangle with toy maker Wham-O over the Frisbee copyright anyway.

From its beginnings in the early ’70s, which lead to the creation of the Toronto, Canada-based Professional Disc Golf Association, the sport has grown to accommodate a glossy, full-color magazine, Disc Golf World News, and a World Championship tournament that will kick off this Sunday in Houston, Texas. The PDGA sports more than 21,000 members in 20 countries.

Maine Disc Golf enthusiasts were in on the ground floor. Bob Enman, who runs the Enman Field Disc Golf course in Brunswick, says that he and his brother Dave got interested in the sport in 1996, but that Maine’s Disc Golf history goes way back.

“The Beaver Brook course [in North Monmouth], was the first course in Maine,” says Enman. “It was designed by Ed Headrick in the mid-’70s. He says it was one of the first 10 courses in the country.” Headrick has other claims to fame as well: He was one of the initial designers of Wham-O’s Frisbee, and he designed the basket that serves as Disc Golf’s “hole” on the course. “He’s like the father of our sport,” says Enman with reverence.

The Enman brothers got so hooked on the sport at Beaver Brook that they opened their own course, Enman Field, with the “Beast” course, on June 1, 1996. They then added the “Beauty” course in 1997. Now, Bob Enman has plans to open a new site, the Dragan Field (which will eventually contain three courses, but will open with the Red Dragon course only), later this month. He’ll definitely have it open for the New England Disc Golf Championship, which Dragan will host August 31. As the PDGA representative for Maine, Bob Enman has joined with the Rhode Island and New Hampshire reps to hold this tournament, which will allow both “pros” and “ams” to qualify for the United States Disc Golf Championship, to be held this October in South Carolina.

Yes, that’s right, there are Disc Golf professionals, and prizes can be won in numerous tournaments held throughout Maine and the rest of the country. Amateur winners usually take home trophies or prizes of discs, disc bags, and the like. It’s pretty competitive out there.

And more people are playing all the time. There are currently 10 fully functioning Disc Golf courses in Maine — Dragan will be the eleventh — everywhere from Brunswick to Caribou. Enman says he’s been busy lately on the weekends in Brunswick, and “I can see a time when tee times might be necessary.” Enman works at Disc Golf full-time, and has even hired a full-time maintenance worker for the Enman Field courses.

Though there are no courses in Southern Maine at the moment, “When I get Dragan up and running, I’m going to try to do something about that,” says Enman. Unfortunately, land is both more scarce and more expensive in the southern parts of the state, making it more difficult to acquire the 10 to 20 acres of land needed for a good Disc Golf compound; Enman likes to have at least two courses per field.

For beginners looking for a different way to have “a good walk spoiled,” as the ball golf saying goes, don’t be intimidated. Many of the rules are similar to ball golf: foursomes make the best group size, bigger groups let smaller groups play through, and despite all the clubs available, there’s nothing that says you can’t bring your original Wham-O out there with you. But “After you play the game for a while,” says Enman, “you realize the specialized discs make it easier to play.”

Sam Pfeifle can be reached at spfeifle@phx.com. “Game On” tackles all manner of marginal sports and runs once a month.

For more information on Maine Disc Golf, check out www.madg.org or call Enman Field at (207) 798-5000.