Disc Golf: A Great Way to Get Out and Enjoy Nature

By Matthew Brown

Four years ago, I don’t think I knew what disc golf (affectionately known as “frolf” within my circle of friends) was. Even though I live in a city with a great disc course, it is tucked away off pathways I’d never visited and in woods I’d never had the chance to walk through.

Like many people, I discovered disc golf at the start of the pandemic because it provided me a way to get outside and have some fun without having to be too close to people. Unlike traditional golf (jokingly referred to as “ball golf” by disc golfers), disc golf is free, so there is no clubhouse to check in to or lineups to be seen – the perfect pandemic sport.

While it started out as a way to avoid people, it wasn’t long before I started meeting members of the local disc golf community. They were always happy to give advice to beginners like me, whether it was about how to curve shots around corners or how to navigate an unfamiliar course. Not only was the local community friendly, but the sport itself brought me closer with my friends and gave me the opportunity to explore forests and places I’d never have seen otherwise.

So, what is disc golf? Instead of the clubs and golf balls of traditional golf, you have discs; and instead of a little hole in the ground, you’ve got a large metal basket you need to get your disc in. In traditional golf, different clubs are designed for different distances and the same is true of disc golf. Most beginners tend to start with three discs: a driver (designed for distance but less so for accuracy), a mid-range or approach disc (designed for accuracy), and a putter (designed for stable, accurate flight).

Photo: Dads of Muskoka Disc Golf Course in Bracebridge, Ontario

As players get more confident, there are countless different discs to explore. Some are designed to turn to the right or to the left (depending on whether you are a right- or left-handed player) and some can go great distances, assuming you have the arm speed and form to get it there. Eventually, you will find a disc that just works for you and becomes your go-to. My personal favourite is getting a bit battered by flying into trees (keep in mind, I’m still relatively new to the sport) but I love it and rely on it just like any traditional golfer might have a trustworthy club.

One of the great things about the sport is how spontaneous it can be. If you keep a few discs and your hiking boots in the back of your car, you never know when you might run across a course in your travels. And because the sport is free and there are no tee times, you can pretty much play whenever you want (while avoiding courses currently holding tournaments or leagues and being polite, of course).

In the past four years, I’ve learned that my local course in London, Ontario (River’s Edge Disc Golf) is one of the better courses around. The players from the local London Disc Golf Association help to maintain the course (along with City of London crews who maintain the park it is in), and it offers a nice mix of open fairways along the river’s edge, as well as tighter fairways tucked into the woods.

But the course I think about most is the Dads of Muskoka Disc Golf Course in Bracebridge, Ontario. The first couple of holes take place in a meadow, but after that, you go into the woods and it is an incredible mix of narrow fairways lined by pines, soft pine needles underfoot, and some absolutely incredible hills and elevation changes that make it both incredibly fun and equally daunting. Regardless of how I play at that course, I always leave happy and in awe of the natural beauty of the area.

To find a disc golf course near you, no matter where you are in the world, visit udisc.com.