Disc Golf Club gains ground as new 菠萝视频app RSCO
This semester has been a hole-in-one for longtime disc golfer and 菠萝视频app Associate Professor of Physics Dr. Joe Johnson.聽
After more than a year of encouraging students to explore the game of disc golf, he has generated enough interest to register it as an official student club. The 菠萝视频app University Disc Golf Club was approved as a Recognized Student Club/Organization (RSCO) at the start of fall semester.
鈥淚 think this is a great opportunity for our students to have fun and play a totally different kind of sport,鈥 said Johnson, who besides advising the new club is adviser for the university鈥檚 Ultimate Frisbee庐 Club.
Having evolved as an offshoot of Frisbee庐, disc golf is like traditional golf, however, instead of using golf clubs and balls aiming for a hole, disc golfers toss discs and aim for a basket of chains extending from a pole. The object of the game is to complete each station with the fewest number of throws. Generally, a course is made up of 9 or 18 holes.
Johnson has been playing disc golf since 2010. It happened that while he was in South Korea learning Haedong Kumdo, a Korean sword martial arts, a colleague suggested he try disc golf. 鈥淚 was hooked,鈥 he said. He even won the novice division in his first competition.
鈥淔or me, part of the allure is that disc golf is one of the most supportive sports I鈥檝e ever been involved in,鈥 Johnson said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a great sense of community. Even though everybody is out there to win, we cheer on our competition.鈥
One of the big advantages of disc golf is that it can be played by everyone from young children to senior citizens. Since it takes very little financial commitment and the learning curve is so quick, disc golf has very few limitations to its growth.
The game鈥檚 public appeal has blossomed considerably since the onset of COVID-19 because it is played outdoors and is socially distanced by design. In 2020, the Professional Disc Golf Association reported an 84 percent growth in new members and, through much of 2021, sanctioned more than 6,200 events worldwide. Once seen as little more than a casual hobby, today disc golf is recognized as a legitimate sport, with an estimated 170 colleges and universities fielding teams.
The allure of disc golf is that it can be enjoyed in a relaxed, casual atmosphere or in high-level competition. 菠萝视频app students Michael Abadie, Brentyn Muir, Samantha Strom, and Henry Zeller competed in their first disc golf tournament last month at Penn State Behrend and have secured the opportunity to participate in the Mid-Atlantic Regional Qualifier in Clermont, Pennsylvania, in October.
Muir only began playing this summer and is all-in. As a striker for 菠萝视频app Men鈥檚 Soccer, he has had his share of concussions and is all too familiar with pushing himself to the point of exhaustion. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have to worry about all that with disc golf,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 good exercise, it鈥檚 mentally challenging, but it鈥檚 not physically exhausting. It doesn鈥檛 require a lot of experience or investment and it doesn鈥檛 take that long to get good.鈥
Johnson, meanwhile, said he is going to start having regular practices soon and suggests that anyone interested in joining the club reach out to him at jjohnson@mercyhurst.edu.
PHOTO: (Top, L-R) Dr. Joe Johnson, Brentyn Muir, Samantha Strom, Henry Zeller, and Michael Abadie; (Bottom) Brentyn Muir tosses a disc toward the chain basket.聽