New Craze Comes to Town

Posted on: October 19, 2009 | musiclover | Comments Off | Print Article | Rate Post:

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By Heidi Zemach for SCN
A huge craze Outside and in Anchorage has arrived in Seward, Alaska!
Enthusiasm was high Saturday as folks of all ages and abilities ran around tossing colorful discs resembling small Frisbees toward new metal baskets on the high school lawn, field, and strategic positions along the METCO cross-country running trail. The event was the Grand Opening and Clinics of the new Seward Community Disc Golf Course October 17. Julie Lindquist and Jackie Marshall, co-founders of the project, made possible by local volunteer effort, and a grant from the Quality Schools Initiative, (QS2), were happy to see those that brave chilly temperatures learning how to play. They are hoping that they will teach others, and spread their enthusiasm throughout the community. The group also will provide discs to each of the Seward area schools, so that the game can be demonstrated to students in their P.E. Classes, or played at other times.

Learning to toss the disc

The purpose is to provide another local opportunity to bring children, their families and adults of all ages together in a sport everyone can enjoy, Marshall said. Disc Golf is a sport that can be played by people all ages and abilities, she said. The group plans to put benches along the course some time in the future so that grandmas and grandpas can come along and watch—unless they’re up and playing too. Some Disc Golf professionals from Anchorage, which now has eight or nine courses, arrived to teach novices here the fundamentals, rules, and etiquette of the sport. Seward’s new course, and the fantastic spirit of volunteerism that made it possible, would “set the bar” for other small communities statewide, said John Lorenson, former president of the Alaska Disc Golf Association. Understanding Disc Golf’s rules and etiquette was important for safety reasons, he said, and because it was “a gentleman’s game,” where you take turns, stand back behind the person throwing, and remain silent so as not to distract them.

Basket in the woods

Those familiar with golf terms had an easier time perhaps understanding as the teachers referred to the various types of discs as “Drivers,” “Midrangers,” and “Putters.” Each type had a different type of stabilities and was capable of spinning at a different speed for a different purpose. The professionals spoke of “upshot drives” or named throws “Heizers,” “Anheizers,” or “Backhand Anheizers”—referring to the angle that they are thrown, before veering, or “fading” to the right or left. But even the smallest children quickly learned that basically, if you aim the disc to the right of the metal basket, it will eventually veer toward it. And if you miss the basket, you can go up to where your disc landed, place a minidisk on the ground as a place holder, stand just behind it, and throw the disc again.

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