Friday Feature: Frugal Family Fun - Disc Golf (or Frisbee Golf)!

When we were on vacation visiting family, we had lots of outdoor fun since the weather was just beautiful!  We visited a few different disc golf courses and had a great time! I was thinking about how inexpensive and family friendly of a sport it is and thought I should tell you about it in case it's new to you!  And it's a great idea for a fun way to finish up the Summer with the family - although it can be played anytime!

Q: What is Disc Golf? (also called Frisbee Golf)
A: "Disc golf is played much like traditional golf. Instead of a ball and clubs, however, players use a flying disc, or Frisbee®....A golf disc is thrown from a tee area to a target which is the "hole". the hole can be one of a number of disc golf targets; the most common is called a Pole Hole® an elevated metal basket.....Disc golf rarely requires a greens fee, you probably won't need to rent a cart, and you never get stuck with a bad "tee time." It is designed to be enjoyed by people of all ages, male and female, regardless of economic status." - from PDGA.com  (Professional Disc Golf Association)

{brother-in-law Mike "teeing off"}

There's a course directory at PDGA.com to be able to find courses near you - they're all over the place and almost always FREE to play at!

DG Course Review is also a great site to find courses and see lots of details about each one....like ratings from users, difficulty, condition, wooded or not, length of course.....etc.


First, we went to one in Newton, IA, called Maytag Park, which the guys seemed to like - but my sister-in-law and I took kid duty at the playground, so I didn't play it myself.  =)

 {*side note: just about the time the guys finished playing, my punkin' here fell down some steps and we had to rush to the ER.....all is well, but it was definitely a scare and a rough way to finish a fun evening!}

The next weekend we went to a couple courses in Ames.  We first tried the Carroll Marty Disc Golf Course at Gateway Hills Park -- we had kids and adults playing with us, and we all enjoyed it!  Each of the 18 holes had an option to start at the "normal" tees, or a more difficult professional tee to be a bit more challenging. 
*We returned to this one a week later and brought more family members because we liked it so much!

When we were done, the guys wanted to check out another nearby course called "Stable Run DGC" at Iowa State University since we were so close.  I was pretty whooped from all that sunshine (and late nights of "vacation"), so I just followed along while they played.  It was a lot less busy than the first one, and they liked it ok, but we all definitely preferred the Carroll Marty course.

{sister-in-law Amy taking a shot}

 {gathering the discs from the basket}

{hubzy's turn}

{this was a challenging hole!  It dropped off where you see the edge there!}

It's such a great and versatile sport...kids and adults love it, it's a cheap date, a great excuse to get some fresh air and exercise, and on top of that it's very inexpensive!  All you need is a disc and you're all set.  A few years ago I bought my husband a 3 disc set for about $20 for his birthday, and he's gotten hours and hours of fun out of that 20 bucks!

Discs are commonly priced anywhere from $7-$15.....you can buy them as individual discs or in sets.  From what I understand there are 3 main kinds of discs - driver, mid-range, and putter. Similar to golf clubs, they each are made for different things - some for short distance "putting", others for long throws....etc.  But, if you're just starting out, you can just pick up a basic disc and it will work just fine.  You can find them at most sports stores like MC Sports and Dick's Sporting Goods or online at Amazon or Ebay with some FREE credit from Swagbucks!  I would think WalMart might even carry them with as popular as the game is, but I haven't looked to be sure.

We're thinking about adding to our starter set and I just found a few cool ones online.....I believe this DX Starter 3-Packset is the same one I bought for my husband and it's only a little more than what I spent (+ shipped free to your house!).  This Innova Pro Katana Disc Golf Driveris very similar to my brother-in-laws' driver I played with most of the course and I loved it!  This Innova Disc Golf Starter Setincludes 3 discs and a disc golf bag to carry your discs in as you play (which I found very handy as my father-in-law had one we all used!), all for just under $40.



We had a lot of fun, with a lot of people, for not a lot of money.....it was a great time!  I'm becoming quite the fan (not necessarily good, just a fan, lol) and highly recommend it! 
It's fun to share bits of our vacation with you......now you tell me.......

Have you ever played (or heard of) Disc Golf?  Where's your favorite place to play?  Any tips, advice or resources you know of?