BLAINE, Minn. – (May 7, 2015) – Spring is in the air. With warmer temps and sunny skies the outdoors is the place to be in Minnesota. Some Blaine residents are finding new ways to enjoy the change of seasons. “Going out in the woods and basically throwing pieces of plastic at metal chains. It’s basically just a big kid sport,” said disc golfer Joe Grill.
The game is disc golf and it has its own unique set of rules. Like golf there is a tee and an objective of getting the disc into a basket. There are different styles and weights of discs and there are hazards along the course. It is a sport that has gained a lot of momentum lately. “Disc golf has really become something that we really wouldn’t have seen 10 years ago to be honest with you. It used to be a very very small select group of guys that would go out and throw standard frisbees really, your backyard style frisbees into these small contraptions that you could only find in one or two parks across the state. In the last five years we’ve quadrupled the size of disc golf. It’s incredible how fast its grown,” said Disc Life owner Jeff Dierkhising. A big positive of the sport is it costs very little to get started.
“The fact is you go out, you spend $15 on a disc and you get to go out and play it for free. All these parks are typically in public locations so you can come out and throw. It doesn’t cost you nothing,” said Dierkhising. Blaine has its very own city owned and maintained park course open free to the public. “The disc golf course here is at Lochness Park. We’ve had that course since 2009. It’s a great way to get out with nature and see the birds and other things that are out in that park, especially Lochness because you have so many trees and nature around you; deer, you know all kinds of different things. So if you can throw a disc you can play,” said Blaine parks and recreation manager Jerome Krieger.
With many options to play not just in the North Metro but the entire Twin Cities, players need a place to learn what discs are best for them and Dierkhising’s store Disc Life opened to do just that. “We are located just off University here. We are called Disc Life. We’ve been around for, this is our fifth season already. We offer everything from disc golf discs to your bags to really anything in between. Your baskets, all the goodies,” said Dierkhising. Disc Life also has its own pop-up courses they set up, giving people a new challenge every week. “They’ve been doing this for two years now. They go to random city parks and build our own courses. Basically design them all and put in the baskets and do all of that where most of the parks don’t have a disc golf course anywhere near. So we’re trying to make it so disc golf courses are everywhere. It’s something kids can do all the time. It’s outside, it’s a fun activity, people should be doing it,” said Grill.
With a growing community of players, a larger course availability, and stores nearby disc golf is certainly a sport trending in the right direction. “It’s one of those sports that the community is great, the sport is great, getting outside for four hours in a park is great. We love it,” said Dierkhising.
For more information of Lochness Park click here and for Disc Life click here.
