Sports
Disc Golf Becoming a Soaring Sport in Maple Grove
Elm Creek Disc Golf Course opens for the season, only a few holes short due to course flooding.
Disc golf - it's the latest outdoor craze for the young and young-at-heart and one place to play it in Maple Grove is the Elm Creek Disc Golf Course at .
"It's a great way to get out and enjoy the park," Elm Creek Park Reserve Facility Supervisor Luke Williams said.
Williams said the course receives a regular number of visitors consisting of leagues and casual players.
Disc golf is played much like golf, though a club and a ball are replaced by a Frisbee which is tossed into the air in an attempt to land it in a large, metal basket.
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"It's a form of golf play with Frisbees," Williams said."There's a driver, mid-range and putter Frisbee."
And just like golf, driver Frisbees are used for distance holes, mid-range Frisbees for mid distances and putters are used for when the hole is just a short throw away. Frisbees, or discs, are available in a wide variety of colors.
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The goal of the game is to play as few throws per hole as possible. Players get four turns to get the disc into the hole, Williams said.
The disc golf course at Elm Creek Park Reserve has 18 holes, but this year only nine are open due to wet conditions. The remaining holes may be opened later in the season once course conditions improve.
The course is visited by disc golfers from around the Twin Cities and leagues typically play on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. One such group includes the Westside Wednesday Disc Golf League which rotates play among the Three Rivers Park District disc golf courses in the west metro suburbs.
League member Tom Schufman, 29, has played the Elm Creek course several times.
"There's a lot of signature holes," Schufman said. "Hole five and 14 and 18 are really challenging holes out here. There's a good mix, there's a lot of open holes but if you get off the fairway left or right it can really punish you. I mean, I shot 12 over par out here which, in this wind, is a really challenging course."
The Elm Creek Disc Golf Course starts near the chalet in the Elm Creek Park Reserve. There is a slight fee to play any of the disc golf courses within the Three Rivers Park District.
