Sports Columnist, Greg Higgins
by Greg Higgins, Sports Columnist – eParisExtra!*
When I started writing this blog several months back I never imagined the things I’d be writing about. Most of the time I write whatever comes to me at the moment. However about six weeks ago I got an email from Eric Loveless, a local teacher here in Paris. He said he would like to introduce me to a game called disc golf if I wasn’t already familiar with it. My only experience with this game was on the Nintendo Wii. I was really good at it when playing on the Wii. The concept is to throw a Frisbee-like disc at a target. Like golf, the object is to move around a course with the fewest number of throws of the disc.
Eric told me there is a course in Paris at Walker Park east of 19th Street. I agreed to meet with Eric and a few others on a Monday night. I didn’t have any discs, so I borrowed a couple from Eric. Basically there are three different discs used. There is a driver, a mid-range, and a putter. After getting the discs and learning the rules we started on hole number one. I threw the disc and it went about 15 feet and hit the ground. A little embarrassing for sure. Jokingly I said I was done. However, my nature is to not give up until I figure it out. So I stayed at it. I watched as the other three players would hurl the discs towards the goal almost effortlessly. I kept plugging away, though, with my shorter throws. After the first three or four holes I started to notice the throws were getting better. I still wasn’t as good as everyone else but I was seeing an improvement. The course had some difficulty as well. The targets were located behind trees or brush. Trees may block the tee box from the target. The pars for this particular course range from three to five. There are 15 holes with some discussion of adding three more. After we finished the round I was 17 above par. I had a lot of fun even though I wanted to burn the scorecard.
Eric encouraged me to keep at it because it would get better. Did I stay with it and did I enjoy it enough to keep playing? That was the real question here. Had they managed to successfully convert another player? First of all I think you should know Eric isn’t the only person working to get disc golf in Paris off the ground. Jeremy Glossup and Derrick Loveless have also been influential in this effort. A group of disc golfers meet at 6:00 pm on Tuesday nights at Walker Park to play. For more information you can look up Paris Disc Golf on Facebook. Part of the endeavor is to replace the targets and possibly add three more holes. If you’re interested in helping out with any donations please contact Sally Wright at 903-784-9289. As far my feelings about disc golf, I recently bought my own discs and I’ve already been back for more rounds. I give it 2 thumbs up.
Greg Higgins is a sports enthusiast and has been all of his life. He loves playing and watching all kinds of sports. He is actively involved with the Paris Community Theatre, and he also serves on an Advisory Committee for PJC.
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