NEFA Disc Golf Beginner Page

An Introduction to Disc Golf

Getting Started

Disc golf is an easy, enjoyable game to learn and yet it keeps even the best players in the world humble. All you need to play the game is a flying disc and a course. Disc or Frisbee golf (did you know that the Frisbee is a New England invention, born in Bridgeport Connecticut?) is played in a manner similar to its more well known cousin, ball golf.
Players throw a disc from a tee area down a well defined fairway and into (sometimes in only one throw for a hole in one!) an odd looking contraption called a pole hole. Here is a player throwing from the tee for hole 10 at Ellison Park in Rochester NY. The tee is marked with white blocks of wood. The fairway, which in disc golf is defined more clearly by the airspace through which a disc must travel as versus what happens to be on the ground, is between the two large clumps of trees on either side. The Pin is a small grey blur just below, and well behind, the white disc seen at the edge of the left group of trees.
Most holes are around 200 - 400 feet long, with trees, lakes, or difficult terrain defining the best flight path and landing areas. A good drive lands in an open, flat area near the pin. The pin, or pole hole, is an unusual metal contraption designed to trap a flying disc from any approach angle. Here is a golfer putting into a pole hole on the Pyramids Disc Golf course in central Massachusetts. The chains are designed to soften the impact of the disc coming in and drop the disc down into the basket.
Here is a typical approach shot from up on top of a hill on hole #8 at Fairfield U. Note how the trees dictate a careful, well placed shot to get close to the pin. In general, disc golf holes range from wide open straight to extremely tight tree lined paths with doglegs left or right. There is a much greater variety in acceptable fairways in comparison to ball golf courses because of the greater control available to the disc golfer in affecting the flight of the disc. Lets go play some Golf!

Getting out of the rough can require considerable resourcefulness...look closely! Unknown masters player at Mt Airy in Cincinnati during the 1998 worlds	Here is a typical tight disc golf fairway. TJ Barber goes for the gap on hole number 4 at Cranbury Park in Norwalk.