Janie BoschmaSophomore Mike Janowski said he had always been a fan of the Frisbee but had never thought about disc golf until seeing a tournament on the UW-Eau Claire campus in April.
“It just looked like a fun thing to do,” Janowski said.
Five months later, he is the president of the UW-Eau Claire Disc Golf Club and an avid fan of the sport.
Janowski said a lot of people had shown interest in forming a club, but he was the first to take initiative.
“We wrote up a constitution and I was selected as president mainly because I had tried to get everything started,” he said.
Physics professor George Stecher has been playing disc golf since the early 1980s. He is also the adviser to the UWEC Disc Golf Club.
“I had to give (disc golf) up for a while because I didn’t live by many courses, but about five or six years ago I started up again,” Stecher said, adding a campus disc golf club had existed a while ago, but was officially restarted last year.
He said the group meets at certain times during the week and usually gets games together through its Facebook group.
“We get discussions going about which course we’re trying next and we encourage people to bring their friends,” Stecher said. “The group is always looking for members.”
While the disc golf course on Upper Campus is relatively new, there are many courses around the area that have been popular for a long time, supervisor of park maintenance Dave Bohlinger said.
One of the Eau Claire’s better-known disc golf courses is a nine-hole course at Mount Simon. In 1998, the Eau Claire Academy decided it wanted a disc golf course, Bohlinger said.
“Mount Simon’s course was prompted by a donation from the Eau Claire Academy,” he said. “They gave us nine homemade baskets that would be used as holes.”
When Bohlinger and a work crew were putting in the course, he said he wasn’t very knowledgeable about disc golf.
“It was an ideal site but when we first put it in we didn’t know anything about disc golf,” Bohlinger said. “We simply used space down below the academy and ironically we did pretty well with no background experience on the subject.”
Some holes had to be realigned on a few occasions, he said, adding another donation was made to replace the baskets with better quality equipment.
At first, Bohlinger said the course’s attendance was low, but it gradually picked up and became very popular after eight to 10 years.
Mount Simon was just the tip of the iceberg for disc golf in the Chippewa Valley, as Bohlinger set out to improve the sport in the Eau Claire area.
“A group called the Chippewa Valley Disc Golf Club put in annual donations and did some fundraisers,” he said. “Soon enough, we had raised enough money to fix the tee boxes and fill them with concrete.”
Through the group’s efforts, Bohlinger said they were able to help fund a nine-hole course at DeLong Elementary School, North Star Middle School and Tower Ridge course just outside of Eau Claire.
Because Tower Ridge was not in the city limits, he said the club had to go through the county board, but had no trouble approving the budget of $10,000.
Each course presents a different difficulty level, he said.
“DeLong and North Star are beginner courses, Mt. Simon is moderate and Tower Ridge is an 18-hole course for experienced disc golfers,” Bohlinger said. “Its narrow, long fairways with so much rough can be frustrating for inexperienced disc golfers.”
He said Mount Simon is intermediate because it has some rough on the perimeter and a few obstacles but it generally doesn’t hurt a golfer to make a bad throw.
Junior Dan Smith, who started disc golfing his freshman year of college, echoed those sentiments, saying Tower Ridge offers a level of challenge the other courses don’t.
He said he normally goes once a week during school and once every two weeks over the summer.
“Mount Simon and the middle school are nine-hole courses; nothing too difficult, but Tower Ridge presents more of a challenge with its location and scenery,” Smith said.
Senior Adam Swedberg said his favorite course around Eau Claire is also Tower Ridge.
“(Tower Ridge) has a lot more trees and it’s easier to lose your disc,” he said.
Both Janowski and Stecher also said they enjoy Tower Ridge the most for its difficulty and wooded terrain.
“You feel like you’re out in nature, and you are,” Stecher said, adding the course requires precise shots.
With the course on the Eau Claire campus, Janowski said it is very good for the limited space the university had to use.
“It’s good for just throwing outside the dorms,” he said. “Otherwise it’s a really short nine hole course, but it’s fun.”
Stecher said the course is easy to get to and it provides a good variety of shots despite its size.
“A few holes are really fun for short holes,” he said. “There’s one going uphill, one down to a creek and various holes that hook left or right . it’s really great for its size.”
The equipment required isn’t very expensive, but it depends on the golfer.
Swedberg said he has been a disc golfer since early in high school, but chooses to only use one disc throughout a whole course.
“I use one mid-range disc straight up,” Swedberg said. “I know people that carry around bags and pull carts and they’re pretty serious about it, but I play a bit more recreationally.”
He said the contrast between discs may not be immediately apparent, but it can make a big difference in the game.
“Putters are pretty straight, drivers can go all over the place depending on the type and mid-range putters are definitely easier,” Swedberg said. “They are easy to throw and they go straighter.”
Smith said he chooses to use a long distance driver and a putter for every course.
In contrast, Janowski said he carries a plethora of discs depending on the course and weather.
“I have a putter but I always carry an extra . a couple different mid-range discs, one for turnover and one for hard winds,” he said. “I also have a couple of drivers for distance and accuracy, but it generally depends on the occasion.”
Bohlinger and Swedberg agreed a big advantage to playing disc golf as a hobby is its affordability.
“The bottom line is it’s a cheap hobby,” Bohlinger said. “The fact that courses are free is a good thing.”
He said it is relaxing in the sense that someone can just walk and talk with friends or add more of a challenge and get competitive.
Stecher also said his favorite aspect of disc golf is it’s relaxing nature.
“It’s competitive, but not too competitive,” he said. “You can play by yourself or with friends . it’s also fun to just watch the discs fly.”
Janowski said he enjoys the long throws and control.
“I love just ripping huge drives, watching the disc fly and being able to manipulate it,” he said.
The sport may not have many rules, but Smith said there is one that all disc golfers should follow.
“The number one rule is to have fun, be polite and respect the course and the land.”
