by southpaw » Sat Oct 05, 2019 10:44 am
Always wanted to make a thread for this but was too timid and thought it'd be embarrassing
I grew up in the Midwest where this shit was popular early on and used to drive past one as a kid, wondering what the weird baskets were (in a park notorious for potentially apocryphal "parking")
My friends played it at college and I thought it was the doofiest thing, but once we all graduated and moved back home they'd go play in the middle of the day before we all got jobs and moved away, such that it was clear I'd have to tag along if I wanted to hang out. Of course it was amazing and I got hooked. Bought a thousand discs and got decent at it.
Cut to a decade later and the economy crashing and I'd just lost my cushy publishing desk job and I found myself absolutely despondent and hopeless. Ran into an old weed dealer at the grocery store and dude could see how weary I was and forced me to do bong rips and ride my bike to the course with him. It was a epiphany of many types, realizing that I could actually enjoy life even without being anchored to a steady living.
I took it too far as I'm want to do, eventually riding to the course in the morning, playing 36 holes, riding home for lunch, then riding back to play 36 in the evening. I never got all that good but I got in insane shape and just the constant keeping myself busy made me not just free from depression but also completely detethered from the ratrace workaday existence. Ended up getting a job at a sweet bar through people I met there and all in all those two years seemed like a bonus college party life without the debt or obligation.
I look back and laugh because I could've, you know, worked toward something more lucrative or deeply fulfilling but goddamn if it wasn't some of the best times. I eventually stopped playing and had a kid and a more stable life but sometimes think about selling all my shit and going back to the disc bum life.
When we bought a house a few years ago it just so happened that one of the states best courses is basically in my backyard so I've tried to pick it up again. It's so fucking fun. And free. And man you definitely meet some interesting characters out there. If you're ever looking for weed in an unfamiliar area a disc golf course is not a bad place to look.