There is a new sport that just flew into St. Marys and it is Disc Golf. A new competitive course is located in the John G. Lancaster Park courtesy of William Franklin, a Bay District Volunteer Firefighter.

For those unfamiliar with the game of disc golf, it is played over a course designed for varying levels of skills. Competitors throw discs at basket-like targets with the same goal as regular golf – to achieve the lowest number of throws around the course.

The first instance of playing golf with a flying disc occurred in Vancouver, BC in 1926. A group of school age kids played a game with tin lids, which they dubbed Tin Lid Golf. They played on a course they laid out on their school grounds.

The sport had its ups and downs over the years, but is now a viable and highly competitive sport with both school and professional leagues across the country.

The new course is called the Hot Shots Disc Golf Course and is located in the back left corner of the park. It is an 18-hole course with an additional practice basket. The baskets are the Mach 5 design with the number plate conversions.

The tee pads for the course are rubber pads that were purchased from the Amish to help contribute some money back to the community. Disc golf players will notice that at each tee there is a sign showing the path of flight and the location of the target basket.

The course is listed on the Professional Disc Golf Association Web site complete with directions to the course and for GPS enthusiasts the Latitude and Longitude. Visit www.pdga.com and look under courses and then course directory.

There is also more information on the PDGA site regarding the origins of the sport. According to Franklin, “As far as the course [goes] I had to work a little over a year to complete this project. I worked with the Maryland parks director and the parks maintenance department to acquire the equipment and install all of the required items.

Williams went on to say that the disc game is very much like golf in that there are discs designed for use for a specific shots. Just like in golf, there are discs for long distance, mid-distances, putting - literally hundreds of specialized discs for the sport.

The course is free to the public any time the park is open. The special discs may be obtained through various Web sites and Franklin is actively attempting to get some local sports stores to carry the equipment.