By LAURA LEE COTTON
laura@newsroom.byu.edu
What has a birdie and a taco and can make you finish as a sandbagger? Frisbee golf.
Although it sounds like a mutant cross of two unrelated games, Frisbee golf -- also known as disc golf -- is one of the fastest growing recreation sports in the nation.
Since the sport's creation in 1975, the number of courses available in the United States has grown from five to about 700 in 1998. The number of members of the Professional Disc Golf Association has grown by 15 percent between 1996 and 1998.
The object of disc golf is the same as the object of traditional golf. The player tries to complete each hole with the fewest number of throws and remain under par.
The rules of golf and disc golf are also a lot alike. The disc golf player begins by throwing from a designated tee area. He or she then progresses down the fairway by picking up the disc from the place it previously landed while maneuvering through obstacles, such as trees, shrubs and terrain changes. The player finishes by completing a 'putt' that sinks the disc into the hole, which is usually an elevated metal basket.
Disc golf is the term describing the more competitive version of the sport. This formal version uses different discs for different shots. A driver is used for fast, long-distance throws, whereas a putter is used for level, close-range throws.
Some players have turned to disc golf as an inexpensive alternative to golf. The discs average at about $7 to $12 dollars apiece for professional play.
'There is no green fee, you just go to a park or course and take off at tee number one and no one will harass you for fees,' said Steve Frederick, a former disc golf professional from Salt Lake City.
Frisbee golf is the term used for the casual version of the sport played with the large, plastic, everyday frisbees. No real course is needed -- just people, targets and frisbees.
'We just made a course as we went along,' said Jason Jones, 21, a freshman from Toledo, Ohio, majoring in pre-business management, of his frisbee golf experience.
Amy Carpenter, 19, a sophomore from Gilbert, Ariz., majoring in pre-business management, described her experience of playing frisbee golf using trees for targets.
'All you need is frisbee and the course is already set out,' she said. 'Since the trees are usually close together you don't even need a cart.'
Salt Lake offers one of only two disc golf courses available in Utah at Creekside Park. Complete with 18 holes and weekly tournaments, the Creekside Park course is approved by the Professional Disc Golf Association. The other course is located in Ogden at Ogden Country Club.
The game is steadily increasing in popularity in Utah with Creekside Park's playership growing 10 to 15 percent each year since its introduction to the state. On any given weekend, the disc golfers number about 200 to 400 players.
'The sport is slowly growing,' Frederick said. 'We are starting to get official tournaments and maybe soon official sponsors.'