The discs fly and the questions fly.
What the heck is disc golf?
Who are those kids (or maybe not so kids) who play every Sunday at the
Casa de Campo
?
Or in the Polvoranca park in Leganés.
Or, as this week we have seen, in the Empress María de Austria de Carabanchel.
The answers are as easy as playing this sport on the rise: a
low cost
golf
with discs and baskets that is practiced in
public parks in 40 countries around
the world.
Disc golf is one of the fastest growing sports on the five continents and it is not only the pandemic that can be blamed for this.
Actually, he's been hitting hard for a long time.
And not only in the US, where it was born in the 70s, and where there are more than 6,500 fields to launch the
frisbee
.
In Europe it sweeps, with
Finland
in the lead, where there are more than 700 courses.
Sweden, Estonia, the United Kingdom and Germany have more than one hundred each and thousands of fans.
Spain has seven permanent fields
.
"Disc golf is played in all the major capitals of Europe," explains Jorge Berástegui, the president of Madrid International Disc Golf, the club he founded in 2017 with some friends.
At the moment, there are about 40 members, almost half foreigners, and they are convinced that this sport has a
lot of potential in the Community
.
It will not be, of course, for lack of parks or green spaces, although Madrid does not yet have a permanent field.
'Kicking' in front of the basket.ÁNGEL NAVARRETE
But let's go in parts.
Disc golf is a lot like Tiger Woods' sport, but there are no balls or holes.
Instead, there are
plastic discs
- the famous
Frisbees
- and baskets to shoot them ... 18 times, like a traditional round of golf.
The objective is also the same: to get to the basket with the fewest possible shots.
"The best thing is that it is an
outdoor sport
. And it is easy to play because you do not need a team. In other sports if you do not measure up, you are annoying. Disc golf is easy to learn, it
does not require a great physical condition
and you can play as long as you how old you are, "explains Jorge, who is a physical education teacher.
If they paint it good, nice and cheap, it is because it is.
But these boys walk on the slopes of the Empress Maria of Austria very well equipped.
They carry
bags full of records
.
Even carts with a built-in seat.
"You could play with just one
frisbee,
" says Jorge.
"But it's like golf: you don't use the same club all the time."
He says that for tournaments he usually has 16 or 17 discs, all repeated in case one is lost.
There are long distance,
approach
and the
putter
for when you are next to the basket.
Each disc can have a different curvature, a speed, a turn and a fall ...
Jorge Berástegui.ÁNGEL NAVARRETE
It is difficult to calculate how many people play sports in the world.
The latest data from the PDGA or Professional Disc Association attracts attention.
Disc golf experienced
the highest growth in its history
last year
.
From 53,000 active members around the world in 2019 it rose to 71,000 in 2020. This, of course, does not include all fans, but only those who decide to join.
a way to travel
Sport has also become a way of
exploring the world
.
"People from all over write us to see where you can play in Madrid. Bear in mind that those who practice disc golf are in love."
"A field would attract players from all over Europe," adds Robert Abel, an American who arrived in Madrid a year ago and has organized the first leagues in the city blessed by the PDGA.
"
The environmental impact is less
than walking or mountain biking trails and the trail formats can be changed seasonally to allow the terrain to be rehabilitated if necessary."
At Casa de Campo alone, Robert has identified four easily accessible locations where disc golf would not interfere with other activities.
Plastic discs.ÁNGEL NAVARRETE
The Spanish Cup
Perhaps one of them will be used for the Disc Golf Cup of Spain that starts this weekend in
Oviedo
. A week later it is played in
Santiago de Compostela
and, already after the summer, in
Igantzi
(Navarra), Madrid, and
Palau
Solitá-i-Plegamans (Barcelona). The best of three rounds takes the title of the best national disc golf player. In the absence of headquarters, in the capital, scheduled for November 12, 13 and 15.
Meanwhile, the members of the Madrid club will continue to get together to play on weekends.
Today in the South Park and tomorrow in the Casa de Campo, distributing their portable baskets among the trees and looking for pairs and
birdies
under the curious gaze of two and four-legged walkers.
Many will stop to ask: What the heck ...?
the first frisbee
Known as the father of disc golf,
Ed Headrick
designed the modern frisbee in 1964. The American, who worked for the Wham-O toy factory, was looking for a way out of a surplus of Hula Hoop rings when he decided to modify plastic discs to do so. more aerodynamic.
Headrick invented chain baskets that are used as holes with which the sport was somehow professionalized.
Until 2002 he was a very present figure in all championships.
In Spain
Carlos Ríos
"vocational disc golf player" and president of the Disc Golf Association designed the first course in 2012: the Winter Park in
Oviedo
.
As of today, there are seven spread across our geography.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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