Kit Carson Park To Get New Disc Golf Course!

– from the San Diego Union Tribune Feb 6 2010 –

ESCONDIDO — Disc golf, a sport that’s played with a Frisbee-like disc, is coming to Escondido’s Kit Carson Park.

The City Council this week agreed to let the San Diego Aces Disc Golf Club install and maintain an 18-hole disc golf course on the northern end of the park near the amphitheater, with Bear Valley Parkway as its eastern boundary.

Ryan Meyer, a San Diego Aces representative, said his club chose Escondido because no disc golf courses exist in the city and because the north end of Kit Carson Park is underused, unlike the south end, where families like to picnic near the ballfields.

“This is one of the fastest-growing sports right now, and it’s inexpensive. You can spend $10 on a disc and play,” Meyer said. “It’s not as frustrating as golf — you don’t have your whole life savings invested in tools. You’re just out there having a good time.”

Disc golf, however, isn’t just about whipping a disc over treetops and hoping it lands in the chained nets that are the equivalent of the hole on the green.

“The challenge is in the flight of the disc,” Meyer said. “We carry different discs in our bags just as you would golf clubs. We have over-stable discs, under-stable discs, stable discs. They turn differently. It has to do with your release point.

“People get attached to disc golf because when you throw a disc and see it flying, you almost feel a portion of yourself flying; you feel a connection. It’s almost spiritual for some.”

Meyer said his nonprofit club spent three years working with the city and sponsors, and received a donation from the Escondido Rotary Club to install the $17,000 course next month. He expects a grand opening April 27, and the first tournament May 1.

The public, which will play free except in tournaments, should be able to use the course beginning May 2.

Escondido Boy Scout Troop 649 will build a small pedestrian bridge near Hole 1 to provide a crossing over a creek, Meyer said.

“It’s a sport that the whole family can play, young and old,” he said.