My first exposure to disc golf was a number of years ago when my young family went out to the Canmore Nordic Centre.  We saw the maps of the course and thought “Hey, why not!  Throwing frisbees is fun!”. 

We rented our discs and trotted out to the first hole with our small army of (at the time) 6 young children and thought “how hard could it be?”

Very hard, actually.

We quickly found ourselves off in the trees looking for lost discs, and also found many young adults “playing through”.  Many of them, I noted, had full backpacks of discs, and seemed to know how to handle them.

After two holes of playing hide and seek with our discs, we decided maybe this wasn’t the right time and place for our family to figure this game out (Nordic Centre is a tough course), and we instead decided to do some orienteering.  

I found out that there was a tournament happening the next day and all the young adults playing through were doing their practice rounds for it.

I was intrigued at the passion and dedication that these players showed.

Fast-forward a number of years and my kids are getting older.  I see a course built in our local Baker Park in the NW of Calgary and I am intrigued.  My young teens show interest as well and we pick up a couple starter sets and now three years later, it has grown to a passion for our family as well (I don’t have the backpack yet, but I’m getting there!).

Disc Golf has a number of positive aspects to it: 

• Depending on the course, pretty much all ages can play
• It is challenging, and thus rewarding
• It is easy to pick up (if you can throw a frisbee, you can play!), but difficult to master
• Fosters socializing and camaraderie 
• It is not uncommon to see babies in strollers along for the ride, thus is a great sport for the whole family!

So why would a Catholic men’s organization be jumping into disc golf?

It would seem that the sport is a great fit for God Squad:

• A chance for men and their families to get outside and join other men in a meaningful pursuit
• Healthy competition between men is always a good thing
• An opportunity to encourage each other (Iron sharpens iron)
• A chance to promote our patron Saint Joseph?  Yes Please!
• Young men really enjoy the sport and it is still an approachable game for all skill levels
• Last, but not least: Nothing beats a good Spolumbos BBQ after 18 “holes” of golf

We want to encourage you, as you register for this year’s conference, to pick up a set of discs, and plan to join us for the tournaments and activities being planned as we speak.  If you’ve been inactive during these past couple years of COVID, I could not recommend a better sport to get limber and moving again.

We’ll see you on the course!!

If you are interested in learning more about the sport, feel free to check out the following sites:

https://www.pdga.com/news/what-disc-golf-guide-parents-kids

https://calgarydiscgolf.com