BU Students Hope to Start Disc Golf Club
Photo by Rampage photographer Nathan LePere.
A new sport is on the rise with Bluefield University students – disc golf.
It is a game that follows the rule of golf, but instead of hitting a ball, you throw discs to reach a basket. The most basic throw is a backhand throw, which is a cross-body throw. Another basic throw is a forehand, which is a throw from the side of your body.
Disc golf is a game that doesn’t require strength, but does demand a lot of concentration. Keeping score for the game is easy. There are apps like Udisc that will tell you the location of the tee (the place you start off) and how far away the basket is. All you to do is tell the app how many throws it took you to get the disc in the basket.
”Disc golf is such an active thing to get involved with,” said Drake Cullens, a BU soccer player and avid disc golfer. “There are courses all over the place, so you do not have to keep playing in one location.”
Bluefield University has its own course on campus called The Ram. It is a nine-hole course, starting in the quad and ending right behind Cruise Hall. The course takes you all around campus. It is a decently challenging course with a few holes setting you up for a good chance at a birdie (one shot under par) or making you shoot over par because of the hills. Daniel Slaughter, a local resident but not a BU student, said in a Google review that he enjoys The Ram.
“I only go (to the BU campus) for the disc golf course,” he said. “It’s an awesome little nine-holer.”
Several students play regularly on campus, including Tim Weldon, Antowyne Shaw, and a few members of the soccer team. In fact, they are hoping to get other students involved so they can create an official disc golf club at BU.
”I think adding a disc golf club would be great,” said Weldon, who also plays football at BU. “After football season is over, I really do not have anything to do. This would give me something to do and new people to play with.”
Students are not the only people playing disc golf on campus. Dr. Joe Saunders, a professor of chemistry, plays a lot. In fact, he has played 16 rounds (games) in the past 30 days.
“Adding a disc golf club here would present pleasant, low-grade competition, a lot of outdoor exercise, and encouragement as improvement is obvious each time one plays,” Dr. Saunders said.
Others agree and hope additional students, faculty and staff will get involved and enjoy the benefits.
“If we added a disc golf club here at BU, it would give us an opportunity to make a new friends and a chance to try out a new activity,” Shaw said.
Members of the BU campus community interested in more information or joining the disc golf club should contact student Andrew LaPan by email at aplapan@bluefield.edu.