Tuesday, October 20, 2015

An unusual hobby: Disc Golf

My husband and daughter have discovered a new hobby, one that I'd never heard of before: Disc golfing. I hear that it's a lot better known in the US, so maybe you're familiar with it. In Germany, I only get blank stares when I talk about it!

If you don't know disc golf, it's easy to understand: Instead of a golf ball, you have a plastic disc (just like you use to play frisbee). Instead of a hole, you've got a metal basket. You throw the disc and have to reach the basked with a minimum of throws. The distances are not quite as far as with traditional golf, and the atmosphere is really relaxed - but maybe that's because it's supposed to be a family sport that all can play - no matter how old or young or sportive you are.

Now, my husband found out that the largest disc golf place in Germany is in Kellenhusen, a city in the North of Germany, at the Baltic sea. They are really proud of their 22 baskets!

But that's not the only unusual thing about them. In fact, what really blew me away was the friendly atmosphere and something that's totally unique:

For every member, they create a nesting box and hang it into the trees of the disc golf course. On top of that, they add the name of the member to each nesting box - but not the normal name, but a special nick name . . . and those nick names are really something! Most of them start with Mc (though Scotland is far away) - and then, something fun is added in a crazy mix of English and German. The local cook is called Mc Rib, a lady with curls is called Mc Curl, someone who doesn't really play well but hopes to play better one day is called Mc Hope, a guy with very long arms is called Mc Octopus . . . you get the picture.



I still don't play disc golf (the frisbee insists on landing behind me, which is just too discouraging), but I really enjoyed learning about all the names, walking over the course, finding all the nesting houses and wondering about the names . . . and funniest of all, after one evening (with just a bit of alcohol), I ended up with a nick name myself - one I'd never have dreamed up! Try to guess and tell me your guess in the comments!

Oh, and this is the website where you can find all the nesting boxes:
http://www.ostseediscgolf.de/naturschutz/

Enjoy!

Beate

5 comments:

  1. Beate, I recently saw something about it on the news, but it is not a familiar sport to me. Regular golf seems to be a waning sport in the US. Golf courses all over the place are in financial trouble, so some have started to do the disc golf, which seems to be more popular among younger folks. That's about the extent of my knowledge.

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  2. I didn't know that, Merrilee! Interesting. Yes, disc golf is for any age, and it doesn't take as much time as normal golf to finish a course - that helps!

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  3. Fascinating. I've never heard of disc golf before. Somehow I don't think my golf mad husband will be giving up his club and ball for a disc anytime soon, though.

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  4. Good one, Ginny! No, they called me Mc Muddi, which is Northern slang for Mom - because it seems I came across as over-protective with my daughter. :-) (which I'm totally not - well, not in general).
    Helen, you've got to ask your husband - who knows, maybe he'll say yes?

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