Level Head, Straight Toss: Disc golfers discuss their sport
- Increscent Editors
- Mar 16, 2022
- 3 min read

By Passion Tann
Co-Managing Editor
January 2022
Imagine being in a green field, bigger than anything you’ve seen before. The scenery is beautiful and stuns you with the diverse nature. There is only one person with you, and multiple posts spread around. In your hand is a frisbee, and recalling your childhood memories you fling it with great force and watch it glide through the air. You and your partner rejoice as your frisbee lands squarely into the post.
The freedom that encapsulates you two is inherent to disc golfing. Two students from our own school, Odin Brechlin and Xavier Hawley, have first hand experience at the wonders sports can open you up to. Disc golf is the sport they’ve bonded over, a game that “originates from the merging of two sports, frisbee and golf,” according to Brechlin. He also says that the sport was engineered to be more inclusive and to promote fun rather than rank and prestige. Unlike golf, most disc golf courses are free.
Hawley began playing disc golf a few months before quarantine and got more into it as quarantine went on, as it's one of the many sports that allows for adequate social distancing.
Over time, he realized that his mindset when playing the game contributes significantly to the outcome. He says that if you’re trying to have fun, then “it’s not hard at all, you can have fun at any level.” However, if you’re saddled with the pressure of improving then it can present a greater challenge.
This, of course, does not apply solely to disc golf, or sports in general. Nevertheless, Hawley learned a great deal about how his mindset can affect his experience playing. On one of his bad days he was playing disc golf with Brechlin, and they made it to hole 2 at Hilliard Park. Brechlin threw a disc that hit a tree and flew very far, which upset Hawley and made him punch a disc.
Naturally, the outcome wasn’t good. What followed was a trip to the emergency room and a boxer’s fracture on his dominant hand, which impeded his ability to disc golf properly for a long time. Hawley said, “It was very stupid of me to do that, and I acknowledge that fact.”
His experiences weren’t all bad, however. He reminisces on hitting his first ace, which is when a player makes a hole in one shot. He said, “I threw a nice freehand shot. No one saw it at first…when I got up there it was confusing at first, because there was a big orange blob floating, and then I realized it was the disc.”
Hitting an ace is rare, with only one or two percent of players achieving one in any given year (according to the National Hole-In-One Registry). This remains one of Hawley's favorite memories of disc golfing, and showed him the benefit of keeping his head level when playing.
Brechlin also knows how one’s mindset can affect their time playing. He likes to view disc golf from another point of view by appreciating the aerodynamics of the sport, taking his mind off his frustrations at times.
Also, the diversity of the sport helps him create an even deeper love for the sport, with him saying his “favorite thing about disc golf is the community…disc golf brings so many people together. That's what makes it great.”
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