Saturday, August 1, 2009

DISC GOLF IN DAYTON, OHIO!!!
























Good Morning, Folks,

Debbie's still sleeping so i can write!

It's a beautiful morning in Dayton, Ohio, home of our friends, Ken and Debbie...(and Walter, too, ruff, ruff!!) This is our second morning here and it is just lovely here at our friend's home. We have the back door open now and the sun is shining, the grass is dewey, Walter, a rambunctious poodle puppie, is biting my ankles, wanting to play!!

But, yesterday morning, was something really unique. We all headed out to a DISC GOLF park for a 2 hour game, 18 'holes' of Disk Golf. When Ken plays, it takes an hour...but since it took me sometimes 10 throws to get the DISC into the basket...well, the game was slightly elongated!

I had never heard of disc golf before, but Cliff played it with Ken on his recent visit here. I had heard all about it, but could NOT imagine what it was!

Well, essentially, disk golf is small heavy FRISBEE (disc) that you whip through the air from a Tee Pad (a concrete landing) for extremely LONG distances to eventually end up in a chain metal basket.

Now, Ken, is so incredible at this game, he can actually throw the frisbee only 2x and have it land in the basket. I swear you can't even SEE the basket from the Tee pad...but somehow he gets that thing flying and curving through the air and landing far far away...just near the basket...my heavens, incredible!

In the pictures above, i'm standing really close to the basket, that would essentially be a demonstration of your last toss. But the basket is like a MILE away from each of the 18 tee pad points. Each teepad point has it's own basket. The disc golf course is BIG!!! And the basket is often hidden behind trees, ponds, hills. I guess that's the 'golf' part of it. Instead of putting a ball with a golf club over hills, ponds, trees, you're throwing a small heavy discus.

It's amazingly challenging, you have to know how to manage the blowing wind, and other factors, but somehow Ken has managed to become incredibly skilled at the game. You should see him put his whole BODY into the initial toss of the disk. Think javelin putting at the olympics. Several steps, like a running jump, and a whirl of the body and the disk is whipped from the hand and flies in the air.....whewwwww....you should have seen Ken's go!

Mine, well, mine were PATHETIC!! Sometimes they landed BEHIND ME!!!

But, i actually improved by game's end! I was really gettting the hang of it! Ken and Debbie are great teachers, too, instructing me how to hold the discus for far tosses, for near tosses, how to 'windmill' with my arms to get a good momentum going and so much more. It is a FULL BODY SPORT! Getting better was gratifying, and made the game funner! The less tosses it takes you to get the disk in the basket, the better you are getting.

Ken said he was as bad as i was was he started, but he's been playing at least 3x/week for MONTHS. Cliff is really really good at it, and i have no doubt if he would play with Ken 3x/week, he would be just as awesome in no time. Cliff is so atheletic and coordinated by nature.

Anyway, in between the 10 or so throws it took me to get the disc into each basket, 18 in all, you have to walk up and down hills all over the park. WHAT A WORKOUT!!!

Here's what Wikipedia says about Disc golf:

Disc golf is a disc game in which individual players throw a flying disc into a basket or at a target. According to the Professional Disc Golf Association, "The object of the game is to traverse a course from beginning to end in the fewest number of throws of the disc."[2] Disc golf is inexpensive and is physically accessible for all ages and athletic ranges and therefore attracts a diverse range of players. A great majority of established disc golf courses are free.
Neat, huh? There are at least 7 disc golf courses by Ken. It is apparently REALLY BIG in Ohio and in the South in general. Cliff's brother lives in Alabama and they have disc golf there. Ken says there is one disc golf couse by Cliff and me in Philadelphia. Who KNEW???

We will probably play at least 1x before we leave Ohio. I'll let you know if i am better!! We also took a good 40 minute stroll yesterday, so i'm getting my exercise in!!!

Tonight we go to a NASCAR race, wow!!! That will be exciting!

I'll blog on HOW TO TRAVEL RAW and want to show you the DONUT PEACHES soon. We will get photos of the amazing woman farmer, a 75+ year old lady with arms and hands that looked like POPEYES!!! Donut peaches are SO delicious. We're addicted!!!!

Much love to you all.

Always remember, whatever you set your mind to, you can achieve!

xoxoxo michelle joy

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