A disc golf team representing Eastern Mennonite University recently finished one stroke away from a chance at a national championship bid. The quartet, assembled by Trevor Oyer, includes his brother Jared along with Cameron Byer and Silas Driver. They were also the movers and shakers behind the new crowd-funded disc golf course on The Hill.
First things first, though – don’t call it ‘frisbee’ golf, or its portmanteau, ‘frolf,’ which is another sport entirely. “No, ‘frolf’ is the f-word! You never say frolf!” Driver said.
In early November, the team competed in a regional tournament in hopes of qualifying for the spring 2020 National Collegiate Disc Golf Championship. They played against 9 teams from schools as big as Liberty University, North Carolina State, Clemson University and Western Kentucky University. North Carolina State came in with a national bid. Those other three schools each earned one at the tournament – in Western Kentucky’s case, with a score just one stroke better than the EMU team.
Disc golf is scored similarly to traditional golf, with the object being to get your disc into the basket in as few strokes as possible over a course of, typically, nine or 18 holes.
“[Western Kentucky] was still on the course when we finished,” Byer explained. “So we finished and we knew what score we shot, and we were like, ‘okay, they need to shoot this score or worse in order for us to qualify’ … and we find out that they did one stroke better.”
Despite this disappointment, the team is undeterred – they’re already discussing spring qualifiers.
The field of disc golf is ripe for some precocious new kids on the block. While the sport has been played in some form or another since at least the 1970s, it’s now going through an explosive growth in popularity, according to the Professional Disc Golf Association. The College Disc Golf organization now recognizes 54 teams, and ranks EMU as 35th in the nation.
Trevor Oyer said a few reasons why the game is growing because of its casual nature and the low financial investment required to start playing.
“I’ve also shared my love for disc golf with my parents, and we’ll go on the EMU Hill Course and toss around, so that’s also fun. It’s a family sport now,” Driver said. “My dad started going up to the course by himself and playing.”
Trevor was the driving force behind that course up on The Hill, which opened this fall. He organized a crowdfunding campaign for the nine-hole beginner’s course, replete with Royals-blue baskets. EMU’s game room now has disc sets that students can check out for free. The team’s usual haunt is the 21-hole course at Westover Park, but they visit The Hill when they want a shorter or more leisurely game.
“Families can come and use it, and college students who are just learning … the tee pads are very nice, and the baskets are some of the best in the business,” Trevor said.
“Yeah, almost every time I go up there I see at least one other person there playing,” Byer added.
Driver and the Oyer brothers began playing while students at Hesston College in Kansas. They hail from Oregon, and for the past two years have carried discs in their car for some recreational pit stops on the long cross-country trips.
“I definitely like going to different courses and new courses, and I definitely enjoy playing in Oregon and Virginia much more than in Kansas, because the wind in Kansas … it’s not very friendly, and it definitely adds a challenging and annoying factor,” Jared said.
There’s an element of competitiveness, not just to the game itself, but also to the variety of courses a disc golfer can claim to have played. One of the brothers’ favorite places to play is out on the West Coast: Milo McIver State Park.
“It’s about 45 minutes from our home, and there’s a professional tournament there in June called the Beaver State Fling, and it’s just a beautiful course,” Trevor said.
Between the four of them, the teammates have played disc golf in Virginia, Kansas, Oregon, Colorado, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming, and Alaska, and intend to add to that list.
“We want to play a disc golf course in every state,” Jared said.
What’s next for the small crew of EMU disc golf? Hopefully, an official club, from which competitive teams could be cultivated. But it might require some good-natured poaching to fill the ranks.
As Jared put it, “we try to recruit the ultimate frisbee players and convert them to the superior disc sport!”
Wow! What a great start.
GO ROYAL DISC THROWERS!