Who Knew Frisbee Golf Could be This Much Fun?

Boy, did we have a good time with friends the other day!....the Kurfis's, from Vermont, who are snowbirds at Sun 'n' Fun RV Resort, where we used to spend a couple of seasons and where we got to know them, took up our invitation to go play disc golf (the more official sounding name for frisbee golf) at the Tocobaga Disc Golf Course in Pinellas County. It's right outside St. Pete's Beach, about a 25 minute drive from Sarasota and is located inside Maximo County Park. It's a fabulous, 18 hole golf course in a fabulous park. Their friend, Delaware Sue, came along to play, too, and graciously drove her van to transport the five of us to the park. Disc golf is a blast...You get good exercise, each hole has a chain link basket that you are aiming for with special discs designed to throw for certain types of shots, there's par and similar golf names for getting under and over par, there are even handicaps figured in for the serious players who play lots. There are water hazards and there are plant and tree hazards. Disc golf has an association and a website, http://www.discgolf.com and courses are rated. We played some marvelous ones out west. They are all over the United States!

There are other certain essential things you need to know about disc golf as well. When you know you are going to play a rather challenging course, you need to bring at least one or two extra discs in case you lose one. And here's the first hint that you are going to need extra discs at Maximo County Park.....We (Sparky and Eldo) usually each use two--a driver and a putter, but lots of serious players travel with beaucoup discs in a shoulder bag while trekking the course.

Here's a second and third hint you might need extra discs....Sparky was the only one whose disc dropped below the surface of this awful smelling crick but she gamely retrieved it.

When you play frisbee or disc golf, there's a lot of skill involved (or not) and a lot of luck for less skilled players, (not necessarily us, guys) and a lot of determination helps, too. Here's Delaware Sue demonstrating nice form....

Biting your lip is optional......Suzette says it helps....

Larry likes the three finger form....

And Eldo likes the "offering to the disc golf gods" form....He's praying the disc doesn't go into the thicket.

It's great to have more than just the two of you playing as it usually is in our case...Lots more eyes to spot where the darn disc went.....And stimulating conversation, too..."Where is the basket?"   "Over there."  "Where?"  "OVER THERE!"

Extra people are good for helping you aim in the right direction....

                                                  "Naw.....she can't hit me from there......"

And just as in regular golf, you have to play the disc where it lands. "Yep, gotta play it from there, Sparky!" Although you can take a penalty shot, Sparky likes the challenge and took the shot from here.

"Sure hope there aren't any chiggers in here!"

We got very silly after awhile...."Bet you can't hit me, nanh, nahn, na nah nah..." Or the guy with the camera....

We took a break after watching some VERY good throwers, a trio of guys, get the disc to the basket in two to three throws, (our average was 4-5) so we let them go ahead....Does this look like a motley crew or what?

As Sparky is a little ADHD, ( a LITTLE???? asks an incredulous Eldo), she got sidetracked with the occasional flora photos....And straggled behind the group a bit at times...

Disc golfers have a WONDERFUL sense of humor...At least the ones do that are not hitting trees constantly. Near the end of our play, we came upon this upon a picnic table.....

After hitting several trees, Larry and Eldy seriously considered trying this "machine". What you don't see is underneath the table there was a cup very carefully taped so as not to fall over, for a coin to drop into. See the slot? There was even a fake coin laying on the table!

After 18 holes, we were hungry! We all had brought a picnic lunch for afterwards. Maximo County Park has some beautiful views of Tampa Bay with lots of picnic benches, an observation tower, and just plenty of wonderful places to relax and enjoy the beautiful park. We certainly did today! It was great to be with friends on a perfect weather day to play one of our favorite sports, disc golf.

Sparky and Eldo Commit a Felony? GASP!

Sarasota, FL      High:  78   Low:  60

(Boy, do you have some explainin' to do! says E.) Oh, yeah, but first the background story...Here we are, at Maximo County Park in St. Pete's Beach at one of the most beautiful disc golf courses and parks in the Florida, just minding our own business and throwing a round of disc golf or frisbee golf, as some people know it. Sparky has a whole bag full of frisbees, some for throwing long distances, a couple of putters for the short shots, and some other ones in between.

We were heading for 18 holes, trying to get our daily exercise in for the day. It was a beautiful day...and some of the first baskets on the first nine holes were decorated for the holidays.

We could have zipped through all 18 holes in an hour, but as it was, it took two hours and we only made it through 14 holes. Sparky kept getting distracted by all the long needle pine trees and looking for long needles. "Oh, my aching back!"

The bag of evidence...

And, we spent a fair amount of time looking for our discs in the thick palm trees and ground foliage. Found it!

But then, Sparky lost her sunglasses somehow. Oh, well... they cost less than a good disc. Good ole flea markets, she'll get another pair. (Uh, Sparky? The felony? questions E.) OH! yeah....On about the 12th hole thereabouts, we couldn't figure out where the next hole was. We came out into a clearing, and directly into a construction site. We skirted the outside edge of it, but it looked like we were in a maximum security fenced in area. We saw a narrow side exit around the fence, and came out on the other side of this sign:

So technically, we were in violation of the law...BUT--nobody said, "HEY, YOU!"  :-)  Whew!

We continued on the course a bit more, and then the rest of the holes were out in the open. It was hot, we'd done our exercise quota for the day, time for wah-ta!  We decided to cut short the rest of the course. We sat under the picnic tables, enjoyed the bird show at the water's edge and watched the fishermen fish......This guy.....

And this guy...... He didn't catch anything while we were there.....Not sure what kind of bird this is, but somebody will fill us in and thank you in advance!

The course is absolutely beautiful....Big thick live oak and long needle pine forests, little bridges to cross, and surprises around every corner, like this endangered wood stork, stepping lightly through the stream bed on one of the holes....

A lovely day....You can't ask for more beautiful weather...It's going to be sunshine and more sunshine for the next week!  We'll see you later......