Rob Codman of Hancock has been playing disc golf since the 1990s, when he lived in Minneapolis.
“It’s big out there,” he said.
Codman has been able to find an avid disc golf community in New Hampshire, and it has gotten more popular in the last couple years. Like many outdoor activities and recreation, disc golf allowed people to socialize while keeping a safe distance during the pandemic.
According to the Professional Disc Golf Association, it’s hard to track exactly who started playing disc golf first. But Ed Headrick, who founded the association in 1976, made two important patents, the Frisbee and the disc golf pole hole, that have shaped how the sport looks today.
Since the PDGAs founding, there has been a steady increase in events and members, but since 2015 the growth has been especially fast.
Codman is part of the Otter Brook league in Keene and said the local league has grown a lot over the last few years. The league’s home course is 18 baskets and located on Army Corps of Engineers land next to Otter Brook Beach.
Codman owns a painting business and has young children. He’s busy, but when he has time he tries to play with the league and sometimes does independent tournaments. He said it’s a great community.
“Everyone knows each other,” he said.
And now his children are getting into it, too.
Codman said there’s no fee to play on most courses, and the equipment is far less expensive than traditional golfing gear. He said this makes the sport really accessible and good for beginners. It’s easy to just pick up and try it out.
But, he warned, “Once you start you can’t stop.”
“Disc golf runs on essentially the same rules as ball golf,” Codman explained, but instead of carrying a bag of clubs, a disc golfer will have different disks that fly differently. He said the player starts standing on a tee pad. Players throw the discs from there and, like golf, the goal is to get the disc into the basket in as few throws as possible.
“Within an hour of here there are lots of good choices,” Codman said. “New courses pop up all the time.”
There is a course at Wilton-Lyndeborough Cooperative Middle/High School. Codman noted a course at Hampshire College, as well as some around Manchester and in northern Massachusetts. He said people can find them using Google Maps, and there are a lot.
He said the oldest course on the East Coast is in Rindge, but is on private property.
But disc golf can exist anywhere.
“All you need is to have a basket in your backyard,” Codman said.
Codman added that disc golf can be a good workout. There are hilly courses, there are rugged and challenging courses, but “it’s a nice walk through the woods no matter what happens,” he said.