Sam vs. Disc Golf

MARQUETTE — Disc golf is not one of those sports you think would be very popular in the Upper Peninsula. But the following has been growing since it was introduced to the Marquette area back in 2008. Two organizations have empowered the local disc golf scene.

“Disc Da U.P. was originally started as a college club organization, and we branched out into the community. And that’s really what got the ball rolling on getting these courses built. The Upper Peninsula Disc Golf Association was founded for charitable aspects so we can fund the courses,” Simpson said.

Nate Simpson is the president of DISC da U.P. and he took me to the Powder Mill disc golf course for a lesson in disc golf.
The discs come in many different designs, specific for the kind of shot you want, similar to clubs in regular golf.

He says the hardest part to master is putting so that’s where we started. And trust me, it’s a lot harder than it looks. So I decided, like with many other things, to just do it my way. Even if you’re not good at disc golf, the course has a lot more things to offer its players.

One of the coolest things about this course is there are so many things you can do, whether it’s the wildlife that you can see right down by the river, or picnic tables, or even a bike trail that goes right through the course. It’s not just disc golfing that happens here, but so many other things that you can do throughout an entire day.

This game is not as simple as just throwing frisbees at chains.

Like anything else, practice makes perfect and Simpson was able to give me a lot of tips. Despite most of the disc golfers in the area being relatively inexperience, Simpson says he loves how the popularity is growing organically.

“We’re not having to promote it and really push it a lot to get people to play. Everyday we come out and there’s more and more people. It’s amazing that something we pushed so hard to create has effected so many people and continues to with new players and players from out of town. It’s just wonderful,” said Simpson.