Fling it!

It was a great day for disc golf in the Platte Valley on June 8.

Going into its 8th year, the Tale of Two Cities Disc Golf Tournament hosted by Mother Mountain Anglers appeared to be a success with four men’s teams and a women’s team. The day began with the women’s team teeing off at Grand View Park in Encampment at 9 a.m. and, an hour later, the men’s teams teed off at Grand View Park, Rick Martin Memorial Park in Riverside and the Stage Stop Links just east of Riverside.

The day started out with a clear sky, but a little cloud cover and rain did little to dampen the spirits of the disc golf competitors. In fact, it appeared to keep them going as it provided some cooler temperatures. That and some pizza from the DiVide helped sustain the competitors throughout the day.

Each course provided its own difficulties.

The course at Grand View Park, for example, started in the park itself and wrapped around the Grand Encampment Museum with large distances between some of the disc golf baskets. Wrapping back around to the park, competitors had to steer around antique equipment and a few trees.

Rick Martin Memorial Park, meanwhile, provided plenty of difficulty for even the most seasoned disc golfer due to the number of trees between each basket. Competitors tried different techniques to get through the gaps which ranged from throwing wide and hoping to move around the trees to sending their discs vertically through the gaps.

At the Stage Stop Links, there were two types of hazards. On this course, if competitors were to strike one of the buildings on the course it would add a stroke to their score. The other hazard included the Encampment River, which runs right alongside the links. With run-off season in full swing, the rushing river could easily take away a disc that went out-of-bounds during the competition.