Our friend Alex and his son invited us to play disc golf with them! We packed our ice water and bug spray and headed to the course. I’ve played a couple of times, but Josh had never played before. We made a quick stop at Dick’s Sporting Goods to buy the necessary gear, but there are also a couple of local disc golf-specific shops around.

To start playing, you only need two or three disc golf discs. They offer starter packs for $34, but you can also buy individual discs for prices ranging from $11 to $28. If you’ve never played, it’s better to go for a starter pack. The discs have numbers that indicate how fast they go or how they behave at the end of the throw. It might be a bit confusing until you’ve thrown the discs a few times. We also recommend bringing a backpack or something similar to carry your water, phone, multiple discs, and snacks. It’s easier than trying to juggle everything while throwing a disc.

Playing disc golf is essentially free after the initial purchase. Josh watched a YouTube video on how to throw the discs as we drove to the course, which is set a little farther back into Blendon. Next to the course are picnic tables and a large shelter house where you can rest before or after your game. We used the large grass areas to throw a football and practice our long-range disc throwing before we started playing.

The first hole is marked by a sign with the fairway mapped out, similar to regular golf. One at a time, we took turns throwing our discs toward the “hole” at the end, which is a metal basket with chains. Then, you throw another disc from where you threw the first one until you reach the metal basket. Sounds easy, right? Well, we thought so, too.