Waupaca course open year-round
By Greg Seubert
COVID-19 has only been around for a few months and is already responsible for the postponement and cancellation of professional, college and high school sports seasons.
It doesn’t have to be that way for activities like disc golf, however.
That’s why Bob Hall and Neil Young have spent several hours this spring at WEDGE, a nine-hole disc golf course that the Waupaca School District owns and maintains.
WEDGE (Waupaca Educational Disc Golf Escape) is located on wooded property off of King Road, just west of Waupaca High School, and has been open to the public for more than a decade.
“We are here fixing it up,” Hall said. “It’s gotten overgrown over the years. We’re making it more challenging to play and that’s how I got involved. This is a teaching course, as it’s attached to the school, but today’s players with stronger arms and faster discs want something more challenging. Just to have that challenge I think would draw more people to the course.”
Disc golf is similar to golf, but instead of a ball and clubs, players use a flying disc. Like golf, the object is to complete each hole in the fewest strokes or, in the case of disc golf, fewest throws.
Hall and Young began cleaning up the course, which is open year-round, in early March. It’s also free.
“We walked around in the snow looking at possibilities and we each come out as we have time,” Hall said. “Neil has some wicked machines that do nasty things to invasive species. We discovered oak wilt out here and the high school came out and cut a bunch of oak trees down.”
Classes and leagues
Hall recently contacted Waupaca Parks and Recreation Director Andrew Whitman about Hall’s desire to teach disc golf classes.
“I’m retired and want to give back to the community a little,” Hall said. “I’m a lifetime disc golfer and it was going to happen at summer school.”
“Bob did come to us a few months ago when we were looking to possibly start a learn-to-play-disc golf (program) for kids and with the senior center,” Whitman said. “Those are kind of put on hold right now with COVID-19, but we’re excited to potentially offer those as program options through the rec department, help spread the word that we have disc golf around here and make it a little more popular in the area. Once we’re past COVID-19, we’re definitely going to try to have him come in and teach a class to the seniors and create something for kids as well.”
Besides classes, Hall is also interested in a disc golf league.
“Bob had talked about starting a league and we are just helping him advertise that, but we’re not running the league,” Whitman said. “It’ll be self-run. We’re just helping advertise it as another option for people to get out, get some exercise and enjoy what we could consider a life sport.”
Hall has a June 1 date for league play to get underway, but that date could be pushed back.
Hall and Young believe disc golf can be enjoyed even if COVID-19 concerns have postponed or canceled several area events.
“The thing with disc golf is it’s easy to keep that distance apart,” Hall said. “When I see them out here playing, I’ll try to take their picture for our Facebook page. There’s a tendency for them to come together to have their picture taken. Every time I do that, I’ll go, ‘6 feet.’ I try to remind them about that when I see them.
“They’re looking for things to do and this is one of them,” he said. “All the courses in (Stevens) Point were shut down for a month. People were going, ‘Waupaca’s open? Let’s go.’”
“There are a lot of people out here,” Young said. “I think you can maintain the social distancing and still do this activity. The other thing that we’re hoping for is there’s lots of work to do out here. People can come out and work and social distance.”
Young was a Waupaca High School English teacher when the course opened.
“The Class of 2007 gave us some money for it,” he said. “There was a need for it. There were kids driving to New London to play.”
Randy Schukar of Stevens Point designed the course, as well as a course in Standing Rocks County Park, between Amherst and Plover.
“He designed this course to be an educational course for the phy ed department to use,” Young said. “It’s still used for phy ed, but I always wanted it to be used for leagues and all ages. There are families out here playing. I see dads and moms with little kids. There were a pair of gray-haired, pony-tailed guys from Iola that came down every year. Bob has some ideas about lengthening the course and making some more challenges to it.”
The school district’s buildings and grounds crew removed several oak trees on the course that succumbed to oak wilt.
“Once they started opening stuff up, you can really see some extended possibilities,” Young said. “There is room to put another nine (holes) stretching south to Highway 22, but Bob’s ideas are to put some alternate pins so we can get the league play. The idea right now is work with what we have. The biggest problem with extending the nine holes is getting people to work on it with organizing schedules. People like to play, but they don’t necessarily like to come out and do the work.”
Hundreds of Waupaca students have tried the sport at the course as part of a physical education course.
“I think it has a couple things going for it,” Hall said. “One, it’s very inexpensive. You can go to Fleet Farm and buy a disc for $9 and you’re going. The other thing is you can play it by yourself, you can play it with a group, you can play it whenever you want, it’s free and you can have fun. That’s what makes it go.”
“There are websites to find disc golf courses,” Young said. “Two weeks ago, we had a family from Appleton and their sister is from Wausau and they met here. They found there was a course here online that was open. They came out and had a picnic.”
Year-round sport
Disc golf can even be played in the winter, according to Young and Hall.
“Somebody was snow-shoeing the course this spring,” Young said. “They had some really nice packed trails from the tee boxes to the pins to the next holes. I was thinking we should probably invest in some snowshoes.”
Losing discs in the snow is not a problem.
“You tape a ribbon to the center of your disc and just look for the ribbon,” Hall said. “Other guys will get the disc wet, use carpenter’s chalk and look for the big blue or red stain in the snow.”
“It’s a totally different game in the winter,” Young said. “The discs fly different in the cold and it must have something to do with air density. The other thing is you get those different textures of snow and skipping becomes a part of your game.”
Hall and Young said the sport is easy to learn.
“You find your own level of acceptability,” Hall said. “I’m good enough now, but there’s always room for improvement. There are instructional videos on YouTube and you can watch actual tournaments online. One of the things I wanted to get involved with teaching people how to play. I can watch someone throw and say, ‘Have you ever tried this or have you ever tried that?’ Little things like that make it more fun for that individual.
“The best way to do it is to buy a disc, come out and start throwing,” he said. “Play with someone who’s better with you, watch what they do and learn from that. Keep playing with people like that and the next thing you know, you’ll be one of them and people will be watching you.”