A few years ago, I beat Tim at bowling. He has never forgiven me. As penance, it was decided that I should be forced to, at some point in the future, engage in an activity in which he clearly excels, thus righting the universe. I agreed to these terms with roughly the same amount of thought as one puts into the decree to return a favor to the Godfather. With a mix of apprehension and vain belief that my number would never be called to repay my transgression, I went about my business for years.
Flash forward to a balmy Sunday afternoon in May. I recently developed a hankering for not sitting on my ass, so anything physically inclined has been a welcome suggestion. That's when Tim and I got in touch about Disc Golf. In case you're wondering, that's golf, but with discs.
We had talked about going disc golfing for a while, but the opportunity hadn't presented itself, mostly because of my finals-time-hermit phase. Now, on Sunday, I had run out of excuses. The time to give penance for beating Tim at bowling had come. I brought Justin for moral support, since he was in Ann Arbor for the charity party the night before anyway. Well, that and brunch.
We met up with Tim at Weber's for their brunch buffet. That has nothing to do with disc golf, but it tasted delicious and made the day brighter so I decided to share. After that, we headed over to the metropark to play ourselves some disc golf. I would like to take a moment to point out that the discs in disc golf are, in fact, not frisbees. They are discs. There is a difference.
Not frisbees.
I tease, but its only cause Tim is such a good sport. I was actually really genuinely excited to try it out. I've come to find that the coolest new experiences are the ones that are led by friends of mine because I get to see not just the new thing, but also the enjoyment that my friends get from it. Tim wanted to show me disc golf because he was super into various disc related activities when he was growing up. That made the day highly nifty cause I got to see trick shots and different techniques.
The trick here was looking badass.
I also got a sense of what it felt like to get into the swing of things with the discs. At first I was a bit too timid. I found that putting a little zing on the disc went a long way. Although, to be fair, I should've known that all along. Putting zing on anything goes a long way. The close shots were a little tougher - the ones that required, you know, accuracy. That was where Tim pulled away and won the game.
The thing about disc golf is that it is exercise in the traditional sense, what with all the walking and throwing things and whatnot. However, it wins the same prize as golf and kubb for being low-impact, high-social exercise. We spent most of the afternoon chatting it up, sharing and caring, regaling each other with stories from afar.
We even stopped for lunch.
Disc golf was one of those activities that felt familiar in its newness. What I mean is that much of that afternoon was exactly what I've always done with friends. We walked around, we laughed, we were goofy and lighthearted. We were a little competitive, but not enough to really get upset with each other. The larger disc golf experience was what I've done a hundred times and will do a hundred times more in my lifetime. It was spending time with people I adore on a sunny afternoon.
Although, there was one point at which tensions ran high.
The sport itself was not too complicated. I imagine it to be like most sports. A day to learn, a lifetime to master. Then again, we were surrounded by shirtless, beer-drinking hippies, so it can't be that hard. No. Seriously. Tim and Justin were overdressed. I was wearing my normal clothes, but I'm kind of a narc, so that was to be expected. Also to be expected - Tim won the game. We all had a great time and felt a comfortable level of tiredness at the end of the day. It was like taking a short, 1.5 mile hike on a warm afternoon. You know, with some intermittent throwing of things.
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