This is a story about a man with passion for disc golf and a craving to evolve the sport! His name is Reese Swinea, and he is the brain behind Fly18. Fly18 is a team of professional disc golfers that have dedicated themselves to integrate disc golf course design and management into existing golf courses around the country.
I met Reese awhile back when playing a round at the Huntington Beach course in Southern California. From the minute I met him, I knew he was a good guy with a great cause and not to mention; he can also throw a pretty wicked shot.
Reese compares the quandary of disc golfers to that of snowboarders when they first attacked the ski slopes. They were a subculture, which skiers saw as a nuisance. However now, snowboarders are the majority at most slopes, and allot of skiers have abandoned their skis altogether.
Like snowboarding, disc golf is one of the world’s fastest growing sports. Every year more than 100 new courses appear and thousands of new players take up the game. There are now more than 2100 disc golf courses in the U.S.
Sometimes it's the simplest things in life that make for the greatest pleasures. So why would anyone pay for a round of disc golf? I can tell you why; imagine a course where you are riding around in comfortable golf cart that shades you from the sun, sipping on your ice-cold beer. On Saturday I played around of disc golf with my cousin, and on Sunday we played a round of traditional golf. Saturday, we came home covered in mud; sweaty, and thirsty since you cant drink beer on County Park premises. Sunday after playing a round of traditional golf we came home clean, relaxed and fully hydrated with tasty beverages in our system. Don’t get me wrong, I would rather play disc golf over traditional golf any day of the week, but sometimes the leisure of traditional golf calls my name. By combing both sports, you create the perfect course and experience!
"The price weeds out the people we don't want to be there anyway," Reese said. "Some people think I'm exploiting the sport. I'm not. I'm offering another level to the disc golfer. If you're willing to pay $16 for the round of your life, this is where it will be. If you want to birdie every hole and get a warm and fuzzy feeling, go to the park. We want to get the guy who's put up his clubs in the garage and never uses them, When you're starting out, golf can be way too frustrating. If you don't have the right frame of mind, you can wrap a club around a tree pretty quickly. In disc golf, the learning curve is a lot shorter and a little more relaxing." Reese explained.
When Fly18 builds a new course, the existing golf course requires no extra maintenance, employees, or up keep. Fly18 understand that the greens are what truly make a golf course, their number one goal when designing a courses is that the disc golfer does not interfere with play on the greens and in turn this maintains safe play. Most of Fly18’s design team plays both disc golf and traditional golf, so they understand where the golfers slice or hook off the tee and where the ball will likely end up. After taking these factors into consideration they know where to put there tee pads and baskets so everyone can be challenged and be safe. For more information about Fly18, please visit there website at: http://www.fly18.com or give them a call (714) 235-0100.
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