Among a few onlookers, a group of three to four players stand at the start of a hole near the lake and prepare to start the course. The players rub their hands on the ground, pull out a disc from their caddies and prepare to throw.
Each disc is like a different type of golf club. The players throw the discs, aiming to land them in a steel basket in the fewest strokes possible. This is one of the moments that help encapsulate the sport of disc golf and its reach among players around the world.
Winthrop hosted the 20th United States Disc Golf Championship near the Winthrop Coliseum from Oct. 3 to Oct. 6. Disc golf is a form of golf that uses flying discs from a tee position to the target goal, with the score calculated from the amount of throws toward the target.
Winthrop University hosts a disc golf course located at Winthrop Lake, near the recreational fields and Winthrop Coliseum. Players from all over the world, like Steve Rico from Los Angeles, are part of this prestigious event.
“It’s great to see the course and sport evolve over the years,” said Rico, “The technology has been getting better in helping the course be harder.”
According to Winthrop’s website, the Disc Golf course on campus, called Winthrop Gold, attracts players from around the world and hosts tournaments that draw in competitors like Garrett Gurthie from Gainesville, Florida.
“It’s one of the toughest courses in the world, with all the out–of–bounds areas,” said Gurthie.
This year, the Winthrop Gold course changed. Players, like Jamie Kiep from South Georgia, have to rely on wise decisions to complete each hole.
“The course is very challenging,” said Kiep. “It’s the most challenging course you’ll find out here. You have to bring your a-game.”
Some changes, such as the one made to the first hole, are modeled after the original hole’s design, while the fifth hole leans more to the peninsula’s edge than it did previously. Competitor Michael Gaummert from Portland, Oregon notes his familiarity with Winthrop’s course.
“There’s been a couple of layout changes, but it [the course] is still the same since day one,” said Gaummert.
The website “Disc Gold United” noted that there were 24 international players that qualified for the USDGC. Qualifier and competitor Pasi Koivu is one of eight disc golf players from Finland among the international participants.
“I qualified and placed fourth in the European tournament [before coming to the USDGC],” said Koivu.
Another tournament that occurs on Winthrop Gold is the Dean’s Cup, which attracts collegiate teams and players from all over the country, such as Pete Curran from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia and players from North Carolina State University.
“They [The Dean’s Cup and the USDGC] both play the same,” said Curran. “No other course has this much out–of–bounds areas.”
This tournament brings players to Winthrop for competition, many of whom have competed in prior tournaments or qualifications before coming to the finals in Rock Hill.
“You have to be the best players around the world to be here,” said Rico.
The number of competitors and teams that qualified and registered for this tournament creates a sense of camaraderie and shows how disc golf has evolved twenty years after the creation of the sport.
