From the left: Olivier, Karen, Michel, Jean, Franck, Martine, Bernard Almost three years ago, Karen asked me to join her in her new sport, disc golf. I laughed. After all, I'm a surfer, skier, hang glider pilot, whitewater kayaker - a risk sport person. Why would I ever want to do something like disc golf? Worse, while I'd thrown a Frisbee a few times decades ago, I was terrible at it compared to my friends in college who did all sorts of trick throws on the beach. I couldn't imagine that this was something I would ever want to do.
But Karen's son Victor had introduced her to the game/sport and she really seemed to like it, so I reluctantly agreed to give it a try. She gave me a Valkyrie driver disc and a putter and off we went. As expected, I was terrible.
We started at DeLaveaga which is a world-renown championship course - probably way out of our league. But we stuck with it, playing most days after work for an hour or two. Somewhere along the line, we played the courses at Black Mouse, in the redwoods in Felton, and at Kirkwood, in the Sierra. The beauty of these courses convinced me that disc golf is a reason to go hiking - most of the courses are in semi-remote areas and it can be a decent workout to play them.
On our next visit to France we brought a few discs with us, ready to play. I printed the map of the course at Tarnos, located in Parc de la Baye, and Karen and I found it after searching for quite a while. Unfortunately, we couldn't find any tees or markers for targets, and even worse, most of the park was under water after heavy rains. We were discouraged. To stay in practice, we found some open space areas in Anglet near the beach and practiced our throws with imagined targets.
On our next trip to France, we took a portable basket. Portable is probably overstated. I called it luggable. It weighs over 25 pounds and is awkward to carry when set up. We played in the park at Anglet but it quickly grew boring and with other people walking though, difficult. Searching the web, I found the website for Disc Golf Sud Landes and saw that I had been updated. We went back to Tarnos, hoping to see other players. We did our best to play the parts of the course we could identify from the map, but never played more than 8 or 9 holes, many of which we just made up. At this point, Karen was just beginning her hip rehabilitation and was limited in how far she could walk.
But Karen's son Victor had introduced her to the game/sport and she really seemed to like it, so I reluctantly agreed to give it a try. She gave me a Valkyrie driver disc and a putter and off we went. As expected, I was terrible.
We started at DeLaveaga which is a world-renown championship course - probably way out of our league. But we stuck with it, playing most days after work for an hour or two. Somewhere along the line, we played the courses at Black Mouse, in the redwoods in Felton, and at Kirkwood, in the Sierra. The beauty of these courses convinced me that disc golf is a reason to go hiking - most of the courses are in semi-remote areas and it can be a decent workout to play them.
On our next visit to France we brought a few discs with us, ready to play. I printed the map of the course at Tarnos, located in Parc de la Baye, and Karen and I found it after searching for quite a while. Unfortunately, we couldn't find any tees or markers for targets, and even worse, most of the park was under water after heavy rains. We were discouraged. To stay in practice, we found some open space areas in Anglet near the beach and practiced our throws with imagined targets.
On our next trip to France, we took a portable basket. Portable is probably overstated. I called it luggable. It weighs over 25 pounds and is awkward to carry when set up. We played in the park at Anglet but it quickly grew boring and with other people walking though, difficult. Searching the web, I found the website for Disc Golf Sud Landes and saw that I had been updated. We went back to Tarnos, hoping to see other players. We did our best to play the parts of the course we could identify from the map, but never played more than 8 or 9 holes, many of which we just made up. At this point, Karen was just beginning her hip rehabilitation and was limited in how far she could walk.
Karen with a perfect backhand throw Once interested (I can't say 'hooked' yet), we wanted to keep playing on our extended visits to France. I searched for disc golf courses in France and discovered http://www.disc-golf.fr/ which showed about 25 courses in France. Unfortunately, there was only one course near our place in the Pays Basque and it appeared to be a target course - no fixed baskets. The nearest course with baskets was over two hours away.
Franck and Olivier watching a UFO heading for one of the baskets A year later, we were arrived at Tarnos about noon on a Sunday morning. I set up the basket in the parking lot and we pulled out our discs. Much to our surprise, there were several disc golf players just finishing up a game. Jean, the president of the club introduced himself and told us that they played every Sunday morning at 9:30am.
He showed us their baskets which couldn't have weighed more than a pound or two and explained to us that they had tried to put in a fixed course with permanent baskets but that the baskets had been damaged and usually stolen for the metal. One of the other players explained that Jean had designed their current portable baskets - impressive since even though they're so lightweight, they don't fall over when a fast moving disc hits them.
He showed us their baskets which couldn't have weighed more than a pound or two and explained to us that they had tried to put in a fixed course with permanent baskets but that the baskets had been damaged and usually stolen for the metal. One of the other players explained that Jean had designed their current portable baskets - impressive since even though they're so lightweight, they don't fall over when a fast moving disc hits them.
Martine in the club's long-sleeved shirt We joined the club and started playing every Sunday morning, on holidays, and occasionally when someone has an afternoon off. They gave us really cool short and long-sleeved shirts. For the most part, the course is flat but heavily treed with lots of blackberry bushes, nettles, and thistles along the 'fairways'. Bad shots often result in painful retrievals. There are 6-8 par 4 holes depending on how they play the course on a given day. With the trees and obstacles (including water), it's a challenging course.
Jean about to make a difficult putt This past rainy Sunday, there were 8 of us. Jean, the president of the club is impressive. On one of our outings he played the entire course with a putter and I think he still made par. Michel has the most impressive forehand/side arm throw I've ever seen - a perfect 'S' every time. Franck has developed some impressive distance and accuracy and is always bringing the latest discs which he orders from the States. When I get back, I'll be deviating from my Innova disc obsession after throwing some of these new discs. Bernard is remarkably consistent, including hitting very long (15 meter) putts. Olivier is a newer player, probably a bit closer to Karen's and my levels. Martine is Karen's friend who joined the club with us last fall. She's already hitting quite a few pars in each game and competed in her first tournament this spring. Pascal wasn't there this past Sunday but he too has an impressive arm. We've also played with two Sebastiens, one of whom was injured in an accident and hasn't been able to play for several months. We hope to see him back soon.
Michel's amazing side arm throw The club travels to competitions throughout France and hosts them in Tarnos from time to time. All of the members are quite good - many are highly rated PDGA players. There are roughly 17 members. Even with the bad weather we've had during our current trip we see 8 or more playing on a Sunday. This trip, we've learned a lot about playing in the rain.
 Bernard's perfect form |  Franck with a difficult shot |  Sunday's crew with Karen taking the picture |
But the best thing about this group is how friendly and welcoming they are. And, I have to admit that having 8 people look for a lost disc saves a lot of time and frustration (and I lose a lot of discs).
As many of you know if you read My Miraculous Wife - Learning French, last week members of the club invited us to a Landaise lunch where they fed us duck confit, salad Landaise with local white asparagus, grilled chipirons (calamari), magret de canard (duck filets), a fantastic potato dish, great deserts, and of course lots of local wine. We had an incredible time.
Disc golf with the Disc Golf Sud Landes club is the most fun we've ever had playing disc golf! If you find yourself in southwestern France and play disc golf, you won't be disappointed if you show up at Parc de la Baye in Tarnos at 9:30 on a Sunday morning.
My next post will describe our disc golf experience at Le Mourtis and Sauveterre-de-Rouergue.
As many of you know if you read My Miraculous Wife - Learning French, last week members of the club invited us to a Landaise lunch where they fed us duck confit, salad Landaise with local white asparagus, grilled chipirons (calamari), magret de canard (duck filets), a fantastic potato dish, great deserts, and of course lots of local wine. We had an incredible time.
Disc golf with the Disc Golf Sud Landes club is the most fun we've ever had playing disc golf! If you find yourself in southwestern France and play disc golf, you won't be disappointed if you show up at Parc de la Baye in Tarnos at 9:30 on a Sunday morning.
My next post will describe our disc golf experience at Le Mourtis and Sauveterre-de-Rouergue.
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