Through the generosity and love of Jim and Judy Butcher, Colorado City is on the map, with a fully approved, planned, and completed Disc Golf Course of national quality in honor of their son, Darren Butcher.
Colorado City joins 20 other communities in Colorado that have disc golf courses. According to the online information site, Udisc, Colorado has 334 courses, 159 of those which have 18 or more holes. Colorado is home to 96 leagues and 41 stores that sell disc golf gear. The same source indicates that Colorado is ranked the 11th best disc golf state in the United States.
The City Park Disc Golf Course in Pueblo was created in the early days of the sport and is the third oldest course in the country.
An article in UCHealth Today cites that beginner golf equipment is inexpensive and the courses are almost always free to play. It’s a great sport for people of any age or skill level.
Disc golf is played with a “disc” similar to a Frisbee. There are thousands of disc options, from putters to drivers, which help a player reach a desired target: a disc golf basket.
The baskets hang on poles stuck in the ground. The chain metal baskets entrap a disc thrown into them from any direction.
Rules are similar to traditional golf but with a disc. Each throw is a stroke and each hole has a “par” number. Like golf, the lower the score the better. Unlike golf it doesn’t require a six-figure income to play regularly. That is one of the reasons the sport is catching on as a great family sport.
The father of disc golf is a toy inventor for Wham-O. Remember that name from the 50’s and 60’s? He came up with the Frisbee.
You won’t find names like Ben Hogan, Tiger Woods, or Jack Nicklaus in the rankings for disc golf but you will find the top players in every locale.
The top ranked player in Colorado according to Infinite Courses is the BrownZombie from Highlands Ranch. Big Country 83 from Fountain holds the number two spot at the date of this publication. And, of course, you’ve all heard of Big Justin from Pueblo who is currently ranked 11.
These players were rated by infinite points but a truer test is an infinite rating. A perfect rating is 1200 points. The tournament arranged for the Colorado City course, in order to level the playing field, have a top cutoff of 900 points. Mind you, these are still world class players but the lower ceiling gives local and area players a chance to do well.
If the Colorado City course is selected by a third party to be sponsored as an annual part of the circuit, you may well see some of the best players in the world because several of them come from Colorado. One course in Pueblo currently has an annual event, but that is about it in this part of the state.
The Colorado City course has been built with two “baskets” on each hole. An easy “basket” and a more challenging basket. That makes the course fun for players of all abilities and talents.
The cost can be as minimal as you want. One frisbee and you’re in business although my limited experience shows that most players have as wide a variety of discs as golfers do of clubs. The overall cost per disc is much lower than per golf club.
It can be a great family sport. You can show up to play disc golf and the cost for you and your extended family of 17 is zero, except, of course, if you enter all of them in a tournament.
The last new sport to come to town was Pickleball. Now you have another lowcost option. Go out and try it.