The Roger W. Lytle Disc Golf Course at Oak Cliff Founders Park. Photo by Kathy Tran
None other than the New York Times touted the benefits of disc golf in a fitness feature this week.
“Disc golf can turn your walk into a workout,” the headline reads.
Our nation’s newspaper of record notes what many in Oak Cliff already know. Disc golf is more popular than ever.
Dallas is home to several disc-golf courses, including B.B. Owen, an 18-hole course in Lake Highlands that has been around since the early ’80s.
But the Roger W. Lytle Disc Golf Course at Oak Cliff Founders Park is “the cutest disc-golf course in Dallas,” a neighbor told the Advocate in 2021.
Disc-golf players say that 11-hole course is perfect for beginners because it’s short but scenic, and I can attest. I’ve been giving it a throw or two lately, having picked up a driver and a putter at AJ Vagabonds, whose prices for discs (around $20) are about the same or lower compared to big-box stores.
To be honest, it’s harder than it looks. The Times piece says most people throw backhand, in a motion that’s compared to starting a lawnmower. Even if you have to triple bogey a few times, it’s fun to put your mind to a problem like how to throw a disc farther and straighter, while walking around the park, listening to the birds for awhile and talking to the squirrels, or maybe that’s just me.
The course at Founders Park is good for about 4,000 steps, and as the newspaper points out, disc golf is family friendly, affordable and accessible for many.
