By Ashley Hargrove
Around 100 golf enthusiasts are expected to converge on Athens this weekend.
But these aren’t your typical golfers.
They aren’t required to wear their best khakis nor do they need an expensive pair of clubs or a tee time. All that’s required is a disc or Frisbee.
These enthusiasts play disc golf and will be in town for the Professional Golf Association’s Southern National Tournament at the Athens Sportsplex. Two 19-hole rounds get underway around 9 a.m. Saturday. Play continues at 9 a.m. Sunday.
Forty disc golfers, some professional and some local will participate on Saturday. Around 60 are expected on Sunday. The event is free to the public.
“This is big for Athens,” local avid disc golfer Bill Bullington said. “It should bring a lot of people to town.”
Disc golf is a growing sport nationally and played like traditional golf minus a ball and clubs. Players hurl discs by hand into baskets placed around the course like the cups on a golf course. The sport, first played formally in the early 1970s shares the same goal of completing a hole in the fewest number of strokes, or throws.
In addition to the Sportsplex course, a seven-hole course is located behind the library at Athens State University.
Bullington said anyone interested in the sport is encouraged to participate in the fall disc league beginning Aug. 27. The league meets at 1:30 p.m. Sundays at the Sportsplex and 5:45 p.m. at the Athens State course.
For more information on the league, contact Bullington at (256) 233-6300 or bill_bullington@yahoo.com.
