Jaci Kohn
Staff writer
Throwing a flying disc with friends is no longer just a game to play on a lazy afternoon, there can be serious competition in the sport.
Members of the Murray State disc golf team will compete in a qualifying competition in March to try to earn a spot at the National Collegiate Disc Golf Championship.
“When we heard of the National Collegiate Disc Golf Championship we all knew what we had to do,” Co-captain Michael Griffin, sophomore from Greenville, Ky., said. “So we looked into what it takes to play in this tournament. After we learned what it took we formed a team and are trying to create an official club through Murray State.”
The new team plays competitively in disc golf tournaments around the area.
“The purpose of our team is to get Murray State University in the disc golf scene and to represent our school the best we can,” he said. “Disc golf is a very fast growing sport and we want more people on campus to come out and play the great sport.”
There are four players on the team and approximately 10 players in the club.
“We use our best four players for our A team and have them represent the school in the club,” he said. “Some tournaments will allow us to send multiple teams and we will send a second team in those cases.”
To qualify for the national championships, the team has to win a qualifer against schools including Arkansas, Clemson, Illinois, Purdue, Oregon, Tennessee Tech and Western Kentucky.
“Our first qualifying event currently has only Purdue in it, and they are already qualified for the national championships,” he said. “The qualifier is still a month away and a lot of teams will get involved by the time it comes around. There are already 30 teams that have qualified for the national championship though.”
To prepare for its upcoming tournament the team plays multiple rounds every day at Central Park in Murray and take driving range practice at the intramural field on campus. They have also traveled to courses near Murray to practice for the qualifier and hope to travel to St. Louis, Mo., to get some practice on the courses there before the tournament, Griffin said.
“We would love to get more players in the area that love the great sport of disc golf to play with us,” he said. “We also hope to play in some other qualifiers after the tournament in March to hopefully get into the championships.”