Disc golfers open premier course

Jim Cornelius, News Editor | Last updated May 22, 2007 12:0pm0

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Kathy Kemper-Green cuts the ribbon on the Hyser Pines Disc Golf Course as Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce director Cheryl Mills and Sisters Mayor Brad Boyd look on.

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Disc golfers warm up on the “putting green.

A little rain didn't discourage a large cadre of disc golfers from coming out last Sunday for the grand opening of the Hyser Pines Disc Golf Course near Sisters High School - though gusty winds played hob with long putts.

The grand opening event marked the culmination of a one-woman campaign that grew into a community groundswell and created the premier disc golf course in Central Oregon.

Kathy Kemper-Green recounted how she played on a small course in her hometown of Madras over a Thanksgiving weekend with family members ranging in age from three to 63. The family had a great time.

"I thought if Madras has a disc golf course, Sisters should have one," she said.

Kemper-Green launched a campaign to create an 18-hole course, which would eventually be sited on Sisters School District property very close to the SOAR Community Center. While Kemper-Green lit the spark, she soon found it would take a lot of support - and cash - to fan the flame.

But Kemper-Green had confidence in Sisters' ability to make things happen - and that confidence proved justified. She raised $20,000 in cash and in-kind contributions to create the course and install the steel baskets that make up each of the course's 18 holes (at $450 apiece).

At Sunday's event, Kemper-Green handed out discs to sponsors, and the support was evident in the tall stack of discs she worked through.

The course will provide a venue for family fun, but it is also a magnet for a thriving disc golf community.

Ryan Lane, President of the Hyser Rebel Disc Golf Club, expressed awe at the level of community support devoted to the creation of the course, where his club hosts tournaments each sunday.

"This venue is absolutely perfect for competitive play," he said, while noting that the flexibility of the course actually makes it ideal for any level of player.

Lane noted that the course - Central Oregon's premier venue - allows the region to host major tournaments that have the potential to bring hundreds of players at a time to Sisters.

"This is a pretty monumental step for the disc golf community in all of Central Oregon," Lane said. For Sisters, he said, "having this course here in Sisters is going to bring huge tourist momentum to town."

The grand opening event featured some demonstrations of basic disc golf throws, (the "hyser" which gives the course its name is a type of throw). In addition to the hot dogs on the grill for patrons, there were hot dogs on the high school playing fields, performing tricks with discs.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

Email: editor@nuggetnews.com
Phone: 5415499941

Disc golf is similar to its namesake

Disc golf is a sport where players make their way through a course trying to get a plastic disc into a steel basket with a minimum number of throws. Disc golf is played by much the same rules as conventional golf, though courses are almost always in parks and are free to the public - including Sisters' Hyser Pines course.

Though the game is often played casually on sunny afternoons, there is a professional disc golf circuit and the sport can be very competitive.

The disc itself is what a layperson would call a "frisbee." However, the golf disc is smaller than the conventional "frisbee" and has more sharply beveled edges.

The sport started in the late 1960s. The first standardized course was installed at Oak Grove Park in La Cañada, California (where this reporter's older brother John lost a round by one stroke to the inventor of the Frisbee).

Specialized discs are used for putting and for long-range "drives." There is a huge range of throws employed under different circumstances. On the Sisters course shots that can curve around trees are particularly useful.