On March 20, 2002, Beth and I met our Chicago friends Adam and Carmen at the halfway point between NYC and Chicago: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was a bit chilly, rainy, and it was two weeks before the baseball season began. We saw the Andy Warhol museum and had a good time but needed another visit for the full Pittsburgh experience. Exactly eighteen months later we met up there again--this time to catch a Cubs-Pirates game and play some disc golf. Disc golf is a relatively new sport that incorporates the concept of golf but without the pesky clubs or dimpled balls. Instead of using a club to hit a ball you throw a Frisbee, or a slightly smaller disc. The hole is replaced by a steel cage that traps the disc. The other significant difference is disc golf courses are almost always public, and the equipment is inexpensive. Visiting one of the country's nicest disc golf courses inspired me and Adam to buy a set of golf discs: a driver and a putter each.

To find Schenley Park, we had to walk up the Boulevard of the Allies toward Squirrel Hill. Then the disc golf course was "near the skating rink," according to the directions. We got funny looks when we asked local park-goers to direct us to the skating rink; it was the last weekend of summer, and it was especially beautiful. Schenley Park, in the Pittsburgh suburb of Oakland, featured 18 holes of disc golf; the front nine were mostly in the open space of the park (as shown on the top picture on this page.) By the eighth hole, though, those friendly clearings were long gone. Above left, Josh tries to drive through a narrow path of menacing trees to reach the trap 300 feet away. Click on the images below to see a quick video snipped of a disc golf drive and putt. Adam manages to nail a tree, despite a relatively clear path on this particular hole. He makes up for the sliced shot with a nifty putt to save par.

Click the photos below for videos of disc golf!
At left is a video of Adam driving (unsuccessfully), at right is a video of Adam putting (successfully).

Navigating through the dense Oakland forest was no easy task. The targets were often not visible from the start of the hole, and the maze of hills and trees complicated matters. Each hole was equipped with two concrete starting tees: one for pros and one for beginners. Up for the challenge, we chose the pro shot every time. I copied the par information from the official site to the Schenley Park disc golf course and transcribed our shot info below. I couldn't control the disc at first; the tiny disc hooked massively, and I ended up with 5s on the first two holes. All in all though, I was pretty pleased with my first real experience on a disc golf course.

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Out	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	In	Total
Par	4	5	4	3	5	4	4	4	4	37	3	4	4	4	4	4	3	5	4	35	72
Distance	545	540	338	238	403	313	215	291	235	3,118	275	236	234	288	242	514	195	241	275	2,500	5,618
Russ	5	5	3	3	3	3	4	3	3	32	3	5	3	5	2	3	5	3	4	33	65
Adam	4	5	5	3	4	3	6	5	4	39	4	4	4	6	4	4	5	6	5	46	85
J/J	5	6	5	3	4	4	4	4	6	41	4	3	4	5	4	5	6	4	5	46	87
Girls	6	6	5	4	5	4	6	5	5	46	6	5	4	5	3	6	5	4	5	43	89

On the walk to Schenley Park, Adam picked up a homie in a corner convenience store. The homie was sleekly dressed in black like a cool clubber. For some reason, it resembled Max, our Chicago compadre who couldn't join our trip to Pittsburgh. The picture below shows the happy homie at hole 14.

Walking back from the sunny Oakland park, Carmen and Beth smile; behind Beth is the famed University of Pittsburgh tower. We had to get back to the hotel to prepare for the night's game at PNC Park. Click below for the PNC Park page, or the below right for Frank Lloyd Wright's fallingwater (and mini golf).

The day and weekend were just beginning.