Have you ever said to yourself (or even risked saying it aloud to everyone on your card): “I think I can hit that gap” and then immediately slammed your disc into the first available tree in your line of sight? Well, I’m not promising that that’s going to happen to you shortly after you descend the staircase between holes 2 and 3 at the new course at St. Mary’s University... but I’m not not saying that, either.
Nestled in the woods on the northwest corner of the SMU campus, this is about as close to a Fish Creek Provincial Park course (about which the Calgary disc golf community has been dreaming for a long time) as we’re likely to get for the time being. Mirroring the park’s elevation changes, beautiful scenery and mixture of grassland and forest, the new course is certainly easy on the eyes. That may be the last thing about it which can be considered easy, though! This is not likely to become the Calgary course where you’ll be introducing beginners to the game, or even the one where you’ll be challenging the more novice players in your circle of friends to a round!
With that said, intermediate and advanced disc golfers alike will find themselves adequately tested (and then some) by the tight fairways and tiny gaps that define roughly two-thirds of the course’s eighteen holes. Designed as a nine-hole loop with alternate tees giving it 18 unique looks, the course may lull you into a false sense of security with its gentle opening holes. The real adventure begins on hole 3, where the fairway narrows and the baskets begin to play hide-and-seek with even the most eagle-eyed members of your posse.
The temptation to start launching grenades, thumbers, and tomahawks over the top of the seemingly endless foliage will likely start whispering to you like a devil on your shoulder by about the fifth hole, and by the time you’ve made it back around for your second loop, I’d be amazed if the angel on the other shoulder is being paid any heed at all. On the other hand, finding all of those Hail Mary shots once they’ve come back down to earth may just have you rethinking that approach!
