Get out, bang chains, and grow the sport with the Greenbrier Valley Disc Disciples, your local disc golf club! This club is Greenbrier Valley’s official disc golf community and was formed last summer by local disc golf enthusiasts who regularly played together on Sundays. Currently, the group is made up of 33 official members and they are always looking to grow the sport by inviting new people to join them, especially women! (Pictured above: Banging chains in Montwell Park with Drew Young, Isaac, Jason Johans, and Matt Turner.)

Club member, Sarah Ream Staunton recently launched the Greenbrier Valley Disc Golfhers, a disc golf group geared towards teaching women Disc Golf skills to help empower them and grow the sport. Click here to stay updated with this group on facebook.

Disc golf is played in about 40 countries around the world. It’s an outdoor flying disc (similar to Frisbees) game where individual players throw a flying disc at a target, mainly a basket with chains around, ie banging chains. While there are two basic throwing techniques: backhand and forehand, throwing styles vary with each player and there is no standard throwing style. The game is typically played in singles format just like “ball golf”. Really the formats for disc golf are the same as “ball golf” where you can play doubles in a variety ways with Captain’s choice being the most popular, that’s where you play from the best throw of the two. Larger team play is done by a points system.

If you Google search the phrase: “disc golf” in the Lewisburg area, you’ll get three results: Montwell Park, Greenbrier State Forest, and Serenity Now Outfitters (SNO) (pictured above). Montwell Park and Greenbrier State Forest are two of the clubs most used disc golf locations.

Pictured above, Serenity Now Outfitters is your local sporting goods store, on W. Washington Street downtown located near Food & Friends, that carries a large selection of discs and starter-kits for beginners, which include a driver, midrange, and putter for $25. There are a variety of different discs, each with a specific plastic made with them. Shop local and check out the wide selection of disc golf gear at Serenity Now Outfitters in downtown Lewisburg, WV, serenitynowoutfitters.com

Plastics such as DX, J-Pro, Pro-D, X-Line, and R-Pro from Innova discs and Discraft are some of the less durable plastics but good for beginners. Plastics such as Champion, Titanium, FLX, GStar, and Star plastics, offer the best quality, durability and flight. Importantly though, you need to throw what feels good to you!

Like most disc golf communities, this one is tight-knit and everyone is very supportive of each other. Matt Turner is one of the group’s organizers and he is a big advocate for getting people outdoors and active as much as possible. He tells us, “I think disc golf is a great way to get outside, and it’s inexpensive. We live in a gorgeous area, let’s make the most of it!” He also goes into detail about disc golf saying, “the sport itself is intricate with many different types of throws with very specific mechanics that make these throws perform at optimum levels. Just getting familiar with all the different types of discs and how they are supposed to be utilized can be a daunting task in itself. I know I wish someone would have showed me how to play the sport earlier.”

On Sunday mornings, the club gets together for rounds at Greenbrier State Forest, Montwell Park, and Matt’s private course in Renick called Nellie’s. They also travel together at times and have made trips to Mountain Lake DGC near Pembroke, VA, Greenfield DGC near Roanoke in Troutville, VA, Glenwood DGC in Princeton, WV and Pipestem. Charlotte, NC is the discgolf capital in the US. There is a professional association, the PDGA that many of them are associated with. Club member, Chris Roth tells us, “The points won at our two sanctioned tournaments go toward possible eligibility to bigger tournaments in the country, even the world championships that have been played in Pittsburgh and Charlotte in recent years.”

pictured above left: Drew Young was recently awarded a grant, for tee pads and other projects, from the Greater Greenbrier Valley Community Foundation. Pictured above right: Ace on #16 champion mamba, Jonathan Luke Bair (co-owner at Redwing Farm Soup).

Times and location vary so it’s wise to keep up with their facebook group page by searching: “Greenbrier Valley Disc Golf” or enter this URL: facebook.com/groups/1506755462953639. Now that the days are getting longer, they will have more set times for club rounds and can do weekdays. The club will also have clinics this Spring at no charge, donation only. Make sure you join their facebook page to stay updated.

The club’s membership dues are just $5 a year and come with a bag tag. Chris says, “The tag has a number. Right now mine is #9. On any given day, if we play a round and I beat someone that has a lower number, we trade tags. Everyone is trying to get that #1 tag. I think we have had four or five different keepers of the #1.” Besides being an active member with the club, Chris has been teaching the disc golf sport to Eastern Greenbrier Middle School for the past 5 years. He has used the students’ input and enthusiasm to design a course for them that he hopes will extend to another 9 baskets at the high school. In March, he and his co-teacher Drew Cochran installed a 9-basket course at the 4H camp. They and the entire club are currently constructing tee pads at Greenbrier State Forest. He says these tee pads will make the course as good as any of the best ones in the United States.

Some Upcoming Disc

Golf Events:

Saturday, May 20, Greenbrier Classic, at Greenbrier State Forest: PDGA C-tier, payouts done by Lights Out

Saturday, October 14, Nellie’s Revenge, at Nellie’s: PDGA C-tier, payouts done by Lights Out

Greenbrier Valley Disc Golf is a charitable organization helping to grow the sport of disc golf in Southern West Virginia. They help maintain the local courses, work on developing and designing new courses, host weekly leagues, and hold annual sanctioned tournaments. They promote and teach the sport to any race, religion, creed, age, and skill levels. They also support the local community by raising money, and awareness for many worthy causes.

For more information regarding the club, events, or to learn more, click here to follow them on facebook and follow them at @gbvdiscgolf on instagram! Or contact the two organizers direct. Matt Turner’s email is: turnermatt723@gmail.com. Andrew Young’s email is: andrewcoadyyoung@gmail.com.

– HashtagWV #88. April 2017.