Disc Golf Diversity Initiative Underway

When taking his stance at the disc golf tee, Marcus Odom likened his foot placement to another sport.

“It’s like I stand on the offensive line in football,” said Marcus, a T.W. Josey High School student who took his first lessons in disc golf March 6 at Pendleton King Park.

Marcus is a member of Boys With a Future, a mentoring program through St. Luke United Methodist Church. The group paired with area disc golf players as part of an initiative through the Professional Disc Golf Association, according to Jesse Cheadle, co-president of the Augusta Disc Golf Association.

“The PDGA started a diversity program to offer grants to minority groups, women’s disc golf, youth,” said Cheadle.

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The grants cover programs, workshops and activities that promote the sport in under-served populations within its membership, according to the PDGA website.

On March 6, six members of the Augusta Disc Golf Association volunteered to teach the Boys With a Future group the rules of the game on an already established course. Each of the boys in the group received his own disc.

Cheadle said disc golf brings together people from varied backgrounds already, but there’s room for all in the sport.

“Today is just to introduce them to the sport,” he said.

 The session included lessons on the rules of the game and the play of an actual game.

Cheadle and the other volunteers offered tips that they wouldn’t necessarily find on the Internet, like no matter how many times you play a course, the same obstacles get in the way.

Cheadle said there’s one tree that he always hits, plus there’s a pesky telephone pole that always seems to manage to get in the way.

Russell Joel Brown, who heads Boys With A Future, said the sport was new to those in his group.

Marcus and his brother, Jacob, said they’d seen people play it before, but they didn’t know what it was about until Saturday.

Members of Boys With a Future got their first lesson on March 6, but it won’t be their last. Both groups planned to return to Pendleton King Park March 13 for another round.

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Cheadle said this isn’t the only way the local group plans to promote the PDGA initiative.

“I do the things I do because I want to be the change I want to see,” he said.

Cheadle has been sober 10 years and volunteers to help others with substance issues. One organization he supports is the Aiken Center.

Disc golf, he said, helps him stay level-headed, and he is working with the Aiken Center in hopes of the organization receiving a grant to put up baskets on its property to have its own disc golf course.

Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com

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