Sports
Disc Golf Sets Arnold City Park Aglow for Halloween
The Jefferson County Sharpshooters bring night time disc golf to Arnold's beginner-friendly course, with an early daylight round to get a sneak peek.
Maybe it’s easier to throw around trees if you can’t see them.
The Jefferson County Sharpshooters offer a chance to find out Saturday night, when the disc golf club brings its seasonal twist to Arnold City Park in the Halloween Glow. Players will throw glow discs fueled by black light at the baskets, which the Sharpshooters illuminate with LED rings – after a daylight session to get their feet wet.
“The day/glow is designed to play one round in the light and then play the next round in the dark,” said Joe Mckee, president of the Sharpshooters. “One of the benefits is that you finish earlier, rather than around 11 p.m. or midnight. Plus you get a chance to see the course in the light, to better know the course for the night round.”
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The glow events have become a popular recreational approach to the game – think of it as disc golf’s version of “cosmic bowling” – featured at several regional courses by local clubs over the fall. The Halloween Glow marks the second night time event for the Sharpshooters, after its 4th annual at Jokerst Park in September.
A fresh idea like the sport itself, the technology – or at least the creativity – is keeping up with the entertainment. Methods involving dozens of simple glow sticks, tied to baskets, taped to discs and scattered around tee boxes, have given way into custom LED rings and apparel that are brighter and more reliable. While the black light ever fades away, the club has turned to small LED lights that blink or light continuous in multiple colors.
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The small 1.5-volt batteries get taped to the bottom of translucent discs and “they do change the flight of the disc,” McKee says, “but not so much as to ruin the game.”
Registration for the Halloween Glow begins Saturday at Arnold City Park at 3:00 p.m., with tee-off at 4:00. Amateur and novice divisions will be created for $15 a player, which includes two rounds of 18 holes, a souvenir glow disc, food and candy. Closest-to-pin contests are offered throughout the rounds to all players, and an Open division is offered to the competitively inclined.
An “ace” pool will also be created, for those who throw better when they can’t see.