With the King of the Hills Disc Golf Tournament set to take over Fountain Park this Saturday, not to mention the big Memorial Championship in just a few weeks, I found myself thinking about the first time I decided to play disc golf.

Jenn and I had only been living in Fountain Hills for a few weeks and, despite the fact that we had moved from Flagstaff – where there are currently three disc golf courses – we had never tried our hands at the sport.

But since we lived within walking distance of Fountain Park and we had heard good things about the course, we decided to give it a try.

Keep in mind that we did basically zero research before making this decision. Not that you need to know much, mind you, but being aware of the fact that disc golf discs don’t travel like a standard Frisbee would have been a smart start.

We didn’t even know that there were different types of discs for the various shots, just like clubs for standard golf. When we saw all of our options on the store shelf, we decided to buy one all-around disc apiece and hit the course.

I don’t know if you’ve ever played the local course, but the first hole has you shooting over a section of the lake in an attempt to hit a basket that isn’t too far from the shore.

It’s not a long shot by any stretch of the imagination, and I distinctly remember thinking, “oh, I’ve got this, no problem” before winding up and letting the disc fly.

My next thought was, “this sport is stupid.” I thought that because I was now watching my $15 piece of plastic sail deep into Fountain Lake and come splashing down, rather than landing comfortably near the basket like I just knew it would.

In retrospect, we probably should have thought to just skip any water holes on our first few outings, but hindsight is 20/20.

Anyway, we were lucky enough to have purchased floating discs and a gentleman who had been walking his dog was kind enough to convince his pooch to head out into the water and fetch the disc.

We played it safe for the rest of the day and eventually learned to love the intricacies of the sport. While I don’t get out to play as much as I’d like these days, I always keep my bag of discs in the trunk just in case I have a chance to swing into the park and squeeze in a few holes.

Since that first time on the course, I’ve played all over the state of Arizona, venturing to areas I would have otherwise never visited just to throw a disc at a bunch of metal baskets. I enjoy disc golf because it’s cheap (so long as you don’t hurl your disc directly into a lake on a regular basis), fun and it gets me outdoors. It’s also a great sport to play with friends, giving you a chance to walk around the desert and chat while you play the game.

So why am I babbling on about disc golf, other than the fact that a couple of tournaments are just around the corner? Because had we not decided to just try something new, I may have missed out on many years of an activity that I truly enjoy.

Fountain Hills is home to all sorts of activities, sports, clubs, organizations and the like, any number of which might turn out to be a new passion for folks willing to give them a shot.

Don’t be afraid of throwing your first disc in the water.