TRYON – A new, nine-hole disc golf course is now in place at Harmon Field, starting next to the basketball hoops and stretching across the bridge into Hog Heaven.

Harmon Field Superintendent Travis Aldred said the course is a result of some leftover funds provided by the Polk County Community Foundation. He added that the popularity of the sport in the region pushed the effort to bring it to Tryon.

“The sport is big out west and there are several courses within a 30-mile radius from here to Hendersonville, Spartanburg and Greenville,” Aldred explained. “The way this course is set up, it takes up half the park. Half of it exists in the Hog Heaven area and the other half is in what used to be the gardens area.”

According to the Disc Golf Association website, the sport began with “Steady” Ed Headrick and his patent for the first Disc Pole Hole. Headrick formed the association in 1976 to create a new international sport.

The association’s website said the name was chosen when Headrick coined the term “disc golf.” Headrick approached the Los Angeles Park and Recreation Department with the idea of a permanent disc golf course. Today, there are more than 4,000 registered courses with the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) in the U.S. and around the world.

Prior to disc golf, a precursor to the game was played by a few devoted Frisbee players throwing Frisbees at carefully chosen “golf holes,” usually drinking fountains, fire hydrants or garbage cans.

Aldred said the course cost $7,000 to install including all equipment from the tee boxes marking the start of each hole, to the nets used to catch each disc. He added he plays at least three times a week and said it is “convenient” to be at the park where the course is located.

“I want to give a big thanks to Paula Kempton and the town manager for getting behind this as well as the Harmon Field crew for setting it up,” Aldred said. “We hope in the future to expand this to be an 18-hole course. We want to try to get more people to come to the park and this can be played year-round.”

Tryon Town Manager Zach Ollis said the course is a “great thing for the community” and he said Aldred has worked hard on bringing it to Harmon Field.

“We’re pretty excited about it and I don’t know if a lot of people realize it, but Travis has put a lot into getting it put up,” Ollis said. “I know he plays disc golf so he has knowledge of what makes a good course. Overall I think he’s done a great job. It’s great because it’s another thing we can add to Tryon and Harmon Field for the younger generations who grew up with it and the older generations who have never had it before.”

The course, according to Aldred, has been set up for a little over a month, and course signage came in a few weeks later. Businesses in the area who want to get a sponsorship sign on one of the nine holes can contact Aldred at 828-817-3582.

As for the rules, Aldred said the game is the same as golf with the exception of throwing a disc into a basket as opposed to using a club and golf ball.

“Each hole has a par and there are out of bounds boundaries,” Aldred explained. “It says all of that on each sign at each tee box. I would say it’s real easy to learn but would take a while to get good.”