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Welcome to something new, a look at the wide range of discs available to disc golfers. With a new course locally, I tried out the game, and I must say I was hooked after only one round.

The game is simple enough to understand. Participants throw flying discs at a series of targets a few hundred feet away. On the better courses, including the one in our city, the target is a basket you must ultimately get your disc to land in. Other courses may use a target you must simply hit.

The goal is to hit the targets in as few throws as possible.

As a game, disc golf may not be widely known here yet, since the course at Patrick Park in the city is only the second course in Saskatchewan. There is an 18-hole (basket) course in Saskatoon in Diefenbaker Park, and it is definitely calling my name to make a road trip to play the course soon.

The City of Yorkton, and more specifically Brian Dudar, with the Parks & Arena Division of Community Development, Parks & Recreation, who pushed the idea of establishing the course here, deserves a big pat on the back for investing in the course's development.

The disc golf course blends ideally into the nature-tree setting of the park, the trees making perfect obstacles and hazards to challenge golfers on the par three course.

The course gives Yorkton and area an added recreational activity which fits perfectly with the idea of being active, yet at a low cost, making it affordable for anyone.

In Saskatoon they even held a night tournament last Halloween with lighted-baskets and glow stick strips on the discs, and a winter event in February.

The course is free to use, so a participant only needs to acquire discs, and the most expensive of those are generally under $25, and most in the $15 range. Over the coming weeks this column will discuss a range of disc options from more than a dozen manufacturers from four countries, which is testament to the worldwide appeal of the sport.

The low cost aspect of disc golf is one of its great appeals. Most courses, and there are a few thousand across North America are generally free to play.

In the past week I have been on the Yorkton course near daily, and a couple of times taking a round after breakfast, then returning for an evening round. That would require a membership of several hundred dollars on a regular golf course.

Disc golf is also a sport which fits perfectly with the idea of being environmentally aware in recreational activities. Parks, the general locale of courses, are not generally irrigated, fertilized and manicured to the extent of a regular course, which is of course a primary factor in disc courses being free to play.

As a sport disc golf is certainly as challenging as many other sports we partake in, the challenge being in large part the result of course design.

A round of disc golf is something most can manage, but in terms of exercise it is a good walk, and the motion of throwing discs, and picking them up, is certainly an aerobic work-out which uses more body muscles than one would initially expect. Believe me after some of the early rounds I felt muscles pulled I never thought had anything to do with throwing a disc.

In spite of a few sore muscles, I have fallen for the game. I only wish the course had been put in place a decade earlier, and then I might be good at the game by now, although there have been a couple of rounds where par (27), seemed at least achievable.

When you find a new sport you like, we tend to Internet search it, and in the case of disc golf I was astounded by the fact there are so many companies making discs, putters, mid ranges, drivers and combinations of the three. The result are dozens, if not hundreds of models to chose from. It all seemed a bit overwhelming, so in the coming weeks I'll try to explain some of the models and options.

So pop back next week when I'll be discussing the Timberwolf and Wolverine drivers from Daredevil Discs, one of the Canadian manufacturers catering to the sport.