Silver Mountain To Host Second Disc Golf Tournament
Open to the Pubic; Organized by Interlochen Players
By Paul Gingras

St. Ignace is now linked to the growing international sport of disc golf, owing to a course at Doc Holle's Silver Mountain Ski Hill, which hosted a disc golf tournament Saturday, September 16, and will hold another Saturday, September 30. The event is open to the public for viewing and participation, said Michael Wildner of Interlochen, who organized the tournaments.

The September 30 tournament will run until about 6 p.m., he said. Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m., finish at 9:30 a.m., and will be held in the lodge. Participants can also register at www.yetitech. com.

Disc golf is an international sport that has received little attention, Mr. Wildner said. It is akin to golf, but rather than using balls and clubs, participants throw discs and aim for baskets.

The tournament in St. Ignace is the last in a series of three. The first was held in Whitehall and the second in Petoskey, Mr. Wildner said.

Steve DuFresne, who built the course in St. Ignace, said disc golf is drawing people to the area and enhancing the recreation program.

"People are coming just to use the course," he said, noting that they are also using local restaurants and motels.

Mr. DuFresne said local participation in disc golf has been low, so far.

Competitions at sizable disc golf courses downstate draw large local turnouts, Mr. Wildner said, but disc golf is still new to northern lower Michigan and the Upper Peninsula, so tournaments in the north have been composed mostly of people from across the state and out of state.

Mr. Wildner is a professional disc golf player and a member of the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA), an international organization headquartered in Georgia. He said he has been throwing plastic saucers all of his life and began playing disc golf in 1989. He now plays in competitions throughout the United States and abroad.

The discs used in the sport are not designed to be caught. They are weighted at the edges, making them more aerodynamic, giving them more spin, and enabling them to be thrown long distances.

Mr. Wildner expects increasing numbers of northerners to become interested in disc golf, owing, in part, to the St. Ignace course.The tournament this weekend will include professional and amateur divisions, with professionals playing for cash and amateurs playing for prizes. Junior divisions will be for boys and girls 18 years old and younger.

Adult amateurs will compete in open divisions and women-only divisions, separated into advanced, intermediate, and inexperienced divisions. Professional competitions will include pro-open and a pro-women divisions, and a second set of professional and amateur divisions will be offered, specifically for players 40 years old and older.