Disc golf is such a huge part of my life, so this TwP event related solely to my personal hobbies. It was not easy to find out where the nearest disc golf course was in London. Most people I asked simply replied, "disc golf, what is that?" So, I went to the top and joined the British Disc Golf Association webpage forum. There, I was led to the Croydon Disc Golf Association forum. With the help of a few extremely nice disc golfers, I found out when they play and detailed instructions on how to get to Lloyd Park, which is their home course.
In Raleigh, there are about 10 courses within a 30 minute drive so we have a lot of options to choose from and easy access to a lot of good courses. This is in no way the case here. On my way there, which required a 30 minute Tube ride to Wimbledon and a 30 minute Tram ride from Wimbledon to Lloyd park, I noticed someone with a disc golf bag, certainly not something you see everywhere around London. So, as I got off the Tram at Lloyd park, I introduced myself to Dan, a local Croydon disc golfer. If I hadn't run into him it would have at least taken me a good 15 minutes to find the first tee pad because it was hidden behind a building and through some trees.
Once I was there, I ran into the people who were in the league, about 10 of them, and introduced myself and before long we were in groups and teeing off on the first hole. It was really interesting to meet the people there, all of which have to be pretty dedicated to disc golf to have the motivation to make the trek out to Lloyd Park; some said they had to drive up to an hour to get there. Even though I am in a different country altogether, it was amazing to see the similarities between the disc golfers here and those in the States.
The course was much harder than I expected it to be. I did pretty good on the first nine holes but went down a pretty steep hill on the back nine. The whole layout of the course was just beautiful. With such a small following, someone there said there may be only 1,000 or so people in the UK that play disc golf, it was surprising to play such a long and challenging course.
I met a few really cool people and I plan on going back to play with them at least one more time while I’m here. It was no Big Ben or London Eye, but this was by far my best experience so far on the trip. They are working on a new course around the Wimbledon area and one of the people I met said he’d show me the layout later on and I can’t wait. I feel like I’m seeing the foundations of disc golf in the UK in the making, and it is absolutely the most beautiful thing.
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