Just west of the Cedar Ridge golf course in southern Utah lies the Thunderbird Gardens Disc Golf Course. The course is a self-serve disc golf course with 18 holes covering 62 acres.
Each hole has hills, rocks and ditches players will want to watch out for. More often than not, you will be throwing across the hiking trail, so having a spotter to call out to hikers is helpful.
This is not a course to attempt without preparation. Frolfers (frisbee golfers) will need water, a hat, solid shoes, discs (they can be loaned out from the Cedar City Bureau of Land Management field office at 176 DL Sargent Drive for free), a two-wheel drive vehicle, a few hours and friends.
At the launching pad for hole 5, players throw 190 feet to the pin, but at an elevation of about 80 vertical feet from pad to pin. Hole 6 is equally dicey for the opposite reason–you will descend about 70 feet over 10 horizontal feet, throwing 247 feet to the pin.
This course is a great choice for beginners. The front holes are straightforward and provide no challenge. Averaging a distance of 246 feet and a par of 3, the holes were relatively easy.
Even beginners should be able to average a score close to par. The course takes around two hours to finish in its entirety.
The trailhead is about two miles from campus. Heading north on Main Street, there is a sign across from the Cedar City Cemetery directing drivers onto E 900 N, which turns to unpaved road; the parking lot and trailhead are at the end.
To find more information on this course, be sure to check out Disc Golf Scene and the BLM website for more information.
Story by: Ryan Sunderman
outdoors@suunews.net
Photos by: Ryan Sunderman, Putter Parker
