december 7, 2003

BAD news, everyone - I managed to escape being buried under the back garden after my jibe about mum's cooking last week, so you're stuck with me again. However, I'm currently accepting cash donations to go away, so feel free to send 'em in!

This week I decided to do a sport I personally can't stand: golf. I've often wondered how you can jazz up a sport where men dressed like pimps waste a good walk, but someone's beaten me to it. You see, loyal reader(s), while typing "PGA" into Google, I managed to type "PDGA" by mistake and - as if by magic - I got the homepage of the Professional Disc Golf Association (pdga.com).

In case you’re wondering what disc golf is, it’s golf with Frisbees. Yep. Golf with Frisbees. You stand at the “tee”, Frisbee in hand, and chuck it down the fairway. Then you do it again from where the disc landed, until you get it in the hole… er… basket. Then you move on to the next hole/basket.

Now, before anyone takes the mickey, bear in mind that a) this is a fantastic idea; 2) it’s been around for 30 years; and d) the PDGA has 16,000 members. That means there’s more disc golf players in the world than there are Man Utd fans actually living in Manchester. They hold tournaments all over the world and their website is a joy to behold – beautifully designed, professional and easy to navigate, which comes in handy when you’re writing a column about it at 2am cos there’s nothing on telly and the monsters under the bed won’t go away. So if you want to give this a go, leave the Huggy Bear clothes at home and head for Ashton Court Estate, Bristol, one of Britain’s disc golf courses. Failing that, just sneak onto your local course and chuck away!

LAST week saw the death of Gertrude Ederle, the first woman to swim the English Channel, at the ripe old age of 98. So I guess exercise must be good for you. As someone who won’t go swimming until there’s a whaling ban at Maindy Pool, I can only salute Gertrude and point you at this page for a look at her life and achievements: msu.edu/~grawbur1/iahweb.html