My kids are free to pursue their passions.
I love cycling, running and hucking discs. As they get older, should their interests align with mine, great. But if not, I’ll survive. I’m a good enough dad to realize different people enjoy different things. Outside of opera, marching band or anything that’ll have the police on my doorstep late at night, I’ll support all three of my boys in whatever they decide to pursue.
But again …
No opera.
Right now, though, my two oldest are three-year-old twins who look nothing alike. In addition to that dynamic duo, my wife and I have another baby boy who’s on the verge of his first birthday.
The littlest of the lot isn’t walking yet, so he’s got his hands full with that. And to be honest, for the other two, though they’re both plenty proficient in walking, running and destroying virtually anything of value in my home, for the longest time, I’ve viewed them somewhat similarly …
Too small for the fun stuff.
Thankfully, a few months back, I realized this and decided enough was enough.
- I love my boys.
- I love disc golf.
Screw their age …
Why not combine the two?
If you’ve spent any time attempting to tame toddler-aged tykes, you know firsthand it’s an exercise in patience. At their stage of life, there’s little need for instruction, an explanation of rules or diving headfirst into the nitty-gritty of disc golf as a future professional pursuit. Right now, each monster is still working on successfully pulling up their pants post potty time.
Less is more.
So as to (successfully) involve them in a round of disc golf, nine holes on a pitch-and-putt is about as intense as it gets – this has been my experience. And full disclosure: On their part, it’s more running and less actual throwing. To date, this is the best I’ve come up with, at least.
Armed with a mini marker, after I throw a tee shot, each boy is tasked with finding the disc I just threw as quickly as possible and marking it with said mini marker. After marking my lie, the boy who arrived first gets to pick up the chucked disc and “throw” it in the direction of the basket.
Having traveled no more than three feet, the second boy picks up the freshly thrown disc and does the exact same thing. Sharing is caring, right? This process then repeats itself until I putt. Once I make my putt, both boys get their own bid at the basket with “daddy’s frisbee,” as well.
It’s fun to throw stuff at stuff.
And chains sound cool.
I get it.
* Pro Tip: Toss a few packs of fruit snacks in your bag for when the tears inevitably come.
I’m sure there are much better ways of doing this. In time, I’ll introduce junior discs into the mix. But for now, we’ve undeniably got a good thing going on. I get to play. The boys get to burn some energy. And mom gets the house (kind of) to herself for a solid 45 minutes.
None of my kids are likely to be the second-coming of Paul McBeth. But even when older, there’s no doubt in my mind they’ll remember the time we spent together out on the course.
That’s reason enough for me.
This is happiness.
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❤️
Hey you never know, the Miller brothers might be the next Robinson brothers! Enjoy it bro! My 5 year old daughter is in about the same boat. When she joins us she usually throws one off the tee and throws a bid or two once inside the circle. She’s already smart enough to ask if the disc is a putter before she throws it at the basket. Of course almost all of her discs are putters right now.
Next steps get them each an aviar in their favorite color. It’s funny how much more fun it is to throw a disc that’s your favorite color, amiright?
Oh, that’s a fair point …
For kids, colors matter.
I’m not an adults, and you know what?
Colors STILL matter. Haha.
Good call!
💯 color matters! It’s a point of pride that 90% of my drivers are orange and the other 10% are yellow. The guy who got me into disc golf is color blind so he throws white discs. I’m sorry but that’s boring to me. But I get it if red and green hues look brown then orange doesn’t make sense to throw.
We’re actually about to head out this morning (teacher work day) and check out a nearby course that just got a complete redesign. It used to be awful with rubber mats or missing/no obvious tee pads. They moved all 9 baskets and installed 18 tee pads. Cheers!
Awesome, Kurt!
Throw some of those orange bombers for me …
And enjoy your day off of work – you deserve it 🙂
If nothing else… Your kids are in nature…. With their dad. Winners win.
As stated many times. I loathe slow play. So here’s how I play with my 7 year old. I throw off the tee pad. He and I then play together from wherever my first landed. I bought a 160 gram leopard for him to throw. We even dyed it together. It’s his disc. He loves when I ask him to come play with me.
I think he loves being with me way more than he loves the disc golf.
He does hate the very rare occasions I park it off the tee pad. lol.
Yeah, that’s a tough part of having little kids …
If you’re a fast-paced person – I am, and you are, too – you’ve got to just SLOW DOWN.
Even freaky-athletic three-year-olds aren’t motoring through nine holes of pitch-and-putt disc golf.
And when the ice-cream truck swings by the parking lot, we ALWAYS take a 20-minute break.
And I don’t even like ice cream.
It’s just part of the process, you know?
Making Memories > Disc Golf the Way I Want to Play It
I can get onboard.
And give it a few more years …
That son of yours will be parking holes in no time at all 🙂
Awesome job Dad! You’ve got a good grasp on the having fun part. I’ll admit when i started with my kids(they were 5 & 8 at the time) i was overly concerned with mini markers, playing in the correct order, keeping score…. all while SUCKING THE FUN right out of it. Took me a while to realize that the rules are for leagues, pros and tournys but time at the park is about having fun with my fam.
Yeah, somebody warned me about all that before this, which was helpful …
I mean, three is PRETTY young, you know?
For that matter, relatively speaking, so is five and eight.
There will be a time for rules and form and blah, blah, blah …
But that’s not right now.
At this stage, we skip holes to look at butterflies, and I’m okay with it. Haha.
100 percent my man. Your totally right about slowing down with the young uns. That’s a lesson often missed.
Thanks, Andy!
Appreciate the love 🙂
Mini people should throw mini discs. Have the Little guys throw marker discs and they can get more distance which might be more fun. Some of the mini discs fly pretty well. I’ve got the marks on my walls at my home to prove it 🙂
Oh, same here …
LOTS of marks on our walls.
But great idea!
Admittedly, they DO throw them quite a bit just walking around, which is fun …
But they get ticked when the minis squirt through the bottom of the basket during a putt.
I can understand that.
Thanks, Joe!
The main key for me when I am playing my my 5 year old, is that you have to be very supportive and compliment almost every shot. It is not about them trying to become the best at that age, I just want him to enjoy the sport. Have you heard of the zero gravity discs by latitude? Those are perfect. My son also likes to watch professional disc golf with me and will always ask me if he can play with Eagle McMahon 🤣.
No, I haven’t heard of ’em …
Is “Zero Gravity” like Blizzard?
Latitude 64 does have a “Starter Line,” which is awesome.
Also, for kids, check out Dino Discs on Infinite Discs …
That’s another good option 🙂
One of my favorite articles you’ve written…hits close to home(except anti-ice cream…downright shameful!).
I won’t reiterate too much from others…many good points made.
Quick points…my son starting throwing around 3…at 5 he would throw every hole, and between each hole(for us it was key to just keep moving). He decided he wanted his scores going into UDisc at 7…first tournament at 9. Now, at 11, he plays 3-4 hours a day in our backyard(1 acre, 3 total baskets).
Although he is not the next Paul McBeth or Gannon Buhr, he did ace yesterday for his second tournament in a row…super proud Dad moment. Watching your child ace is more fun than doing it yourself.
Great article as always.
New article dropping shortly, David!
I was out of commission last week with health issues, but still …
Nice to know people stopped by to read a bit 🙂
And kudos to you and your son, brotha – that’s epic!
No, he might not be the next “Big Thing” in disc golf …
But it’s never really been about that, has it?
Here’s to wishing him all the success in the world, regardless of what he decides to go after 🙂