Issue 2 – Message from the Editor

First of all, thanks to everyone who watched, listened to, or read our first issue of WP Saskatchewan. It was so much fun for the team and I to put together, not to mention a tad stressful. Launching something new is never easy but the results are indicating that our efforts have been more than worthwhile.

Our analytics show that individuals are, on average, viewing an issue just shy of 3.5 times, an excellent indicator that viewers like what they see.

Not surprisingly, our greatest challenge is getting attention, and not having people mistake WP for just another online magazine. Once people grok that WP is a compilation of local Saskatchewan video stories, they’re like “What a cool idea!”

Since we did the story on pickleball last summer, my wife and I have both drank that Kool-Aid. We started playing in October, and sans a couple of, likely unrelated, back tweaks, I can hardly stay away, and am rather religiously playing upwards of three times per week, her usually a couple. Such great people. Her and I both claim to have met more people in the last six or so months than we had in the previous six years.

As it turns out, in this issue we have a story on disc golf, a sport whose growth rate is only currently being eclipsed by that of pickleball.

There’s a personal story for me here too. The fall prior to shooting this story, my brother and I decided, after a very brief introduction to the game, to take a disc golf trip out west, similar to those we’d typically done while chasing balls with sticks towards holes with flags.

What a great experience that was. We played in Lumsden, Regina, Moose Jaw, Swift Current, Fairmont, Fernie, 2 courses in Medicine Hat, and 3 in Lethbridge. Let’s just say it’s a nice change of pace to be able to decide to do something, and then just drive up and do it, rather than book pricey tee-times, pick out shoes that colour coordinate with a belt and hat, check-in, wait around, play, and then pay too much for drinks.

Generally speaking, one gets the same adrenaline rush from throwing a disc several hundred feet as they do hitting a ball a few hundred yards, yet disc golf is sooooo chill. If somebody’s on the first tee when you start, you start someplace else. Somebody moving too slow in front of you, skip a basket, maybe come back later, maybe not. Keep score if you like, or, make up your own scoring system. Almost all courses are free to play, and if not, they may ask for a small donation. Rarely does one lose a disc or their temper, which I guess is one other similarity, the frustration can be the same… if you wanted it to be.

Technically, each variation in disc has what is referred to as a “flight pattern” which by design typically has a disc tracking both to the left and right (or vice-versa), as in making an “s” pattern after leaving the throwers hand, referred to as “turn” and “fade”. Those with the skill to do so, can literally make discs fly side-to-side while carving around multiple obstacles.

For gear-heads, if one is so inclined, there are likely as many equipment variations in disc golf as there are in clubs and golf balls. Countless colours, materials (plastics), weights, curvatures that affect flight, and apparently, so I’m told, like discs will perform uniquely as they age, so owning multiples of the same one, each uniquely “worn in” can make sense… especially to those who sell them. 😉

The first couple times I played, I did so with three discs, taking note of those with more and asking myself why. Soon I too had five, then eleven, and believe the inventory now sits at about 17 discs plus five versions of the same “putter” for practice, and a basket. That said, I still play whilst toting 9 or ten discs in a small satchel, refusing to become one of those who have taken to sporting a back-pack, or cart to carry their arsenal of fancy frisbees… yes, there are those people, granted I think their excuse may be carrying beer.

I hope you enjoy this issue as much as we enjoyed making it, that your heart continues to keep a good beat, and that your sewage continues to run downhill.

Enjoy your time here, tell a friend.

Robert F. Weitzel
Editor