VOA标准英语2010年-Golf with a Twist and a Disc

Chris Wojciechowski, a 20-something athlete, turned to disc golf after injuring his knee running track five years ago.

 

Chris Wojciechowski is a professional golfer, but he doesn't play the game with balls and clubs.

He uses round, flat, Frisbee¹-like discs and a good snap of the wrist.

 

"I mean, there's just a thrill in seeing a disc just go and go and go," he says. "Just watching it carry out [135 to 150 meters] is really cool."

The 20-something athlete hurt his knee running track five years ago so he switched to disc golf, a lower impact game.

Today, he's competing in the Freedom Flight Tournament at Ohio Northern University. His teammate, Jack² Faust, a retired³ Air Force major, is a disc golf legend. He won one of the first disc golf championships in the country nearly 40 years ago.

 

"We'd just go out and mark trees with a dot and everybody would agree where you'd tee off from and you'd have fun," Faust recalls. "Now it's a lot more organized."

From tee to basket

Disc golf follows the same rules as ball golf. Competitors tee off from cement tee pads, working their way along a beautiful disc course that winds around cornfields, wind turbines, and a football field.

Instead of going into a hole on the green, discs are thrown into a raised metal basket that looks a bit like a trash bin⁴ covered in chains.

Tournament director Mike Michalak explains the chains stop the forward progress of the disc.

"It falls into the basket and that completes a hole. If for some reason the disc doesn't fall into the basket, you still need to tap out and into the basket."

As in traditional golf, each toss counts as a point. So if it takes three throws to finish a hole, the score is a three. The lowest score wins. The discs are smaller, heavier, and sharper edged than the familiar Frisbee flying toy. And just like golf clubs, they are specialized⁵, for long, short and midrange distances.

Wojciechowski says the game is more physical than one might think.

VOA - E. Celeste
Instead of shooting for a hole on the green, disc golf players aim for a raised metal basket.

"At the higher levels, when you're throwing hard, it is very, very leg and torso oriented. You're using a lot of power out of your legs and bringing it up through your torso as you pull through. You're not really throwing as much as it's called a pull, because your body is pulling the disc through."

As in regular golf, there are also hazards to deal with. But since most of the 3,000 permanent disc golf courses in the U.S. are built in parks and on college campus, hazards for disc golfers consist of things like fountains, parking lots, and ditches.

Professional sport with a playful history

Disc golf is especially popular on college campuses because it's inexpensive and can be played in any season, day or night.

While the modern game of golf began in Scotland, there are historical references to soldiers of the ancient Roman Empire playing something very like golf. A similar game called chuiwan became popular in China during the Ming Dynasty. No one knows exactly where disc golf started, but some credit it to a group of school children in Vancouver, Canada.

 

Jack Faust, a retired Air Force major, captured one of the first US disc golf championships nearly 40 years ago.

The sport is now governed by the Professional Disc Golf Association, which includes countries like Finland, France, Germany, and Spain.

Tournament director Michalak says that helps the sport grow. "If we just stayed all our separate little ways, the sport would never get momentum⁶, so it's basically a national movement where we have one governing body kind of governing all the rules for everybody, so we all play by the same rules."

The sport has several divisions including four amateur groups, an open professional division for anyone, and age-protected categories for older players 40 and up. Amateur prizes consist of trophies⁷ and merchandise, while professional purses can run as high as $2,500 or more at events like the world championships.

While the money is good, it's not quite good enough to live on full time. So Chris Wojciechowski is planning to go to law school in Georgia this fall. He hopes to start disc golf competitions in the area.

As for Jack Faust, he's just thrilled to see how the sport has evolved.

"That's amazing how far we've come. I'd like to see it get better, but I'd like to see more people play and enjoy it because I do."
 

1 frisbee   

n.飞盘(塑料玩具)

参考例句：

• We always go to the park on weekends and play Frisbee.我们每个周末都会到公园玩飞盘。
• The frisbee is a light plastic disc,shaped like a plate.飞盘是一种碟形塑料盘。

2 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

3 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

4 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

5 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

6 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

7 trophies   

n.（为竞赛获胜者颁发的）奖品( trophy的名词复数 )；奖杯；（尤指狩猎或战争中获得的）纪念品；（用于比赛或赛跑名称）奖

参考例句：

• His football trophies were prominently displayed in the kitchen. 他的足球奖杯陈列在厨房里显眼的位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The hunter kept the lion's skin and head as trophies. 这猎人保存狮子的皮和头作为纪念品。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》