t’s Frisbee! It’s golf! It’s … frolfing?

“It’s disc golf,” said Greg Schwartz, junior in FAA and president of the University’s frolfing club. “It’s a combination of Ultimate Frisbee and regular golf.”

Frolfing may be new to the University campus, but it originated in California during the 1970s. Schwartz said frolfing follows the same rules and scoring as golf. Players start at the tee and throw a disc to the next numbered hole. In frolfing, the tees are concrete blocks and the holes are posts stuck in the ground with chain baskets attached to them. The object of the game is to throw the disc into the basket in the least amount of throws.

Scott Greuel, junior in FAA and one of the club’s founding members, said players can choose from a variety of discs depending on the desired shot. Ultimate Frisbee discs, or putters, fly straight when released, but do not travel long distances. Putters are also used for close shots. Drivers have sharp edges and are not as rounded, so they can cut through the air.

“Some discs will turn right, some will turn left – the difference is in the lip,” Greuel said. “It’s a fine science; I don’t even understand it all.”

Schwartz said he learned how to play before attending college and taught his friends during his freshman year. Last spring, he and four other friends organized and officially registered Frolfing as a registered student organization. They now have approximately 400 members.

Ian Schnack, junior in FAA and the club’s treasurer, said the club had its first tournament of the year last Sunday at the frolfing course in Urbana’s Lohmann Park. Forty students attended and competed in beginner, amateur, advanced and women’s divisions.

The club members all said that anyone who has a disc can play the frolfing course at Lohmann Park. The nine-hole course was completed in 1998 and is located on north Florida Avenue, just east of Philo Road in Urbana.

Although Schnack said the club competes against itself now, he and Schwartz would one day like to organize tournaments with other schools.

“It would be very cool to play against other schools,” Schnack said. “It would be a little bit more competitive.”

Greuel and Schnack attributed the sport’s success to its simplicity.

“It’s relaxing. You don’t have to think about anything while you play,” Schnack said. “Being outdoors is always nice and it’s appealing to college students because it’s cheap.”