UPDATE: Dean Aelick finished the World Amateur Disc Golf Championships in 51st place out of the 94 Advanced Masters participants. However, Aelick finished as the top Canadian in the tournament, beating out the other four Canadian contenders.

"The weather was great, the Worlds experience was even greater," he said of his experience. "The five courses we played on were tough but fair. My best round was the last one because it was the toughest course, giving me the top Canadian Advanced Masters title."

BY LAUREL MYERS

One local man is taking his love of Ultimate Frisbee and golf to another level, combining the two and floating his way to the Amateur Disc Golf World Championships.

Dean Aelick is on his way to Michigan to compete amongst some of the world's top disc golf players, both amateur and professional. The five-day tournament is set to kick off Aug. 11.

Disc golf is much like regular golf, but instead of clubs, balls and holes, it is played with a disc and baskets. Like ball golf, as disc golfers call it, the players carry around a bag with a selection of discs in it, including drivers and putters.

In order to make it to the world championship, Aelick had to enter a number of sanctioned tournaments and received a rating based on his performance. In the seven tournaments he played this year, he nabbed two first place finishes and five second places.

"I've been playing really well," he said. "Last year I just started playing and it was a learning experience"

Since then, he's devoted a great deal of time to practicing. He even set up an 18-hole target course in the winter on the Practice Tee Golf Course, which he owns.

"It's more of a personal thing," he added. "I wouldn't have decided to go if I didn't think I could compete."

And he'll definitely have his work cut out for him. Many of the other 85 players - including one each from Ireland and Japan - in the advanced masters (age 40-49) category, have been honing their skills for the past 20 years or more. As the newest player on the roster, Aelick said he is looking forward to the challenge.

"It's going to be a bit of an eye-opener," he said.

As for his hopes for the tournament, he said the experience was going to be the highlight, but he was still aiming for the top 20 per cent.

"You have to have some sort of goal," he said, adding the five-day tournament will be a bit of a marathon. "I've never played that many rounds in a row."

An avid Ultimate Frisbee player, Aelick first became interested in the sport of disc golf after being introduced to it by a fellow player at an Ultimate tournament in 2006.

"He had set up an nine-hole portable course and he lent me one of his discs," he said. "I immediately thought, wow, this is a combination of my two favourite sports - Ultimate and golf."

Though Aelick admitted he has picked up the game quickly because of his Ultimate background, the putting aspect of the game is still a challenge for him.

"My strength is driving," he said. "Putting is tricky, just like in ball golf… That's what I find the better players have over beginners, is their ability to putt."

The disc golf player admitted there's a lot more to the game than just throwing a Frisbee.

"It's certainly a skill sport in the fact that you have to practice. I can do anything with an Ultimate disc but these discs are a little different. They don't just float nice and flat.

"It doesn't always fly like you want it to," he added. "Just like in ball golf, it doesn't always go where it's supposed to."

Though Aelick is excited to be competing at the world championship, more than anything he wants to bring exposure to the ever-growing sport.

"There are people in Sudbury who are interested in disc golf and I'm trying to get a course built on city property with government funding," he explained. "There's lots of money out there for disc golf. It's the fastest growing family recreational sport in North America."

In fact, in Texas alone, there are 110 disc golf courses, the golfer said, adding disc golf has a number of perks in comparison to ball golf. It can be played year-round, it's easy for the family to play together, 18 holes can be played in about an hour and a half, and a round of disc golf is absolutely free.

Aelick plans to create a business plan for a disc golf course and present it to city council in the near future.
He invites anybody interested in the sport to contact him at 626-6243.