Lawrence.com

When "Crazy" John Brooks dropped out of college to hit the beach and master the Frisbee arts, his friends had yet to endow him with his present-day nickname.

"'Stupid' is pretty much what they were calling me back then," says Brooks, who designed the disc golf courses at Clinton Lake, used during this year's Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival.

"Four years later, I got a hold of a couple of them because I had just won the World Frisbee Freestyle Championships. They were like, 'That's the craziest thing we've ever heard.'"

Brooks, 46, has more than a dozen titles to his credit in disc events such as freestyle, golf, distance, MTA (maximum time aloft) and accuracy. He's tossed a Frisbee 226 yards, swished one through a basketball hoop from 91 1/2 feet and threaded a disc through a 116-person human tunnel.

Needless to say, Brooks thinks disc golfers at the Clinton Lake courses will find his targets challenging.

"They're going to get their britches full, that's for sure," Brooks says. "It's got distance; it's got change of elevation; it's got really beautiful texture and manicured greens. We've gone to extreme measures with the weed-eater because it's untouched land back there."

Beer money all-stars

Wakarusa was one of just six major music festivals that boast on-site disc golf courses. Though the courses might be a bit less manicured now that the festival is over, the targets remain for Lawrence frisbee golfers, or folfers.

The sport has spread exponentially in the last decade thanks to dedicated magazines, cash tournaments and a booming industry of disc manufacturers.

Chris Breit of Lawrence's Kaw Valley Disc Golf Club says that the number of nationwide courses has increased from about 800 five years ago to nearly 1,300.

"Now I tell people that I play disc golf and they don't smirk," says Breit, a 52-year-old railroad conductor who has been playing for 30 years. "We've crossed that first line of awareness. We're getting more traffic on courses than we ever thought was possible."

Breit helped build Lawrence's first disc golf course at Centennial Park in 1990 and contributed to last year's installation of a course at Riverfront Park. He is also a frequent volunteer at the Clinton Lake courses. All of Lawrence's courses are open to the public and free of charge.

"In one year we went from having one course to three," Breit says. "Centennial Park was getting so much traffic. After a while, we wanted a new challenge."

Two years ago, Breit entered the ranks of the pros by taking first place in the 50-and-older division at an event in Des Moines. While the top 10 disc golf pros can expect to earn $15,000-$25,000 a year, Breit later earned a second place finish at a Topeka competition and went home with "beer money."

"Some of these guys are sponsored by the disc golf manufacturers and they travel in Winnebagos," Breit says. "But that's just the top handful, and the rest of us are carpooling to afford gas money to get to tournaments."

Courses of action

Though Clinton Lake and Riverfront Park offer Lawrence disc golfers more options, Centennial Park is still the course of choice for veterans like Jess Vahsholtz.

"It's got a good diversity of distances," says Vahsholtz, 24. "You've got some holes that require precision shots and some holes that require long drives. You get all facets of the game in one course."

Centennial's biggest shortcoming may be its confusing layout, Vahsholtz says. Some holes have considerable walks to the next tee, and the once-prevalent course maps and score cards have been M.I.A. for the last couple years.

"Find a friend who knows the course," Vahsholtz advises. "If you're really uncomfortable, just hang out at the first tee box and wait until somebody comes along that you can follow."

Vahsholtz has the advantage of selecting 8-12 discs from his collection of 1,000-plus (his father Dennis owns the Herington-based distributor Discs Unlimited). He suggests starting out with at least a driver and a putter.

"It's difficult to putt with a driver," he explains. "Basically a driver is a high speed disc that turns very easily, and a putter has lower speed and is easier to control."

Clinton Lake will likely have a more permanent, manicured course installed within five years thanks to the efforts of volunteers like Nat Marshall. The 27-year-old member of the Kaw Valley Disc Golf Club is part of the Lawrence-based team plotting the more permanent design of the course.

"Starting this winter we're going to start having work days and work weekends and we'll keep plugging away," Marshall says. "There are elevated tees that we need to navigate people safely down. Obviously, it's overwhelmingly beautiful out there."

Marshall says that the Kaw Valley Disc Club's membership has dropped during the last year, but 10-20 people still turn out for weekly matches Tuesdays at Centennial Park and Thursdays at Riverfront Park (both start at 6 p.m. and are free and open to the public).

"Nobody has really stepped up as a front leader, and the club needs one," Marshall says. "Our website isn't even up and running anymore; we're just kind of plugging along as average Joes."

Drive for show, putt for dough

Brooks stresses to beginners that the art of throwing straight supercedes the ability to throw long distances.

"The harder you throw and the wilder you are off the tee, the more your mistakes and your slight miscalculations are exaggerated," he explains. "It's just as in ball golf - people that swing really hard and don't have the perfect club face position are going to hit the ball a mile in the wrong direction."

Brooks also recommends taking a conservative approach as opposed to constantly coveting the miracle shot.

"If you can't put it in, concentrate on putting it under," he advises. "Then watch other people struggle to make a 40-footer while your disc is parked under the bucket 'cause you didn't get too greedy."

Now that Wakarusa is over, Brooks will spend the rest of his summer organizing disc golf and freestyle events across the country. He says his ultimate goal is to attract a more mainstream audience to disc festivals by integrating music and other attractions.

"Disc golf in its element is pretty mellow and isolated and private to the competitor," Brooks says. "I want to get it in front of the people and make it an exciting, variety-filled event : Frisbee and music - two things that make me the happiest guy in the world."