Flying Kiwis punching above their weight

TIM MILLER IT’S golf — just not as we know it.

New Zealand can lay claim to having some of the best disc golfers in the world after the Flying Kiwis, the New Zealand disc golf team, came home from the World Team Disc Golf Championships in England with the bronze medal last month.

Four of the team — Kyle Martin, Hayley Flintoft, Dom Hayden and Ben WielLake — are from Otago.

Just as in traditional golf, disc golf is usually played over nine or 18 holes and players try to land their disc, also known as a frisbee, on a target in as few throws as possible.

The top New Zealand players play on the New Zealand Disc Golf Tour and the sport is governed globally by the Professional Disc Golf Association.

Trees, shrubs and terrain changes in and around the fairways provide different obstacles.

And just like their golfing counterparts, disc golfers carry a bag with a selection of discs for different situations, like driving or putting.

Wanakabased Martin said there was a wellestablished professional circuit overseas so New Zealand was punching above its weight placing third at the world championships.

New Zealand was also the first team to place in the top three at consecutive championships after coming second last time around.

Martin started playing the sport about four years ago with his partner and fellow Flying Kiwi Flintoft.

‘‘Like any sport, it’s become a bit of an obsession; it’s just something we get a huge amount of enjoyment from.’’

Courses can be found all over New Zealand, including Queenstown, Wanaka and Dunedin, but the beauty of the sport was it could be played anywhere.

‘‘You can literally go down to the local park with a disc and some mates and play your own course and that’s the beauty of it.’’

Just like golf, it was all down to the individual; there were no teammates to rely on.

The challenge for the sport now was to convert those who played recreationally into serious athletes.

‘‘There’s a huge number of recreational players who can all grab a disc from the local sports store and go throw a disc, which is great, but what we’ve been trying to do is filter some of those recreational players into fulltime club players.’’

More information about disc golf in New Zealand can be found at www.discgolf.co.nz.

PHOTO: TIM MILLER Flying . . . Disc golfers Kyle Martin and Hayley Flintoff get in some practice time at the Lismore Park disc golf course in Wanaka yesterday. Both are members of the New Zealand disc golf team, the Flying Kiwis, which placed third at the disc golf...