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husband (boyfriend at the time) was interested.
She said she has gotten more involved in the last two months because it has helped her stay connected with friends within the coronavirus limitations.
“My husband and I didn’t have much else to do, so we began playing disc golf more,” Sager said. “We have a strong community of friends that we are really missing. Disc golf has allowed us to still get to see them during COVID-19 and keep our community going, since it’s an outside sport.”
The Hattiesburg Disc Golf Association, with around 125 members, has been going strong for about 10 years. It recently added a women’s team called the Down South Disc Golf Divas. There are eight women in the newly formed team.
Roberts is one of the members of the new team, but she and her husband have been playing long before the women’s team was established.
“I’ve been playing for about three years, but just started taking it seriously about nine months ago,” she said. “This is my first year as an HDGA member and I’m loving it.”
But the sport is one that brings people together, even with its competitive players.
Twenty-one-year-old Leanne Fuqua, a nursing major at Southwest Mississippi Community College, said she especially enjoys the camaraderie of the all-female team.
“Having an organization of women who lift each other up while staying active is simply amazing,” she said.
Disc golf wasn’t always her thing, Fuqua said, but she has grown to love the sport.
“I started playing with my boyfriend around July of last year,” she said. “I wasn’t crazy about it, so I sold all of my discs to Play It Again in Hattiesburg about a month after I started playing. I started playing a lot more around January, and I love it.”
Seprina Shepherd is new to the sport. The 38-year-old unit trainer at Petal’s Waffle House has been playing for just two weeks. She said she is proud to be a founding member of the women’s team.
“I have to say that I am having the time of my life with these amazing women,” she said. “They are all so very encouraging and helpful.
Disc golf is a way to bring her family together as well, Shepherd said.
“I have two amazing kids who occasionally come out to watch or even play,” she said.
Michelle Clay said her husband and 11-year-old son have been playing disc golf for a couple years.
Clay has played off and on, she said, but often takes care of the couple’s 5-year-old while father and son play.
“I figure if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, so I’ve started practicing more and trying to learn the game,” she said. “I’m excited about having the ladies league to have something about disc golf that’s more for mom.”
Cindy Garner said her husband had been playing for several years and introduced her to the sport when the couple was dating.
“I picked up a disc about a year ago and I’m enjoying having women to play with,” the 29-year-old science teacher said. “This is my first year as an HDGA member and the members are so encouraging and helpful.
“The great thing about disc golf is that anyone can play. There are tee pads for different levels of players and a large support group to learn from.”
Disc golf entails throwing a disc into a “hole” while trying to use the fewest number of moves. Like golf, the lower the score, the better a player’s chance of winning.
Dan Koehler helped get the local group started in 2010. He has watched the association grow, with more than double the amount of players showing up for this year’s season opener. “In past years, our season-opening tag round usually brought in around 45 players,” he said. “This year it was 93.”
Shepherd and Garner said the association would like to see more women get involved in the sport. “They can even bring their children and us other ladies can help with them while the moms play with us,” Shepherd said.
“We want to give an opportunity for the whole family to be involved in the sport. Disc Golf is the perfect sport where almost anyone can play.”
“A league for women helps to grow the sport and provides a similar leveled group to compete with and learn from,” Garner said. “While we are a small group, we would love to see more women join disc golf.”