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by Brenton Smith '07
Disc golf, also known as frisbee golf, has come to Virginia Wesleyan courtesy of the students in the REC 432 course, Management of Recreation and Leisure Studies II. This makes Virginia Wesleyan one of only a few colleges to have a nine-hole course on its campus.
"I presented the students with a number of projects to choose from and they became very enthusiastic about disc golf," said course instructor Doug Kennedy.
The official throwing of the first disc and start of the inaugural Disc Golf Tournament took place on April 28. Since then there has been a good number of students and faculty using the course, making the project an overall success.
Kennedy has been overwhelmed with the amount of use the course has been getting.
"I didn't know how much fun disc golf was until I played it," said sophomore Leon Oliver. "The course is set up really well too. Good times!"
The nine-hole course is a total of 2,000 yards with a par of 3, par being the average number of throws it should take to complete each hole on the course.
The first tee is located behind the Godwin and Clarke buildings. The circular course then leads behind the Fine Arts building, out to the campus entrance and back to the center of campus. Many of the holes are located around the campus's natural woods and creeks, giving players a serene experience.
"We wanted to start the course near the Batten Center so players could pick up their discs close to the first tee," said Kennedy.
A sign with the hole number, distance and par marks each of the nine holes. The signs also show where each hole is located and all the hazards such as water, bushes, buildings and even hills it contains.
In addition, each sign dedicates a hole to the people who helped with or donated to the almost $5,000 project. The nine dedications include the 
students in REC 432, Kennedy, the Business Office, Dean of Students David Buckingham, staff members Willie Harrell and Bill Brown and alumni Jess Stevenson, Ryan Berger and Matt and Heather Augustine. The $2,000 given by the YMCA of South Hampton Roads was the largest donation for the project.
The students named their design company W.O.R.D., which stands for Wesleyan Organization of Recreational Disc Golf.
After getting approval for the project from the Board of Trustees, the "company" of students split themselves into four teams. The design team worked with local disc golf clubs and professional course designers to come up with the layout. The sponsorship team handled the fundraising. The program team visited local courses to better learn how the game was played and the installation team constructed the course.
The project ended up taking the whole semester to complete.
"They did 99 percent of the work themselves," said Kennedy. "They started with the design and fundraising and went to the last minute with the installation."
The school hopes to put in another nine holes in a few years, but as for now students can pick up the discs at the Batten Student Center and enjoy the course anytime.