North Iowa Disc Golf Club hoping to add more distance to sport’s flight

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — The golf lesson derived from the movie Caddyshack was “Be the Ball”.

For disc golfers like Brandon Despenas, it’s better to “Be the Club” — especially when driving.

“You use your whole body … not just your arm,” he said. “It’s about footwork, hip rotation … follow-through.”

While demonstrating a common backhand throw, Despenas explains the importance of “keeping the disc close to your body. Like when a figure skater brings her limbs closer to her, she’ll spin faster. For a disc golfer, that helps create more power.”

Despenas has been playing competitive disc golf for 15 years. Though not the biggest guy in the world, Despenas has garnered a reputation amid the local disc golf community as being the sport’s answer to standard golf’s “Long John” Daly when it comes to relative distance off the tee.

It’s a reputation with merit as Despenas proved during the end of a recent round played at the 18-hole course at Sportsmen’s Park. Finishing on hole No. 1 after starting on hole No. 2, Despenas — using his forehand technique — managed to “drive” his disc nearly 420 feet while placing it adjacent to the target, which is a metal basket/tray with chain-linked dampeners that serves as a typical disc golf hole. If a batted baseball matches that flight (420 ft.) to straightaway centerfield, it’s a home run in most every Major League ballpark.

When Despenas wants distance, he tends to favor his forehand technique. He makes it look smooth and simple while producing a mini sonic boom-like “SNAP!” on his release. He also has mastered variations of the forehand, using a “Hyzer” approach to accentuate the disc’s natural curve to the left when thrown right-handed, and an “AnHyzer” approach for an “unnatural” curve to the right.

Kelsey VanderWerf admits she can’t quite match Despenas when it comes to sending discs on such long flights. But there is also a “short game” to disc golf, and that’s where VanderWerf sometimes makes up the difference.

“He plays very aggressively,” she said of Despenas’s style of play. “He tends to go right at the hole, and sometimes that gets him into trouble.

“I play more conservatively. I try to keep it in play … go station to station rather than trying to get it there in one throw.”

VanderWerf started playing disc golf about two years ago after being introduced to the sport by her boyfriend Despenas, but she has been a competitive athlete for most of her life. She ran cross country and track for Charles City before continuing her running career at Wartburg College, and she recently was hired as a middle school XC coach for the Comets.

She is also doing public relations work for the North Iowa Disc Golf Club, which was founded earlier this year.

“It’s a group of local disc golfers who are trying to promote the growth of the sport and to build a better relationship with the community,” VanderWerf said. “We’re also trying to get more women and children involved.”

The club is working to achieve non-profit status which will help increase its relevance and enable it to host more charity events and tournaments. Despenas and VanderWerf mentioned a recent tournament a group of disc golfers held to help defray the medical costs for a leukemia patient.

The North Iowa Disc Golf Club will host its first major fundraiser this Saturday (Aug. 19) at West Park, 1st Street Northwest, in Mason City. The “Carnival and Fundraiser” will feature a Disc Golf Clinic at 5 p.m.; a Pasta Dinner at 5 p.m. ($10 adults, $5 kids ages 5-12, Under-5 free); a 50/50 Doubles Tournament at 6 p.m. ($20 entry fee); and a Flex Start Ace Race starting at 4 p.m. and running throughout the event.

“It’s one of the fastest growing sports in the world,” said Clear Lake resident Matt Karstens, who serves as the secretary/treasurer for the North Iowa Disc Golf Club. Bill Orozco is the club’s president; Adam Karstens is its vice president.

“I know someone who has played golf all his life and maybe has been to a total of 20 golf courses during that span,” Karstens said. “I’ve already been to about 150 disc golf courses.

“It gives you reason to visit so many different places and meet new people.”

When Karstens opens up his UDisc app on his smartphone which has a graphic of where disc golf courses are located in a given state, you see that you don’t have to travel far in virtually any direction to find one.

Charles City currently has two disc golf courses, the aforementioned one at Sportsmen’s Park and another at Riverfront Park adjacent to the Cedar River.

“I wouldn’t call them ‘destination courses’ but they can be challenging, especially for those new to disc golf,” VanderWerf said.

One of the club’s objectives is to work more closely with city and town park departments on ways to improve and maintain their resident disc golf courses.

“Anything to help attract more disc golfers,” VanderWerf said, “and when you have more disc golfers visiting your town, it could only help local businesses.”

For more information about the North Iowa Disc Golf Club Carnival and Fundraiser at West Park in Mason City on Aug. 19 — or the club itself — visit the club’s Facebook page.