Bancroft Bay Park in Albert Lea has a new disc golf course.

Friend Jeshua Erickson and I played it on Saturday with a pair of cheapo discs. It has 18 holes, and there are numbers on the holes, not the tees, so you have to discover the order by trial and error.

That is, unless your friend is a runner. Erickson already ran the course, discovering there is a junction at Hole 7 and Hole 17 that could throw off people playing for the first time. Numbers for the tees are coming. The posts already are in the ground.

This course is at the lower part of the park and is separate from the nine-hole course in the upper part.

Playing Saturday, Erickson and I had no clue about the strategy, and in the first game we made all sorts of wild speculation. But then we witnessed a man who was throwing his discs much farther and more accurately than we were. Afterward, we talked to him. He had a bag of discs, and he had competed in tournaments at parks in other cities, such as Todd Park in Austin. His name was Lars and he lives in Albert Lea.

We played nine of the next 18 holes with us. Suddenly, we had some firsthand insight in the game. This captured our imagination, and after we finished, Erickson and I headed to Martin’s Cycling & Fitness to buy some good Innova discs. We each bought a fairway driver, a mid-range and a putter. We also hit the Internet for information.

Here is some of what we have learned:

Tee shots can be different than fareway shots or putts. At a tee, there is a wooden board in the ground that serves as the tee-off line. You can run at that line, but you must release the disc before you run past that line.

For a fareway shot, you stand directly behind the spot where the disc was, then throw. In fact, the rules say you either leave the disc on the ground and throw with another disc, or, if you need to use that disc on the ground, you use a small marker before you pick it up. You can step past the disc or marker immediately after you throw, if you choose.

Putting is throwing from within 10 meters (about 11 yards). You cannot in any way step past the disc or marker after throwing, and you must regain full balance before advancing toward the hole. In other words, you can’t lean way over, then throw immediately before losing your balance and falling forward.

When you toss a disc, it goes left or right depending on how you angle the disc when you release. For a right-handed throw, hyzer is the term for angling it to go left, because the outside edge of the disc is lower. Anhyzer brings up the outside edge, making it go right, and it is a more difficult shot.

– Thumbing it is holding the disc by the edge with your thumb on the inside rim, then attempting to throw it so the disc lands on its side and rolls.

– Each disc tends to develop its own characteristics. Lars had a disc that tended to go left. Some discs are overstable, which means they want to curve in the direction opposite of your throwing hand when thrown flat. Others are understable, which mean they go on the side of your throwing hand when thrown flat.

– Generally, out-of-bounds are bodies of water, roads and cement surfaces. Some courses might have other areas marked as out-of-bounds, particularly for tournaments. However, natural areas, such as tall grass, generally are simply considered rough. If you find you can throw from immediately behind your disc, you have to declare it unplayable, and take a one-throw penalty. You can move it up to five meters and no closer to the hole.

Erickson and I have discovered that disc golf is addictive. It’s a fun sport that is A. accessible to everyone, B. encourages exercise and C. free, except for the cost of the discs. Get out there and try it.

For more, go online to the Professional Disc Golf Association’s Web site.