By Joey McWilliams
DURANT – The opportunities for activity in Bryan County continue to grow, as is evidenced by the new disc golf course in Durant.
And a big name in the sport is headed this way in August to hold a clinic.
Devan Owens, a professional disc golfer from Owasso, will be featured at the disc golf clinic. It is being hosted by Durant Disc Golf and will be at the Carl Albert Park course.
Through June 2017, Owens was ranked 16th in North America and 35th in the world, according to the PDGA rankings.
Mike Delloro, a commercial lender at Vision Bank and the club director for the course, said an event like this is good for the area and should help bring awareness to the sport.
Durant Disc Golf held its first tournament in this summer. Photo by Mike Delloro.
“Devan is big-time,” Delloro said. “He has Youtube channels and is a sponsored player who travels the world playing. To have someone of Devan’s caliber coming to Durant is great because I think it will bring some more validity to what is happening here.
“And maybe it will make some more people will want to come out and see how they can improve a little bit. Much like ball golf, there’s always something that you can improve.”
Delloro said Owens is arguably the best left-handed player and compared his coming to Durant to Phil Mickleson hosting a similar event.
“We are going to have players coming in from McAlester, Ardmore, Sherman and Denison and more to come in for the clinic,” Delloro said. “He’s going to discuss some of his tactics and strategies and skills and give us some insight on what the things are that he has done in his career to improve his play.”
The event is scheduled to 6 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 17, at the Carl Albert Park course. The registration fee is $20 and all who attend will receive a disc for participating.
For those who would haven’t played disc golf before, Delloro said the cost to get started is minimal – about $20-25 – and it’s possible to get going for less. He mentioned the disc that each person will receive for the attending the clinic, which is a mid-range disc, is a good one with which to start.
Mark and Crystal Grody, along with daughter Amaris and son Aiden, enjoy disc golf at the Carl Albert Park. Photo by Mark Grody.
“You might call it a versatility disc. You can throw it far and throw it for your shorter range shots. But typically, the three discs you would prefer to have would be a driver, which is of course for long distances; your mid-range, which is more for your approach shots; and then your putter for your close range shots.
“There are a lot of retailers online and Academy Sports also has some discs. At Durant Disc Golf, we have some discs that we’ve been able to acquire and we can kind of outfit players as well for about $20 and those packs include a driver, a mid-range and a putter. They’re good entry-level discs.”
The registration will be done at durantdiscgolf.com.
“The proceeds will go to help Devan with his 2017 tour,” Delloro said. “The clinic will be roughly an hour long and then afterward we’re going to have a mini-event, a miniature tournament, with him participating.
“It will be great to come out and enjoy the last bit of the summer. Hopefully the weather is not too toasty. We want to make it easy for everyone to attend.”