It’s not quite Augusta National, Muirfield or Pebble Beach, but Vallejo feels it has its own great golf course now. Disc golf, that is.

The disc golf course at Hanns Park made a test run on Saturday morning and the event was a success as the parking lot was full and the park was full of people doing their best to create a “clanging” noise by throwing their disc into a basket.

Disc golf is a sport similar to golf in which players throw a disc from a tee pad to a target; usually a metal basket. The sport is usually played on a course with nine or 18 holes. Usually, the number of throws a player uses to reach each target is tallied (often in relation to par), and players seek to complete each hole in the lowest number of total throws.

The game is played in about 40 countries and, as of 2020, there are 71,016 active members of the PDGA worldwide.

One of those members, Holland Cole, enjoyed playing and seeing the new course in Vallejo. Saturday’s event saw many first-time players as well as experienced ones.

“This is a great course. It’s great in that it has a lot of elevation and nature as well as a lot of eucalyptus trees,” Cole said. “I love the access too, as it’s right off the freeway.”

Cole said he’s been playing disc golf for about 10 years.

“I like it because it’s a constant challenge,” Cole said. “You’re always a little nervous and you’re only as good as your next shot — kind of like in life. There is always going to be new obstacles and the journey you take through them is important.”

Leonard Muise, a disc golf player as well as course designer, also enjoyed the course.

“I like the variety and the density of the terrain,” Muise said. “In a perfect world you have some kind of elevation on the course. The elements of this course aren’t perfect, but they are very solid. I’m on my way to San Leandro to help design another course today, but I had to stop by and see this one this morning. I’m glad I did.”

Jon Riley and Dave Wren, co-designers of the course, were thrilled to see so much activity at a park that rarely sees any.

“We had already explored using Hanns Park, which is underutilized and prone to having an undesirable element assemble, as the perfect park to bring one of the fastest growing sports in America,” Riley told the Times-Herald earlier this week in an email. “With a beautiful eucalyptus forest that opens to a spacious meadow, it has all the elements to bring a first-class course to Vallejo. And with it come hundreds, if not thousands of players to Vallejo and Hann’s Park, introducing them to the reasons why we choose to live and play in this wonderful city. Local businesses will benefit and with more people utilizing the park the undesirable element will feel less comfortable loitering about. And one bonus for the neighbors is that they can brag to their friends that they now live on a golf course!”

Wren and Riley both said the course was designed to have a little bit for everyone.

“What you don’t want to do is make a pro course,” Wren said on Saturday. “You want a little something for everyone. You want parts of the course that are for beginners and then some at the intermediate level. You also want some that are not quite pro, but do challenge you.”

Riley said on Saturday that his favorite tee might be the third one that is narrow, goes uphill and in between a few trees.

“It’s the most challenging tee, but the one you’re going to walk away and remember the most,” Riley said while walking the grounds and spray-painting markers for the course. “I saw one guy this morning and on his first throw he hit the bottom of the basket with a great throw. One of the next people that threw hit a tree. So you get a lot of variety on that one.”

The players on Saturday seemed to be for the large part, experienced ones that knew you needed multiple discs with you in order to have a more successful game and lower score. Much like a golfer that uses a variety of clubs in order to hit the ball further or softer, disc golf does the same thing. Each disc will usually have a few numbers on it to tell the speed, glide as well as turn and fade.

“You have some tee ups where you will want a heavy disc or else the wind will grab hold of the disc and it might go backward,” Riley said. “We also have a few tee ups that are far away from the basket. We call those bombers as we really want the disc golfer to let loose with everything they have on those.”

Riley said he eventually wants each tee to have a sign that says how far away each basket is and what the par is for each basket. He also wants to do more cleaning on the course to make sure it is fire friendly.

The park cost approximately $20,000 to purchase the 18 baskets, signs, benches and retaining walls, along with the management of a volunteer force, according to Riley.

“If needed I will personally commit to raise the money needed to put the finishing touches on the course and know that the community will support this effort,” Riley said in the email. “We have already brought the leaders of the disc golf communities in Benicia, Napa and Vacaville to the site, and they are committed to assisting in the building of the course and raising money if necessary. We have had several meetings with staff to ensure we can provide a safe course with little to no disturbance to the environment or the surrounding neighborhood and clearing the overburden from the forest will assist in mitigating fire dangers.”