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KENDALLVILLE — Want to try a new game that’s easy to learn and inexpensive?

How about giving disc golf a chance. It can be played at public parks across northeast Indiana and doesn’t require paying the high costs that traditional golf typically has.

The sport has seen a significant rise in popularity in the region and there are plans in places like Kendallville to expand its courses to offer more holes.

Kendallville’s Bixler Lake Park currently has two nine-hole courses on the east and west sides of the park that are considered easy and made for beginners. Two local residents, Chris McCreery and Logan Conley, are helping construct the Woodland Trail, which will be an 18-hole course near the Kendallville Sports Complex and designed for more advanced level players.

Volunteers have raised about $4,000 in donations towards getting permanent tee pads and baskets for that course.

The rules of the game are similar to traditional golf, where you try to get the ball into the hole with the fewest strokes. The difference is players instead throw a disc and try to get it into a metal basket.

The basket can be at different heights and some holes contain many trees, creating an obstacle for players. Players start off at a tee pad or on grass where they mark where to throw from.

Creating challenging courses draws more serious players. McCreery said the separate nine hole courses at the park was not very challenging and became difficult to play on when people were at the park.

“It’s not the safest thing to do when you’re playing while people are hanging out at the park,” he said.

That’s where the idea for building a new course further away…