Disc golf in Federal Way? You’re kidding, right? Please, please, not another parks department boondoggle.

The purported benefits include increased sales and hotel revenues. Let me debunk that theory right away. It takes approximately one hour to play disc golf.

Let’s say you’re up to three games in a day — that’s three hours. You’re planning to stay overnight? Why not just drive the 20 minutes from the two local courses (Lake Fenwick and Auburn) to stay at home? Sales: what sales? A few frisbees if you happen to get distracted and lose sight of one?

The times I’ve been frisbee golfing, I’ve never lost a frisbee and no one else has either. Perhaps you’re thinking restaurant or bar tabs? I’ve been to frisbee golf courses, and it is “cheap” entertainment. Only costs the gas to get to and from. Kids who play it don’t go to restaurants or bars. They wear grubby clothes and old shoes because they’ll likely be traversing mud puddles retrieving an errant frisbee. 

They might be scratched up a bit too from all the prickly bushes. (Won’t that make mom happy?) They might bring along a bottle of water, even a sandwich to eat between courses, but they won’t spend real money in Federal Way.

Frisbee golf in Federal Way could just be another boondoggle and liability for the city maintenance department after our winter storms.

Harry Larsen, Federal Way