The Clarion

Issue date: 4/10/07 Section: Features

Media Credit: Raquel Villanueva The "Urban Golfers" stop for a photo, Graner Thorne, Patrick Alyward, Curtis Halllweaver, Patrick Gordon (from left to right). [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Raquel Villanueva [Click to enlarge]

The shot is teed up. He swings and the ball is well on its way to the intended "hole." It lands a few feet short and begins to roll when it is intercepted.

"Just let it go!" he yells as a student ignores his request and picks up his "golf" ball and throws it back his way. His fellow golfers laugh and say, "Play it as it lies."

This is just one of the obstacles campus golfers encounter as they use the stretches of green lawns to play their rounds.

"FORE!" Patrick Alyward, a freshman, yells as a ball soars past an unsuspecting student's head. The current game has been going on for an hour and has progressed from the JMAC dorms to the grassy stretch in front of Penrose Library.

The group calls itself the Urban Golfers and consists of five freshmen Patrick Gordon, Patrick Alyward, Graner Thorne, Tom Cousins and Curtis Hallweaver. They picked up the sport after learning the game from an orientation leader.

"You make it up as you go," explains Gordon. "You pick a target and aim for it, then the winner gets to decide the next hole." The winner is the one who gets to the intended target first, and since a student has intercepted one shot, Thorne is the winner. The new target is the wall at the other end of Driscoll lawn.

"There is a high level of acceptance for Urban Golfers," boasts Gordan. The group usually plays during the early afternoon since all the players have signed up for morning classes only. They play with regular golf clubs, but use tennis balls in place of regular golf balls.

"Tennis balls are easier to hit, cause less damage and will not be as painful as getting hit by a golf ball," says Gordan.

Free to enjoy their inventive game, the Urban Golfers plan to play as much as they can this spring. These golfers have one word of advice for fellow DU students. "LOOK OUT!"

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