First-ever 'Ice Bowl' slated in Fort Scott

FORT SCOTT, Kan. --The term "Ice Bowl" usually brings on visions of football on frozen Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis., intoned by the "NFL Films" voice for extra gravitas. But in this instance, it refers to golf.

The first annual Disc Golf Ice Bowl will be on Saturday, Jan. 28, at Shelter No. 5 in Fort Scott's Gunn Park. Entry fee is $20, which includes a 2012 Ice Bowl commemorative disc for the first 22 registrants, lunch and a $10 donation to The Beacon, a food pantry and community assistance agency. Registration runs from 8:45 a.m.-9:30 a.m.

Rules for disc golf are basically the same as the regular sport. Instead of clubs and balls, the golfers use golf discs -- smaller, heavier and aerodynamically better than Frisbees.

Instead of a cup, they "hole out" in a disc golf basket or target attached to a pole about two feet above the ground, a news release said. There are two chain assemblies above it that act as a backboard stopping the disc's forward motion and causing it to drop into the basket.

Disc golfers play the throw from where it lies and count each throw until the disc lands in the basket or within the chains.

All players are welcome regardless of ability and everyone will have a chance to win a prize. A closest-to-the-pin, or "Ace-Run," contest for prizes will be held with proceeds going to The Beacon, a news release said.

Organizer Ramon Quesada, an avid ice bowl participant, said he's hoping 20-25 players turn out for the Fort Scott contest. "Last year, I played in the Joplin Ice Bowl in 28 inches of snow. The Pittsburg Ice Bowl wasn't nearly as bad," he said.

The first such ice bowl was held in Columbia, Mo., in 1987. Afterward, it was promoted as a day of disc golf solidarity in the gloom of winter by Disc Golf World, a disc golf sales program and promotion company in Kansas City, the release said.

"I enjoy the game," Quesada said. "I enjoy the sport and the No. 1 thing is having fun. The two things about the ice bowl are that no ice bowl is canceled due to bad weather and the motto is, 'No Wimps or Whiners Allowed.'"

Official ice bowls are played at courses nationwide and in Europe and Canada in a time frame that this year runs from Jan. 7-Feb. 26, the release said. Each event supports a charity.

The collective ice bowl goal for 2012 is to raise $300,000 worldwide. In 2011, more than $275,000 was collected from 231 ice bowls. Last year's leading fundraiser was the Mile High Disc Golf Club in Colorado which took in more than $14,000 for two local food banks.

The coldest ice bowl temperature was 12 degrees below zero in Roseville, Minn., and the snowiest event was held in Watrous, Saskatchewan, where players trudged through 48 inches of the white stuff, the release said.

The Fort Scott Disc Gunner's Disc Club organizes recreational play year-round at Gunn Park Disc Golf Course, including winter weekends.

For more information, visit Facebook Fort Scott Disc Gunners, or call (620) 215-4498.