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camp activities. Through these types of partnerships, community relationships can be strengthened. 0 Even the play of disc golf is extremely affordable,with only an $8 disc needed for novices. From the upkeep side, disc golf is even easier, involving little more than routine park maintenance, such as trash removal and cutting grass. The director of Kershaw County Parks Department, which maintains a course in Camden, S.C., says"The course is not a big maintenance problem - it really takes care of itself' Additionally, disc golf courses can create revenue for communities and in time pay for themselves. In Georgia, members of the Augusta Disc Golf Association have created a course at Wildwood Park, which will soon be the home to the world headquarters of the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) Disc Golf Championships. The estimated economic gain from this one event is $1.8 million to the community. The typical disc golf course will not come near that figure, but there is still room for a positive economic impact, through events or user fees. A typical tournament can draw anywhere from 30-100 participants into a community for a day or a weekend. Some communities have instituted a nominal fee, such as $1, for out-of-county users. Cliff Towne, of the PDGA, says that getting locals involved is crucial to securing out-of-town funds. "If you build a good, attractive course, it will attract visiting players from all over the region. If you also support and encourage disc golf entrepreneurs (such as)local or regional clubs to hold some events- people will come and drop tourist money in your community" he says. Additionally, what sets disc golf apart from ball golf is its intimacy with nature. Many courses are a part of the landscape, through woods and parks, and designed with the terrain and natural obstacles. Ball golf courses, on the other hand, are designed and landscaped. In many cases if it were not for the pole holes, a passerby wouldn't even realize he or she were in a disc golf course. This is why many course stewards are willing to show a new disc golfer the ins and outs of a course. This not only helps orient the new golfer to the course, but increases the social interaction between golf members while promoting the sport. Both of these factors, social cohesion and maintenance of landscape character, help explain why rural communities are quickly establishing courses. Through social interaction disc golf players learn not only about the course itself, but about the locale, and can extend the word-of-mouth marketing of the course and charter community. In interacting with the natural landscape of the course, a community can exhibit and sustain its natural character. Together, disc golf can help foster a sense of place and community. Survey of Personal and Community Benefits Though literature about the sport suggests these benefits, the recreation manager is left unsure if a disc golf player is realizing these benefits, how important these benefits are relative to each other, or if the suggested community benefits are valid. To help answer these questions, we created an online survey in the summer of 2004, and with the aid of the PDGA, asked 225 course stewards in the United States to rate both their perceptions and how the greater community have benefited from the local disc golf course. Our survey suggests people play disc golf for four primary reasons: to be in nature, get exercise, be with other people and for the personal challenge. These are similar to the expected benefits of ball golf, but at a fraction of the cost in course 3/14/2005