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12/13/2023 08:30 AMGrowing up in Old Saybrook, Rob Lemire can fondly recall a childhood and young adulthood spent having fun outside. As an adult, Rob has found a new way to get people of all ages off their phones to have some fun outdoors: disc golf.
Disc golf is a game that combines frisbee and golf. A golfer is given a disc and has a certain number of throws to reach the “hole,” which is a stand with a chain basket sitting on top.
Rob first discovered the sport several years ago while serving as a cub master and searching for unique ways for the cubs to have fun.
“One of the things we did with the kids is we got them to try a new sport that they have never done,” Rob explains.
In doing so, Rob says he found disc golf and immediately saw an appeal.
“It’s all about proper technique and timing; it doesn’t especially require you to be the most agile or the strongest. It’s something everyone of all ability levels can do,” Rob says.
To say Rob was quickly hooked would be an understatement. Over the last four years, Rob has helped develop three separate disc golf courses, one at Recreation Park in Killingworth, one in Salem, and one in Old Saybrook.
“I’ve built three courses in four years, and I’m working with three other towns to see if we can build more,” Rob says.
Rob is also quick to give credit to Matt Mesite, who Rob says helped him raise money for the courses as well as design them.
At Clark Community Park, located at 170 Schoolhouse Road in Old Saybrook, there are now two 18-hole courses on the property. The courses are open year-round from dawn to dusk and are free to play.
“It’s great where if your brother is playing soccer or something and you don’t want to watch, you can go into the woods and throw the frisbee for two hours and have fun,” Rob says.
Building the course took about 18 months. Rob, who works for a company that does stormwater management, said his background in civil engineering helped with the design.
Right now, Rob says there is a growing community of disc golfers in the state, but Rob hopes that in the future if he can build another course of two, the activity could become a club sport in local high schools.
“My dream is I want it as a club sport in schools where they could go do tournaments against one another,” Rob says.
Disc golf isn’t the only way Rob has been involved in the Old Saybrook community. On Election Day, Rob was elected to be a member of the Old Saybrook Parks and Recreation Commission.
Rob says he was motivated to run for the commission in order to help find more creative ways to bring recreational options to people.
“I wanted a fresh perspective to find other ways to provide recreational opportunities to kids as well as adults. That’s something I like about disc gold-it’s something anyone can do, and it’s very accessible. It warms my heart when I see families out there together,” Rob says.
Rob says that by getting involved, he also hopes to demonstrate to his children that by pitching in on a local level, you can affect change in real ways that will be tangible in your everyday life.
It’s perhaps no surprise that Rob, who describes himself in a conversation with the Harbor News as “outdoorsy” and talks of spending his childhood biking, biking, and sailing around Old Saybrook, considers it a goal to get kids off their phones and into the real world.
“I’m super, super, super, passionate about getting kids off the electronics and outside. It’s what I did in the scouts; it’s what I want to do on Parks and Rec. If I’ve affected one or two kids in town in that way, it’s worth it to me,” Rob says.
Rob grew up in Old Saybrook and is a member of the Old Saybrook High School class of 1990. Though he moved away when he was in college, and eventually, he and his wife settled in Killingworth, he knew that wouldn’t be permanent.
“I always kind of wanted to move back to my hometown. I wanted a town that offered the amenities of a town but also gave my kids the chance to have the kind of childhood I had where you can ride your bikes and actually go places,” Rob says.
In his spare time, Rob enjoys rock climbing, hiking, kayaking, sailing, and, of course, “a lot of disc golf”.
“I just think Old Saybrook offers a variety of recreational opportunities I like to do as well as the amenities of a town, and it has a real sense of community,” Rob describes.