Grab your Frisbees and warm up your throwing arm because Oxford Township is now home to not one, but two disc golf courses.

Beginning Saturday, Sept. 3, disc golfers are invited to play the new 18-hole course at Oakwood Lake Township Park on Oakwood Rd., east of M-24 and west of Gardner Rd.

“It’s going to be a top-notch course,” said Miles Lawrence, a seasonal worker for the Oxford Township Parks and Recreation Department.

The Michigan Disc Golf Organization (MDGO) provided all the baskets, each of which retails for about $400, according to Lawrence, an avid disc golfer since 2004.

Lawrence, a Lake Orion resident, applied for the baskets as a member of the local Murder Mitten Disc Golf Club, which ended up obtaining them for the park. He called it a win-win.

“Disc golfers get another free course. The township gets more use out of their parks,” he said.

He and some of his fellow club members donated their time and labor to help design and construct the new course, which winds its way through about 100 of the park’s 300 acres.

The Oakwood course is much different than the one that’s been at Seymour Lake Township Park since the early 2000s.

Seymour Lake is a wide-open course surrounded by athletic fields, playgrounds and picnic shelters.

The Oakwood course is much more secluded as it’s surrounded by nothing but unspoiled nature in the form of trees, lakes, wetlands and wildlife. Disc golfers will be playing in some tight quarters on holes that will surely put their skills to the test.

“This will definitely be a more challenging, a more professional-caliber course,” Lawrence said.

Oakwood’s course calls for finesse and accuracy as opposed to raw power.

“It’s not the kind of course where you come out with a strong arm and start ripping them down the fairways,” Lawrence said. “You’ve got to be a little bit more precise out here.”

Most of the Oakwood course runs along the park’s existing network of nature trails.

“We tried to utilize the driest portions (of the park), which is where all the walking paths are,” Lawrence said.

Parks/Rec. Director Ron Davis and Park Superintendent Jeff Kinasz agreed a second disc golf course was needed in Oxford because the one at Seymour Lake Park is so heavily played.

“It’s unbelievable how much use it gets,” Davis said. “Every day they’re there throughout the whole year.”

“They’re out there all winter,” Kinasz said. “You see tracks in the snow going from basket to basket. Those are hardcore guys.”

Just as it is at Seymour Lake Park, there will be no charge to play at Oakwood.

“We don’t generate a penny off this. It’s just another service that we provide,” Davis said. “It’s not a money-maker for us, but it certainly brings people to the community.”

This is something that’s becoming increasingly rare in the disc golf world, according to Lawrence. “Free courses are slowly getting phased out (in favor of) pay-to-play courses,” he explained.

Both Davis and Kinasz believe having a disc golf course at Oakwood Lake will help raise awareness about the park and draw more people to it.

“You wouldn’t believe how many people have never been to this park,” Davis said.

“They don’t even know this park exists,” Kinasz said.

Which is a shame because the park looks and feels like a slice of northern Michigan.

“You would never know you’re a mile off M-24 out here,” Kinasz said.

“It’s a jewel,” Davis said.

The course is also going to hopefully discourage vandals and folks who illegally hunt in the park.

“The best way to curtail it is to get more people in the park,” Davis said.

“We’ll have more eyes on everything that’s going on out here,” Kinasz said.

Lawrence takes his disc golf very seriously and helps police the course at Seymour Lake Park. He’s constantly on the lookout for vandalism and bad behavior

“There’s always that group of people who kind of ruin it for everyone else,” he said. “Disc golf isn’t immune to that.”

Lawrence isn’t afraid to speak up when he spots someone damaging property or acting inappropriately. “I’ve had to lay into a few kids before,” he said. “This is why people look down on disc golfers. Not only do we have the stigma that disc golfers are lazy potheads, but we’re also (thought of as) destructive, lazy potheads. I don’t want all that. I can only take one stereotype at a time.”

Lawrence hopes the new course will encourage others to give the sport a try. He said it’s perfect for all ages, from little kids to senior citizens, and people can play either by themselves or in groups.

“It’s for everybody,” Lawrence said.

Best of all, unlike regular golf, it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. Lawrence said a single driver can cost hundreds of dollars whereas a disc is anywhere from $8 to $20.

“It’s cheap,” he said. “You don’t need a whole lot of money to go play. It’s really easy to start.”