For weeks before the District’s first disc golf course opened, prospective athletes who lived nearby peeked out their windows, keeping tabs on the project’s progress.

On Wednesday, as the final basket was being installed, “this guy comes out and says he’s been sitting in his house waiting for weeks,” says Anne Corbett, executive director of CRYSP DC, a nonprofit that opened the pop up on the RFK Campus in collaboration with Events DC, which manages the RFK site. But really, Washingtonians have been waiting far longer.

In December, CRYSP – which operates The Fields at RFK Campus and advocates for sports and recreation spaces in the District – surveyed residents about local recreational gaps. Around 200 people participated, and more than 80 requested a place to play disc golf. There are courses in Arlington and at the University of Maryland, but the people wanted one close by, Corbett says.

“This is a really fun thing that you can eat and drink and do at the same time,” she says. “It’s kind of like why people like kickball and softball: It’s low-impact, it’s accessible, and any one of us can pick it up and learn pretty quickly.”

The course is located on the large grassy space between Oklahoma Avenue NE and Lot 6 in Kingman Park, commonly referred to as the Oklahoma Lawn. (It’s not far from where RFK hosted a dinosaur park last fall, and a pop-up outdoor movie theater.) It’s designed to take advantage of the area’s natural tree coverage.

If you’re unfamiliar with disc golf, imagine regular golf, but with a glorified Frisbee: Participants throw a flying disc at a target – in this case, an elevated metal basket – and make each consecutive throw from the spot where the disc landed. Corbett designed the six-hole course, which takes about 45 minutes to complete, so that “the trees are part of the hazards.” Players have to navigate around them, which she believes makes the course “more fun and complicated.”

It features “one really long hole, which will be good for somebody who’s really strong,” Corbett says. “But mostly it’s shorter holes that are about finesse and not brute strength. Because to me that’s the great equalizer, right?”

Andrew Miller, who lives blocks away from the course in Kingman Park, had been monitoring its progress and was the first person to play the day it opened. “It’s fantastic,” he says. “One of my neighbors had posted on Twitter that they were putting the baskets in, and I’d been walking over every day to see if they were in yet. So once I saw them, I went over and started throwing.”

Miller began playing disc golf as a student at Iowa State University, but lost touch with the sport when he moved to D.C. in 2008. He hung onto his discs, but it was harder to find a spot to play, he says. During the pandemic, his ultimate Frisbee league started playing disc golf at the University of Maryland’s course, so he and his girlfriend did that once a week. Having a course much closer is great, he says. He’s played at it every day since it opened, and plans to continue.

Miller says he encourages anyone to play a round, even disc golf novices. “If you can’t throw more than 40 or 50 feet when you start, that’s OK,” he says. “You don’t need to compete with anyone besides yourself.” If you’re worried that you’ll never sink your disc through a basket, be patient: “You’ll get there eventually, whether it takes three throws or 10.”

Miller added that he’s glad to see the once-empty space on Oklahoma Lawn transform into something fun. “I’m really glad that they decided to go forward with it,” he says. “It’s kind of an in-between space, and I love to see some utility coming of it – and that we’re adding the ability to do a sport that has a low barrier to entry.”

Playing at the new course is free, and competitors can borrow a disc, scorecard, pencil, and set of rules from the field office adjacent to Lot 7. (You’ll need to leave your photo ID with staff until you return the disc.) You don’t need a reservation; though Corbett notes that, following some requests, the course will be available to rent for special events.

No end date for the pop-up has been announced yet. Corbett suspects the course’s immediate popularity is due in part to the pandemic: “We need more interesting things to do,” she says, especially activities that are outdoors, where the risk of coronavirus transmission is lower. “I have not cured COVID, but I’ve hopefully brightened a few people in Kingman Park’s day.”

Pop-Up Disc Golf is located at the Oklahoma Ave. lawn at RFK Campus. Open daily from 8 a.m. to dusk. The Fields office is open 4 p.m.-10 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m.-8 p.m. on weekends. FREE