Mereside Disc Golf Course, Near Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England

Mereside Disc Golf Course near Shrewsbury was only a little way off our route back home. I'd made contact, via the Shropshire Disc Golf Club Facebook page, with a guy called Nige Williams to check and see if there was any height barrier to the car park adjacent to the course, just to make sure we could park our motorhome OK. He had offered, after backwards and forwards chats, to meet us at the course to show us round.

We had managed to find a small campsite, Ebury Hill Camping and Caravan Site, just 15mins away from the course. The facilities were closed on site, again due to Covid, but we were self sufficient so this wasn't a problem.

The Mereside course is one of presently two courses under the care of Shropshire Disc Golf Club, set in a public park which surrounds a glacier mere (mere - an old English word for a small shallow lake).

There is ample parking near the community centre, adjacent to the park/course. I'm not aware there are any other facilities at this park for public use as at the time of visiting, with covid restrictions the community centre was not open as usual.

Designed by Club members, this is a free to play course with 9 baskets and 18 grass Tee points, so there are fairway crossovers and care should be taken when throwing, as well as being mindful of other park users. There is a short 9 Hole, Red tee, Par 27 1719ft course plus 18 Holes, Blue tee, Par 57, 5915ft. Carefully planned using the perimeter trees to create tight wooded holes as well as using the open space. The mere comes into play a little bit.

When were arrived we contacted Nige, who was on site doing a bit of trimming and tidying up with another guy called Oli. Both came to meet us at the car park and suggested we played the Red Tees as a way of showing us round. This was so kind of them to take the time to play a round with us and tell us about the course. Thanks guys, your patience was wonderful especially when we stopped chatted for a while to 2 women walking through the park, who had been watching us throw and showed interest in what we were doing. You have to take every opportunity to spread the word 😀.

The wooded tunnel shots on this course are tight and I would say that the experience at Cotswold View had served me in good stead as I was happy how I tackled those sections of the course. 

We decided to have a spot of lunch in the motorhome after finishing up with Nige and Oli, before starting another round. We elected to try the Blue Tees and see how we would fair. There were a few arguments with trees along the way and some of the drives from Blue were a little more challenging. We were doing fine until Catriona's disc ricocheted off a tree along side Hole 8, and her disc headed towards a gap and landed somewhere in the lake! Now although the definition of a "mere" is a shallow lake I'm not entirely sure what constitutes shallow. Both of us had had an obstructed view so hadn't seen exactly where the disc had entered the water. On closer inspection of the gap, where we knew the disc had headed, there were no ripples and the water was a dark foreboding colour with lots of branches and various vegetation poking in every direction. After some prodding with a stick and the telescopic fishing rod I carry in my bag, we had no result. Next thing, "I'll take my boots and socks off and have a feel around with my feet" Catriona said, WHAT!!! There's no stopping this woman. The next thing she's in there, treading around trying to find her disc despite me telling her it's not a good idea and what about Weil's Disease. Deaf ears and no disc some 10 minutes later. We had to move on with lots of mumbling from Catriona. So if anyone finds an Orange Innova RocX3 with her name and number on I'd be grateful of a call.

We were enjoying playing, despite the lost disc, up until we got to Blue Hole 14 to tee off. I lined up my forehand drive, got ready for my approach, did my usual steps forward to create momentum for the disc release and then crash - I hit the deck. Now we all know that when you are young you kind of bounce and get up again however, I'm in my 60th year and that doesn't happen, I went down so hard turning my right ankle at the same time. It was bad enough that I wear a brace on my left ankle whilst playing disc golf, but now I knew I'd hurt my right ankle sufficiently badly and my wrist that we couldn't continue playing. So that was the dramatic end to our trip. It was a shame our round got cut short but we can always come back to Mereside.

As Disc Golf is played in mixed terrain I now wear 2 braces when I'm playing, just to give me confidence and security as much as I can. You can't legislate for everything like slippy tee boxes or tree roots or blades of grass 😁 but these Aircast A60 braces are really good and fit in my walking shoes and boots easily for playing. 

So with bruises and scratches and a swollen ankle (and minus Catriona's disc) we headed home, chatting about where we might want to venture to next, in what is becoming a year of learning and Disc Golf course experiences.