A couple of years ago, Jeremy Whitaker was living in Texas, looking for something different to do, and wound up on a disc golf course.

“We went out there, and the 16th hole there, I hit an ace,” he said.

If you’re familiar with golf, that’s a hole-in-one, which was enough to get him hooked on the sport.

In July, Whitaker moved to the Capital Region and found DisCap, a club of disc golfers from around the area looking to grow the sport.

“I love to see new people on the course,” said Jeff Wiechowski, DisCap’s tournament director.

Wiechowski says says the pandemic has steered dozens of new players to the sport, including Ryan Jeskie, who started playing less than a year ago.

“Coming from a golfer’s background, this is kind of right up my alley,” he said. “It was cheaper. More available. It’s free. It’s more fun to play, and I just fell in love with it.”

The snow does not deter these disc golfers from honing their skills, and they don’t travel lightly.

“As you grow in the sport, you develop an arm speed, you develop form,” explained Whitaker. “With that comes three discs to 12- 15 discs.”

But Whitaker says all that equipment is actually hard to come by locally.

“A lot of players like to purchase their discs when they can feel the discs, when they can actually see the discs right there in person,” he said.

That is why Whitaker has started an online business called Capital Discs. Whitaker is offering free delivery and pick-up to players across the Capital Region.

“The store came about with the idea of me just wanting to help grow the community,” he said. “Grow the sport. It’s gotten bigger than I could have ever imagined, to the point where I’m just overwhelmed with excitement.”