Outdoors

POSTED: Friday, Nov. 21, 2008

Local disc golfers have big plans

Mike Leslie travels far and wide to attend various tournaments, but everywhere he goes he's known as "Big Mike from Bellingham."

The local disc golfer is doing something he loves - and, more often than not, getting paid for it.

Just this last summer, Leslie said he took home $2,700 playing disc golf tournaments and performing well enough to finish in the money.

The Professional Disc Golf Association ranks Leslie as Washington's best, and No. 109 in the world - just below Jalle Stoor of Espoo, Finland and ahead of John Gregory of Rockville, Md. - according to rankings released in October. Leslie's ranking is down from 96th.

In October, Big Mike's success on the aerial links took him to South Carolina, where hobbled by a bum knee, the Bellingham thrower finished 142nd out of 180 players at the United States Disc Golf Championships.

The winner, Nate Doss, took home a purse of $10,000.

Leslie's big-time play, coupled with his large stature, makes the "Big Mike" moniker a fitting one.

"I've worked real hard to get there," Leslie said of his ranking.

Leslie's largest purse this summer was less impressive - he won $550 for a second-place finish at the Nuclear Meltdown in the Tri-Cities area - than Doss's take at nationals. But he's eyeing a potentially lucrative full-time disc golfing career, a gig that could land him $50,000 annually if he can find a way to play a tournament each week and do well enough to win.

A small handful of players can make a living playing disc golf, Leslie and pro disc golf cohort Pat Sullivan, two players largely responsible for the Mossy Roc course in Sudden Valley, agree.

"What those guys don't have is kids. They don't have mortgages," Leslie said.

Leslie used his own winnings from tournaments this summer to pay bills. But that's not the only reason he's high on high-flying disc action.

According to Leslie, a former drug addict, disc golf saved him from a worse fate.

"Disc golf has given me something that the drugs did for me. It makes me feel good," Leslie said. "This game has definitely given me a second chance at life."

Leslie and Sullivan have worked to take their love of disc golf even further, working on Mossy Roc. Sullivan also has pushed for a community meeting of disc golfers working to grow the sport via the Whatcom Disc Golf Club. Leslie has an idea to some day marry his passion for the sport with his experiences to help local youth.

"I think I'd like to do something some day with middle schools, and try to get it involved in school," Leslie said. "If there's a way for me to do that with troubled kids that would be the ultimate future. Plus, with what I've been through, I have the experience to tell kids that are in trouble now that there's a better way. If disc golf can help just a couple kids, you know?"