Albert Lea has a new golf course, but it’s not a place where you’ll find greens, caddies or even clubs.

It’s a course for disc golf &045; also known as Frisbee golf, using the trademark name &045;

where players compete on par-three &uot;holes,&uot; trying to toss their discs into metal baskets in the fewest number of throws.

Albert Lea’s parks and recreation department set up the course at Bancroft Bay Park in late June, putting up wooden posts to mark the start of each hole and large steel baskets players must reach. There is no charge to play.

Clint Stevens of Albert Lea was playing disc golf on the course with his four-year-old son, Emmitt, last week, and said they’ve played it several times since the course opened.

&uot;It’s a good thing for kids to get into,&uot; Stevens said. &uot;It’s something to do that doesn’t cost you anything except the price of a disc.&uot;

Stevens had played many times with friends at disc-golf courses in Austin. That city has an 18-hole course and a nine-hole course.

Albert Lea’s course features nine holes laid out among the trees, hills and lakeshore areas at sprawling Bancroft Bay Park, located at the end of Hammer Road west of Bridge Avenue. Some holes have narrow &uot;fairways&uot; and lots of hazards, like thick weeds and nearby water. Each hole differs in length and difficulty.

&uot;There were some people that had been asking about it,&uot; said Jay Hutchison, Albert Lea’s Parks and Recreation Director. Some were already playing a version of the game at Bancroft Bay Park without even having baskets, using trees instead, he said.

The parks and recreation department had equipment for the disc golf course included in this year’s city budget. The nine goals, which include a large circular basket attached to a pole with chains hanging down to blunt the discs’ impact, cost $4,200, Hutchison said. The city paid a local craftsman to make them.

The posts are removable, and the city will probably take them out during the Big Island Rendezvous, which takes up most of the park for a historic recreation festival in October.

Players of disc golf can use a regular flying disc to play, or they can buy specially customized discs that act as &uot;drivers,&uot; &uot;putters&uot; and more. They are weighted differently to produce different effects. Some curve sharply when thrown and others fly straight, Stevens said.

But despite the strategy involved, it’s a game even four-year-old Emmitt can enjoy. Stevens and his son played for hours last week and the game kept Emmitt’s attention, which made Stevens marvel.

The parks and recreation department is hoping many people try it, and Hutchison said they are interested in hearing feedback about the course.

&uot;Just get yourself a Frisbee and go out and try it,&uot; Hutchison said.