COEUR d'ALENE - It's a growing sport with a growing course to match.

Thanks to a fire safety grant that allowed the city of Coeur d'Alene to clear trees and brush at Cherry Hall Park, disc golfers will have more terrain to cover while they shoot for par come spring.

"It will be more challenging," said Jack Wardian, owner of Rapid Fire Plastics Disc Golf store and fanatic disc golfer who volunteers to work on the disc golf course. "It will be more suited for tournament play."

The volunteers, mostly comprised of the North Idaho Disc Golf Club members, have been realigning and expanding holes, until snow and frozen turf put the work on hold until March or so.

But after the weather warms, the course will have a new look.

Two of the holes will be aligned so differently, golfers otherwise familiar with the course won't recognize it, said Ben Squires, president of the Inland NIDGC.

The par 3, 18-hole course will remain a par 3 course.

Besides boosting the chances to host a PDGA-sanctioned tourney, the alterations will make the course safer, Squires said. Tee pads will be more level, and distanced from nearby pins to give a little more breathing room between starting spot and end destination.

Squires said the niche sport is becoming more popular as more people get outdoors to try something new. The sport closely follows the rules of traditional golf. Players throw their disc from its previous lie until it reaches the hole at the end of the fairway.

The notable sixth hole, which starts at the top of the sledding hill and cascades down to the bottom, won't be altered much. Its pad will be moved to straighten the shot, so it will lose a little distance, although the concept of a downhill-chuck will remain the same.

The Inland NIDGC meets the second and fourth Wednesday of the month at Cherry Hill, and at Corbin Park in Post Falls on all other Wednesdays.

For more information call 773-1115.