Disc golf is becoming increasingly popular. Across the country, there are at least 750 disc golf courses, from the Confederation Hill course near the easternmost tip of Newfoundland to Ucluelet on the west coast of Vancouver Island, to Timmianut Pikiuqarvik in Iqaluit, north of the tree line. In BC, there are 159 courses.
Those numbers are up from 300 courses in Canada in 2021 and 88 in BC, says Philip Duffy, Vice President of the Grand Prairie Disc Golf Club.
Duffy has a house here in Tumbler Ridge and helped set up the current course out near the saddle club.
Duffy bought property in Tumbler Ridge so he could go hiking and mountain biking in the area.
He says one of the selling points for him in moving to Tumbler Ridge was the community master plan’s commitment to mountain bike trails in the area. “I just want to give an example that sport tourism does draw people in,” he said in a presentation to council earlier this month. “We’re a perfect example. My family bought a house here because of the sport tourism in the area.”
He was joined by Wolverine and Nordic Mountain Society (WNMS) executive members Mark Campbell and Dave Thompson, both of who have a history of playing disc golf.
Campbell says he has been playing and helping develop the sport since the late 1980s. “Living in Vancouver we developed many courses and I was part from grassroots and development of courses and in the 2000s installed a course in Langley,” says Campbell. “And when I saw the activity going on here last summer with a real course set up over by the ball diamonds, I felt compelled to get involved and lend my expertise to that area.”
Thompson says almost all the nearby communities—with the exception of Chetwynd—have disc golf course. “We think it’s something that’s long overdue here, so we were really happy to start the process last year with a nine hole course with temporary baskets.”
But that’s just the start. “We think that we can build a really good course here, a professional level course, that would be used for millennia. I think it would be a great addition to our community.”
The trouble with the current set-up, says Duffy, is the baskets are unofficial. That means that we can’t actually hold a disc golf tournament in Tumbler Ridge.
And, because the course is not official, it is not signed, meaning people coming to play in the area have to have directions to find it.
He says Tumbler Ridge has the potential to have a world-class disc golf course.
“It would be for all residents to enjoy, while increasing sport tourism,” says Duffy. “You could easily draw regional players to the area. The good news is that disc golf is one of the cheapest sports you can invest in. And the difference between a good course and great course is very marginal. The benefits to Tumbler Ridge residents is disc golf is an activity which can share the land with other environmentally friendly user groups, such as biking, hiking, snowshoeing, horseback riding. It doesn’t really change anything that’s already in there. It’s a low cost recreation option for athletes of all abilities, it can be built on unsuitable terrain for other activities or developments, and it’s an inexpensive investment in recreation compared to other activities.”
He says that in Grande Praire, there are quite a few people who play in the winter. “So by installing a permanent course, you can have people playing it year round.”
He says disc golf is a social equalizer. “Disc golf removes financial and social barriers to recreation. One of the biggest barrier to participation are fees. If things are expensive, that is a barrier for people to use it. But disc golf is something that is free to play, and discs costs range from $10 to $20. You only need one disc to get started. So that removes a lot of the financial and social barriers to recreation. It enhances recreation opportunities for both residents and visitors of all ages. It can involve municipal, nonprofit, and business partnerships.”
He says he looked at the 2019 Tumbler Ridge Parks and Recreation Master Plan, and disc golf was included. “It was actually listed as being five years away. Which would tie quite nicely to having a permanent course in 2024.”
He says because it was an outdoor sport where people could social distance, it weathered the pandemic quite nicely, seeing numbers triple over the last few years. “A lot of communities had it in their master plans to get it in five to ten years, but upgraded to building in one or two years.”
And, he says, if there was a good course in Tumbler Ride, people would come from Grande Prairie, Fort St. John and Dawson Creek, which already have established clubs.
He says 500 people have used a popular disc golf app to record their scores in Grande Prairie, and predicts the number of actual players is about double that. “So in the Peace region there is a huge population of people that play. There’s tournaments in Grand Prairie regularly, with players from Dawson, Fort St. John, Prince George, Hinton, Edmonton…. We’ve also had people traveling from as far as Whitehorse and Victoria.
“I know Dawson Creek just recently had a tournament. Fort St. John is having tournaments as well. So there are tournaments in these clubs. So if we had a proper course, if we had tournaments in Tumbler Ridge, it’s guaranteed people would be coming in. The numbers for Grand Prairie in our previous tournament was just over 60 players. So that’s a lot of people that have to come in to get camping, hotel rooms and whatnot.
In 2021, he says, Grand Prairie hosted the Alberta Provincials, and 161 players showed up. “The estimated total net income economic activity was $26,000 from that weekend of disc golf.”
He says moving from a temporary course to a permanent one would be very easy. “The area that we’re looking at putting the course in is the same place that the temporary course in is. It’s close to Monkman RV Park, so people could camp there if they’re playing in tournaments or just coming down for the weekend. It’s a beautiful variety of terrain. It has established parking with garbage bins and an outhouse. A lot of the infrastructure that a course needs is already in place. The wooded areas aren’t decimated by deadfall, so having volunteer labor remove that is attainable.”
He says it would be easy to install a permanent course there without any major issues. And, as an added bonus, it’s right off the road, so players coming in from Dawson Creek can spot it easily. “It doesn’t alter any current trails or activities in the area.”
He says he used to come in from Grande Prairie, go for a hike, then go back home on one tank of gas. “There were times I never stepped foot in town at all. This is an activity that if somebody comes in, wants to do a hike or whatnot, but they also want to play disc golf, it’s going to be something that draws people into the town as well. So there’d be an economic benefit from that.”
He says in order to make the temporary course permanent, all that is needed are tee pads, which can be made of concrete, rubber or turf. There would need to be permanent baskets and finally, there would need to be signage. “If installed correctly, this stuff lasts forever. I know in Grand Prairie, the one course has been up for about 13 or 14 years now, and there’s really not much wear and tear on the baskets at all. Some minor maintenance is all.”
And in Edmonton, one course has had the same baskets for 25 years now. “It is a very safe and sustainable sport.”
He says there are opportunities for Tumbler Ridge by coming to the game late. “What happened was, before the pandemic, a lot of municipalities wouldn’t fund it properly, or they’d be relying completely on volunteer design, volunteer labor. And courses weren’t necessarily installed…to the best degree that you could put in a course. So what’s happening is a lot of these bigger communities like Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, they don’t have the space anymore to put in new disc golf courses. And what we’re finding is some of the smaller towns that put in a little bit of funding for it, they have the space for it. They actually are the ones that have some of the best courses in Canada. So if you look at some of the biggest tournaments that are taking place in Western Canada. It is in places like Grande Prairie, Canmore, Kamloops, Langley. In places that aren’t big like Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver,, just ‘cause their courses aren’t up to par, or their course hasn’t been designed properly.
So this is an opportunity to learn from other clubs, and their mistakes and it’s really not unreasonable to think that Tumbler Ridge could have one of the best courses in Canada a relatively small investment.”
How small is small? He says to have a turnkey course permanently installed, the total cost would be about $40,000.
Not all of that—he is quick to point out—would be funded by the District. He says there are plenty of grants out there to fund a project like this. “Our main goal was to get a user agreement in place for the area we are looking at so we can put a permanent course in.”
Councillor Norbury says he is all in favour of a disc golf course. “All the things you mentioned really strike a key with me, like being accessible to the public. It’s a low cost for the user.”
He asks if there are any potential conflicts with the Saddle Club, as the course abuts it. “Has there been any discussions with them on how this may affect them?” he asks. “I know it’s not particularly their land, but they might be your neighbors. I’m just curious if you had any conversations with them.”
Duffy says those conversations have started, and the Saddle Club has expressed support.
“One of the first things we do when we design is we want to make it safe and sustainable. We would make sure that in no way that they would be affected by it, and they would be called in to check out the final design to make sure. That’s something we’ve been thinking about too while we’re testing out some play areas. We want to make sure we give them a bit of a buffer zone, too.”
Mayor Krakowka asks how many tournaments are held per year. Duffy says in Grande Prairie alone there are three: two adult tournamens and one specifically for the juniors. “There’s also been corporate tournaments. There were about 60 people in that. And there’s a fundraiser tournament coming up in Grand Prairie in September.”
He says that he teaches phys ed and he brings groups out there all the time.
There are also tournaments in Dawson Creek, Pouce Coupe and Fort St. John.
“There used to be a peace tour between Dawson Creek, Fort St. John and Grande Prairie that ended up dissolving due to the pandemic, but we’re looking at restarting it.”
Dave Thompson says that disc golf would be a part of WNMS. “It wouldn’t be a separate club.”
He says that, while it is another thing that the WNMS would be taking on, it would need very minimal maintenance. “I don’t think it’s going to be anything like the amount of trail maintenance we have to do. To give it some perspective, the length of each hole is maybe a quarter of the length of a typical traditional golf hole. So you’re only looking at a few hundred feet.”
And, he says, if a tree comes down, it actually makes the course more interesting. “It doesn’t necessarily halt play if there’s overgrown grass or extra trees.”
The District will discuss the proposal at a future meeting.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
Thanks, Trent. That photo makes it look even more desperate to get better baskets.