April 13, 2023
After what seems like the longest winter ever, it’s finally a decent spring day in the lakeside Village of Buena Vista. The snow is finally receding on the community’s 9-basket disc golf course. Not that it really matters when it comes to the popular game of disc golf that can be played year-round.
The website discsportshistory.com says, “According to The Complete Book of Frisbee, disc golf’s earliest recorded history was in Bladworth, Saskatchewan, Canada in 1926. Ronald Gibson and a group of his Bladworth Elementary School buddies played a game of throwing tin lids into 4-foot wide circles drawn into sandy patches on their school grounds. They called the game Tin Lid Golf and played fairly regularly. However, after they grew older and went their separate ways, the game ended.” Fast forwarding to 2023, according to the udisc.com website, there are more than 14,000 courses worldwide. In 2022, 4.3 courses were being installed daily.
...well, why don’t we give this a try.”
The community of Buena Vista has jumped on the disc golf game. President of the Buena Vista Parks and Rec Committee, Donna Hall, said, “We had this park, and no one would ever go there because no one ever knew it was there. A big open space where nothing happened. I knew disc golf was becoming popular in the province so I thought well, why don’t we give this a try.”
Dobson Park - Village of Buena Vista
Dobson Park - Disc Golf sign
In 2019 after researching the viability and consultation with people knowledgeable about disc golf, the area was designed in 2020 they got going. “We said ok, let’s do it.” They ordered the baskets, and in 2021 the course took shape. Community donations came in to help them put it together. By the end of July, they had their grand opening. “And it’s taken off ever since. It’s really popular.” The game is free to play, and the Udisc website offers an app that keeps score and lists all of the disc courses in the world.
The game is played like golf and takes around 45 minutes. Frisbee-like discs are used instead of golf balls. The discs are smaller than a child’s frisbee. “You can get a long-range disc, you can get a putter, you can get a short-range, you can get all kinds of different variations of discs.” Discs can be relatively inexpensive and purchased online and in some sporting stores. Players “tee off” from a cement pad to get their disc into the basket at the end of each “hole.” The course is considered a par three, so it should take approximately three tosses of the disc to get to the basket. After each player has gone, whoever is furthest from the basket goes next, and so on, until every player’s disc has made it into the basket. Whoever finishes the course with the least amount of throws wins.
The game can be played with as little as one disc, with some players utilizing various discs. “There are people that come out here to play, and they carry a backpack of discs. They have probably 20 to 30 discs in their bag,” said Hall. “It’s for all ages. Little kids, four year olds can play it, 90 year olds can play it. You are basically going for a walk just like on a golf course.”
In 2022 Buena Vista hosted a family disc golf tournament with fun variations on each hole, such as throwing with the opposite hand and the closest to the basket and furthest from it. They will hold another tournament this summer on July 15th and will be advertised on the Udisc app.
Hall encourages people to come out and have a good time. “It’s a fun thing…It’s a family event, that’s the main thing…and if it’s a really hot day you just take a little short walk down to the beach.”
