Disc golf has been a part of Kamloops and its culture for over twenty-five years, shaping its land, building a community, and bringing athletes from the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and even Sweden to the city. Sustainable, affordable, and most importantly fun, disc golf is one of the fastest growing sports in the world, and with an already established community and the infrastructure to support it, Kamloops is one of the best places in Canada to try it out!
The Community
Disc Golf in the Valley
Kamloops and its surrounding areas make up one of Canada’s hotspots for disc golf. UDisc, an app where over 1.4 million users rate courses on a 5-star scale, ranked Kamloops as the number one disc golf destination in British Columbia and seventh in Canada. Boasting four courses, three of which are 18-hole and tournament-ready, Kamloops is a premier disc golf destination in Canada. The city has hosted the Canadian Disc Golf Championship three times, in 2004, 2011 and 2013. In 2024 it will hold the Tournament Capital Open, an A-tier tournament that will kick off the annual Canadian Disc Golf Tour.
An active and engaged community has grown around this sport, from recreational players to professional athletes. With completely flat courses for beginners, like the Westsyde Centennial course, to the oldest and most intense course, Rose Hill, it is a sport that accommodates all levels of play, attracting people of all ages.
Disc Golf Worldwide
With more than 15,000 courses across the world, disc golf is an international sport with broad appeal. While the United States dominates for most courses in the world, it is by no means the most engaged. Finland, for its population of 5.5 million, has over a thousand courses and one of the most active communities in the world. Latin America experienced unprecedented growth in 2023, ranking beside the Philippines and Lithuania for new player growth. Canada has 790 courses, with more going in each year.
Many of these courses are now being built with those with disabilities in mind. California and Washington, D.C. have courses built specifically for those who are deaf, blind or hard of hearing, and in Kamloops the newest course, Westsyde Centennial, was made to be 100% wheelchair accessible.
The KDGC
The Kamloops Disc Golf Club, or KDGC, is the official, PDGA (Professional Disc Golf Association) sanctioned club for disc golf in Kamloops and the surrounding areas. With over 200 active members and an elected board running events, tournaments, fundraisers, and the four local courses, it is responsible for much of what goes on in Kamloops regarding the sport. They are partnered closely with the City of Kamloops, having good working relations with the municipal government since the club was formed in 1999.
The Opportunity
As a top destination for disc golf in Canada, Kamloops already has the community and infrastructure in place to support a tourism initiative of this scale. For two decades the KDGC has worked to establish disc golf through tournaments, events, and school clinics. Building off of these clinics and using the resources available through the City of Kamloops, there is an opportunity to leverage these assets in building a more accessible clinic for all ages. With a thriving community of disc golfers and a tournament-ready course already at their doorstep, this small tourism venture aims to show the people of Kamloops and tourists alike everything they have access to.
Disc golf is an affordable, flexible sport with no tee times or fees beyond the purchase of the discs you play with. It is self-paced, beginner friendly, and easy to learn. It is a community-driven sport that encourages collaboration and communication between players, but can be played solo. With a Juniors division that starts as young as 6, to a Pro Masters division that goes up to 80+, there is no age too young or too old to play.
As well as giving good access to the sport, Kamloops boasts some of the most beautiful and varied wildlife in British Columbia, and disc golf is a unique way to experience this beauty. With four courses across Kamloops, disc golf covers everything from perfectly maintained park space to the jaw-dropping view of the valley from Rose Hill. Perfectly in between for park space and rugged beauty and built by a World Champion is Macarthur Island.
Built over an abandoned ball golf course, the Macarthur Island Disc Golf Course is a testament to the beauty of the city. Reclaiming the natural landscape and allowing native flora and fauna back to the once-manicured greens, it was built to be appreciated as both a course and a nature walk. In partnership with the Kamloops Naturalist Club and the Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc, the KDGC and World Champion Eric McCabe took every measure to ensure the disc golf course was built to enhance and highlight the wildlife native to the area.
Beyond the wildlife, Macarthur Island is a multi-use park and one of the city’s greatest assets. Drawing people to the park when they may otherwise overlook or forget its usability is one of the many opportunities this small tourism venture aims to explore.
While anyone could go out at any time and see first-hand everything disc golf and its community have to offer, there are obvious obstacles that may prevent the average Kamloops citizen from giving it a try. Even if they knew about disc golf, they may not know where to buy discs, and even then may be unwilling to make the initial purchase without first knowing if they like the sport. Knowing how to play, how a course is laid out, and tee etiquette may seem like a high barrier to entry. As such, this clinic and guided round aims to help circumvent these obstacles.
The Experience
Offered by the KDGC and City of Kamloops, this small tourism venture would take participants on a 9-hole guided round at the Macarthur Island Disc Golf Course after a short clinic teaching them the basics of the sport. This would conclude with a question and answer session held with the present volunteer(s).
This session would be offered from June to September, late spring through summer, as this will provide the best weather and catch people when they are most likely to be looking for outdoor activities. In June and September it would be run bi-weekly on Saturdays. In July and August it would be run weekly on Saturdays. Regardless of month, it would be held in mid morning to early afternoon. Each session would be held in groups of 5 to a maximum of 12, with a $15 participation fee, waived for children under 10, and led by a qualified KDGC club member.
Learning the Basics
A clinic on the basics of disc golf would start the approximately three-hour session. This would run participants through the types of discs used in play, when and how to use them, tee pad and general course etiquette, how to count strokes, and tips for throwing.
Starting with the discs used, it would keep things relatively simple by narrowing the variety of discs discussed down to only those being used in the clinic itself. These discs would be loaned to participants for the duration of the session. The most common types of discs used in the sport can be broken down into these four categories:
- Distance Drivers
- Fairway Drivers
- Mid-range
- Putt and Approach
For the purposes of this clinic and for the level of recreational play encouraged, the clinic would focus primarily on the following:
- Driver
- Mid-range
- Putter
After an explanation on when each disc is used, and given a demonstration on how to hold and throw them, the volunteer would explain tee pad etiquette, course rules basket etiquette, and the rules of the sport. This would guide the participants through the various steps in a hole, from tee pad to basket.
Once equipped with the three discs and the basics of the sport, participants would be encouraged to test out putting at a short range to warm up, before the guided round begins.
Guided Round
This part of the session would be dedicated to a 9-hole round, starting at hole one, and taking participants through each hole at a slower-than-average pace. This gives the volunteer an opportunity to provide tips, accounts for varying mobility of participants, and allows the volunteer to point out particular parts of the Macarthur Island nature and wildlife abundant throughout the course. All volunteers would be knowledgeable about the building of the course and the native wildlife.
Q&A
After the round has concluded, participants would gather at the course entrance where they started. They would return the loaned discs and be given the opportunity to ask the volunteer questions about disc golf, the KDGC, the course, where to buy discs, or any other relevant questions. They would be welcome to disperse at their leisure after this point, with the volunteer departing after all posed questions have been answered.
The Benefit
Active, Affordable, Outdoors
This initiative engages the local community with a sport that is as casual or strenuous as they want it to be, in one of the most beautiful parks Kamloops has to offer. An outdoor activity that anyone of any age can enjoy is a benefit to everyone. Showing locals that they have an activity like that, and live in one of the best places in Canada to take advantage of it, is a major goal of this small tourism venture. Disc golf is affordable, fun, family friendly, and open to anyone who wants to play, and Kamloops is one of the best places to play it.
As well, the community surrounding disc golf is dedicated to accessibility for all, with its highest levels of play vocally engaged in opening up more avenues for women, transgender and non-binary players, people with disabilities, and people of colour.
Growing the Sport
The KDGC is always looking for ways to help grow the reach of disc golf in Kamloops. This venture would help them achieve this by pulling new people into the sport and spreading awareness of its presence in Kamloops. Club member fees make up the majority of funding towards maintaining courses and holding tournaments, and growing the sport is the best way to gain new club members. Even if participants do not stick with the sport, having the community be aware of disc golf is a major benefit to the club, as well as the City of Kamloops.
Small Tourism
This initiative is by definition small tourism, which benefits and is driven by community. While it has the unique benefits of growing the sport and sports tourism benefits to the city, it also benefits Kamloops in other ways. It utilises a sustainable sport that uses the land in a way that is cognizant of the environment, its ecosystems, and its history. The clinic itself requires no additional resources and is being built on an existing foundation with a community and the city behind it. It encourages community growth by connecting locals and visitors alike with people who are knowledgeable and passionate about this local niche. As well, it will not drive overwhelming traffic to already busy or overcrowded areas of the city, prioritising a smaller gem in the rich tourism landscape of Kamloops.
The Tournament Capital & Sports Tourism
Kamloops is a city that revolves around sports tourism as Canada’s Tournament Capital. Disc golf draws in frequent tourism through its tournaments, with the Tournament Capital Open alone bringing in 200+ people from out of town in both 2022 and 2023. When they last held the Canadians Championships in 2013, the draw was even larger. The growth of the sport, and overall awareness of it in Kamloops, provides a direct benefit to the City of Kamloops economically. When people are aware of the sport and have experienced the community around it firsthand, they are more likely to pay attention to the KDGC bidding for land for courses or looking to offer clinics at their children’s schools.
This is increasingly relevant as the KDGC and City of Kamloops look to build a fifth tournament-level course in preparation for bidding to host the PDGA World Championships in the coming years, which could bring upwards of 3,000+ people from all over the world to the city.
FEATURE IMAGE: A basket at Macarthur Island disc golf course showing off the beautiful colours of the course in autumn. Photo by Carrie Neal, used with permission.