New disc golf course in St. John's hosts provincials, as sport continues to grow in N.L.

Amid the continuinggrowth of disc golf in the province, players came together for Disc Golf N.L.'s thirdannual provincial championships on a newly-opened course in St. John's over the weekend.

A total of 41 disc golfers from across the island had made their way to the McNiven Park course inthe Airport Heights neighbourhoodto compete across eight divisions based on skill level.

Tournament director Johnston Miller, who is also president of Corner Brook Disc Golf, says while there are more courses for players on the west coast, the sport's increasing popularity is a province-wide phenomenon that started during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"When I played that first round, I just thought, 'Wow, this sport needs to be in Newfoundland,'" said Miller, who discovered disc golf in Ontario in 2020.

"A lot of people felt the same way. Discgolf really exploded with COVID. It was such a perfect sport for thattime. And there were a lot of people who found the sport in that time. And wekind of all got together and in our own ways, have been been trying tokick-start the sport in the province and catch up."

A much bigger sport in other provinces, the U.S., and Europe, disc golf follows a similar concept togolf, in which players try to throw their Frisbee into a metal basket in the fewest number of attempts possible.

After Disc Golf N.L.'sfirst tournament in Corner Brook in 2022, and the second in Stephenville the following year, Miller said it was only fitting to hold this year's event on the St. John'scourse, which opened in early August.

Benjamin Smith, who designed it, happened to be in the province for this year'stournament.

WATCH | Here's what's behind the growth of disc golf in the province:

Disc Golf N.L. brings players to St. Johns for third provincial championships

3 days ago

Duration 2:16

The third provincial disc golf championships brought players from across Newfoundland to the capital over the weekend. With a total of 41 players competing in eight different divisions, tournament director Johnston Miller said the event was a success, which is a sign of the sports growth in the province.

After three years of planning, delays, and bureaucratic obstacles, he said, he's happy to seea tournament hosted therealready, describingit as the perfect spot fordisc golf.

"It's a former rock quarry in sections. There's some beautiful trees in there, mixed soft and hardwood. There's elevation changes," said Smith.

"Sometimes, you walk around a corner and you have a great view of the city.... Overall, it's justreally fun. This course feels very St. John's. Itfeels really like it belongs to the place."

Smith, who works in theNova Scotia landscape industry,has built 54 disc golf courses acrossNorth America and designed some more in Europe sincediscovering the sport in 2001.

After a slow start todisc golf in the province, he said, there has been a lot of progress since the first course openedin Corner Brook in 2020.The island now boasts five more courses two in St. John's and three in Stephenville.

"The amount of people playing both in St. John's and on the west coast ...is disproportionately high for a community that has only had disc golf for three years. Will it continue to grow? I mean, we certainly hope so," said Smith.

"Mygoal, I've always stated, is to make disc golf like tennis. It's not that everybody plays tennisbut everybody knows what tennis is. There's probably a tennis racket in your house somewhere. There's a tennis court virtually in every town. Sothere's no reason why we can't have a nine-hole disc golf course.... And so, although I believe the growth has been phenomenal and Newfoundland has taken to it, I still think we're barely scratching the surface as to what we could do."

Over the first twoyears of theCOVID-19 pandemic, he said,the sport has grown byalmost 500 per cent, and there arenow over 20,000 disc golf courses across the world.

Locally, Miller agrees that there is lots of work left to grow the sport especially when it comes to attracting more women.

He's hopefulinterest in the province will continue to rise,and saysthat hope is backed by numbers:While an app that keeps track of players' scoresshowedthere were over 80 unique players in Corner Brook in August, the actual number, he said, could be four times as high.

"I just thinkthe thing you need for disc golf isbeautiful nature and ample space. And that's something that this province has in spades. So, it just seems like a perfect fit," said Miller.

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