Disc golfers teeing off a new season on the Sunshine Coast next week

The Sunshine Coast Disc Club (SC/DC) is set to tee-off the 2023 spring/summer disc golf season≈

First up, the club is hosting a beginner’s clinic at Shirley Macey Park at noon on Sunday, March 12. Interested individuals of all ages and skill levels are invited to come give the sport a try and to learn some tips and tricks from the club’s most skilled members.

Then, the club’s annual “Tag Shuffle” and membership drive goes Wednesday, March 15 at 6 p.m. and serves as the official tee-off to the club’s busy tournament season. A Tag Shuffle or a Tag Round is distinct from a competitive tournament, though, in that it provides individuals of all skill levels an opportunity to join in on the action with fairly low stakes. Membership is $20 for the year and includes a mini disc, liability insurance and a numbered club tag. Each member’s tag number serves as their unofficial ranking and each Wednesday evening members are invited to put their ranking on the line against others at Shirley Macey Park. Again, it’s a low stakes format that has helped greatly grow the club’s membership in recent years. Come give it a try!

“It seems like every year we get more and more people out for tags,” says club president Jeff Doran. “The sport is growing so fast and it’s incredibly rewarding to see people come together and become friends in part because of our efforts, but mostly just because this game is so fun and addictive.”

The club welcomed its 200th dues paying member in 2022 and expects to continue its rapid growth in 2023, especially at the youth level given the introduction of a new Junior Division for its monthly tournament series events.

On Sunday, March 19, the club will host its first tournament of the season, the 2023 Tour Tee-Off, for competitors in five divisions: Junior, Recreational, Intermediate, Advanced and Open (Professional). Competitors will face a challenging layout at Shirley Macey Park with the top three finishers in each division coming away with trophies and prizes. Cost for the event is $20. This is the third year of the club’s annual tournament series, which has proven to be extremely popular with the Coast’s top competitors. It’s an eight-part series that awards points for each event, culminating in a club championship in the fall.

Off the course, the club has been working in partnership with the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD), Sunshine Coast Community Forests, BC Hydro and the BC Disc Sports Society and several local corporate sponsors to plan and build additional public disc golf courses on the Sunshine Coast. Shirley Macey Park remains the area’s lone public disc golf course and has seen an over 2,000 per cent increase in use over the past two years since the club signed an memorandum of understanding with the SCRD to improve course conditions.

Disc golf, also called frisbee golf, is an outdoor sport with rules similar to traditional golf in that the player with the fewest shots (throws) wins the game. In disc golf, competitors throw a disc (frisbee) around trees, shrubs and other natural objects on their way to a basket target.

There are 192 public disc golf courses in B.C. Powell River is home to four public courses, Metro Vancouver has 18 public courses, while Vancouver Island boasts a whopping 34 public courses. For now, the Sunshine Coast has just one course at Shirley Macey Park in Gibsons but the club has their sights set on changing that number in the coming months/years.

If you’re interested in learning more about Sunshine Coast Disc Golf or just about disc golf in general, you can follow the club on Facebook or at SCDGA.ca.