City of Powell River parks, recreation and culture department will install a pair of new disc golf courses in local parks after receiving funding through Powell River Community Forest.
Working with course designers from Vancouver, the department looked at three locations before deciding on Sunset Park in Wildwood and Larry Gouthro Park on Manson Avenue in Westview.
“We did walk-throughs and the consultants really liked Sunset Park and Manson in terms of accessibility, environmental impact and layout,” said city manager of recreation Neil Pukesh. “We have some preliminary design layouts.”
The Sunset Park course will be dynamic with elevation changes and lots of trees as obstacles, according to designer Dan Walker.
Disc golf is played similar to the way traditional golf is played, but a Frisbee is used rather than balls. Similar to regular golf, disc golf has tee boxes, fairways, hazards and rough.
Rather than knocking a ball into a hole on a putting green, the goal is to throw the disc into a basket, and just as traditional golfers use a variety of clubs for different shots, disc golfers can carry more than one disc while playing a round.
“You can make the disc do just about anything you want,” said Walker. “You can throw an s-curve, left to right or right to left, and you can roll it on the ground. It’s an intriguing sport.”
Played in about 150 locations throughout Canada, disc golf is also very popular in BC. Avid local player Tom Day has experienced the game on some other courses.
“My wife and I really enjoy it,” said Day. “In fact, our whole family enjoys it once we’re out and about because it basically gives us a purpose for a walk in the woods.”
Disc golf is a free activity that brings multiple benefits to the community, including its low development cost, simple construction and easy maintenance.
With discs priced at $10 to $15, the sport is inexpensive to play, a healthy exercise and a fun, environmentally friendly game for families and friends to participate in.
“As long as you know how to throw a Frisbee, you can play; you don’t need a specific skill or athletic ability, or to be a certain age,” said Pukesh. “Anyone can play the sport and that’s what we really like. It’s reconnecting people with our parks system and getting people outside for some good exercise.”
Pukesh said the new course locations are within the existing park system and each one, nine holes/baskets at Sunset Park and seven to eight planned for Larry Gouthro Park, utilize underused areas on the perimeters of the parks. Two courses will attract more activity, he added.
“Both are great locations,” said Pukesh. “The one up at Sunset can service the needs of people who live in Wildwood or Townsite, and the one on Manson can service the needs those who live in Cranberry and Westview.”
