The Whitehorse Disc Golf Association (WDGA) staged its season-opening tournament last Saturday at the Mount McIntyre disc golf course. 

The Yukon Star spoke with WDGA president Jamie Roddick on Tuesday. 

The tournament was run as a flex start event, which, according to Roddick, means “you can show up and you can play a round anytime.” 

The flex start went from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

“It gives people a bit of a flexibility to still come out and play,” said Roddick. 

The tournament is the kick-off to the disc golf season. 

“It’s the first event of the year. It’s an opportunity for us to collect memberships, so we kind of push it as a membership drive as well.” 

There have been some changes with the WDGA.

“We’ve been getting the association back in compliance and we’re working on a new online model in terms of purchasing memberships and what members get with that, and so this is an opportunity for people to purchase their membership for the year and also get a tag,” Roddick said. 

Tags are kind of like medals, only a little different. 

“We have tags that we hand out to everyone, and they’re more of a token, but people can play for the highest tag if they want to between friend groups and between different people,” explained Roddick. 

Forty-six people participated in the tournament.

Roddick said that was “a really great turnout for us because we’re still a relatively small and growing club.” 

They’ve had 64 people sign up this year so far. Last year, the association had about 80 members. 

“To have half of the entire membership that we had last year come out to a single event right at the beginning of the season, it’s great to see.” 

An application called UDisc was used to track scores. According to Roddick, UDisc is “an app that’s been adopted by the wider disc golf community around the world for hosting events and tournaments. 

“Everybody can see the leaderboard as the event’s happening.” 

Speaking of the leaderboard, Kevin Olson ended up on top at the end of the tourney with a -7, or 7-down in golf disc terms. 

“A great solo score,” said Roddick. 

Olsen was followed by Mackenzie Pemberton at -6. 

There was a two-way tie for third between Kayden Smith and Tim Hogan, who finished at -4. 

Closet to the Pin (CTP) prizes were also handed out. They were determined by the first drive toward the hole. 

CTP winners included: 

Hole 1: Chad Cote (disc)

Hole 9: Cole Fischer (local gift card)

Hole 15: Chad Lee (disc)

Hole 18: Korbyn Gendron (local gift card) 

There were also three draw prize winners: 

– William Jakesta ($75 Kal Tire gift card)

– Luke Pacholski (disc)

– Maggie Lichter (disc)

Despite some windy conditions, everyone seemed to have a good time. 

“It was a nice sunny day on Saturday,” recalled Roddick. “The wind was blowing, which can be a little tricky in disc golf, but overall everybody was happy to be out playing in that summertime, or spring weather we’re in. 

“I think everyone is really excited as spring comes in to be able to play Mount Mac again.”

Roddick mentioned that they were able to get brand-new baskets on the course with $14,000 from the territorial Community Development Fund. 

“It’s great to see those big orange baskets or headbands out there that are easier to see and nicer targets to shoot at than the previous baskets as well.” 

Regarding the good turnout, Roddick said, “It was great to see a mix and a lot of new faces. We’re definitely having more new members coming on and playing. We’re really trying to target the people that play recreationally and to show them that it’s not necessarily competitive. We’re here to have fun too. It’s not just serious players. It’s everyone.” 

The WDGA regular season starts this week. It features a Ladies League, Doubles Nights on Mondays and a Wednesday Points Series Singles League. 

There are also Saturday evening events at the Meadow Lakes Golf Club and Sunday events at Solstice DiscGolfPark, located behind the university. 

There is another big event coming up which Roddick himself is running, the third annual National Amateur Disc Golf Tour event at Mount Mac, June 22-23. Information for the event can be found on the WDGA Facebook page. 

Following that, the Larger Than Life disc golf event kicks off. It’s a week-long event hosted by Yukon Disc.

The week starts with the Judas Creek Canada Day tournament at the Marsh Lake Community Centre. 

The following weekend, July 5-7, Yukon Disc will hold the Larger Than Life Yukon Territorials at Solstice DiscGolfPark.

The territorials is an inaugural event that Roddick said is “getting things started and trying to bring some real vibrancy and life into that festival.” 

Anyone wanting to join the WDGA can check out its website at whitehorsedga.com 

“We also have a Facebook community page or community group where the club posts frequently about what’s coming up,” Roddick said. “But if you’re not on Facebook, everything can be found at our website about how to join and what’s going on.” 

Roddick emphasized that people can just come out and play and get information on joining as well. 

“We’re excited that this year is going to be another great year for hopefully some upgrades and some more funding,” he added.

“We were able to work with the City of Whitehorse and secure the recreational grant, so we’re going to be looking at some new signage and tee markers and a few other things at the Mount Mac course this year again. 

“We also secured more funding with Lotteries Yukon for pop-up equipment, so we’re gonna have a whole set of baskets and tee pads that we can take to other communities in the territory or other areas of Whitehorse to host pop-up events.”

If there are community associations or recreational associations that would like to try out disc golf or host an event, “we’re gonna have some equipment to support that,” Roddick said.