Disc golfers flock to northern Alberta city as province hosts first national championship in 25 years

Pro disc golfer Sofia Donnecke is trying to stay sharp and focused as she works her way through several northern Alberta courses, disc in hand, eyeing a second national title.

Donnecke is one of about 400 athletes from a range of different divisions competing at the Canadian National Disc Golf Championships being held in Grande Prairie, Alta., from Friday to Sunday.

Disc golf mirrors the gameplay of traditional golf and requires competitors to adopt the same disciplined mindset as pro golfers, Donnecke says.

“It’s comparable to the sport of golf – ‘ball-golf’, we call it – where you wanna be really organized, collected,” Donnecke said.

The competition marks the first time a national disc golf tournament has been hosted in Alberta in 25 years, with the last Canadian Disc Golf Championship being held in Edmonton in 2001.

Dylan Bressey, the local tournament organizing committee chair, said the quality of the disc golf courses is “unprecedented” for the city’s relative size, making Grande Prairie ideal to host this level of tournament.

Bressey said he has watched the sport grow from the ground up since moving to the city over a decade ago and helping found the Grande Prairie Disc Golf Club. 

“I was the one out-of-towner and we had a few locals who were playing with frisbees in a park, just hitting light poles — and we met each other early in the summer of 2011 and the rest was history,” Bressey said.

With three courses now established in the community, Bressey says the city has come a long way from when light poles and empty four-litre milk jugs served as makeshift disc golf targets.

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“Grande Prairie is really one of the best disc golf communities in all of Canada," Bressey