Landing in a park near you...
GLASGOW is to become the disc golf champion of the world in 2019 thanks to a series of new courses set to spring up over the city.
The new sporting phenomenon is due to crop up in Springburn Park and Glasgow Green later this year, with an international tournament expected to be held in May.
Glasgow Disc Golf Club have made a deal with Glasgow City Council’s land and environmental services to set up sites in the two east end parks after its Ruchhill Park course proved a success.
Now club president Patrick McCauley hopes to transform Glasgow into a city of disc golf lovers.
He told the Evening Times: “It’s very exciting, everything seems to be really positive.
“We’ve been meeting with Friends of Springburn park and they have been positive about and now we’re meeting with fundraisers.
“We were given to install a course at Ruchhill Park last October which has went really well and we were invited to set up a small course at Glasgow Green during the European Champions – we had 5000 people come try it out within 10 days – so it really helped us gather support.”
It’s anticipated the new Springburn site will also host a club house, where members can share tips on how to tackle the course and newcomers will be able to pick up discs.
“We’re late to the party,” Patrick added.
“It’s grassroots here but it’s massive in the States and Europe. There’s tournaments with $10,000 prizes in the US it’s mad.”
It’s not yet known when either course will open, with Springburn due to arrive first, as the club are looking to fundraise an additional £15,000 to £20,000.
The game sees participants throw frisby-like devices into a series of “tees” which can be found in trees or elevated posts throughout the course. Although some “extreme” disc golf players take on the unique challenge of “catch the drone” – a popular game elsewhere in the UK and America which sees participants aim to hit drones flying overhead in order to score extra points – the gamers aren’t planning to introduce it in Glasgow, except for one accidental incident.
Patrick explains a club member had brought along a drone to film footage of the course when a player accidentally almost hit the device, which cost more than £1000, with a 5lb disc.
Some residents close to city parks area have expressed concern players will use their own devices to take their games to “extreme” level, though Patrick insists it’s not part of the city club’s courses.
He said: “The city disc golf community is so small, we’d be hear about it if someone was doing it.
“We absolutely don’t recommend it, but, being honest not many have the budget for it.”
Friends of Springburn Park took to social media to share the news of the impending site, encouraging those in the area to get in touch with organisers if they had any questions.