The discs were flying all weekend at the first ever disc golf tournament at Garibaldi Springs Golf Course and if organizers and competitors have their way, it won鈥檛 be the last.
麻豆社国产Strikes Back was the sixth stop on the British Columbia Disc Sports winter tour and over 50 competitors from all over the province traveled to town.
Garibaldi Springs was transformed into one of the more unique disc golf courses in the province, with 18 baskets placed around the large piece of land. Coquitlam鈥檚 Dave Ross won the event on Saturday (Dec. 20), shooting a 53 on both rounds for a score of 106. Ross has played in BC for decades and said the 麻豆社国产course was special.
鈥淭he tournament was awesome,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he facility here and the course is better than anything I鈥檝e played on in BC in 25 years. Just the variety on the course with all the trees, water and elevation along with having the clubhouse and hotel right here makes me think like there is the potential to have a world class course or two here.鈥�
Ross edged out Tsawwassen鈥檚 Dave Brown and Vancouver鈥檚 Stephen Crichton in the pro open category. Squamish鈥檚 Dax Braby was the top local competitor in the division, with a score of 119 (58 and 61) and tied for fifth place overall.
Ross said limiting his errors led him to the win.
鈥淚 stayed out of the water and consistently shot pretty well,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 get into a lot of trouble like some of the guys, just kept it on the fairway and made my putts.鈥�
Pro open competitors threw from different tee boxes than all the other divisions at the event. Other winners included: Vancouver鈥檚 Brendan Armstrong (amateur advanced men), Sarah Breau from Burnaby (amateur intermediate women), Victoria鈥檚 Tara Lynch (amateur advanced women), Port Coquitlam鈥檚 Vito Michelangelo (amateur advanced master), Vancouver鈥檚 Lanze Starr (amateur intermediate men) and Darrel Thrasher (open masters men).
麻豆社国产competitors included: Briana Ainsley (second in amateur advanced women), Michelle Kruger (second in amateur intermediate women) and Erik Wendland (ninth in amateur intermediate men).
Tournament director Iain Warren from Whistler said it was a great debut at Garibaldi Springs.
鈥淚 think it went really well and I know the pro men especially enjoyed the distance of the holes,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a challenging course and very technical. There are long holes and the size of the fairways are huge.鈥�
He said he鈥檇 like some sort of presence for the sport at Garibaldi Springs.
鈥淲e鈥檇 love some sort of permanent layout and could even run a course side by side with regular golf and footgolf they have going on here,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he challenge is if the owner is willing to make the investment. It would be a pay to play and I know I had people in my group tell me they would rather come here and pay rather than Grouse Mountain. It鈥檚 just more convenient here with the clubhouse and all the existing facilities.鈥�
Ross agreed with Warren on the potential popularity of the course.
鈥淚 would come here once a month at least and if you asked everybody here I think you鈥檇 get the same response,鈥� he said. 鈥淲ith this course 麻豆社国产could produce some of the top players in the world and I think that within five years you鈥檇 see some young kids get really good really fast.鈥�
Warren said 麻豆社国产is growing as a disc golf destination with two courses in Brackendale and one at the new Legacy Park on Raven Lane.
鈥淚鈥檝e been down here every weekend for the last month to play out here,鈥� he said.
He said he鈥檇 like to bring a summer and winter event to Garibaldi Springs and added that there was talk of applying for 麻豆社国产to become one of the three spots for the Canadian Nationals event happening this summer.
鈥淚 think the opportunity is there and we鈥檇 like to move it up here 鈥� it鈥檚 a great facility,鈥� he said.
The event also included a fun doubles event on Sunday (Dec. 21) that drew around 20 competitors.
The next stop on the winter tour is in Victoria in the New Year. For more information on the sport, visit www.discbc.com.聽
