Story and Photo By Amy Vervoort
The 1st Ever, Right Deadly, Birch Point Disc Golf Tournament takes place this Saturday, September 15th beginning at 11:00am at Boulevard Lake, Birch Point Park. Not only is this tournament promising to be amazingly fun, but it offers a great opportunity to see how integrating recreational activities into natural environments and existing parkland benefits our community.
Popular since the 1960’s, disc golf scores similar to golf but with flying discs on courses designed around natural obstacles – its wide appeal is easy to understand. Our local course at Boulevard Lake’s beautiful east side Birch Point Park has had its target baskets since 2010, thanks to a few guys with drive(rs), with support from Innova Discs, and a City’s Park Division dedicated to environmental ethics and public well-being.
Phil Jamieson has been passionate about the sport since spotting target baskets in a Vancouver park more than a decade ago. Returning to Thunder Bay, he and fellow disc golf enthusiast Andrew Bopp scouted locations for their sport, finding Birch Point Park with its rolling hills and mature arboretum an ideal course. With Juan Baztarica joining to help with installation, they approached Innova Discs for nine baskets to create the course, and the company matched another nine. Then with City landscape architect Werner Schwar, they designed disc golf in Thunder Bay. There are now 180 members of the Birch Point Disc Golf Facebook group.
Open to anyone, with the only cost being in discs (which can vary in price from $15 – $30), disc golf is an ideal sport for our outdoor-loving City. It can be can played with one or two discs, while some players carry small duffle bags filled with colorful selections of drivers, putters, and different speed discs – ready for any throw necessary to successfully navigate to the basket. The game is friendly, with good sportsmanship assumed, and is a fantastic way to enjoy a few hours outside. Our 18-hole course takes you on about a five kilometre walk through the park’s celebrated treed peninsula, the pace entirely up to you.
Tournament entry fee is $25.00 which includes lunch, and a tournament print disc. Register at The Loop (corner of Red River and Court), or come out to Birch Point on Saturday to watch an afternoon of right deadly fun.
Link to their Facebook group Birch Point Disc Golf or directly to the The 1st Ever, Right Deadly, Birch Point Disc Golf Tournament page.
Follow them on Twitter @TBDiscGolf
Check out www.innovadiscs.com for information about disc golf, glossary of terms, rules of play and more.
Birch Point Park parking lot access is off Current Avenue between March Street and Adams Street.
