Members of the Burnaby Disc Golf Club are flying high in celebration after the newly opened Central Park Disc Golf Course was named one of the world’s most played courses last month.
The course was the eighth most played in the world between Jan. 11 and 24, according to stats from premier disc golf app UDisc.
And the Central Park course only officially opened Jan. 4.
Local Burnaby Disc Golf Club members Tyler Bryant and Ryan Hammerquist are thrilled.
“It’s been a resounding success,” Bryant said.
“People basically love the course. … People have told me they’ve played like 20 times over the past month,” he added.
The Central Park course is one of the few 18-hole courses in the region.
Robert Burnaby Park is the club’s home course, but that course was set up in the early 2000s, according to Bryant, and, since then, the sport has significantly evolved.
“Discs are faster; players are better. Just like any sport, it’s really gotten a lot better. And so we were looking at opportunities to find where we could have courses that were more amenable to the modern game.”
Since the pandemic, disc golf has seen an “explosion” in popularity, according to Bryant.
“There’s just such a huge demand for this in Burnaby.”
The disc golfers noted Central Park is highly accessible by SkyTrain, just a 10-minute walk from Patterson station.
Hammerquist, who led the design on the new course, called the experience “a bit of a dream.”
He planned it with a variety of harder and easier baskets.
“I feel like we’ve succeeded in that state, to give the people something that’s fun, large, open and accessible,” he said.
Central Park disc golf: 'The planets were just aligned'
Since 2022, club members had been in talks with different local municipalities to find new ways to grow the sport.
Bryant, who lives on the west side of Boundary Road, had been eyeing the Central Park location.
“I’d run by that pitch and putt and I’d look at it, like, ‘Man, that would be an amazing place to have a disc golf course,” he said with a laugh.
And in a bit of serendipity, Central Park’s pitch and putt course maintenance supervisor (and long-time disc golfer), Matt Ewan, was thinking the same thing.
In 2023, Ewan pitched the idea to Peter Sorokovsky, manager of golf course operations at Golf Burnaby, a branch of the city’s parks and recreation department: Why not put up a disc golf course when the “regular golf” (called “ball golf” by the disc golfers) is closed?
The city closes the pitch and putt course every winter to allow the greens to recover — but that’s not a problem in disc golf, in which the greens are out of bounds.
“So I said, I think that’s a very interesting idea,” Sorokovsky said. “I’ll look into it, and we’ll come up with a plan down the road.”
“The planets were just aligned,” Bryant said.
Fast forward to early October 2024.
After a walk around the pitch and putt course to make sure the vision could become a reality, both the disc golfers and the city were on board.
“So then we said, OK, let’s go for it,” Sorokovsky said.
By the end of November, the Golf Burnaby team had purchased baskets, poles, concrete bases and mat material for teeing off.
Between the staffing hours to put it all together and the purchased products, setting up the Central Park course cost between $20,000 and $25,000, according to Sorokovsky.
The course was ready by mid-December.
The quick turnaround is a source of pride for the team at Golf Burnaby.
“When we put our minds to things, we get things done very quickly,” Sorokovsky said.
The news of the Central Park course making UDisc’s most-played list has made the rounds.
“We were passing that around as well, like, ‘Wow, this is awesome,’” Sorokovsky said.
“Going from not existing in October of 2024, to basically two months later, a brand new course and it’s eighth in the world? Seems pretty crazy to me too,” he said, laughing.
In January, there were 1,775 disc golf rounds played, Sorokovsky said.
By comparison, Burnaby’s Kensington “regular golf” course saw 2,098 rounds played.
He noted January’s dry weather likely encouraged players to try out the new course.
Sorokovsky said they expect, at the bare minimum, that the disc golf course will re-open when the pitch and putt course closes around mid-November or December later this year, but there’s also the possibility of half-day special events or tournaments before the winter season.
Golf Burnaby staff will take all the metrics from the Central Park pilot and evaluate it for any future projects, and eventually report to the general manager of parks, recreation and culture.
“We haven’t decided yet as to what the outcome of the pilot project is, but we’re going to let it play its cards out.”
The love of the game
Hammerquist highlighted how affordable disc golf is.
While Central Park has a $6 fee, most Lower Mainland courses are free.
“You can get out there and just do it for next to nothing,” Hammerquist said, adding: “You don’t need to know how to skate; you don’t need to know how to throw a ball.”
“You can go out there with three other friends that are brand new at this and have a lot of fun.”
Bryant agreed.
“Once you get there, the flight of the disc is an entrancing thing. And when you rip off a really good shot for your first time, there’s kind of no feeling like seeing that disc fly through the air.”
“You get that one throw that, actually, it comes out and it’s just ripping through the air, and you go, ‘Wow, I’m going to come back and play again.’”
Central Park Disc Golf Course in Burnaby
- When: Open Monday to Sunday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. until the end of February
- Where: Central Park pitch and putt course (3883 Imperial St.)
- Cost: Price per round is $6 plus tax green fee rate. For more information on renting and buying discs, see Golf Burnaby's website.
