The disc golf tournament scheduled for Springside on May 29 will be recognized as one of the tournaments in the North American Vibram Birdie Bash series of tournaments this summer.
The designation will make it the first such tournament at the Springside Disc Golf course, explained Shauna Stanley Seymore, Community Wellness Program co-ordinator, Springside Community Centre.
“We are really looking forward to this event. It’s one of the reasons we undertook to install a disc golf course in Springside, to host events for our local supporters, and hopefully draw some people to the community who have never visited before,” she said.
As a part of the Vibram Birdie Bash series, it will be one of many similar events held across North America and, perhaps, beyond.
Participating will be players from the much larger fraternity of disc golfers, it will also be ideal for beginners, Seymore said.
“The Birdie Bash format is great for first time disc golfers,” explained Trevor Lyons, tournament director of the newly-formed Parkland Association of Disc Golf (PAG). “The idea is to throw over a generally shorter course to make aces and birdies easier, and those count in the scoring of the event. You don’t need to have a big arm to throw 300-feet in a Birdie Bash.”
In that regard, the Springside course is a great fit, explained Calvin Daniels, interim president of the PADG, and a co-designer of the course.
“We had limited area to design the course, so it is a shorter course that makes use of trees and cover to be fun,” said Daniels. “The local community has done a great job clearing underbrush, and while we will need to adjust a few target positions once the snow goes, by tournament day the Springside course is going to be just a great deal of fun for golfers.”
The Springside event will be part of a new PADG tournament series which will run from May through until October at courses across the area, he said.
“The Springside Vibram Birdie Bash will be one of the first events on the new circuit we are currently working on,” said Lyons. “So that is exciting for the PADG.”
The idea of the tournament series is to have each course in the PADG area that is interested to host one event where participation will provide points toward season-end recognition.
“We hope most courses participate as a way to highlight what they have to offer,” said Daniels, who added that by midsummer there is expected to be about 20 courses in the PADG area.
“We are seeing tremendous interest in disc golf with communities, regional parks and other organizations seeing the potential of providing such a low cost, all age, sport/recreation and that is what had Springside interested,” Seymour said.
“We are always looking at ways to provide more recreation opportunities in our community, especially those that are accessible by nearly everyone, get people outdoors and are affordable,” she said. “Disc golf covers all those criteria.”
Describing what will be involved for the Springside Vibram Birdie Bash, Seymour said it is a 36-basket event played over two rounds. As a means to increase interest, the player package that comes with the entry fee includes a Vibram Fairway Driver and a Vibram Putt and Approach disc.
“That’s a big part of why it’s great for people new to the sport. Everybody plays with the discs they get as part of the entry fee, and at the end of the day – you keep the discs,” said Lyons. “So you are set to play all summer after that.”
The entry fee package also includes a polo shirt, a water bottle and a few other ‘goodies.’
Seymour said the organizers expect a full card (54), and “lots of fun to really show off our course and our community.”
The newly-formed PADG has its own website through which all PADG events are promoted. The address is www.facebook.com/PatrickParkDiscGolf.
