The top disc golfers in Saskatchewan will be battling it out in Centennial Park this weekend.
For the first time ever, the Battlefords Community Disc Golf Club will be the host club for the 12th annual Saskatchewan Open Provincial Disc Golf Championship, which will take place Saturday and Sunday.
“With the success and growth we’ve had here with our program in the Battlefords over the last couple of years, Saskatchewan Disc Golf contacted us and asked if we would be interesting in hosting the provincials,” BCDGC president Evan Zimmer said.
“The plan is to have the Saskatchewan Open move around the province to different courses, and with the renovations that we made here to expand the course in Centennial Park to 18 holes, we were in the criteria that they were looking for in having the event.”
Registration for the event will close on Saturday at 9 a.m., but there are currently almost 50 golfers who will be coming to North Battleford for the event.
“We’re expecting some last minute additions and people showing up the day of, but we’re hoping to have 60 people on the course for the weekend,” Zimmer said.
“A good chunk of the competitors will be from the Battlefords, but we’re also expecting golfers from Saskatoon, Regina, Lloydminster, Yorkton and Watrous over the two days.”
Saturday will feature the only rounds for the novice division, who play the course two times, while Sunday will see the final two rounds for the advanced and pro division.
“When it comes to those upper divisions, they will have to deal with some additional out of bounds areas that will increase the difficulty of the course, but I think the out of town players will spend a bit of time adjusting to the shorter distances as a whole,” Zimmer said.
“A lot of the other courses in the province generally have longer holes than what we have here. For example, Saskatoon has a number of 300 and 400 foot holes but not many of the holes that they’ll see here. As a result, I think many golfers will have to make some adjustments to be more accurate on those shorter holes instead of trying to have the all-out throws and short putts they have on those longer holes they are used to.”
The first round of each day of competition will get underway at 10 a.m., with the second and final round getting underway at 2 p.m.
“There’s a few events taking place between the rounds on Saturday, which will include the ring of fire putting challenge and a longest drive competition,” Zimmer said.
“We’re inviting everyone in the community to come out and watch on both days. We’ve had a lot of support here locally over the last of couple years but we want to have those that may not have seen disc golf before to come out and see some of the top players here this weekend.”
