Thinking about trying the newest disc golf course in Prince George?
You might want to take a felt pen to write down your name and phone number on each of your discs.
Built on narrow ski trails bordered by thick forests at Otway Nordic Centre, the 18-basket course is perfect for hiding discs that fail to find their intended target.
If you make a wayward throw on one of the fairways, which are only about 10 metres wide, chances are you’re going have to go searching for your disc. But if you can’t find it there’s still hope it won’t be lost forever, even if you haven’t written your name on it.
“I found one the other day,” said course manager John Bowes. “People are good about taking discs they find to Stride and Glide (sporting goods store) and they’re pretty good at getting them back to people.”
Compared to Rainbow Park, the city’s other disc golf course, there are more obstacles on the Otway course, but it is still considered beginner-friendly.
“It’s very different from Rainbow Park, it’s a very wooded course with narrower pipes," Bowes said. "It kind of forces people to play in a different way. They have to learn to throw through the trees and make sure they don’t go off, because if it goes off they’re hunting.”
The baskets used for the course were originally installed three years ago at Hart Highlands Ski Hill, but a project to reduce wildfire risk in the surrounding forest forced closure of that course last year. Bowes, the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club’s general manager and an avid disc golf player, suggested the trails at Otway would be perfect to make a challenging course. Each of the baskets used for the Hart course was paid for by local sponsors who agreed to the move to the nordic centre.
The course, which takes between 1 ½ and two hours to complete, is featured on the U Disc website, which tracks usage and provides a course map.
It opened in late May and Bowes said there were 521 visits in July and it was the site of a two-day tournament, Sept. 9-10.
On Oct. 23, the Caledonia club is hosting the NightFlight To Venus Space Race tournament, a night-time single-player event using glow-in-the-dark discs.
