Hat welcoming provincial disc golf athletes this weekend

By JAMES TUBB on July 14, 2022.

jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb

The Medicine Hat Disc Golf Club is gearing up for a big weekend.

The club, alongside the City of Medicine Hat, has partnered with the Southern Alberta Recreation Association to host a regional Disc Golf Tournament Saturday. The traditional Southern Alberta Summer Games were to be held in Raymond but have been postponed. The last time the games were held was 2019.

MedHat Disc Golf Club vice-president Jeremy Knodel is excited for the tournament and says they didn’t hesitate when approached by the city to help set up the tournament because it’s part of their goals.

“One of our main goals as a club is to get people disc golfing, to improve the visibility of disc golf and Medicine Hat,” Knodel said. “It was a great opportunity to work with the city, getting more people involved, or at least aware of disc golf and Medicine Hat.”

The tournament is broken down into three age categories and is open to anyone in southern Alberta, including residents and visitors from neighbouring towns and counties.

Knodel said he got into the sport because of how accessible it is compared to other sports, and because it’s outside.

“The main reason that I promote disc golf to people is because it’s such an easy sport to start with and you don’t have to absolutely love the idea of it to get started, you don’t have to commit hundreds of dollars, you can start with like a $20 disc and then start playing,” Knodel said. “The main reason I play is because it’s just a great outdoor thing for me to kind of clear my head, and it costs me very little investment to do it. So it’s my little getaway every day that I can do and kind of challenge myself.”

Knodel said all are welcome to watch the event at Central Park, and anyone interested in joining can sign up the morning of and they’re looking forward to showing people the sport.

“We’ll be showing people how to throw a disc and all that, even if they’ve never played before, come and play on Saturday morning,” Knodel said. “It’s wide open for anyone and especially with the tournament, if you’ve never played, this is a great time to start.”

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