Local duo looks to spark interest with disc golf league

By KELLEN TANIGUCHI on May 25, 2021.

ktaniguchi@medicinehatnews.com@@kellentaniguchi

A walk in the park and some curiosity led Jared Ziegenhagel and Trent Roset to organize a disc golf league in Medicine Hat, set to tee off June 15.

“We hadn’t really heard of disc golf; we saw the nets in the park and were kind of curious to what they were, and we looked into it a little bit more and realized they were for a pretty awesome game that we’re now addicted to,” said Ziegenhagel.

He says they’ve been playing disc golf for about four years now would often run into the same people each time they went out. Ziegenhagel says it led to some talking and everyone wanted a league, but nobody had taken initiative, so they did.

The Medicine Hat Disc Golf League will run every Tuesday and Thursday for six weeks starting the week of June 15, with a league entry fee of $20. Ziegenhagel says this year’s league is to test the waters and gauge interest, with possible expansion in the future.

He says expansion could include a junior league, ladies league, co-ed league and three additional courses – including one at Strathcona Island Park.

Both league days start at 7 p.m., with Tuesdays at Central Park and Thursdays at Leinweber Park. Ziegenhagel says having two nine-hole courses allows for experienced players and new players to play a course that best suits their skill level.

“Central park is contained, so if you’re in Central Park it’s a smaller city block park so everything is inside the park, you’re really not worried about losing a disc or getting into too much trouble,” he said.

“Leinweber is a lot more challenging. It’s a little bit bigger park, the course is a bit longer, there’s a little more difficult hazards with taller, denser trees and water, there’s the big lake there. It’s a lot more challenging of a course, which is why I also wanted to have two courses, so you could have a beginner and intermediate.”

Ziegenhagel says incorporating disc golf into parks is easy because nets are usually placed in difficult locations out of the way of the general public. He adds members would need to bring their own discs and download and purchase the UDisc Disc Golf app, which has course maps and is how the league will keep scores.

When it comes to discs, Ziegenhagel says it’s similar to golf – there’s a putter, a driver and a mid-range disc.

“A putter has a much blunter end so it floats more, while a driver has a real thick edge and it’s really slanted so it cuts through the air more when you throw it with speed, and it will glide through the air,” he said.

Ziegenhagel says disc golf is a game that becomes addicting fast and has many similarities to golf.

“You get those amazing shots, a couple of them, three, four, five of them during the round and it makes you want to keep coming back and do it again, again and again. That’s the addicting part of it, you’re always trying to improve and always trying to get better,” said Ziegenhagel.

He says more information about the league can be found on its Facebook page, Medicine Hat Disc Golf, and people can register and pay on dicgolfscene.com.

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