Cranbrook’s first disc golf tournament of the year is set to kick off Saturday, April 27 at Wycliffe and Sunday, April 28 at the College of the Rockies Course. These are Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) C-Tier tournaments with registration taking place the days of the events at 8:30 a.m.
“C-tier is the lowest tier of sanctioned event with the PDGA,” explained organizer Ben Loggains. “But the attraction of having an event sanctioned by the PDGA is players receive round ratings and it attracts all the players from the region who are involved with the PDGA, who want any chance they can to play a rated round to contribute to their points and ratings.”
In order to sanction event there are fees collected by the PDGA from each player. That money is used by the Association to help grow the sport in Canada.
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“The PDGA, in fact, will donate money back to tournaments to help support local events and they donated money to help pay for the Wycliffe course even.”
Constructed last year, the Wycliffe course is still having some updates done to it, with concrete tee boxes getting installed this week leading up to the tournament. Loggains said that they would also like to add second tee boxes, like you’d see on ball golf courses, on some of the holes in the neat future, in order to make the course more playable for younger players or players who just don’t throw the disc as far.
“Some of the holes play just fine regardless of skill level,” Loggains said, “but there’s a few holes at Wycliffe where a hole doesn’t make a lot of sense for someone that doesn’t throw a certain distance. So, those holes are a priority for us to get a short tee in.”
Loggains added that Wycliffe was partially thought of as a home for people that do throw farther, or people who are simply up for more challenging play.
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“Because we have the Cranbrook (COTR) course — and almost all the courses in the area do cater more to the beginner and the person that does throw shorter — I think the best course ideally to have going forward in the future is one that makes sense for everybody.”
Loggains expects to see around 30 to 40 players at each day, with competitors coming from Montana, Kelowna, Kamloops and Alberta. Registration for a PDGA member is $30 for both tournaments. For non-PDGA players it’s $50 to play both or $40 to play one, with the money going to cover the PDGA fees.
The pros pay $50 per event, because they’re competing for cash, whereas the amateur divisions are playing for a trophy. Additionally, each player that comes out will receive a disc, a shirt, a towel and some other small prizes.
The Fire Hall Kitchen and Tap will be doing out with their mobile burger and beer setup, and Loggains is in the process of trying to lineup some live music to coincide with the post Saturday tournament’s food and awards.
Going forward there will be a PDGA B-tier tournament in the fall following a similar formant, but with only one event for the whole weekend.