The course has been finalized, the baskets are installed and the discs are set to fly.
It’s official – Garibaldi Springs has a disc golf course and the facility’s grand opening is on Saturday (April 18).
This will be Squamish’s first official course. Garibaldi Springs general manager Tyler Ovington said it was a logical move to make after the success of a tournament the venue hosted back in December.
“People had been pitching me the idea for a few years, and I was thinking a lot about it after installing the foot golf course last year,” he said. “There aren’t many other multi-golf courses around, so I thought it would be a nice addition. Then Dax Braby approached me to run the tournament on Dec. 20 and the turnout was pretty good.”
It may have been the shortest day of the year, but it brought about long discussions from Braby, Ovington and course owner Doug Day.
“We were happy to have over 50 people at the tournament in December – which is awesome for that time of year,” Ovington said. “It gave us a lot of hope for the potential of disc golf.”
Feedback from players at the December event was positive and gave Ovington even more reason to consider adding the sport. Baskets were then purchased and installed on April 4 and the course follows the same route as the traditional golf and foot golf courses. Ovington said he’s excited about the potential the sport can bring. “It’s a great family activity and anyone can play it,” he said. “We’ve also made it very accessible for everyone. There are 3,700 courses in the U.S. and it’s really just catching on big in Canada. It’s going to be a great thing to do for Squamish people in between rafting or the gondola. It takes about an hour and a half and it’s a beautiful course.”
The course has discs for sale or for rental and is open every day from dawn to dusk. There was a soft launch of the course earlier this month, but Saturday is the grand opening as well as the Spring Fling tournament.
The tourney gets underway at 9:30 a.m. and is open to amateurs and pros.
The Spring Fling is the first of what Ovington hopes are many big monthly events at the course. There will also be men and women’s night specials to draw out newcomers to the sport.
The course’s biggest event this summer happens June 19, when the 2015 Canadian Disc Golf Championships comes to town. The event features the best disc golfers in the country and province, and is one of five legs in the championship event.
For more information, visit Garibaldi Springs Golf Course on Facebook.
