Efforts underway to rejuvenate disc golf course

Whitefish’s hidden gem of a disc golf course is getting a makeover.

The Whitefish Disc Federation has been renovating the course, which is located near Smith Lake just off East Lakeshore Drive. The course is part of the Montana Trust Lands, which puts money generated by the land toward public schools, and is about halfway through fundraising for its $14,000 goal.

Ken Deeds, with WDF, designed the new course and has been leading volunteer work days to get it in shape for an opening this summer.

Deeds has been on the Professional Disc Golf Tour for the last 20 years and has played about 150 courses in his life, he said.

But when he moved to Whitefish, he remembers the distinct lack of a course.

“Like a lot of people, I moved here and went, ‘Where is the disc golf course?’ Everything else I’d ever wanted in life is here, but I just wanted to get out and throw once in awhile,” he said.

Disc golf is played similar to traditional golf, but instead of a ball and clubs, a flying disc is thrown from a tee area to a target which is the “hole.” The object is to complete each hole in the fewest throws.

The existing Smith Lake course was built and designed in the early 2000s by Carter Allen, a local disc golfer. Allen got the OK to set up a basic course on Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation land, but was not allowed to put in tee boxes, signage or complete any construction. In 2014 the WDF and DNRC began discussing a new agreement for a course at Smith Lake, which allows for the 27-hole course on DNRC land for 10 years.

The new course will use more terrain in the area and feature a wider range of shot types for players. It will also have a kiosk with a map, general rules, stand land rules and a list of sponsors, and a set of practice targets will be located at the courses start.

Deeds said he’s most excited for a variety of shots in the new course.

“I’d say the thing I look most forward to is bringing more shots into the game. Right now this course has a lot of shots where you throw perfectly straight. They make 6,000 molds of Frisbees that fly differently now. You’re going to have to use more Frisbees in the bag. It’s very one-dimensional on this course,” he said.

Deeds said he also hopes the tidied-up new course will give the sport some of the legitimacy it deserves but doesn’t often receive.

“Our sport here has the name folf, which it’s been called in other places. But [calling it] disc golf, to me, is like taking it to that next level. We’re going to have nice tee pads, there will be signs. It’ll look aesthetically nice. And I’m working really hard to do everything we can environmentally to keep the impacts of our new course to a minimum,” he said.

He noted the game does have a bit of an image issue, with stereotypical players looking like “17-year-old dropout stoner kids in tie-dyed shirts.”

However, he says that couldn’t be further from the truth, and the game’s accessibility makes it so anyone can enjoy the sport.

“I think one of the best things about the sport is you can get into it by buying one of these [Frisbees] for $15 and come out here and have a great time. I think it’s like golf, it’s really fun and easy to come out the first time and buy a disc, but if you want to get good it’s like anything, you’ve got to put time and effort into it.”

“And here, I really want to see more families and different demographics, and I think with a nicer course that will come.”

More information on the Whitefish Disc Federation is available at www.whitefishdf.com or on the group’s Facebook page. Businesses interested in adopting a hole on the new course will get their name on the hole and the course’s entrance kiosk.

The Smith Lake Disc Golf Course is located at the north end of Whitefish Lake off of East Lakeshore Drive.