Disc golfers flock to northern Alberta city as province hosts first national championship in 25 years

Pro disc golfer Sofia Donnecke is trying to stay sharp and focused as she works her way through several northern Alberta courses, disc in hand, eyeing a second national title.

Donnecke is one of about 400 athletes from a range of different divisions competing at the Canadian National Disc Golf Championships being held in Grande Prairie, Alta., from Friday to Sunday.

Disc golf mirrors the gameplay of traditional golf and requires competitors to adopt the same disciplined mindset as pro golfers, Donnecke says.

“It’s comparable to the sport of golf – ‘ball-golf’, we call it – where you wanna be really organized, collected,” Donnecke said.

The competition marks the first time a national disc golf tournament has been hosted in Alberta in 25 years, with the last Canadian Disc Golf Championship being held in Edmonton in 2001.

Dylan Bressey, the local tournament organizing committee chair, said the quality of the disc golf courses is “unprecedented” for the city’s relative size, making Grande Prairie ideal to host this level of tournament.

Bressey said he has watched the sport grow from the ground up since moving to the city over a decade ago and helping found the Grande Prairie Disc Golf Club. 

“I was the one out-of-towner and we had a few locals who were playing with frisbees in a park, just hitting light poles — and we met each other early in the summer of 2011 and the rest was history,” Bressey said.

With three courses now established in the community, Bressey says the city has come a long way from when light poles and empty four-litre milk jugs served as makeshift disc golf targets.

“Grande Prairie is really one of the best disc golf communities in all of Canada,” Bressey said.

In an interview with CBC News on Thursday, pro disc golfer Thomas Gilbert shared Bressey’s praise of the community’s disc golf infrastructure.

“[The courses are] good in terms of technicality, elevation, they have all sorts of elements which [are] good for a national championship like this,” said Gilbert, who won the national championship in the Mixed Pro Open division in 2022 and 2024.

The competition is taking place across the city’s Thrill Hill, South Bear Creek and Co-Op Community disc golf courses.

Bressey, who is also a local city councillor, said the tournament is also an opportunity to show off the city as a potential location for people to move to and invest in.

“We really are excited to have these players stay at local hotels, visiting local restaurants [and] going to local stores,” Bressey said.

For British Columbia-based Donnecke, the tournament is her first trip to Alberta and she said she was impressed with the courses so far.

“Especially for such a northern remote community, that, you know, probably not a lot of passing through [are] playing disc golf that much,” Donnecke said, explaining that she’s spent a couple of days familiarizing herself with the terrain ahead of competition day.

Gilbert, like Donnecke, is keeping level-headed heading into the weekend — though he noted he thrives in high-pressure competitions where some nervous energy is palpable.

“There’s lots of good competitors up here. Just looking to play my game, and hopefully that’ll be enough to take down another national title,” Gilbert said.