It’s been five years since disc golf flicked in to Newfoundland and Labrador, and players from across the island say they’re excited to see the sport continuing to grow.
Around 60 disc golfers met in Corner Brook for the fourth annual provincial disc golf championship on Saturday, facing winds that didn’t make throwing a Frisbee easy.
Johnston Miller, the president of Corner Brook Disc Golf, helped kick-start the sport in western Newfoundland. That work began during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when he discovered the sport while living in Ontario.
“COVID was actually a boon time for disc golf, a lot of people looking for outdoor activities that they could do that socially distanced, so a lot of other people felt the same way,” Miller told CBC News Saturday.
“That was in 2020. And here we are in 2025, about five years after the first public course was installed in Stephenville. And it’s been great to see the way the sport has grown over the last five years.”
Courses can be found across the island — in St. John’s, Corner Brook and Stephenville — and a permanent course is also scheduled to open in Gander in October.
Disc Golf N.L. president Daniel Henderson said the sport has grown tremendously over the five-year period, but especially over the past year. The provincial championship marked the end of a provincial tour over the summer and fall.
“The growth in the province has just been on a steady uprise, so we’re hoping for more and more,” Henderson said. “I think it’s just an incredible way to get out and get moving. It’s always a bit of fun, it’s what you make it.”
Henderson said he’s always been attracted to disc golf because of it’s accessibility. It only requires one Frisbee to play, and courses on the island are free to use.
Disc golfers from across Newfoundland and Labrador met in Corner Brook this weekend for the fourth annual provincial championship. It was a time for players to connect, and mark five years since the sport set roots in the province. The CBC’s Alex Kennedy was there.
David and Rob Sills picked up the sport earlier this year, and travelled from Bishop’s Falls to be part of the competition.
“I love to throw Frisbees, and in disc golf that’s basically all you’re doing,” David, 10, said. “Me and my dad set up a course in our friend’s backyard with a few holes.”
Rob Sills said he’s eager to continue the sport and see it grow further — especially in central Newfoundland.
“It’s super exercise, it’s a lot of fun, and I can just see more people in the province becoming a lot more passionate about the sport.”
Miller says word of Newfoundland’s disc golf courses has spread wide, and players are excited to see and play a course when they travel through the area.
“The sky’s the limit. I mean we have the natural resources that is the envy of the world. We have abundant, natural, interesting topography, interesting forests,” he said.
“We can absolutely become a world-class level disc golf attraction for this sport.”
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