For years, the GTA has had three disc golf courses. Three beautiful, loved, respected, challenging, advanced, 18 basket (hole) courses.
The most central course is on the Toronto Island. A fantastic course loved by the pros and all it takes to play it is to schedule your day accordingly. Get your butt down to the ferry, wait in line for the ferry and then make your way over there, play the course and then return. Is it worth it? Absolutely! However you may not have the 4 to 5 hours required on a regular basis to be able to call it your home course unless you live on the island itself.
The other two courses are not as difficult to get to. One is in Etobicoke at Centennial Park and the second at the complete other side of the city at E.T. Seton Park near the Ontario Science Centre. Not as difficult, but still offers their own challenges with public transit, as anyone who lives in the city is well aware. Again, each of these courses are nice and long and you are making a serious commitment chunk of your day to get to and play a round.
Disc golfers love these courses and will rightly defend them until the end of time. They have strong club members who invest everything they can to keep them operating and well maintained. They are the foundation of the GTA disc golf community.
However something changed in the fall of 2018. Something that would bring disc golf into the city. Pulling Disc Golf out of the shadows and being made much more public. A short Par 3, 9 basket (hole) course was installed in the Beaches at Ashbridges Bay Park. Immediately, established Disc golfers jumped on it and loved it. It was convenient. It could be played multiple times and in much less time. But most importantly, its high visibility location has generated interest and a surge of new players.
The success of this course led to another surprise in the fall of 2019. Suddenly there was another short Par 3, 9 basket (hole) course installed, this time at Marilynn Bell Park. With the same successful results and with many people enjoying the potential of playing both courses in the day.
So where were these courses coming from? What had changed? What did this mean for the city?
A phone call was made. Drinks were had and lots of talking done (because disc golfers love to talk about disc golf). Friends were made. And now, because everything that was said was important, here are all the notes from that meeting with two extremely passionate and very intelligent people answering all my questions. Left in point form and colour coded by who answered. Get busy learning the important stuff.
MEET JEFF MACKEIGAN AND CARA HOVIUS
READY TO HELP BUILD “YOUR” DISC GOLF COMMUNITY
What is the story?
- Guy meets disc golf. Guy plays disc golf with ever expanding group of friends including girl. Guy & girl realize disc golf bring all the good elements of life together. Guy & girl decide they want to start building courses to share this realization with a broader group. Guy & girl start getting all this unbelievable support from their community and keep pushing forward.
What are you trying to accomplish?
- We want to share the disc golf community with a wider and wider group of people. We want to provide the support which others have shown us!
- We believe that if everyone focused more of their time and energy on giving back and doing what they loved, the world would be a better place. We can’t genuinely make that claim unless we started with ourselves.
- We started a company which focuses on disc golf community building and self-awareness for organizations using different psychometric tools, specifically via the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Both Cara and Jeff are both MBTI® Certified Practitioners.
How are you going about doing it?
- Engagement and partnership with the City of Toronto
- Showcasing the benefits of disc golf
- Build the courses ourselves
- Learning from people in our community who have already been involved in disc golf
- Supporting anyone who shares the same values of giving back to the community and sharing the credit where it’s due
Both courses are only nine baskets and are relatively short lengths. What are the strengths/positives/benefits of short courses over the three longer 18 basket courses Toronto already has?
- Great for kids and people who are new to the sport – the future of the sport
- Accessible within neighbourhoods and communities (people can walk/bike to enjoy a local course)
- Character of local courses can improve specific skill sets for more advanced players (tight shots at Beaches, wind at Marilyn Bell, putting practice)
- Rounds can be played in half an hour.
- Less investment for the municipality to try out disc golf
- Fun place for people who play disc golf to bring their friends / family who might not have played before
What has the response been of the two new courses by:
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The players
- Gratitude and appreciation – many have offered help and support. We have an amazing community!
- Many players that have taken the time to introduce new people / park users to the sport
- ‘Ownership’ … people have often referred to the courses are “Jeff’s” or “Cara’s” we remind everyone that these are “yours”. This sentiment is coming through as people take care of the courses. We have seen people clean up garbage, give discs to random strangers, show bystanders how to play.
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The city
- Showcasing the sport & courses on their City websites and social media feeds
- Interest in expanding the sport within the City
- Pride. We have seen this especially with the front lines staff who do so much for our parks. They take great pride in “their” course.
- Belief. The senior leadership of the City of Toronto has a mandate to encourage people to use their parks all year round, and disc golf is the perfect activity for this endeavour.
Both of these courses are in locations that are highly visible by commuters? How important was it to bring Disc Golf out of the shadows?
- Beaches located just off boardwalk in Ashbridge’s Bay and near volleyball nets on the Martin Goodman Trail…and along Lakeshore Blvd
- Marilyn Bell located on the Martin Goodman Trail with all tee pad signs facing the trail and welcome sign visible to drivers on Lakeshore Blvd
- Sport offers a lot of benefits to even casual players – getting people outside, engaging with and meeting others in their community
- This was a prime consideration, along with safety and accessibility. The secondary goal of both of these courses was to act as a showcase of the sport for the millions of people who will see it every year. Toronto’s the 4th largest city in North America with an annual growth rate of 77,000 new residents / year. The city attracts 43 million visitors / year. Both courses, and the next ones, will continue to support the cities mandate of creating healthy, vibrant cities for its constituents as well as being a draw for tourism.
What do you need the courses to achieve?
- Grow the game and share the benefits of disc golf to everyone
- Become a proven model that can be used to scale out to additional municipalities and businesses
- We enjoy seeing people outside and making use of the park and the course
- Provide a positive experience for both players and onlookers
- Give everyone a great first impression on ‘what is disc golf?’
- Encourage ‘each one to teach one’ as per the PDGA guidelines
Who’s been paying for all of this?
- Beaches was paid for out of personal funds (Jeff), fortunate to have a great community behind us who donated their time, energy and money during the install and through the Beaches Bullet Blast Tournament
- Beaches had a hardy group of volunteers who came out to support the install (Cara Hovius, Daniel Cohen, John Etches, Adge McGoey, Joel Van Wyk, Dave Friars, James Friars, Paul MacKeigan, as well as Darrell Bankes who was supportive of Jeff through multiple redesigns across 3 years)
- Marilyn Bell paid for by the city – we appreciate being able to work with a great group of people at the City of Toronto who are seeing the value in what disc golf offers
How are the two courses similar and yet different?
- Both are short, beginner-friendly neighbourhood courses
- Marilyn Bell Park is designed to be a big sister / graduated next step from Beaches
- The goal of the design is that we have a super short course with some technical shots (i.e. Beaches), then a course which is a little longer & more technical (i.e. Marilyn Bell Park), the next course will continue on this theme of ‘graduated incremental difficulty’. Once new players master all the 9 holes they are ready for Toronto’s amazing largest 18-hole courses such as Toronto Island, E.T. Seton and Centennial.
Tell us about the unique new Teepads at Marilyn Bell Park. How did they come to be? Who designed them? Are they durable for our weather conditions in Canada? What are their benefits over other Teepads made of concrete or asphalt?
- We wanted something which was going to be perfect for the climate associated with the course location i.e. Marilyn Bell Park
- We explored all over Ontario to find the best design based on the values we assigned as important, such as: durability, aesthetics, safety and proven track record
- We found some interesting Facebook posts showing the Brick Face rubberized design and reached out to the local clubs who were using it
- The design consists of 8 rubber pavers made of recycled tires with wood border for stability, recessed into the ground to blend into the landscape, pavers can be rotated and flipped for extra usage
- Jeff reached out to Duane Chris, who he had met during the Foxwood and Waterloo University course designs, who was kind enough to share the designs used at Chicopee
- Pads are easily movable if required
- Pads are made of recycled and natural materials
- Pads provide added safety with great grip, even in wet and icy conditions, naturally drains water through divets, and dark colour warms in the sun and melts snow.
Does the fact that we play in the winter (4 seasons) help to justify the costs, or help support the cause when making a presentation to the city?
- It’s been our experience that most municipalities are looking for activities for their residents which they can enjoy most of the year.
- Disc golf is a very rare type of sport which can be played all year long by everyone.
- There are so many other fun activities for cities and companies to choose from including pickle ball, volleyball, handball, ice hockey rinks, pleasure skating rinks, among many others. Disc golf stands out as a full year activity which requires (and requests) almost no maintenance to the land at a small total cost of investment.
How does the city gauge the success of these courses?
- Seeing the parks and course being used, and loved
- Ensuring safety of everyone in the park
- Using disc golf as a way of cleaning up parks
What can we look forward to in the future? Will we be seeing more courses in the city?
- Planning and design meetings with the City of Toronto on some new potential locations for courses
- The City of Toronto has expressed interest in adding more disc golf
- We hope to make another announcement in the next couple of months
- Expanding our course concepts beyond the City of Toronto into other municipalities and private industry
Have you attracted new players to the game since the courses have been installed?
- Yes! Meeting new players at Beaches and Marilyn Bell Park has been amazing!
- We have met many new players who enjoy the courses and one in particular who got 2 aces in her first three months playing! Yeah Katelin Elizabeth!
- Movember Mo-Down at E.T. Seton had many new players in the MA2 and MA3 divisions that had started at Beaches.
- Woodbine Beach volleyball players
- Neighbourhood residents in the Beaches and in Parkdale picking up the sport
If someone is looking to support your efforts, what area are you in need of most, or how can they help?
- Call 311 at the City of Toronto and let them know how much you appreciate the course.
- Introduce someone new to the game. Bring a friend to play.
- Follow the PDGA Disc Golfer’s Code: Play smart, respect the course, represent the sport.
- Find us on Facebook or follow us on Instagram – Beaches Disc Golf Course, Marilyn Bell Park Disc Golf Course
- Email us or call us with any questions
How many discs does a beginner need to play your courses?
- One disc, or a 3 disc starter pack including a driver, mid, putter.
What three discs would you recommend for beginners? Pick a putter, a Mid and a fairway.
Cara Putter: Anode Mid: Mako3 Fairway: Leopard
Jeff Putter: Dart Mid: Mako3 Fairway: FD
What are your 3 deserted planet discs? You have to pick three discs to use FOREVER! Every day the discs are brand new so they never beat in. Every day is a different course, at different altitudes and climates. One has to be a putter. What are your discs? One has to be a putter.
Cara Putter: MVP Anode Other Two: Innova DX Valkyrie, Lightweight Latitude 64 Opto Diamond
Jeff Putter: Innova Dart Other Two: Disc Mania Active Spirit Fox, Half-moon Boss at 170 g in gummy Champion plastic
If you have any questions for either of these two, go ahead and get in touch:
- jeffreymackeigan@hotmail.com 416.809.7569
- chovius@gmail.com 647.456.6182
