Officially opened
Thursday, July 9, 2020, the
Grand Forks Disc Golf Course was the culmination of at least five years' work by a dedicated crew of volunteer recreation lovers. Much of the work entailed finding a location then presenting their proposal for a disc golf course to the city. The course is located on city owned public land which was once the site of
Great Northern Railway tracks and switching yards. Tracks were laid here in 1902 and removed about 1936. This map denotes the course's location in relation to what came before. At the first tee, and further to the west on the course, still can be seen the grading done for the tracks by the Great Northern.
Over the winter of 2019-2020 work was done cleaning up the area and removing garbage and dead trees in preparation for building of the course in the spring. Work commenced on the actual course in early June of 2020, with the course opening for play in mid June. The course hosted its first-ever
Grand Forks Settle Down Disc Golf Tournament on
Saturday, July 11, 2020.
On gently rolling ground, the course has little elevation change and is outfitted with gravel teepads and Mach X baskets. The only real hazards are Ponderosa Pines, of which there are many. The only flora on the course are wild grasses, wild flowers and the ubiquitous Ponderosa Pines. Through spring and summer various seasonal wildflowers carpet areas of the course and the surroundings. The holes range in length from about 230 feet to just over 375 feet, with a monster 500 foot finishing hole, some fairly open, some running through a maze of trees requiring well shaped shots, with baskets heavily guarded by the Ponderosa Pines.
Course Layout:
18 Holes - Par 55 - 5487 Feet
HOLE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 OUT
DIST 315 385 231 356 346 273 353 308 349 2916 Feet
PAR 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
HOLE 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 IN
DIST 376 251 248 235 218 259 232 223 529 2571 Feet
PAR 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4
Following is a short news article from the Grand Forks Gazette recounting the First Grand Forks Tournament to be hosted by the course.
Disc golfers play in first-ever Grand Forks tournament
The course is located just south of Extra Foods in Grand Forks
JENSEN EDWARDS — Jul. 15, 2020
Discs were flying between the Ponderosa pines Saturday, when competitors teed off in the first-ever
Settle Down disc golf tournament in Grand Forks.
The tournament comes after five years of planning and collaboration between volunteers and local government, which has resulted in an 18-hole course that winds its way through the trees on the south side of 68th Avenue, just east of the ball diamond at Angus MacDonald Park near Extra Foods. Working with grants from local government and donations from volunteers and local businesses, the Boundary Area Disc Athletic Sports Society has developed a course that has already drawn in players from outside of the Kettle Valley.
Disc golf involves many of the same rules as traditional golf (strokes/throws, tee boxes, par for the course) and can be played with specialty or regular discs. Players can find the Grand Forks course layout on the UDisc smartphone app, which allows the user to track their scores online and follow a map of the course.
People can also visit the
Grand Forks Disc Golf Club Facebook page for more information.
