Construction was underway on the disc gold course in Boitanio Park last week, with the course set to open in October.

Disc golf course designer Chris Hartmann, co-owner of INdesign Disc Golf, and his business partner Stewart McIsack, both from the Lower Mainland, were in Williams Lake to oversee the work.

Harmann said Boitanio Park is a great spot for a disc golf course with the combination of forest and terrain.

“We like to have trees to throw through,” he explained, noting one key difference between golf and disc golf is golf is played more on the ground, while disc golf is higher up so taller obstacles make for more of a challenge.

Concrete pad tee boxes were being poured on Sept. 22 for the 18-hole course and Hartmann was happy with how things looked.

He said the sport of disc golf is moving from a “fringe sport” into the mainstream.

“The sport’s growing like crazy the last five years,” he said, noting the sport is “easy to learn and difficult to master. That’s why I think people get captured really quickly.”

Accessible and affordable, the sport will offer something different for people to do in downtown Williams Lake, according to Stacey Miranda, director of community services for the city of Williams Lake.

“You can go at your own pace and you can bring your kids,” she explained. People can play a round in a couple hours and can even use any old frisbee to start with.

“At the end of the day, all you need is a 99-cent frisbee and you’ve got hours and hours of fun,”

Tee boxes are where disc golfers start to throw a disc towards an end basket. The sport is similar to golf in many ways, as you try to get the disc into a basket in as few throws as possible, but more accessible, explained Miranda.

There is also the option of throwing from a shorter tee box for novice golfers or a longer one for more advanced players. The course was designed to be changeable, for longer and shorter versions of some holes, meant to be changed for tournaments or seasonal variety.

The Cariboo Memorial Complex will provide rental discs for the public and is planning to offer organized learning sessions, tournaments and league play. The project, which also includes improvements to Scout Island washrooms, was funded with $341,625 from the Canada Community Revitalization Fund and $113,875 from the city.

With files from Monica Lamb-Yorski.

Williams Lake