CHARLESTON — Infrastructure upgrades are set for the disc golf course in the Thomas H. Burbine Memorial Forest in Charleston.

On July 26, the Montgomery County Legislature approved $100,000 in funding to upgrade the park in order to accommodate the growing number of athletes participating in the burgeoning sport.

The funding, which comes from the county’s allotment from Congress’ 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, will expand the course’s parking lot to accommodate 40-45 vehicles at a cost of $45,000, with an additional $23,000 set aside to establish the site’s first restroom facility.

Additional improvements will include the installation of a new visitor kiosk, upgrades to the course’s pathways and the addition of a gazebo and picnic tables.

The course, which is managed by volunteers, is nestled away on two miles of county-owned property in the forest.

“We opened this thing a couple of years ago and it’s taken off around the country, a lot like pickleball,” county Legislature Chairman Michael Pepe said Tuesday. “So it’s growing in popularity and so we wanted to make the experience there more enjoyable and comfortable for people who get there to play or spectate.”

Pepe said the county hopes to complete the parking lot expansion before the end of the year, with additional work expected to continue into 2023.

Mark Hay, the course’s designer and volunteer manager, said the parking and restroom upgrades should serve as a selling point for the course.

After taking up the sport in 2018, Hay approached the county in 2019 with the idea of establishing a local disc golf course for enthusiasts to play rounds and host tournaments. County Executive Matthew Ossenfort was an immediate backer of the proposal and the 18-hole disc golf course opened in October 2020.

“There’s a pretty big community locally and there’s a lot of tournaments during the year and leagues,” Hay said Tuesday. “Just in the last five years, there’s probably been five or six other courses that have popped up in the Capital Region. So it’s been growing.”

The county executive joined disc golfers at the course on Sept. 28 for an event announcing the imminent park upgrades.

“Disc golf’s popularity has gone through the roof, and Montgomery County is a perfect place to capitalize on the newfound success of the game,” Ossenfort noted in a statement. “The Burbine Forest has long been an underutilized resource for our county, and the disc golf…