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Activities start April 23 with practice rounds, which run through April 26. Players will check-in for the competition on April 27, and Round 1 starts bright and early on April 28.

Rusco said the competition field is a little smaller this year, but that’s by design.

“With us hosting the Professional World Championships this year, we made the decision to focus on a smaller competitor playing field,” he said. “But, we’re putting more focus on drawing and attracting spectators to come to Emporia to watch the best disc golfers in the world compete.”

And because of that, some changes have been made. Instead of hosting the competition around the Flint Hills region, all play will be held centrally in Emporia.

“We are only utilizing courses in the Emporia area, as well as the Emporia Municipal golf course, for the competition,” Rusco said. “We’re excited to have everybody more concentrated than in previous years, and being around the community. We expect the spectator base to be much bigger than in previous years.”

Doug Bjerkaas, president of the DD board of directors, agreed.

“We went from nine pools of players down to four pools … but we’ve also been selling spectator badges to the main events,” he said. “Like any other sport where you have to buy tickets, people are clamoring to do that.”

Bjerkaas said cutting down the player pools was a way to ensure the town has enough space to accommodate a massive influx of disc golfers and fans.

“Spectators are definitely going to be involved in things like the bonfire on Friday night and the block party on Saturday,” he said.

That is an exciting prospect for Dynamic Discs as well. Rusco said he expects the event — and disc golf — to continue growing more and more in the coming years.

Ricky Wysocki, who signed with Dynamic Discs early this year, is a favorite to win going into the men’s pro competition. Rusco said Wysocki just won his first pro series since signing with Dynamic.

“He always plays well at our event,” he said.

Rusco said he’s also excited to see Kona Panis and the rest of Dynamic’s sponsored players at the competition.

“We’re just thrilled to bring this back,” he said of the competition. “We hope we can showcase the new course at Jones Park. That will be used in competition for the first time to kind of warm people up for the Professional World Championships. This is just a really big event for our community and I truly believe that this year’s disc golf championship is the most important event that our community has ever hosted.”

Rusco said more and more people will be drawn to Emporia for its disc golf offerings, even outside of the upcoming competitions.

“They’re going to want to come and play the courses that were featured in the 2022 professional world championships,” he said.

Bjerkaas said the public can expect a much larger block party this year, which includes a super-sized vendor pool.

The annual bonfire also promises to be a fun and exciting event again.

“It’s a little bit underrated but our bonfire is pretty cool,” he said, adding that vendors will be set up out there as well.

A performance by Diskey the Wonder Dog, a Frisbee dog, and his handler Russ will be one of the highlights.

“There will be all kinds of fun,” Bjerkaas said. “I encourage as many people that will come out to the block party to try out the bonfire.”