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“A lot of people refer to Emporia as the disc golf capital of the world, the Mecca,” said Dynamic Discs founder Jeremy Rusco.

Lelan Dains, the director of Visit Emporia. echoed Rusco’s words.

“You know, we seem to have reached the pinnacle of the sport and are widely recognized as the disc golf capital, certainly in the US,” Dains added.

Emporia possesses the new Supreme-18 championship-level disc golf course at Jones Park, specially designed for the 2022 PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Championships, plus 10 additional courses within a 15-minute drive. And the city has more anchored disc golf baskets per capita than anywhere in the world. According to Dains, these courses are frequently bustling with activity.

“I see it on the daily just within our community how disc golf has grown,” he said. “The number of people that you’ll see in any given park where there’s a course. Playing on any given day and often in pretty extreme temperatures, as I continue to see this winter.”

Having the premier disc company globally, is also a key factor contributing to the mecca designation. Dynamic Discs has partnered with Swedish disc manufacturer Latitude 64 to create some of the topmost discs in the sport. Rusco has been involved with disc golf for two decades.

“I picked up my first disc and played my first disc golf round in 2002 out in Hays at Fort Hays State University,” Rusco said. “I was on the football and track team, and one of the football teammates got a group of us together and took us out playing. I was hooked right away.”

Rusco didn’t have much time to play in Hays, but when he transferred…