You can play disc golf in over 80 countries, but the sport isn't equally accessible in all those places. In which nations are you most likely to find a disc golf course right around the corner? This is the place to find out.
Disc golfers using UDisc have helped create the largest and most frequently updated disc golf course directory there is. Using that directory, we were able to figure out which countries have the most disc golf courses per capita.
Here's what you'll find, in order, in the rest of this post:
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- Interesting Facts & Tidbits
- A little bit about what counted as a course
- Top 25 countries in disc golf courses per capita
- Special cases with high per capita rates not included in top 25
- Top 10 countries in courses added between 2022 and 2024
- Top 10 countries in total number of disc golf courses
Which Country Has the Most Disc Golf Courses Per Capita?
Iceland remains the world's #1 in disc golf courses per capita.
Its nearly 400,000 residents can choose from 86 courses. For reference, just imagine if the citizens of Wichita, Kansas – which has about the same population as Iceland – had their pick of that many disc golf courses.
To be fair, Iceland is about the size of Kentucky (though only about a quarter of it is inhabitable), so it has quite a bit more area than Wichita, but there's no denying the country's clearly huge enthusiasm for disc golf – especially in a place where conditions for outdoor sports are so rarely comfortable. If you'd like to learn more about how Iceland got to the top these rankings, give our post "Iceland Disc Golf: Cold Place, Hot Scene" a read.
Of course, Iceland has to be looking over its shoulder at Finland, which is a fairly close #2 in the rankings and has added 79 courses since we last did these rankings in 2022. Norway is another contender, coming in at #4 this year after adding nearly 200 courses to its total in the last two years.
Where Would U.S. States Rank Against Countries in Disc Golf Courses Per Capita?
The United States' population and area dwarf those of most disc golfing countries. For example, Texas is bigger in size than every country other than the U.S. in the top 25 of disc golf courses per capita with just two exceptions: Australia and Canada.
Since U.S. states are often more comparable in terms of size and populace to nations that play tons of disc golf, we thought it'd be interesting to see how their stats match up in world disc golf course per capita rankings.
Here's what we found: While the top four countries – Iceland, Finland, Estonia, and Norway – would retain their ranks, U.S. states would make up the rest of the top 25 other than 17th place, which would go to Sweden. Additionally, U.S. states counting as countries would actually push the current #6 in the rankings (Denmark) to 36th in the world.
To learn more about U.S. states' disc golf courses per capita rates, check out "Disc Golf Courses Per Capita: All U.S. States Ranked In 2024."
Disc Golf in Antarctica...Really?
You might have noticed in our earlier map that Antarctica was a deep blue, indicating a high level of disc golf courses per capita. That's because the continent technically has no permanent human population but two disc golf courses.
How does that work? Learn about it in our post "Extraordinary Disc Golf Courses: Ross Island, Antarctica."
What Counted as a Disc Golf Course?
As in our look at how many disc golf courses are in the world, our goal with these stats isn't to arbitrate what counts as a disc golf course. Instead, we want to provide an indicator of the enthusiasm within countries for the sport.
Whether a course has baskets or alternative targets like tone poles, concrete tees or grass, it's still a place where people can play the sport we love and enjoy the company of friends, family, or their own thoughts. Other than invite-only courses, areas with designated places to throw from and to counted as courses for the purposes of this post.
Which Countries Have the Most Disc Golf Courses Per Capita?
These 25 countries have the world's highest disc golf courses per capita rates:
| Rank | Country | People Per Disc Golf Course | Course Total | Population | '22 to '24 Change |
| 1 | Iceland | 4,574 | 86 | 393,396 | Same |
| 2 | Finland | 5,192 | 1,082 | 5,617,310 | Same |
| 3 | Estonia | 6,670 | 204 | 1,360,546 | Same |
| 4 | Norway | 7,933 | 703 | 5,576,660 | Same |
| 5 | Sweden | 14,490 | 732 | 10,606,999 | Same |
| 6 | Denmark | 31,965 | 187 | 5,977,412 | ▲1 |
| 7 | United States of America | 33,301 | 10,373 | 345,426,571 | ▼1 |
| 8 | Belize | 37,916 | 11 | 417,072 | ▲3 |
| 9 | Latvia | 41,597 | 45 | 1,871,871 | ▲1 |
| 10 | Canada | 47,312 | 840 | 39,742,430 | ▼2 |
| 11 | New Zealand | 49,657 | 105 | 5,213,944 | ▼2 |
| 12 | Czechia | 58,988 | 182 | 10,735,859 | Same |
| 13 | Lithuania | 69,734 | 41 | 2,859,110 | Same |
| 14 | Slovenia | 176,558 | 12 | 2,118,697 | ▲1 |
| 15 | Switzerland | 178,440 | 50 | 8,921,981 | ▼1 |
| 16 | Australia | 212,010 | 126 | 26,713,205 | ▲1 |
| 17 | Austria | 217,162 | 42 | 9,120,813 | Same |
| 18 | Luxembourg | 224,345 | 3 | 673,036 | ▼2 |
| 19 | Slovakia | 239,424 | 23 | 5,506,760 | Same |
| 20 | Germany | 416,514 | 203 | 84,552,242 | Same |
| 21 | France | 471,975 | 141 | 66,548,530 | Same |
| 22 | Croatia | 484,416 | 8 | 3,875,325 | New |
| 23 | United Kingdom | 601,202 | 115 | 69,138,192 | ▼1 |
| 24 | Belgium | 617,830 | 19 | 11,738,763 | Same |
| 25 | Netherlands | 628,577 | 29 | 18,228,742 | New |
Note: We know that "people per disc golf course" and "disc golf courses per capita" aren't the same thing. We opted to use the "per capita" wording here so that people looking for this information would be likely to find it. We opted to use "people per course" in our table because it's an easier way to visualize the stats' meaning.
Top Nations in Disc Golf Courses Per Capita – Special Cases
There are seven nations that have special status with larger countries that could be in the top 25 in disc golf courses per capita depending on your definition of "country." Here's what they are and where they'd rank if they were all included as separate entities in the overall list:
| Nation |
Would-Be Rank | People Per Disc Golf Course | Course Total | Population | Special Status With... |
| Åland Islands | 1 | 1,600 | 19 | 30,400 | Finland |
| Svalbard and Jan Mayen | 2 | 2,596 | 1 | 2,596 | Norway |
| United States Virgin Islands | 8 | 21,226 | 4 | 84,905 | U.S.A. |
| Greenland | 9 | 27,920 | 2 | 55,840 | Denmark |
| Faroe Islands | 16 | 55,400 | 1 | 55,400 | Denmark |
| Guam | 19 | 167,777 | 1 | 167,777 | U.S.A. |
| Curaçao | 22 | 185,482 | 1 | 185,482 | Netherlands |
Notably, we did not include the courses in these places in the totals of the countries they're affiliated with in the earlier per capita list.
If you just skimmed the table above, take a second to think about just how crazy the course total is for the tiny population of the Åland Islands. This autonomous, Swedish-speaking region of Finland is a collection of islands between the Swedish and Finnish mainlands, and it's added most of those courses within just the last few years. It was all part of a plan to bring disc golf tourists to the Islands from Sweden, Finland, Estonia, and elsewhere.
Should your interest in making a trip there be piqued, learn more about what it could be like in "Disc Golf Travel Guide: A Week in the Åland Islands," which includes detailed advice on where to play, where to stay, what to eat and drink, and more based on the author's firsthand experiences.
Which Countries Added the Most Disc Golf Courses Between 2022 & 2024?
These countries built the most disc golf courses over the last two years:
| Rank | Country | Courses Added '22 to '24 |
| 1 | U.S.A. | 919 |
| 2 | Norway | 189 |
| 3 | Sweden | 110 |
| 4 | Canada | 108 |
| 5 | Finland | 79 |
| 6 | Denmark | 38 |
| T7 | Czechia | 15 |
| T7 | Estonia | 15 |
| T9 | Austria | 11 |
| T9 | Latvia | 11 |
Other than the United States, Norway (pop. 5,576,660) – which has a population around that of Minnesota's – built far and away the most courses of any nation over the last two years. If it keeps up the pace, it could join Finland and the U.S. in the 1,000 courses club in a few years. The same goes for both Sweden (pop. 10,606,999) and Canada (pop. 39,742,430).
For comparison, the top U.S. state in courses added (Michigan, pop. 10,037,261), gained 77 courses since 2022. Norway's total is almost 2.5 times that sum.
Which Countries Have the Most Disc Golf Courses?
These ten countries have the most disc golf courses in the world:
| Rank | Country | '24 Disc Golf Course Total |
| 1 | U.S.A. | 10,373 |
| 2 | Finland | 1,082 |
| 3 | Canada | 840 |
| 4 | Sweden | 732 |
| 5 | Norway | 703 |
| 6 | Estonia | 204 |
| 7 | Germany | 203 |
| 8 | Denmark | 187 |
| 9 | Czechia | 182 |
| 10 | France | 141 |
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