Whether it's taking a polar plunge, training to eat the most hot dogs possible in 10 minutes, or running ultramarathons, pushing the limits of almost any activity holds an attraction for some people. Disc golf is no different.
While we've previously dived into the world of avid disc golf course collectors (including the story of the disc golfer who played over 900 unique 18-hole courses in 2023), some players prefer the more compact extreme experience of an endurance disc golf tournament. While around 36 holes (two 18-hole rounds) is the standard max for a day of disc golf competition, endurance tournaments often ask players to take on 100 or more holes (sometimes on an absurd number of courses) without a break. And since summer is the the season with the most daylight, sizzling temperatures are another typical factor.
We spoke with creators, directors, and winners of four different endurance disc golf tournaments to learn what compels them to push the boundaries of the sport.
Estonia's 100-Hole Disc Golf Tournament: The Järva-Jaani 100
The largest endurance disc golf event by participation that we could locate was the Järva-Jaani 100 held in Järva-Jaani, Estonia, and run by Anti Orgla and Arto Saar, along with the Järva-Jaani Disc Golf Club. The formerly one-day, 100-hole competition became so popular that to meet demand, the organizers started running two of them back-to-back on a Saturday and Sunday. In 2024, 783 players racked up a combined 250,230 throws over the weekend.
"Ten years ago we designed and built a disc golf course in Järva-Jaani, which is a small town in middle Estonia, around 1,000 population," said Orgla. "Arto was the mayor of the municipality at the time, so that helped a lot."
The course quickly became a staple of Estonian disc golf and introduced the country to its first island hole, first bunker hazard rule, first stroke and distance rule, and many other aspects of the sport.
"In the same year we had the Estonian Championships on the course," Orgla said. "We also held Järva-Jaani Open, which was an entry-level event for amateurs...a low entrance fee and on a course that was specially modified for the event to give a big competition feel for players who maybe had not played bigger events yet."
In 2018, Estonia – which became an autonomous nation following World War I – was approaching its centennial, and the country began organizing a series of cultural events called the "Republic of Estonia 100." This call to rally patriotic spirit set the wheels in motion.
"The number 100 sounded intriguing, so an idea was born of a 100-basket disc golf race," said Orgla. "It had to be 100 separate holes, and though the idea sounded a bit crazy, we were sure we had to carry it out no matter what."
Orgla and Saar began designing a course that would go through the entire town, passing through the important landmarks of Järva-Jaani.
"It involved the local course but in addition to that went through the stadium, the lake, motocross track, museum of old vehicles, town center, and the school," said Orgla. "It even had four indoor holes in the old dormitory building — one of which had a 70-meter [230-foot] straight hallway shot!"
Much of the land used for the course was municipal land, and because Arto Saar was the mayor, getting permission for the course was not much of an issue. The more difficult problem was finding 82 baskets to complement their course's permanent 18.
"Some were borrowed from nearby disc golf courses; some were borrowed from friends," said Orgla. "Some were borrowed from local basket manufacturers, and somehow we managed to pull together 100 baskets."
The finalized course had holes averaging around 65 meters/213 feet with 95 of the 100 holes longer than 50 meters/164 feet. The length of the course was about 15 kilometers/9.3 miles. In its first year, 219 players registered, making it the largest-ever event in Estonia at that time in terms of participation. Players were on the course for approximately 10 hours and the winning score was 54-under par.
"As the competition was a success and was praised by participants, the next year all available 400 spots were sold out in a matter of minutes," Orgla said. "So we had a full house in 2018 and 2019. But as so many people did not get a chance to play, we decided to make the event two-day, with separate marathons on Saturday and Sunday."
The pandemic paused the tournament for a couple of years but it resumed in 2023 with over 700 players signing up. Along with the disc golf, there is a stage with live music, 400 boxes of pizza, merchandise vendors, and a putting raffle for a barrel sauna. All the festivities help encourage players through the tough ending.
"It's a hard challenge altogether," said Orgla. "You will be very tired at the end of it — you don't want to play any more disc golf for the last quarter of it; you curse yourself about signing up. But you'll feel the achievement when you get a medal at the finish, and you'll be the first one to sign up next year."
The course can be seen in full on this vlog of the event.
The Delaware State Park Showdown
The small state of Delaware has seven disc golf courses in seven different state parks. During the Delaware State Park Showdown, participants have to play all of them in a single day. A 2024 competitor in the Showdown sponsored by local shop Cosmic Disc Golf, Mike Rowe, gave us his insights about the tournament, during which he played 127 holes, took around 40,000 steps (nearly 20 miles/32.2 kilometers), and drove 165 miles/265.5 kilometers over 15 hours.
"Most of the interests throughout my life have had some sort of endurance aspect – running, music festivals, camping, hiking," said Rowe. "I've always pretty much been a ball of energy, so if there is an opportunity to do a thing I like for a longer-than-usual amount of time, my interest will be piqued."
The Showdown offered just that sort of opportunity, lining up the disc golf courses at Bellevue, Brandywine Creek, Cape Henlopen, Killens Pond, Lums Pond, Trap Pond, and White Clay Creek state parks into one bonanza of disc golf on state-run recreational properties. Rowe had done a similar event before but not quite to this level.
"The closest thing I've done is King of the Hill, which is a four-round, single-day event at Iron Hill, a famously difficult former pro tour stop here in Delaware," Rowe said. "It's run by Mike Tolbert, the same evil genius who ran the State Park Showdown, so this felt like a logical next step for me."
Rowe said a key to success at the Showdown is being very strategic about travel.
"I think route planning was probably the most important part of having a shot at finishing the event," Rowe said. "Beach traffic in Delaware can be brutal on summer weekends, so all of the cards made the smart decision to begin at the beach and work our way north to avoid that."
And though it isn't the desert near Las Vegas, heat is still a factor at this summer event.
"The heat and sun were relentless all day, with temperatures around 100° F [38° C]," said Rowe. "Luckily, four of the seven courses are wooded, so the shade was a godsend that kept fatigue at bay."
The unforgiving four-foot (1.2-meter) thorny rough of course six, Brandywine Creek, nearly caused Rowe to call it quits and take a swim in the creek, but cardmates O'Neill and Tolbert helped him push through to the end, where O'Neill hit an ace on the 124th hole of the day.
"That gave us one final enormous burst of energy to get across the finish line," said Rowe. "I think it's worth mentioning that not only did all of the cards finish the event, but half of the participants were over 40 years old."
The Great 8 in Raleigh, North Carolina
One of the longer-running endurance disc golf events we came across is the Great 8 Tournament held in and around the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area in North Carolina (often called the Triangle). The idea originated from Lowe Bibby and Mark Faggion in 1999.
"After a friend told me about playing six courses in one day," said Bibby. "I started thinking, 'I wonder how many courses you could play in one day?', and eight seemed like a good number. Plus we liked the rhyming sound of 'The Great 8.'"
The problem at that time was there were barely eight courses in the Triangle to choose from – and one of them was a subpar course in an apartment complex. The pair picked a Saturday near the summer solstice and played all eight in one day to great success. After a few years, the two tried to create a successful event out of the idea but found it difficult to promote in an age before social media.
"Flyers at course kiosks were the main ways to get the word out pre-Facebook," Bibby said. "Another venue was old school online discussion forums. It was hard to reach that niche portion of disc golfers who wanted to try an Ironman event that needed endurance."
Bibby and Faggion continued to play the event but passed its direction on to Jay Pontier, who still runs the Great 8 today. Also a course designer, Pontier created the highly-rated Diavolo in Cary, North Carolina, which is one of the world's top 100 disc golf courses and the first stop for some during the Great 8.
A healthcare content developer and veteran, Pontier saw the Great 8 as an opportunity to foster friendship and community. He has made some changes to the event, altering the courses to stay in the Triangle as well as switching to a best-shot doubles format.
"We'll have two pools set up with 50 teams each and they will start on two different courses," Pontier said. "The check in is around 5:15 AM to 5:50 AM. And then I try to get all the teams started around 6 AM."
Players start at either Diavolo or the University of North Carolina Disc Golf Course and then take their own routes before ending at Swinging DB's, a private course which allows for some post-tournament celebration. You can reach each course with about 90 miles/145 kilometers of driving throughout the Triangle. Though it may sound exceedingly difficult, Pontier is encouraging.
"I always tell people it's a lot easier than you think it's going to be," said Pontier. "However, if you don't manage some things correctly, like your feet management, and your body temperature, and keeping hydrated, it could go south real quick. But we have a lot of people finish."
Pontier estimates an 80% completion rate. Throughout the event, there are a number of awards, like lowest divisional score, course CTP, overall CTP of the day, and last shot of the day CTP. There are also all-time records like lowest score and fastest on-course completion time – currently held by Mike Kirsch and Austin Peterman at two hours and 57 minutes.
This years' winners, Drew Cheap and Robert Bohinski, shot a 107-under par.
"I find playing fast gets me in a groove and I tend to play better," said Cheap. "So in a tournament that's all about speed and endurance combined with good play, I felt fairly confident about our chances to win. We both threw well – especially on narrow, straight shots – and had each other's backs on the putting green."
Now in its 26th year, the Great 8 is thriving, with 116 participants at the 2024 event tallying over 20,000 throws. Bibby credits much of its success to Pontier.
"The main thing that I want to emphasize is that Jay Pontier is the main person responsible for making the Great 8 what it is today," said Bibby. "Without Jay, the Great 8 would not be where it is today, and most likely it would not even still exist."
The 144 holes include Diavolo, UNC, Cedar Hills, Kentwood, Middle Creek, Jones Park, Buckhorn, and Swinging DB's.
100 Holes of Hell Near Las Vegas, Nevada
Endurance disc golf lovers try to beat the heat at 100 Holes of Hell near Las Vegas, where the Mojave Desert climate means temperatures climb well into the triple digits Fahrenheit. Started in 2011 by Jeff Jacquart and Matt Alexander, the event began as a special 25-hole layout at the local Sunset Park played four times in a row. Jacquart heard of a similar event in Texas and decided to try it in Sin City.
"The goal was to see how many people could play 100 holes in one day," said Jacquart. "First time anything like this was done in Vegas. The total length of all four rounds was at least 31,296 feet [9,539 meters] or almost six miles [9.5 kilometers] per player."
Since 2011, the tournament has been handed off to several people, with the most recent tournament director (TD) being Leonard Wilcots, the current Vice President of Las Vegas Disc Golf Club (LVDGC).
"My goal for this year's event was to try and have as even of a playing field as possible by creating a 34 hole course that we play three times, making it 102 holes," Wilcots said. "The shortest hole was 107 feet [33 meters] and the longest was 275 feet [84 meters]."
Setting up the course is actually one of the more challenging aspects of coordinating the tournament. Sunset Park is normally a 24-hole course – and quite a popular one – not far from the Las Vegas strip. Wilcots starts three days prior to the event, setting up temporary tee pads, island holes, and mandatories. His crew is small and primarily includes LVDGC President Craig King, Ben Smith, and Assistant TD Scott Merritt.
As its name suggests, however, the main opponent of the 100 Holes of Hell is the heat.
"My inspiration comes from trying to keep people safe in the heat," said Wilcots. "Two years ago it was 113° F [45° C] during the event, and this year our high was 109° F [43° C]. This year we started with 72 players and ended with 65 and no one needing medical attention."
Yes, this is an event where "no one needing medical attention" is cause for celebration.
Wilcots encourages players to start preparing for the event well ahead of time. He suggests they start hydrating and acclimating themselves to outdoor temperatures – initial short walks that lead to longer rounds of golf – at least a week prior. Part of the players' packs for the tournament includes cooling towels and electrolyte mix.
Assistant TD Scott Merritt played the 2024 event and shot the top score of 67-under par.
"I've been either volunteering or playing in the event since the second year it existed in 2012," said Merritt. "I've always loved the endurance style of this tournament – just making sure that you're in the moment focusing on the goal, which to me is more to finish than to win."
Merritt has developed a set of strategies to deal with the heat: drink on every tee pad, move from shade to shade while going to and from lies, and avoid expending energy needlessly.
"You always need to be focused on the fact that this event is a marathon not a sprint," Merritt said. "It will get to you, especially in the third round."
A tight battle commenced in the final round between Merritt and Labis Kragaris, but Merritt birdied the final four holes to keep the lead and win his division.
Join In On the Fun
This is by no means a comprehensive list of endurance events, and new ones are popping up all the time. If you're intrigued by the thought of ten or more hours of disc golf, you can check UDisc Events for opportunities near you.
