We've covered how to get support and funding for new disc golf courses often on Release Point, but we haven't directly addressed something just as important: Gathering resources to improve existing courses in need of some TLC.
Today that changes as we take a look at the recent histories of Dieppe Disc Golf Course in New Brunswick, Canada, and Creekside Park, in Millcreek, Utah.
The two tracks are in public parks and recently received significant upgrades thanks to a mix of grants, public funding, and volunteer work from local clubs. The improvements have resulted in big spikes in round counts, unique players, and recreation hours at both locations.
We talked with three drivers of the Dieppe and Creekside refurbishment projects, and we learned a lot about how they convinced local decision-makers that putting time and money into disc golf infrastructure was a valuable investment and how their current course stats prove their past arguments. Now you can, too.
Background on the Courses & Sources
Learn a bit about the two courses and the people we spoke to about the campaigns to improve them.
Creekside Park Disc Golf Course, Utah
Installed in 1982, Creekside Park was among the earliest permanent disc golf courses in the world. It was originally designed by the late "Steady" Ed Headrick, who earned the epithet "father of disc golf" by inventing the first disc golf basket, founding the Professional Disc Golf Association that still governs the sport today, and more.
But Creekside is notable for more than its place in disc golf history. Located just outside Utah's most populous city and capital, Salt Lake City, the course is the most-played in the state – taking the #1 spot in Utah every year since we started publicly recognizing states' most popular disc golf courses in 2018. After its overhaul in 2023, Creekside rounds recorded by players with UDisc increased by 54% from 19,334 in 2023 to 29,686 in 2024.
To get an idea of the magnitude of those numbers, we'll give you a comparison. Creekside saw 3,239 more rounds recorded with UDisc in 2024 than Oregon's most popular course, Pier Park. Pier is in Oregon's capital, Portland, which has a population over three times larger than Salt Lake City's (about 631,000 to 210,000, respectively). The year following the remodeling marked the first time since 2020 that Creekside had more recorded rounds than Pier.
We spoke with Scott Belchak, Founder and Director of ElevateUT Disc Golf a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to growing disc golf in Utah, about the successful campaign to give Creekside a makeover and the advice he'd give others with similar goals for their own area courses.
Dieppe Disc Golf Course, New Brunswick, Canada
Unlike Creekside, Dieppe Disc Golf Course was still fairly young – installed in 2017 – when it got its facelift in 2023. Still, it truly needed work because it was originally put in on a shoestring budget. At the time it was built, the local disc golf community was simply happy to have it as the next-closest course was a 30-minute drive away. But things like poor signage, bad drainage, and other issues were keeping the course from becoming a real attraction.
After the improvements, Dieppe saw about a 50% increase in rounds recorded with UDisc and a 40% rise in the number of unique players it attracted in 2024 compared to 2023 (from 1,699 in 2023 to 2,347 in 2024).
Luc Richard and Rick Robichaud of the local club Dieppe Disc Golf talked to us about how they raised the funds that made the enhancements and statistical leaps possible.
Want Disc Golf Course Upgrades? Use Stats to Make the Case
Even when a town already has a disc golf course, the sport is often unknown to local decision-makers. Having impressive, trustworthy stats that show disc golf's local and regional popularity can make them more willing to pay attention to it.
"The biggest hurdle was educating decision makers on what disc golf is and how it can benefit the community", said Richard. "Until they know what it is or personally get involved in the sport, it's hard to convince them of the value. The data we gathered from UDisc helped so much. Anyone who runs events knows the value of data."
The UDisc data Richard referred to is free and available to all Course Ambassadors in a few clicks or is just a quick email to [email protected] away. Because the UDisc app is the most popular digital scoring method in disc golf, the stats it can offer related to rounds recorded, unique players, time spent, steps taken, and much more at courses paint a compelling picture that legitimizes the sport to those who know little to nothing about it.
Having these sorts of stats can also help disc golf stand out from better-known activities.
"The UDisc data has been instrumental," said Belchak. "It correlates to direct impact. They don't have these kinds of numbers for other amenities like mountain biking. Bringing decision-makers concrete data is huge."
While many disc golf community leaders find success printing out pre-formatted Fact Sheets about a course that they can download from UDisc with one click, Belchak takes it a step further by creating custom printed booklets that complement the numbers with compelling stories and beautiful images.
"I've got this theory that it's very easy to throw away digital things, but if you print something on a nice high gloss booklet and present them with essentially a high quality piece of art, it's gonna go on a bookshelf," said Belchak. "They won't feel comfortable throwing it away. It might be a small psychological trick, but it also might help you get what you want later on."
Belchak also stresses to decision-makers that only a portion of disc golfers record their rounds on UDisc, which means courses always have an even larger impact than UDisc stats alone show.
Improving Disc Golf Courses Improves Their Economic Impact
While you may want to stick to stats like recreation hours, steps taken, and unique vistiors when talking with parks departments, other local organizations or government branches will likely be interested to hear that a good disc golf course can bring money into its area. And the better a disc golf course is, the more likely it is to attract people from far away who will spend money locally on gas, food, and possibly even accommodation.
"Economic impact is really important," said Belchak. "You can visualize disc golf courses as a heat map; if you build the nicest course you possibly can, a new light will emerge on the map. People are going to change their playing habits and patterns. Local restaurants, gas stations, and grocery stores will all benefit. These things are very important to stakeholders."
Robichaud has seen this exact effect in Dieppe and the surrounding area following course improvements. Along with luring in more players who come from a distance to play the course on normal days, the overhauled track is now an attractive destination for events such as fundraisers and tournaments that bring in concentrated crowds of disc golf tourists.
"Our league nights and tournaments, such as the Dieppe Open 2025, are drawing participants from other provinces and countries," said Robichaud. "These visitors spend money at hotels, Airbnbs, restaurants, and local shops, directly benefiting the local economy. Our Dieppe Open 2025 A-Tier tournament, for example, is attracting players from six provinces, the U.S., and Mexico."
When Upgrading Disc Golf Courses, Aim Big to Win Big
For a course to attract significantly more traffic from locals or tourists, it will need to be significantly better than it was before its upgrades.
This means clubs should think beyond just baskets and tee pads when they prepare funding proposals and consider other costs that could take their course from playable to exceptional. This includes items such as trash cans, benches, out-of-bounds markers, proper drainage, signage for wayfinding, and mulch to reduce erosion and soil compaction. It's also worth considering future costs for maintenance and repairs.
"It's important to differentiate disc golf as being affordable to play versus disc golf being affordable to install," said Belchak. "The idea should be to spend as much as you possibly can to make the best course possible. The cost is still a fraction of what it costs to install a pickleball court or high-end playground. It's still a budget item."
After receiving funding for improvements, Dieppe Disc Golf Course originally focused on improving drainage but was eventually able to add ten new benches, improve signage, upgrade their tee pads, and add porta potties.
"Dieppe Disc Golf Course was built in a drainage area; two major ball fields drain directly into the disc golf course area," said Richard. "The club raised $5,000 to help fix the drainage issue and the city matched it. Drainage was our only goal at first. You can basically play in sneakers the whole year round now."
The course has seen a huge increase in popularity since these improvements were implemented, with play counts more than doubling in many months from 2023 to 2024. Clubs should think bigger than just the essentials when envisioning the future of their course and seeking funding for it.
"Disc golf courses are designed spaces, and they should be treated as such," said Belchak. "Courses are not just tees and sleeves. We need infrastructure. We should have trails between baskets and tee pads and well defined out of bounds with items like boulders or fences."
Help Them Help Disc Golf Through Grant-Finding & Collaboration
Money and people's time are the two things hardest to come by when it comes to getting almost any public project off the ground. When disc golf clubs make those two things easy for decision-makers to find, their projects are much more likely to get greenlit.
One way to do this is by seeking out grants that could fund the project before going into meetings. In many areas across the globe, there are organizations at local, regional, and nationwide levels that financially support the expansion of outdoor or general recreational activities. Doing the legwork of identifying available grants and educating decision-makers about them can be a great way to not only locate funding for course improvements but demonstrate that the disc golf community is ready and able to support the project.
Belchak stressed again that it was a good idea to swing for the fences if public officials support submitting a grant application.
"Oftentimes, we don't ask for enough because we don't think we're going to get it," said Belchak. "But a lot of grants want you to ask for the most. They want to support great outdoor recreation."
Beyond financial assistance, grants can provide an avenue for disc golf clubs and groups to show dedication as many grants have fund-matching requirements which can be met with both monetary contributions as well as in-kind volunteer hours.
This provides incentive for the disc golf community and municipality to invest in the project, both monetarily and through volunteer work, to ensure they don't leave grant money on the table. Richard and Robichaud found that showing they were ready to collaborate with the city was key to getting them invested in improving Dieppe Disc Golf Course.
"The two keywords for me are passion and collaboration," said Richard. "We had the passion. The next step was approaching the project from a place of collaboration. Instead of hitting the city on the head with demands, we made suggestions, collaborated, offered volunteer manpower, and showed them that we had a group of people willing to put their time into the course."
With both the city and the disc golf club invested in it, Dieppe was able to be improved much faster than it would have if just one party was doing all the work. Not only that, but the more workers put time and energy into the course, the more they discovered just how fun disc golf could be.
"There were two city workers who played disc golf at the start," said Richard. "There's now a group of 10 to 15 workers who play; director level administrators are starting to join in as well."
More Resources
Though the information above should take you a long way toward realizing the goal of updating a local course that needs some work, there are plenty of upsides to supporting disc golf we didn't have time to dive into. One of our sources for this post pointed out quite a few of them.
"Beyond the economic impact, disc golf fosters volunteerism, promotes physical and mental wellness, and encourages residents to get outside, exercise, and engage in a stress-relieving activity," said Robichaud.
We have posts here on Release Point that examine many of those topics, and here are a few of them for you to explore:
