Minnesota. North Carolina. Colorado. The Nordics.

To have a healthy disc golf community, you've got to have courses. And those places have a ton of them.

• ☝️ But there's more to it than just quantity: UDisc's course availability index takes inspiration from spatial access, a concept that researchers in other industries use to determine, for example, how easy it is to find healthcare providers in rural communities or whether people can conveniently shop at healthy food retailers.

We applied similar methods to help answer our first question, comparing where people actually live to where disc golf courses are; the closer courses are to more densely populated areas, the higher a community ranks on the course availability index. After all, wouldn’t you rather live 10 minutes from your home course than 30?

And with that, we present the top places on the course availability index, which we'll fondly refer to as disc golf hotbeds. If you go there, odds are you're going to find somewhere to play.

• 🚨 Pro tip: Check out the tips for interpreting the data below – click on the
  to learn more!

Want a tip for improving your community’s course availability? Install a short course.

Short courses – those with nine or fewer holes - were installed at nearly twice the pace of their longer counterparts in 2022. 

• One of the top reasons we love them? They don’t require as much space. That means you can fit one in a smaller urban park or school playground and provide access to a course for those who would otherwise have to travel farther.

Per Sam Klotman of the Bull City Disc Club, Forest Hills Park in Durham, North Carolina, started as a short, temporary course not too far away from the city center. With its convenient location exposing the course to other parkgoers, it's now a fixture in the region. Last year it was played over 600 times by more than 200 unique disc golfers.

• 🌽 It's the Field of Dreams philosophy: If you build it, they will come. In this case, if you can't get 18 holes to begin with, don't be afraid to start with nine. The rest will follow, and they just might come in bunches.

With course installs starting back in the late 1980s, it's clear Charlotte, North Carolina, was ahead of the curve in adopting disc golf. That's paid dividends for residents of the Queen City, who now have nearly 20 places to play within city limits alone – not to mention the network effects that have helped the sport spawn in the surrounding areas.

• The secret? In addition to time and a club that now boasts 600 annual members, it helps to have someone on the inside. In this case, it was Disc Golf Hall of Fame member Alan Beaver, who worked at the Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation Department from 1978 to 2010.

While that might sound like too convenient of a connection to be replicated, current Charlotte Disc Golf Club Treasurer Mark Huether said disc golf's increasing popularity makes finding an advocate easier than you'd think.

"It's really about getting the internal buy-in," Huether said. "The sport's growing enough that you can probably find someone, even if it's a maintenance guy, who can have the ear of somebody in charge."

• 👉 Case in point: A few hours northeast of Charlotte is a smaller city with a similar story. In Rocky Mount, North Carolina, longtime disc golfer and parks and recreation department employee Lynn Driver helped found the Rocky Mount Disc Golf Club and has played a critical role in getting seven courses installed in the city since 2008, according to club vice president TJ McArthur.

• “Any park that can support a disc golf course, we got it,” McArthur said.

Czechia boasts about 170 courses – up from 100 in 2019.

• 📈 If it keeps that pace into 2024 that means it will have doubled its course total in a mere five years.

Sitting as the anchor of the sport's activity is Prague; the nation's capital is among the top 15 large cities in the world for course availability thanks to its 18 courses that serve just over a million people.

• 🔥 It may not usually be uttered in the same breath as the Nordic hotbeds, but Czechia is blazing the trail for fellow Eastern European enclaves: Vilnius, Lithuania, and Riga, Latvia, are also among the top 40 large cities for course availability outside of the U.S.

Go deeper: Read our Czechia travel guide and start planning your next vacation.

Pick from around 200 courses between New Zealand and Australia, as the island nations continue to prove their strength as disc golf hotbeds with each passing season.

• 🇳🇿 Narrow your focus to Christchurch and you get a top city for both availability and variety. We won't blame you if you want to stay for a while.

At #25 on the index, Japan boasts a rich disc golf history and is closing in on 100 courses.

• 🇯🇵 But its vast population – more than 125 million – means plenty of opportunity for expansion, too.

One city where disc golf is almost as common as a grocery store – there are eight 18-hole courses inside the city limits and three just outside – is Tulsa, Oklahoma. Boasting a population of just over 407,000, this semi-urban enclave on the Arkansas River may not have the notoriety of locales like Charlotte and Minneapolis, but maybe it should.

A main driver of local growth has been the Tulsa Disc Sports Association (TDSA), a club that's been contributing to the community since 1977.

• 👥 Keeping courses near population centers has always been high on the group's priority list, according to TDSA Secretary and Oklahoma Disc Golf Foundation Vice President Kyle Gibon.

• 🌳 "What we bring to the table is urban park disc golf," Gibon said. "We don't have any pay-to-play courses – every course is in a public park. We build courses where people already are."

The club has added and improved upon several courses over the last few decades, knowing when and where to plant new baskets by keeping its finger on the pulse of the players.

The organization also looks back while looking forward as it aims to continue growing. Rather than entirely rethinking existing courses, TDSA approaches them like "a fixer-upper house" where they balance preserving history alongside delivering new improvements.

• 🏚️ "Tulsa courses are a three bed, two bath house that could have been gutted and bulldozed, but they don't have to be," Gibon said. "Make additions, make some upgrades, but keep the bones that you have. If you need something completely different, build a bigger pie by putting in new courses. Cutting smaller pieces [changing the courses you do have] changes what you've already accomplished."

Among those accomplishments? Tulsa is ranked as the top disc golf destination in Oklahoma and landed at #31 last time UDisc released its list of best disc golf cities in the U.S. It will also play host to the 2024 PDGA Junior Disc Golf World Championship next summer. Seems like these Sooners are onto something.

New York City. India. Metropolitan areas. If there's a place with a large population, but not a lot of disc golf, it's probably high on the opportunity index.

• 🚧 Even some places where disc golf is established but faces regulatory roadblocks can climb to the top of the list here, too.

Think of it this way: The addition of a single course to any of these locales could help the sport take off like wildfire purely because it can get in front of so many more people.

We considered calling this the disc golf desert index, but we're glass-half-full folks around here. So let's take a closer look at the regions that make up the opportunity index, places where so many people could be exposed to this activity that we can't help but be optimistic for what the future could hold.

From Chicago to Calgary to the UK and Germany, the concept of the "pop-up" course is a tried and true method to show that there is demand for disc golf in your community.

How's it work?

• 🌳 Find a park, create a layout, and get organized. Call on other local players to bring their own baskets, make it a regular occurrence, and spread the word.

It's paid off in the Windy City, where non-profit organization Disc Golf Chicago has moved from a one-hole exposition-style event in the city center to now working hand-in-glove with the Forest Preserve District of Cook County to identify parkland that will put the sport in front of the most people possible.

• ⛳ It's not uncommon for temporary courses on traditional golf courses to eventually become permanent fixtures in metro areas where open land may come at a premium, too.

We've also seen disc golfers pioneer "bring your own basket" setups in England, Greece, Germany, and several other locales as they satisfy interest and prove there is demand for the sport.

• ⚾ Just be sure to play ball with local authorities – it's always best to get their sign-off before you go and commandeer a park without permission.

“My local officials were excited for someone to take initiative to offer a new activity for locals, but it was good to get clear permission to use a specific space for pop-up disc golf events,” said Alex Williamson, who recently helped his town of Bad Sobernheim, Germany, design and install its first disc golf course. “The space I originally wanted to use turned out to be owned privately by local farmers – not the city. If I’d run events there without asking, it could have made disc golf a contentious issue from the get-go."

• ✅ "By seeking approval you make sure disc golf gets off on the right foot in your area, make contacts in the right places, and establish yourself as a thoughtful and trustworthy person to work with,” Williamson said.

No, this isn't a blatant ploy to get more people to use the app. For many clubs and municipalities, especially those in less populated areas with fewer economic resources, measuring disc golf activity on UDisc is the most reliable way to show that a course will be worth the investment.

• ℹ️ Our team fields scores of requests for local play count data every year from organizers who are trying to pitch disc golf to their local stakeholders, with several yielding new projects. In a survey of volunteers who built new courses in 2022, over half of respondents said they used UDisc information in their pitch to local decision-makers.

• 🚀 We also send more than 10,000 monthly reports to Course Ambassadors that include statistics on how much time people spend at their course, where they travel from, and more. These dedicated volunteers use this information to lobby for course improvements, sponsorships from local businesses and, yes, more courses.

"UDisc has helped land us three new courses in two years, lots of funding, and recognition in communities with their stats," said Brett Hanna, the director of disc golf for the Highland Valley Outdoor Association in British Columbia, Canada. "The easy-to-consume and meaningful stats streamline reporting from a place of fact and not just a place of passion."

If we had a dollar for every time we read a story about pickleball players banding together to pack the room at a city council meeting, we'd have…at least enough money to buy some new discs. Point being, pickleball has absolutely exploded in large part due to its players' lobbying efforts, and that's something disc golfers can learn from.

• 📢 "Go to park board meetings, local city council meetings – anything – and make your presence known," Tulsa Disc Golf Association Secretary Kyle Gibon said. "Know the numbers, provide them when asked – they are a huge bargaining chip. Go even when you're not directly asking for something. When they see you present, they'll listen to you. When they keep seeing you, they will start asking you."

This also extends to other community events, like park cleanups and workdays. The more you can show that disc golfers are willing to work for the greater community, and not just for themselves, the more likely it is that community leaders will embrace you.

• But don't worry: Just hitting the course to play is always a positive, too.

• "I've had numerous parks people give me the same quote: 'It doesn't matter what time of day the parks are open, it doesn't matter what the weather conditions are – there's always a disc golfer out at the parks,'" Charlotte Disc Golf Club Treasurer Mark Huether said. "You can't say that about every other park user."

The Big Apple tops the list for opportunity, as the five boroughs' 7.9 million residents currently have nary a chain in sight.

• 🗽 That's not for lack of trying: UDisc has provided insights to at least three separate groups in the last year that are making headway with city parks authorities, and we hear one of these is verging on a breakthrough for 2024. Keep your fingers crossed.

It may seem obvious, but it's worth emphasizing: The impact a single permenent course in India could have on the sport's trajectory is immense.

• 🏏 Sure, cricket may be the national pastime in the world's most populous country, but that just means they can afford to shave off a small slice for disc golf.

On the plus side, there are initial signs of progress: The country's first temporary/special event course was added to UDisc mere days before this report was published, and an organization called Disc Golf India is aiming to kickstart the community.

How does a city in Texas – the #6 state for availability – end up in the top 5 for growth potential? It's all about population, and that's the story for El Paso.

• 🌵 The city of nearly 750,000 along the U.S.-Mexico border already has three 18-hole courses in the ground, but its placement on the large city opportunity index shows that's not quite enough.

• 🛸 Add in nearby Las Cruces, New Mexico, which is about 45 minutes away, and you get nearly 1 million people who could use some more places to play.

Mexico has been a bright spot for disc golf in the past couple of years, with notable courses and events established by the Paul McBeth Foundation and Dynamic Discs, respectively.

• 🇲🇽 Over 11,000 rounds were played on the country’s 16 courses in 2023.

However, little of the infrastructure there so far has also coincided with population density.

• 🌱 Mexico City's 12.3 million people only have access to one disc golf course, and the city that does rank on our availability index – San Luis Potosi, population 825,000 – only sports 36 holes. We can't wait to see what is in store as these roots start to spread farther.

The Ocean State ranks 46th among U.S. states for availability, with only six courses to serve over a million people. If any Rhode Islanders are looking for a prime candidate for a new course, look no further than the state’s capital.

• 🌊 Providence has zero courses and ranks among the top 20 small American cities for opportunity.

While the billion-plus populations of India and China are easy targets for an international disc golf explosion, there are countries where players are trying to use the sport's existing breadcrumbs to get courses closer to home.

OK, so the Hansel and Gretel allusion may have been slightly forced, but you get where we're going with this: Berlin.

• 🇩🇪 Germany's capital city, home to 4.1 million potential disc golfers, is the top-ranked city in the country on the opportunity index and, with a handful of courses in place, would seem a leading contender to become the next great European disc golf destination.

There's just one challenge: Most of Berlin's courses require an hour-long sojourn from the city center via a mix of public transport and walking. And one 18-holer only happens when players bring their own baskets.

• ✌️ OK, that's actually two challenges.

Add in bureaucratic red tape and competition from more traditional sports, and you wouldn't blame local disc golfers for banging their heads against the wall.

"People use parks in Germany – that's great, but it's part of the problem," said Andrew GottWorth, a UDisc Course Ambassador who oversees Berlin's Weißensee Rennbahnstraße. "The parks are packed all of the time."

Plus, German parks are distinctly separated into two categories: nature parks – think trails and other passive recreation – and sports parks. While disc golf ideally would have access to the former, government regulations place it in the latter, which means the sport competes for precious real estate with everything from football pitches and outdoor gyms to tennis and handball courts.

GottWorth and fellow members of Pfeffersport, a local disc sports club, have adopted a multi-pronged strategy: plant seeds away from Berlin's main districts with inclusive events and outreach to schools; identify potential parks closer to the city and demonstrate why they would work for disc golf; and be patient.

"It's a slow crawl toward the city center," GottWorth admitted.

But that pace still has its small victories.

• When GottWorth arrived in Berlin from Louisville, Kentucky, two years ago, his course had 12 holes. The club then received approval for two more holes, then a third, and now they are able to have a full 18 for tournaments.

• He's also observed success at a pop-up course south of Berlin and knows of nearly a dozen clubs throughout the region all aiming for more places to play.

"I think we can get there – we just have to get that message across and get some buy-in," GottWorth said. "I think we're getting there. I'm hopeful."

Founded in 2012 by two Iowa State University graduates, UDisc has grown from a hobby project born of the need to find disc golf courses to a wide-reaching tool fueled by a team of 22 people (and growing). Disc golfers can use the UDisc app to keep score and navigate interactive maps for more than 15,000 courses, run leagues and events, measure throws, and track their progress – all from the convenience of their phone. UDisc also releases annual rankings of the world's best disc golf courses and the yearly Disc Golf Growth Report, which has become the industry standard for demonstrating the sport's reach. With millions of downloads on the Apple Store and Google Play, it is the #1 app for disc golfers.