By Ian Cleghorn at UDisc.
A grand opening for a new disc golf course is a big opportunity to create buzz, and that buzz should reach not just current disc golfers, but also a wide range of locals who’ve never played the game – families, groups of friends, seniors, and beyond.
Why? The more people who are excited about a disc golf course from Day 1, the more likely it is that the community will embrace the game and enjoy its many benefits.
The grand opening of Bruce’s Mill Disc Golf. Expert sources for this post, Jeff MacKeigan and Cara Hovius of ChainLink Disc Golf, designed the course and can be seen next to each other on the far left.
By building connections with the right people and institutions, marketing strategically, and planning an event with broad appeal, you can make a course’s grand opening a warm welcome for new disc golfers of all stripes and put the game on local leaders’ radar as a community asset. We talked with Jeff MacKeigan and Cara Hovius of ChainLink Disc Golf as well as course designer and former touring pro Dana Vicich to learn how to pull that off.
Combined, ChainLink and Vicich have helped bring over 60 disc golf courses to life, and those courses have seen more than 375,000 rounds recorded with UDisc (and, doubtless, thousands more not logged in the app). So their insights come with the weight of experience.
Disc Golf Course Grand Opening Essentials
Short on time? Here are the essentials from ChainLink and Vicich’s advice.
The main takeaway: Plan a community event, not a disc golf event.
Your target audience is locals who’ve never played disc golf, not people who already enjoy the game regularly. That means you need an atmosphere that’s welcoming to all ages, quick disc golf games, light and breezy instruction, non-disc golf attractions, and tons of fun. Save the tournament for later.
These three steps lay the groundwork for success:
- Get buy-in early
Ask landowners, officials, and community groups what matters to them, shape the course and event around their answers, and watch their warm feelings toward disc golf radiate to the community. - Use your community partners’ reach
Local governments’ and organizations’ media contacts, social channels, and other communication outlets can spread the word far beyond disc golf circles. - Give local leaders the spotlight
Officials at the ribbon-cutting draw crowds and press, especially when the course is framed as their community’s win.
Finally, you want to make it as easy as possible for people to play again, so give away discs if you can, and tell attendees where they can borrow or buy beginner-friendly discs.
Read on for the details and stories behind each tip.
Get Buy-In from Influential Leaders & Groups
All of our sources agreed that a great grand opening starts with community leaders, park directors, and similarly influential people feeling invested in disc golf’s success.
The ChainLink duo creates that investment at the beginning of every project by listening more than they talk.
“We lead more with, ‘Hey, councilor, tell us what matters to your constituents. Hey, landowner, why do you want people to visit the property? Hey, ecology group, what are your biggest concerns?'” MacKeigan explained.
And they don’t ask these questions assuming they already know the answers.
“Different things matter to different course owners,” said Hovius. “When we’re working with conservation authorities, which we do a lot, they’re thinking about different things than if we’re talking to a local park staff [member] who’s managing a municipal park.”
After they learn about key stakeholders’ specific priorities, MacKeigan and Hovius make sure to address them with their plans for the course and grand opening. This strategy has resulted in important figures getting deeply interested in the launch of new disc golf courses.
City of Mississauga Councilor for Ward 1 Stephen Dasko (left) with a couple at the Dellwood Park Disc Golf Course opening. You might notice the disc in the photo has Dasko’s name on it. Photo courtesy of ChainLink Disc Golf
One example is a Toronto City Councilor who both attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new course and posted about it afterward on his Instagram. In the video, it’s clear that he’s recognized disc golf’s connections to issues he and his constituents care about when he describes the course as “exactly the type of back to basic recreation investments that we need to be making to support fitness and fun and spaces for families” over clips of him throwing and cutting a ribbon tied between two baskets.
In another instance, Stephen Dasko, a councilor for the city of Mississauga (a Toronto neighbor), believed disc golf’s benefits matched his brand so well that he had discs with his name and political post printed on them to give out at the opening of beginner-friendly course Dellwood Park.
Use Connections to Publicize the Event Broadly
Having influential local partners on your side also helps with promoting grand openings.
Vicich spoke about using the “channels and connections” of local governments – their ins with local media, their social media followings, etc. – to “get the word out to the broader community.” As an example, he pointed to the particularly strong 2025 opening of Lake Kakusha Disc Golf Course in Mendota, Illinois. Its success owed a lot to the efforts of Annie Short, the project director for the city of Mendota.
A headline from ‘The Mendota Reporter’ informing the public about the Lake Kakusha opening
“She was my point of contact liaison for the city, and so she organized the date, the time, and then coordinated getting the various city officials and local media to come out,” Vicich said.
Short also got the local print newspaper, the Mendota Reporter, interested in running a story about the course’s opening. While you might think the reach of local print media is too limited to matter today, this type of publicity can connect with a large audience that doesn’t see Facebook or Instagram posts – especially ones that are mostly shared in dedicated disc golf circles.
Secure Well-Known, Respected Headliners Who Aren’t Disc Golfers
When well-known headliners attend a grand opening, it raises interest in the event. MacKeigan and Hovius even said that in their experience, having community leaders endorse a course is one of the best ways to get publicity among non-disc golfers. Their presence also attracts reporters, and the resulting coverage can spur interest in the facility long after the grand opening.
ChainLink saw this on a provincial level when it opened courses with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority.
“We have built three different courses with them, so at the grand opening of our courses at the Albion Hills Conservation Area, we were able to have the deputy premier [of Ontario] come out: Sylvia Jones,” said Hovius. “She’s also the Minister of Health and the local MPP [Member of Provincial Parliament]. It’s a way to bring attention at a provincial level to these sorts of events.”
The grand opening of The Quarry at Rotary Park in La Salle, Illinois. La Salle Mayor Jeff Grove is on the far right in the maroon-and-white hoodie. Course designer Dana Vicich can be seen in the photo holding a dog on a leash.
A key to attracting such notable figures is communicating that courses are a civic asset for all, rather than just an achievement by and for disc golfers.
“We don’t take credit at grand openings,” MacKeigan said.
Vicich’s openings have drawn local officials, too. La Salle Mayor Jeff Grove spoke at the opening of The Quarry at Rotary Park. In Vicich’s hometown of Ottawa, Illinois, Mayor Dan Aussem attended the kickoff event for the redesigned Fox River Park along with parks and recreation board members and commissioners.
To see how to frame a course opening as a communal achievement, check out this documentary-style video from Albion Hills’ opening, which features speeches from provincial officials and councilors:
Plan a Community Event, Not a Disc Golf Event
Of course, as beneficial as the presence of local leaders can be, fun – not pomp and circumstance – should still be the main focus of a grand opening.
“You don’t want to just show up and cut a ribbon and leave,” Vicich said.
He also emphasized the importance of “making it a community event, giving people a reason to stop and see what is going on there, trying to pull more people in.”
Two ideas are key to achieving those aims.
Keep Disc Golf Activities Beginner-Focused
You’ll hope plenty of attendees try the new course, but offering quicker ways to engage with disc golf is important, too. Accuracy challenges, putting games, and other beginner-focused disc golf activities (check out UDisc’s Try Disc Golf mini-game bank for ideas) do just that while creating the festival vibes you’re aiming for.
“[At] a grand opening, what I want to do is make it fun,” Vicich said. “And so that isn’t all just teaching disc golf and [giving] a few quick tips and tricks, but also having some tests for skills and giving away products. A lot of people do have a competitive itch, and we want to speak to those folks that are competitive but maybe aren’t competing in disc golf or haven’t played disc golf.”
Excitement at the grand opening for Bruce’s Mill Disc Golf. Photo courtesy of ChainLink Disc Golf
Holding brief disc golf skills clinics to help people learn the rules and basic throws is also worthwhile – just make them optional side events that run parallel to the games rather than herding all attendees to them.
Ideally, members of a local disc golf club can run these activities. It gives them a chance to share their love of the game and shows the community there’s a local group eager to welcome new players.
One important note: A tournament is unlikely to draw non-disc golfers to a grand opening. Unless you’re opening a destination course built for seasoned players, save the inaugural tournament for a later date.
Offer Non-Disc Golf Attractions
Food and drinks are a good call for most events. Vicich suggested that if you expect turnout to warrant it, organizing a food truck is “a great idea.”
A food truck at the opening of Awasiwi Woods disc golf course in Vermont gave people a reason to come and stay longer.
You can also reach out to organizations that might want to use the occasion to highlight their own local contributions or interests.
At one conservation area grand opening, ChainLink said experts ran stands that informed people about local flora and fauna they might see on the courses – sometimes including eye-catching specimens like “animal pelts and bones.” At the opening for Lake Aquitaine Park Disc Golf Course in Mississauga, Ontario, emergency service professionals came to explain their work and show off their ever-fascinating vehicles and tools.
“They had the fire services there to educate the public and show kids different things about what they did,” Hovius said. “Ambulance services were there, and an ice cream truck.”
MacKeigan said those extras completely changed the dynamic of the grand opening.
“All of a sudden, this isn’t a disc golf course in Mississauga, this is a City of Mississauga event launching a disc golf course,” he explained.
In essence, the more there is to see, do, and maybe eat, the longer people will stick around. That means more exposure to disc golf and a better chance they’ll return to the course.
Give People Ways to Play Again
Since the community now has a course, the only thing stopping them from playing it is access to discs. This is why ChainLink and Vicich pointed out that disc giveaways were great to include at an opening if possible.
But you’re unlikely to have enough discs to give to every person who shows up. So if there is a way people can borrow discs for free any time they’d like to play, make sure they hear about it at the event. Alternatively, let them know about the easiest ways to get their hands on beginner-friendly discs in your area – be it a physical store or trusted retail site.
Have a Truly Grand Opening
A course’s grand opening is its first big chance to show a whole community what disc golf has to offer. And without that chance, many people might never give the game a try.
“They might not think about actually going out to try it or sourcing a disc or something like that if there’s no event,” MacKeigan said.
Get local leaders invested, use their reach to spread the word, give them the spotlight, and plan a day with something for everyone. Do that, and your opening can help your course follow in the footsteps of those built by ChainLink and Vicich, which, UDisc stats confirm, have introduced thousands of new players to disc golf so far.
