Vermont Has Taken Off as a Disc Golf Mecca

Nick Gentile and Patrick Dunseith hiked up a steep, muddy hillside to hole No. 1 at Big Rock Disc Golf in Waterbury Center. The forecast that Saturday called for light rain in the afternoon, so the disc golfers were eager to get on the new course, which opened to members only last year and to the public this spring.

Gentile and Dunseith drove about an hour from Burlington to play Big Rock, a hilly, pro-length private course that charges $10 per player and requires tee time reservations. With its rolling fairways, old-growth trees, exposed cliffs and stunning views of the Green Mountains, it’s a hidden gem in the heart of Waterbury Center. There are courses closer to Burlington — and public ones, such as Center Chains in Waterbury, that are free. But these disc enthusiasts wanted a more challenging outing.

“If you’re going to make a day of it, you want something that isn’t just a par three,” Gentile said.

While Gentile and Dunseith practiced their putts and waited for the rest of their foursome, Willy Pacheco and his son, James, of Montpelier, were just leaving the course. Unlike the players following them, the Pachecos are newcomers to the sport, having taken it up last fall. James teaches social studies in Newport, where his school’s gym teacher installed baskets out back so his students could play. The Pachecos had never played Big Rock before. They gave it glowing reviews.

“It’s a beautiful course,” Willy said. “The views are great, obviously, and it’s really well kept.”

Disc golf has taken off in Vermont, as it has worldwide. For the uninitiated, players throw a Frisbee or specialized disc from a tee area at a target or “hole” — typically, a raised metal basket outfitted with chains to stop the disc. As in conventional golf, players try to reach the hole in as few shots, or throws, as possible, and the player with the fewest throws wins. The outdoor sport exploded during the pandemic, being one of the few group activities that allowed for social distancing. According to UDisc, the most popular user app for finding courses and tracking rounds, there are at least 11,165 courses in the United States. Vermont has 83 — more than the total number of Dunkin’, Taco Bell and Domino’s franchises in the state.

If you’re going to make a day of it, you want something that isn’t just a par three.
Nick Gentile

From its creation in the early 1960s throughout the 1990s, the sport enjoyed a laid-back, hippie reputation. Players would stash a six-pack or a bag of weed in their golf bags for enhancing their walk in the woods. While some players are still mainly in it for the chill vibes, by the mid-2000s disc golf had greatly expanded its fan base to include more serious, competitive and even professional athletes.

In recent years, Vermont has earned a reputation for hosting world-class tournaments throughout the spring, summer and fall. They include pro tour events, sanctioned by the Professional Disc Golf Association, that draw international competitors and thousands of spectators. Three of Vermont’s private courses are now ranked in the top 100 in the world, including two — Brewster Ridge and Fox Run Meadows at Smugglers’ Notch Resort — that rank sixth and eighth, respectively.

While most players don’t compete at the elite level, the presence of a robust disc golf community in Vermont has led more younger players to take up the sport and enter tournaments. As more high-quality private courses have opened in the past few years, even casual players have many options to choose from.

Rob Murray built Big Rock after he and his wife moved back to Waterbury Center from Austin, Texas, in 2019 to help care for his aging parents. In 2023, while trying to figure out what to do with the family’s 68-acre tree farm, Murray sold a Christmas tree to a disc golf enthusiast named Russ Causley, who asked if he’d ever considered putting in a course. Murray, who’d played for years, liked the idea of a low-impact activity that would complement the farm. So he and Causley built one.

A diverse and rigorous course, Big Rock is 3.5 miles, the second-longest in the state, attracting disc enthusiasts who come to play at Smugglers’ Notch and then explore other courses in the area. In the short time that Big Rock has been open, Murray has had players visit from more than 20 states and six countries. Last year, he even held a few tournaments there. On June 6 and 7, he’ll host the 2026 Sap Bucket Open, a PDGA-sanctioned event that was previously held at Center Chains, the state’s busiest course.

Murray admitted that course upkeep is hard work; while disc golfers were enjoying a relaxing Saturday outing, he was grinding stumps and cutting back thorny invasives.

“It’s losing money, and it’s a pain in the ass, but long term, hopefully, it pays for itself,” he said. “It’s mostly about building a community. It’s really nice having people enjoy the land.”

Up in Franklin County, Kurtis and Jade Rogers have carved out a similar niche for players at Cold Hollow Disc Golf in Enosburgh. In 2019, Kurtis started building a nine-hole course for his friends. Then, when the pandemic killed his catering business, he expanded it to an 18-hole course on 36 acres. It opened in August 2020, just as many people were discovering the sport.

A player teeing off from hole No. 1 at Cold Hollow Disc Golf Credit: Courtesy of Jade Rogers

Players tee off at hole No. 1 from inside a barn that faces an open field. From there, the course offers a mix of hilly and wooded trails, open meadows, and a pond shot. The course is now ranked 76th in the world and third overall in Vermont.

“For a small-town course, we feel pretty proud of that,” said Kurtis, who now manages the course full time, with a pro shop on the premises.

Situated between Jay Peak and Smugglers’ Notch, Cold Hollow attracts out-of-state players who are visiting those resorts, as well as Vermonters who come from as far away as Barre and Burlington for Friday league nights. On September 26 and 27, the Rogers will host the Cold Hollow Classic, with more than 200 people camping on-site and enjoying food trucks and live music.

The Cold Hollow Classic is organized by Chris Young, founder and owner of Disc Golf Vermont and the state’s PDGA coordinator. Young, 49, is arguably Vermont’s most passionate disc golf ambassador. He builds courses, organizes leagues and puts on about 80 percent of the state’s tournaments. This year will be his busiest ever, with 20 events. They’ll include the Discraft Green Mountain Championship, which runs from September 17 to 20 at Smugglers’ Notch, an event that typically draws hundreds of competitors and thousands of spectators.

On July 24 to 26, the United States Juniors Disc Golf Championship returns to Jeffersonville. That tournament ran in 2018 and 2019 but was canceled during the pandemic. This high-level event, which showcases some of the nation’s top talent from ages 8 to 18, could become a “major,” or top-tier PDGA event, as early as next year, Young said. That means attracting world-class players. At the pro level, majors can pay out more than $20,000 to the winners.

Indeed, Vermont’s competitive players are getting younger. As recently as a decade ago, collegiate disc golf was virtually nonexistent; today, more than 300 colleges have competitive players. In Vermont, at least half a dozen public schools now have nine-hole courses, and another two — Champlain Valley Union High School in Hinesburg and Harwood Union High School in Duxbury — have 18-hole courses. Just last weekend, South Burlington held the grand opening of the city’s first public course: Awasiwi Woods, a free, nine-basket course on the middle and high school campus. So on August 29, Young will put on the first-ever Vermont High School Disc Golf Championships at Smugglers’ Notch.

Aidan Trombley, the resort’s director of disc golf operations — a full-time, year-round position that didn’t exist a decade ago — is especially excited to see the caliber of young players who are competing. A 27-year-old Jeffersonville native, Trombley remembers going to play at Smuggs when he was still in school. He now serves on the PDGA’s youth and education committee. The junior crop has gotten so good that players as young as 14 are competing in the pro tour.

“This is the next step, in our eyes,” he said, “to get into the high schools in Vermont and make the sport more mainstream.”

Not all of the summer’s tournaments are PDGA-sanctioned events. On August 8, Northwood Park Disc Golf Course in Rutland will host the 5th Deaf Vermont Maple Open for deaf players, children of deaf adults and those who are part of the American Sign Language community.

On June 14, Moose Head Disc Golf in Jeffersonville will host Team on the High, a 21-plus, invitation-only event that combines Vermont’s disc golf and cannabis industries. Interested players must contact the event’s organizer in advance to participate.

With so much growth in the sport, it was inevitable that private courses would become dominant in Vermont, said Young, who now holds most of his tournaments on private land. They include those at Smuggs, Cold Hollow, the Wildflower Inn in Lyndonville, Black Falls Disc Golf Course in Montgomery and North Calais Disc Golf Course.

Young doesn’t disparage Vermont’s free public courses. The Quarries Disc Golf in Barre Town is one of the state’s most unique and beautiful courses, and the City of Montpelier recently converted a traditional golf course at the former Elks Club into a free, 18-hole course.

But the benefits of private courses are hard to compete with, he said. Typically, they’re better maintained, with well-groomed fairways, wood-chipped greens, benches, trash cans and portable toilets. And because those courses are on private land, there are fewer conflicts. When Burlington considered installing a disc golf course along the Burlington bike path, residents voiced concerns about the potential for serious injuries from the hard flying discs. And at Center Chains, neighbors have long complained about inconsiderate disc golfers leaving trash, consuming alcohol and allowing dogs to run loose on their property.

Despite the greens fees, disc golf is a very affordable sport compared to traditional golf, where the cheaper courses still cost $80 to $100 per round.

As Gentile, the disc golfer at Big Rock, went to retrieve his first disc, someone in his foursome cracked open a can with a loud psssh. Unlike conventional golf courses, he said, disc courses “don’t overcharge you for a beer.” ➆

For a complete list of upcoming disc golf tournaments in Vermont, visit discgolfscene.com.

The original print version of this article was headlined “Disc Drivers | With a growing number of world-class courses and tournaments, Vermont has become a disc golf mecca”