A competitor takes aim during the 2016 Chains on the Links disc golf tournament in Soddy- Daisy. (Contributed photo)The fourth annual Chains on the Links disc golf tournament, being held Oct. 28 on the Montlake Golf Course in Soddy-Daisy, sold out within hours of signups being made available online. Red Bank resident Colby Hale, a member of the Chattanooga Flying Disc Club who assisted in setting up the tournament, wasn't surprised.
The Belch'n Turkey, the longest-running disc golf tournament in the region, is coming up in November near the Chickamauga Dam. Hale said it sold out even faster than Chains on the Links.
"A few years ago, we probably had 200 to 300 regular players in the community. Now, just from being out and talking to people, we're close to 1,000," said Hale. "And that's just in Chattanooga. That's not even counting the people who come up from Dalton or come down from Dayton."
So it's frustrating that everyday local players only have access to one 18-hole course in the county, Hale said, referencing The Sinks on North Access Road.
Tournaments like Chains on the Links and the Belch'n Turkey are only possible because of private landowners allowing the club to rent out their space to set up a temporary course, said Hale.
Hale said the club has been trying to work toward more permanent 18-hole courses in the area for many years. The more courses in the area, the more practice and tournament space is available, meaning more people can come to town to play in bigger contests.
While Chattanooga does have a handful of courses besides The Sinks, they are smaller, and tournaments are typically held on larger courses.
With a dedicated competitive circuit for both professional and amateur disc golfers, big tournaments can bring in people from hundreds - or thousands - of miles away, depending on the prize payout, said Hale. And given Chattanooga's relative distance to other cities that have big scenes and courses, such as Birmingham and Atlanta, the opportunity to become a prime destination for the sport is real, he added.
"We just want to show officials and city councils the appeal that the sport has," said Hale.
Hopefully, he said, the success of these tournaments will show the community just how big the sport has gotten and why it merits their attention. He noted that courses have little maintenance costs associated with them, and can frequently be placed on undesirable land, such as defunct landfills or especially hilly terrain.
For more information about regional disc golf, visit the Flying Disc Club's Facebook page at tinyurl.com/ChattDiscGolf.