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Powell River's Craig Regional Park disc golf course to double in size

Expansion will go from nine to 18 holes
disc golf
ON COURSE: qathet Regional District manager of operational services Patrick Devereaux shows off one of nine new baskets that will be part of the Craig Regional Park disc golf expansion from nine to 18 holes. Paul Galinski photo

Craig Regional Park’s disc golf course in qathet Regional District will double in size from nine to 18 holes.

Regional district manager of operational services Patrick Devereaux said the nine holes are currently situated on the west side of the park.

“We’re going to move it to 18 and it will be mostly on the west side but will expand to the northside and the east side,” said Devereaux.

He said some planning for the course has taken place, but there is a meeting of the Powell River Disc Golf Club at the end of September that regional district representatives will attend, to go over the final plan.

“We’ll probably start putting in the other nine holes in early October,” said Devereaux. “We’re not going to put the permanent tee-boxes in yet. Normally, we pour a little concrete pad with a number on it. We are going to have temporary tees for the holes, let [them] play it for a few months, and figure out if we need to tweak it.

“Once we get advice, we’ll pour the final pads for the tee-boxes in the spring.”

Devereaux said he does not play disc golf but he hears that Craig Park is the most challenging course around the Powell River already, and the addition of the nine new holes is going to make it even better.

The regional district already has all of the new baskets required to set up the additional nine holes.

“Working with the Powell River Disc Golf Club, we’ll get a decent course laid out,” said Devereaux.

Disc golf club member James Mack said the Craig Park course is less manicured as a course than the two in-town courses at Larry Gouthro and Sunset parks.

“In a way it’s a good thing the qathet Regional District is looking to expand that course because it will increase the appeal of it and I think more people will venture out there to play it,” said Mack. “It’s a fun little technical course as it stands, and to expand it to 18 holes, it would be the only 18-hole course we have in our district.”

Mack said he has met with regional district representatives at the Craig Park site. 

“It requires a lot of thought,” said Mack. “We’ve put a lot of thought into designing and coming up with some new ideas with the courses that we have at Craig and Gouthro, because we’ve played them so often and we’re looking for new challenges. We look at different avenues, and fairways and lines, and we make it more challenging and we make it longer.

“We’ve taken what we’ve learned doing that and playing various courses across Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland, so we’re trying to apply a lot of those different principles into expanding the course out at Craig Park.”

Having 18 holes will be ideal for hosting disc golf tournaments. Mack said local tournaments are hosted, but the club also hosts tournaments as part of a series that takes place over on Vancouver Island.

“Part of the requirement is there are 18 holes,” said Mack.

What the club has done in the past is host at Sunset Park, using the nine holes that are there, and there’s enough land there and on adjacent private property for the course to be expanded to 18 holes. Mack said when an 18-hole course becomes available, the club could set up tournaments at Craig Park without having to use portable baskets.

Mack said the club has presented ideas to the regional district and will continue to work with the district to see how far it wants to go.

“One thing for sure is we want to have proper tee-pads put into place,” said Mack. “We’d like to see signage as well. One thing about the Craig Park course is that it’s a bit of a jungle. It’s great because you do go into the woods and the appeal and atmosphere of it is just amazing.

“Without proper signage, however, it’s easy for people who haven’t played it before to not know where to go next. Most well set-up courses have that for people to make their way around.”

Powell River Disc Golf Club is comprised of a dedicated group of players who have a Facebook page under Powell River Disc Golf Club and are hoping to build a website.

Club members are working to grow both the club and the sport. The group tries to run club events on a weekly basis.