Village of Vanscoy sets up 9-hole disc golf course

Saskatchewan disc golf players can add another stop on the provincial circuit in the village of Vanscoy.

The school and city developed and put in baskets for a nine-hole disc course last fall. This spring is the first full season the village will have access to the course.

Disc golf is played similar to golf, where players start from a tee box and have a certain number of shots to get the disc into a basket lined with chains. Each hole in the game is scored as par, birdie, eagle or hole-in-one.

The idea for the course came after Vanscoy School Principal Kevin Derdall took students out to Diefenbaker Park in Saskatoon to shoot a round of disc golf there.

"The kids really enjoyed it."

"We thought this was a good way to get the community out and involved with the school," Derdall said.

Derdall garnered support for the project from the recreation board, the local business community, the village office and mayor.

Derdall said the nets are up and look just like Diefenbaker park, but there is still some work to do to get the signs and tee boxes ready.

"We're going to set up some tee boxes, but we don't know what that will look like yet, but we're looking into it."

Derdall welcomes out-of-town players to come and try out the new course, which is free and open to the public. 

"We're a flat land and there's a few trees and different objects in the way so it's a little different from the course in Saskatoon," he said.

The first hole is located behind the school on the north end and the course navigates through part of the school grounds and around the baseball diamonds on the northwest edge of town.

Students are being invited to take part as well. Since the idea for the course came forward, the school added disc golf to the Phys Ed. curriculum for students Grade 4 and up.

The village of Vanscoy is located about 27 kilometres west of Saskatoon on Highway 7.