Disc golf in the Charlotte area

Charlotte is one of the best disc golf cities in the country, and almost nobody who lives here knows it. The city hosted the PDGA World Championships in 1997 and 2012, and there are 30 courses of 18 holes or more within a 25-mile radius of Uptown, according to the tourism office, every one on public park land free to play (Charlotte’s Got A Lot). This guide covers where to start, where to go when you’re good, and the gear. Courses are county parks, so links go to the sources that describe them; the shops link to the directory.

How Charlotte became a disc golf town

The first course went in at Reedy Creek Park in the University area in the late 1980s, designed in 1989 by Alan Beaver and Steve Lambert; Kilborne and Hornets Nest followed in 1996 and Renaissance Gold in 1998 (Charlotte’s Got A Lot, Charlotte Magazine). Being picked to host the 2012 Worlds set off a building spree: seven new courses in three years, and the Charlotte Disc Golf Club grew from double digits to more than 450 members (Charlotte’s Got A Lot). Our read: the density is the point. Wherever you live in the metro, there’s an 18 within fifteen minutes.

Start here

The tourism office’s beginner list is RenSke, Reedy Creek, Eager Beaver and Bailey Road (Charlotte’s Got A Lot). RenSke at Renaissance Park, 1536 West Tyvola Road, was designed for the 2015 Tim Selinske Masters and is intermediate-level, moderately wooded and mostly flat (Charlotte’s Got A Lot). Reedy Creek at 2900 Rocky River Road has short tee pads that suit new players and long tees for experienced arms, in one of the prettiest parks in the county (Charlotte Magazine). Eager Beaver at Elon Park off Ardrey Kell Road is short and open, forgiving of mistakes; its sibling, Angry Beaver, is long, wooded and full of water (Charlotte’s Got A Lot). Play the easy one first, twice.

When you’re good

Kilborne Park, 2600 Kilborne Drive off Eastway, is the iconic course: carved out of heavy woods with mulched fairways, site of the 1997 and 2012 Worlds, redesigned in 2009, 2012 and 2013 (PDGA). The club’s own description says the front nine is flat and easier and the back nine has the elevation (Charlotte Disc Golf Club). Nevin Community Park at 6100 Statesville Road, designed in 2009, is often called the hardest course in Charlotte, with long tee pads that punish (Charlotte Magazine); its long layout plays 8,764 feet at par 69 (Charlotte On The Cheap). Renaissance Gold is hilly with raised tees and narrow windows, 9,459 feet at par 70. Hornets Nest at 6301 Beatties Ford Road mixes open and wooded holes across a 9,015-foot long layout (Charlotte On The Cheap). Sugaw Creek at 939 West Sugar Creek Road, designed in 2005, has signature holes you won’t find elsewhere and sits a couple of miles from NoDa (Charlotte Magazine). Bradford Park in Huntersville is the manicured one with a little of everything.

The Augusta of disc golf

Winthrop University’s course in Rock Hill, designed by Harold Duvall and Dave Dunipace and opened in 1992, has hosted the United States Disc Golf Championship since 1999 and is the sport’s closest thing to Augusta (Charlotte’s Got A Lot). It’s a university course, so access depends on the season and the tournament calendar; the USDGC in October is worth a trip across the state line even to watch.

The gear

You need two or three discs, not a bag of twenty. New discs run $8 to $20 and used ones as little as $5 (Charlotte’s Got A Lot). Another Round Disc Golf in NoDa is the city’s only dedicated disc shop, and Play It Again Sports on Pineville-Matthews Road stocks used discs; neither is in the directory yet, so those names come from the tourism office’s write-up rather than a listing. If you run either, list it. For the rest of what a round needs, Charlotte Running Company fits the shoes, and Pointer’s Ace Hardware in Concord sells the bug spray you’ll want at Kilborne in August.

The parks around the courses

The courses come with parks. Renaissance Park has a golf course, ball fields, tennis and sand volleyball; Nevin has fields, a sprayground and playgrounds; Hornets Nest has a fishing lake, lighted tennis and a BMX track (Charlotte On The Cheap). That makes disc golf the rare adult hobby that works with a family in tow: they take the playground, you take the back nine, everyone meets at the car. For food after, Sugaw Creek is a few minutes from NoDa Brewing, and Bradford Park is ten minutes from 760 Craft Works in Huntersville.

Leagues and the club

The Charlotte Disc Golf Club runs weekly leagues and events year-round, and joining is the fastest way to learn the courses and the etiquette. The etiquette is short: let faster groups play through, don’t throw until the group ahead is clear, pick up your trash, and shout “fore” like it’s real golf, because a disc at forty miles an hour is real. Rounds are free and the courses are open dawn to dusk with the parks. Kilborne after rain is mud; Reedy Creek drains fastest.

Know a course we’ve missed? The county keeps adding them. Tell us, and the things to do directory has the shops and parks by town.