Braving the chill is par for the course at NOTL disc golf tournament

The temperature was hovering around -3 as 42 disc golf players gathered at the Rotary course outside the Niagara-on-the-Lake Community Centre Saturday morning. With winds gusting northeast at 37 km per hour, it felt more like -11.

Was their presence during a bitter cold snap proof positive that, as Winter Wizards tournament organizer Andrea Michaud claimed before the 10 a.m. shotgun start, all the registered players were just “a bit crazy’? Or was it a testament to how much the participants, who ranged from pro players to first-timers, love their sport?

From what The Local heard and observed as play kicked off, the correct answer was the latter. The golfers were clearly enjoying the opportunity to play the 13-hole tract (including four temporary holes set up by Michaud just for Saturday) on a cold but sunny day. 

That was certainly the case for a trio of young NOTL men, all fairly new to disc golf, who were there to play in their first tournament. 

Twenty-four-year-old Ben Simmonds took up the sport about three months ago with friends Max Schiff-Malins (23) and James Shaw (24). Simmonds is a competitive ultimate frisbee player and was on Team Canada’s Under-24 mixed team at the 2023 world championships in Nottingham, England. He’s currently nursing a right shoulder that has become dislocated four times in the past year, so was tossing left-handed Saturday.

“This is totally different,” said Simmonds about the throwing technique needed for disc golf’s specialized implements. “Playing disc golf too much can actually ruin an ultimate player’s throws. There’s a lot to think about playing this sport and you have to adjust to throwing different kinds of discs for every shot. It’s lots of fun.”

Schiff-Malins admits he was a bit skeptical when long-time friend Simmonds suggested they start playing on the Rotary course a couple of times a week. 

“It’s really a lot like golf,” he said. “I understand golf so I thought this would be easy to pick up. It turns out it’s a lot of fun to play. We entered the tournament because, why not? It’s right here, so close.”

Shaw moved to NOTL from Niagara Falls, where the three have played the Fireman’s Park course a few times. 

“That course is a lot more difficult than this one,” Shaw said. “A lot of trees, lots of hills, you can lose your disc in the pond. It’s a real hike at that course, too.”

Simmonds, Schiff-Malins and Shaw were joined in their foursome by Isaac Mallette-Lloyd, an experienced amateur from Orchard Park, New York. The group started the tournament on hole number eight, a short par-three with a tee box tucked between some trees southeast of the parking lot and a basket about three metres before the vineyards.

Mallette-Lloyd was up and down in two to score a birdie while his playing partners settled for a one-over-par four on a very tough hole with a tree about 12 metres directly in front of the tee.

The Local ran into a few players who made the trip to NOTL from afar just because it was Michaud who had organized it. That was the case for Rob Dobbs, Tony Burns and Mike Tully, all from Lindsay, Ontario in the Kawartha Lakes region. 

“We play at Wild Country, her family’s course up there,” said Dobbs, who just started playing tournaments in 2023. “She had a tournament there this summer, and she’s such a great tournament director.”

The three of them were playing with discs outfitted with ribbons. It’s a tactic used by disc golfers during the winter to make errant throws easier to track. Having come from Lindsay, which has experienced a lot of snow since mid-December, they were happy to see nothing but grass on the NOTL course. 

Rounding out their group was Chris Hilbrecht from Tonawanda, New York. Though Chris usually plays three times a week out of his home course at Ellicott Creek Park, he is also familiar with Michaud and what she brings to the sport. 

The registered nurse was towing a purpose-made four-wheel cart with a bag of 16 discs attached to it. 

“I probably brought way too many discs for this shorter course,” he laughed. “This is a ZÜCA cart. They are a luggage company that got into the disc golf business.”

Another disc golf-related company, Omemee, Ontario’s Discy Chicks, was on site offering up several different discs for sale. As well, Michaud ran a disc-dying contest between rounds. 

Though they didn’t play in the tournament, NOTL Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa and Rotary Club executive member Paul Lalonde were on hand for some opening remarks and to walk part of the course with some of the disc golfers. 

“It’s so great to see their enthusiasm for their sport,” Lalonde told The Local. “Any time you can get 42 people to come to town for something like this is good for our community.”

Each golfer went around the course’s 13 holes twice, with a break for some warmth and refreshments inside the community centre between rounds. 

Though none of them were heard complaining about the cold, Michaud, who hosted a similar tournament in January, 2023, is looking forward to hosting another event in NOTL in the spring, when gloves, toques and Kodiak boots will not be necessary.