A commentary by a member of Victoria city council.
Pickleball and disc golf have at least three things in common.
First, they’re both amongst the fastest-growing sports in North America. Second, they encourage active, outdoor, healthy lifestyles, while bringing people together for fun and innovative forms of recreation. And third, as fledgling sports, they’re often misunderstood and struggle for recognition in the community.
Jurisdictions around B.C. have faced challenges in accommodating disc golf and pickleball. Both have grown exponentially in recent years, sometimes bringing conflict between user groups.
In the case of pickleball, there is tension between tennis players and pickleball players, as they compete for precious court space. Pickleball is also accused of being an overly noisy sport. The tennis vs. pickleball tension sometimes reaches absurd heights, as was the case recently on Mayne Island, where a clash between the two sports divided the community.
With disc golf, the issue is about space and safety. As with regular golf, the disc-oriented variety, sometimes called “frolf,” requires large areas of mostly treeless space, which is hard to come by in urban areas. The risk of being hit by an errant disc is very real, and means that disc golf is not appropriate in many high-use parks, and so it gets pushed to the margins.
Guerrilla courses have popped up around the Capital Regional District, but there is no course in Victoria. The closest is at Camosun Interurban, which is inaccessible for residents of the core.
Increasingly, courses are sprouting up on actual golf courses, in which course operators either install a parallel course for discs, usually along the edge of the fairway, or swap out the holes for disc baskets on certain days of the week.
Opening golf courses to disc golf players has reinvigorated many golf courses on the mainland, while bringing in new revenue streams and a wider demographic.
I believe the City of Victoria can and must do more to accommodate these growing sports, which are so beloved by their respective communities.
Finding space will reduce tension between golfers and frolfers, tennis players and pickleballers. Certainly, the need exists for new facilities.
Both the South Island Disc Golf Society and the Victoria Regional Pickleball Association have made it clear that demand outstrips supply for appropriate facilities.
As a city councillor and CRD director, I will advocate for a new disc golf course closer to the core, the installation of site-appropriate pickleball courts across the city, and the preservation and enhancement of pickleball courts at Beacon Hill Park, which have done so much to support active lifestyles for our seniors.
There’s enough space for everyone. It’s important, as a community, to remain open-minded to change by supporting emerging forms of recreation, personal health, and community-making.
>>> To comment on this article, write a letter to the editor: [email protected]
