Arriving in Puerto Rico, it’s a drive of less than 60 km from the capital city San Juan to the south-east corner of the island. There in the sun washed seaside town of Yabucoa you’ll discover an 18-hole course with baskets donated by Dynamic Discs and managed by Travelling Chains Puerto Rico.
Traveling Chains is led by Patrick O'Neill #197347 and Brittany Hertle #273090. Their dream of building disc golf on the Isla de Encanto began in early 2023 when they traveled the island in search of the right spot for establishing a course. Along their way they held numerous clinics, met key individuals and found a dream spot at Playa Lucia.
The PDGA is has launching a Sponsor a Member Program. Photo: Uplay Disc Golf
Disc golf continues to grow from the ground up around the world.
Through PDGA International’s Marco Polo Program, courses are being installed, equipment is being donated, clinics are being held, and PDGA-sanctioned tournaments are being hosted around the world.
You can now assist even more in the journey.
While a part of your membership dues already goes toward growing disc golf internationally, beginning in December 2024, you can sponsor a membership for an amateur player in a lower-income country for only $20 when joining the PDGA or renewing your membership.
Disc golf in Ethiopia began its journey a decade ago, driven by passionate individuals and supportive organizations. The African continent’s first PDGA-sanctioned event was the 2018 Ethiopian Open, and marked the establishment of East Africa's first 18-hole disc golf course at Assosa University. This period (2015-2020) showcased significant growth for the sport in Ethiopia.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic brought challenges, as the subsequent civil war resulted in devastating humanitarian crises, impacting the growth of disc golf in the country. The conflict lasted until a peace agreement was signed in November 2023.
In response to the request of Turgen Club, this summer, within the framework of the Marco Polo program, for the first time in Mongolia, PDGA delivered 9 permanent baskets and discs to the Turgen Club grounds through a grant.
Greetings from the beautiful city of Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand! We would like to once again express our appreciation for the PDGA's support of Thailand Disc Golf!
The PDGA is pleased to announce these three countries, on three different continents, as its latest national partners, bringing the total of affiliated countries to 52 — 54 when USA and Canada are included.
The joy of disc golf is evident in Cambodia. Photo: Greg James
A year ago, when the PDGA unveiled its new logo, the organization was left with a stockpile of former logo discs at our fulfillment house in Georgia, USA.
Our Memberships Manager Vic Allen came up with the cool idea of distributing most of this plastic to our overseas partner countries, across the developing world and elsewhere. In short, this would be another means of PDGA delivering on its mission “to develop disc golf into a globally-recognized competitive sport and recreational activity.”
Disc Golf Uganda, in conjunction with Ndejje University, recently hosted the Greenzone Disc Golf Championship in March. Ndejje is located just outside Kampala, offering a central location for travel and accommodation within the country. This prime location was one of the key factors in the collaboration between the Paul McBeth Foundation, Ledgestone, and the PDGA to install the first-ever 18 hole course in Uganda on the university's property.
Project Olangama, one of Paul McBeth Foundation’s newest course announcements, was just installed this past week.
Olangama is a general name denoting the work being done amongst a particularly underserved people group in Uganda, the Batwa Pygmy people. This community is over 12 hours from the nearest disc golf course and is cut off from many of the luxuries of the developed world. The PMF introduced the sport for the first time to this entirely new audience, in collaboration with former UFC fighter and current Bellator MMA fighter, Justin Wren.
Bogota is one of the cities in Colombia that, despite its structural limitations, has bet on positioning Disc Golf as a competitive sport and a recreational activity among its inhabitants.
Thanks to PDGA members Nicolas Restrepo and Julio Castro and other players, the sport has grown considerably in our city.
Twenty miles outside of Nairobi, near the Ngong Hills where Karen Blixen’s famous book 'Out of Africa' was set, a unique and paradisiacal disc golf course is nearing completion.
Here, transplanted American Kevin Becker #190646, and his Masai wife, Rarin Ole Sein, reside on 2,000 acres of land which were returned by the British when Kenya gained its independence in 1964, and assigned by local elders to her family.
PDGA Latin America coordinator Luis Rodríguez throws at Parque Simón Bolívar in Bogota, Colombia.
Luis Rodríguez has extensive experience in the field of flying disc sports, developing competitive structures and community building platforms.
As disc golf continues its rapid growth around the world, Rodríguez has been hired as the PDGA Latin America Coordinator under PDGA International Director Brian Hoeniger to expand the presence of disc golf in Latin America countries and to promote the growth of PDGA activities in the region.
Disc golf was recently installed at Heritage Golf Club in Mauritius. Photo: Tamarin Eagles DGC
Tropical temperatures, ocean breezes, deep sea fishing, waterfalls, beaches, whale watching, and now, disc golf.
Sounds like a nice vacation.
With an assist from the PDGA’s Marco Polo Program, the island nation of Mauritius, located in the Indian Ocean off the southeast coast of Africa, disc golf is taking off.
I don’t think that many people wake up one day and think to themselves: “I’m going to build a disc golf course in the jungles of Honduras!”
This project was a great example of perfection arising from chaos. As cliché as this sounds, I believe that since birth everything had fallen into place for me to take on this incredible venture.
My good friend Ken Jarvis #14118, and I, David Moore #24306, are an American living in Ireland and Irishman living in America, respectively. We have a shared dream of introducing disc golf into Ireland. We joined forces after I stumbled across Ken's Facebook page, Disc Golf Ireland, and together we started to actively look for ways of promoting the sport and ultimately raise enough money to build the first course in the Republic of Ireland.
The Marco Polo Program was conceived and approved by the PDGA Board of Directors in 2011, with an official start date of January 1, 2012. The goals of this program are to support the introduction of Disc Golf into new countries and to strengthen its development in other countries around the world. The program provides funding for innovative international projects that promote the growth of Disc Golf, and that create links between PDGA, the countries, and the local Disc Golf communities.
