There is a saying we have been living by for a while that reads "The future is in your hands, you just have to plant the right seeds". That's disc golf in a nutshell, isn't it?
Back in 2014 we ran our first official 'Sackville Showdown' even though we had been doing pop up, non-pdga events for about 5 years on this site. As you can see we had a whopping 22 players with a few signature names on the list not even having a PDGA number yet. There are quite a few interesting things about this worth pointing out. First off we had roughly 14% female participation, which was (and still is) fantastic. We also had 14% of the people drop out before the third round (none of them were women), and we only had 14% of players with a PDGA number. (Odd how there were 3 people in each of these categories, don’t you think?) You can also see that the finalist played a 9 hole bonus round, which is something we have long since abandoned. Basically we bring this all up to really drive home the point that the seeds we were laying a decade ago are growing trees now!
A full decade later we can now boast an event with 116 players, all with PDGA numbers, including 15 women, multiple age protected divisions, and representatives from all 4 Atlantic Provinces. We essentially have 3 TD’s on site, a Friday volunteer crew, a clean up crew, and social media group, a connect-fore master, a disc seller, and a list of long standing sponsors. We also have partnered with the group from the East Coast Disc Golf Tour and their crew. Basically what we are trying to say is that it takes a village to create a culture and we are firmly in the middle of a healthy village.
From the start Flickline and all of our events were striving for 2 things, quality and inclusion. We have always felt disc golf was the perfect game and we wanted to do our part to introduce it to the world, especially Atlantic Canada where we live. We didn’t do this by accident though. It took years to learn lessons from other clubs and areas, as well as take constant feedback (which was sometimes very painful, but always worth it) from our players.
It’s not just that we have a group of people doing things that is worth celebrating; we have an amazing group of people who are crushing it in their roles. Our disc seller, Chain Reaction, absolutely knocks it out of the park. They offer a wide variety of discs, they are set up all weekend in an easy to use space, and they keep track of all players packs, credit, and disc requests that our players send their way. The set up and clean up crew always change but this year the entire course was ready to play before 12 noon on Friday and was cleaned up less than 10 minutes after MPO sunk their final putts. Evan White came on board to send out timely, well constructed caddy books, and the folks behind Flickline media team were on point in making posts and advertising the weekend. Couple that with Mandy behind the scenes capturing moments for the ECDGT when she wasn’t playing and you have the recipe for success.
As for the 3 TD’s each person takes to heart the jobs that they control. If Ben is the face of Flickline then Duncan is the spirit that guides us and Luc is the engine that drives us. The rules, ideas, OB’s, division propagation, and any miscellaneous details are all finalized a week in advance. Duncan has the payouts done before 80% of the field has made it home Sunday night, and Luc manages the cards, tee times, and drop outs before most people even notice. It’s not that we want to sit back and become complacent because we have figured it out, because we absolutely do not, but it is worth enjoying a few moments in the sun because we absolutely should be proud of a job well done. This weekend's event far exceeded our wildest dreams in 2014 and this is us saying a huge thank you to every single person who made it happen.
As for the event itself and the entire idea behind the Sackville Showdown there are some really great things worth recapping. First, thanks to a huge effort by Jolene and her east coast chapter of the Discy Chicks a donation was made to help fund concrete tee pads. Pair that with the pavers the town already owned and a generous donation of free labour from Greensmith and friends and this year's Showdown featured appropriately sized tee pads that really made the course better (and harder for the most part).
Sackville is still a ‘throwback’ course in our opinion. Each hole has 1 tee pad and a fair chance at birdie (except hole 7, that hole is just hard). What makes the course so universally fun is that each hole gives you the feeling that you can birdie it, but you usually don’t. Not only do you not birdie it, almost every hole can put you into big trouble. The course kicks you into gear right away with the ‘gauntlet’. Holes 1, 2 and 3 can make or break you if you are only off by a few inches. Still, we might argue that there is almost no better feeling in disc golf than getting out of those 3 holes even par. You know it’s going to be a good day when that happens. The entire rest of the course is a demonstration of how simple can be fun and shows what classic disc golf can be at its most basic form. Give people some quality lines, let em’ see the basket, then have fun trying.
The full list of winners can be found here: Sackville results. All divisions except FA2 were within 5 strokes. We had 2 first time winners and a healthy amount of fresh faces on the podium. We had an ace worth 440 or so dollars and a 50/50 winner. We had too many good laughs to count them all and a handful of us got to witness Kyle Reid have the greatest start in Sackville history with birdies on the first three holes, including a park job to 8 feet on hole 3, and 6 of the first 8. For a kid that used to make the 90 minute drive by himself to Sackville for years it was really a pleasure to see.
Over the last few weeks several groups have been reaching out to us to be a part of what we are doing. It has been wonderful to see so many different people finding disc golf. There has been a sentiment that is kind of simmering with some folks though, who think that their group of people has been marginalized or who are surprised that they are not growing faster. It’s really the story of disc golf. The game is open for anyone but it flourishes for those who put in the work and plant the seeds. For all of those groups who want to grow, and who want to be a part of disc golf, we would just like to say, ‘we are here for you, just keep growing bit by bit and you too will arrive at a place you never dreamed you could be’.
There are simply too many people to fully thank by name but we would like to give a huge shout out to everyone who pitched in, played, or promoted what we are all doing. Truly, it takes a village to raise a child or a game. We wouldn't be here without all of you and so thank you.
There are a couple of really fun things we want to keep you informed on before we go. First off the Triple Crown and Newfoundland trip is fast approaching. Registration will open up on May 13th at 6pm. Second we have a fun series of events that we want to tell you about. In order we have the official opening of the Cambridge Narrows course on Sunday May 27th (Day 2 of the Dieppe Open, sadly). We will then be opening the NRHS course with a school event June 6th and a public event June 9th. The town of Kingston, NS is putting on a midweek event, The Steer BBQ Disc Golf Event, July 11th. It will be both a PDGA and non-PDGA event with $300 added cash to the pro division. The cost will be $20 Am’s will get a disc, pros play for money, new players will get a discount. Finally we want you to mark the August 18th-19th weekend in your calendar as we will be back at Fundy National Park for a free disc golf glow in the dark event and a FREE PDGA Sunday event. More details will be announced on May 27th but for now we strongly suggest you come spend a weekend at one of Canada's best parks!
