Disc Golf Courses Per Capita: All U.S. States Ranked In 2024

The United States has over 10,000 disc golf courses, just under 70% of the world's total. Here you can find out which U.S. states have the most courses per capita, most courses generally, and more.

U.S. map with states different intensities of blue depending on disc golf courses per capita — The darker the blue, the more disc golf courses per capita in the state.

The course totals you'll find here come courtesy of the disc golfers who power UDisc Courses, the largest and most frequently updated disc golf course directory in existence.

Here's what you'll find, in order, in the rest of this post:

Interesting Facts & Tidbits
A little bit about what counted as a "course"
All 50 U.S. states ranked by disc golf courses per capita
Top 25 U.S. states in disc golf courses added between 2020 and 2022
All 50 U.S. states ranked by disc golf course total

#1 State in Disc Golf Courses Per Capita Defends Its Top Spot

When we last ran these numbers in 2022, Kansas overtook Iowa as the country's #1 in disc golf courses per capita. This time around there's no new champion as the Sunflower State defended its title.

A disc golf basket in a wooded area on top of a slope — A basket at Kansas' best disc golf course in 2024, Spoon Creek Disc Golf Course. Photo uploaded to UDisc Courses by edroot

Kansas' course-building did slow down a bit, though. From 2020 to 2022, the state added over 60 new courses. From 2022 to 2024, it added just over 30. We'll be interested to find out if Kansas' course-building pace is enough to keep it in the top spot next time around.

To see Kansas' best disc golf courses, check out its section in our post on the five best disc golf courses in each U.S. state.

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Top 25 Almost Entirely States with Below-Average Population

The average population of U.S. states is around 6,685,000. Only three states in the top 50% of disc golf course per capita rankings have a population that crests that average – Michigan, Indiana, and North Carolina.

A disc golf basket with yellow band in a forest of spindly pines on a misty morning — Basket of hole 15 on a beautiful misty morning at Diavolo in North Carolina. North Carolina is one of just three states with an above average population that made the top 25 in disc golf courses per capita this year. Photo uploaded to UDisc Courses by downey

There are some likely explanations for this, with the biggest one being that many less populated states tend to have more room for courses, and in a per capita ranking, one extra course goes a lot further toward moving the needle in these states than in more populated ones.

However, low population doesn't always equal space. A few of the states with relatively low populations that aren't in the top 25 are in the densely-populated Northeast and are also the smallest states by area: Rhode Island (50th in area), Delaware (49th in area), and Connecticut (48th in area).

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Biggest Moves Up & Down

Two states made the biggest upward leap in the rankings over the last two years: Missouri and Maryland. Both moved up four spots, with Missouri (pop. 6,196,156) going from #21 to #17 after adding 51 courses from 2022 to 2024 and Maryland (pop. 6,180,253) from #46 to #42 thanks to 25 new disc golf facilities.

Multi-tiered stone circles leading to a disc golf basket at the peak. Fountain in background — Basket of hole 4 at Eagles Crossing in Missouri. The most elaborate basket placement in disc golf? Photo uploaded to UDisc Courses by isaaccolby

The biggest drops were three spots by Tennessee from #28 to #31 and Colorado from #16 to #19. Tennessee (pop. 7,126,489) added 18 courses over the last two years while Colorado (pop. 5,877,610) saw a net gain of just two, tying it at 44th with Delaware in courses added since 2022.

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What Counted as a Disc Golf Course?

As in our look at how many disc golf courses are in the world, our goal with these stats isn't to arbitrate what counts as a disc golf course. Instead, we want to provide an indicator of the enthusiasm within each U.S. state for the sport.

Whether a course has baskets or alternative targets like tone poles, concrete tees or grass, it's still a place where people can play the sport we love and enjoy the company of friends, family, or their own thoughts. Other than invite-only courses, areas with designated places to throw from and to counted as courses for the purposes of this post.

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Disc Golf Courses Per Capita: U.S. States Ranked

Which U.S. states have the most disc golf courses per capita?

Rank	State	People Per Disc Golf Course	Disc Golf Course Total	Population	'22 to '24 Change
1	Kansas	7,991	368	2,9340,546	Same
2	Wyoming	8,589	68	584,057	Same
3	Iowa	8,598	373	3,207,004	Same
4	North Dakota	8,908	88	774,948	Same
5	Vermont	9,522	68	647,464	▲1
6	South Dakota	9,780	94	919,318	▼1
7	Montana	12,051	94	1,132,812	Same
8	Maine	12,352	113	1,395,722	▲1
9	Nebraska	12,365	160	1,978,379	▼1
10	Alaska	12,645	58	733,406	▲2
11	Wisconsin	13,077	452	5,910,955	▼1
12	Minnesota	13,694	419	5,737,915	▲1
13	Idaho	14,135	139	1,964,726	▼2
14	West Virginia	16,543	107	1,770,071	▲1
15	Oklahoma	16,682	243	4,053,824	▼1
16	Arkansas	18,152	169	3,067,732	▲1
17	Missouri	19,183	323	6,196,156	▲4
18	Michigan	19,265	521	10,037,261	▲2
19	Colorado	19,334	304	5,877,610	▼3
20	Oregon	19,875	213	4,233,358	▼2
21	New Hampshire	20,029	70	1,402,054	▼2
22	Mississippi	22,103	133	2,939,690	Same
23	Indiana	22,798	301	6,862,199	▲1
24	New Mexico	23,235	91	2,114,371	▼1
25	North Carolina	24,967	434	10,835,491	Same
26	Kentucky	26,782	169	4,526,154	▲1
27	Utah	28,246	121	3,417,734	▼1
28	Alabama	28,380	180	5,108,468	▲2
29	South Carolina	29,046	185	5,373,555	Same
30	Ohio	29,914	394	11,785,935	▲1
31	Tennessee	30,197	236	7,126,489	▼3
32	Illinois	32,681	384	12,549,689	Same
33	Pennsylvania	37,354	347	12,961,683	▲2
34	Virginia	37,568	232	8,715,698	▼1
35	Washington	39,659	197	7,812,880	▼1
36	Texas	43,827	696	30,503,301	Same
37	Georgia	49,238	224	11,029,227	▲2
38	Hawaii	49,488	29	1,435,138	▼1
39	Louisiana	51,390	89	4,573,749	▼1
40	Arizona	55,875	133	7,431,344	Same
41	Connecticut	60,286	60	3,617,176	Same
42	Maryland	62,427	99	6,180,253	▲4
43	Massachusetts	68,641	102	7,001,399	Same
44	Delaware	68,793	15	1,031,890	▼2
45	California	81,860	476	38,965,193	▼1
46	Nevada	84,057	38	3,194,176	▼1
47	New York	85,092	230	19,571,216	▲1
48	Florida	92,289	245	22,610,726	▼1
49	New Jersey	123,878	75	9,290,841	Same
50	Rhode Island	136,995	8	1,095,962	Same
51	District of Columbia	339,486	2	678,972	Same

Note: We know that "people per disc golf course" and "disc golf courses per capita" aren't the same thing. We opted to use the "per capita" wording here so that people looking for this information would be likely to find it. We opted to use "people per course" in our table because it's an easier way to visualize the stats' meaning.

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How Many Disc Golf Courses Did U.S. States Add Between 2022 & 2024?

The U.S. had a net gain of 919 disc golf courses between 2022 and 2024. Find out which 25 states built the most of them:

Rank	State	Courses Added '22 to '24
1	Michigan	77
2	Ohio	64
3	Texas	56
4	Pennsylvania	52
5	Missouri	51
6	North Carolina	43
T7	Indiana	40
T7	Illinois	40
9	New York	38
10	Kansas	33
11	Alabama	30
12	Kentucky	28
13	Georgia	28
14	Maryland	25
15	South Carolina	23
16	Iowa	22
17	Wisconsin	20
18	Minnesota	20
19	Tennessee	18
T20	Virginia	17
T20	Florida	17
22	Arkansas	16
23	Oklahoma	15
24	New Jersey	13
T25	Maine	12
T25	Massachusetts	12

Excluding the United States as a whole, every state among the top 22 above added more courses than all but five of the world's countries last year– the top nine added as many or more than all but four.

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Which U.S. States Have the Most Disc Golf Courses?

Though you could do it yourself based on the stats in the original per capita list, we thought we'd give you an easy time finding out which states have the most total disc golf courses, period.

Here are U.S. states ranked by total number of disc golf courses:

Rank	State	Disc Golf Course Total
1	Texas	696
2	Michigan	521
3	California	476
4	Wisconsin	452
5	North Carolina	434
6	Minnesota	419
7	Ohio	394
8	Illinois	384
9	Iowa	373
10	Kansas	368
11	Pennsylvania	347
12	Missouri	323
13	Colorado	304
14	Indiana	301
15	Florida	245
16	Oklahoma	243
17	Tennessee	236
18	Virginia	232
19	New York	230
20	Georgia	224
21	Oregon	213
22	Washington	197
23	South Carolina	185
24	Alabama	180
T25	Kentucky	169
T25	Arkansas	169
27	Nebraska	160
28	Idaho	139
T29	Arizona	133
T29	Mississippi	133
31	Utah	121
32	Maine	113
33	West Virginia	107
34	Massachusetts	102
35	Maryland	99
T36	Montana	94
T36	South Dakota	94
38	New Mexico	91
39	Louisiana	89
40	North Dakota	88
41	New Jersey	75
42	New Hampshire	70
T43	Wyoming	68
T43	Vermont	68
45	Connecticut	60
46	Alaska	58
47	Nevada	38
48	Hawaii	29
49	Delaware	15
50	Rhode Island	8
51	District of Columbia	2

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