Canada is one of the world's top 10 countries in disc golf rounds per capita and third behind the U.S. and Finland in total disc golf courses. Here you can find out which disc golf courses in each province and territory in Canada were the most popular (i.e., most played) in 2023.
Post Navigation
- What Does "Most Popular" Mean?
- Ages of Provinces'/Territories' Most Popular Course in 2023
- A Way to Avoid Crowded Disc Golf Courses
- What to Know Before Reading the Stats
- The Most Popular Disc Golf Course in Every Canadian Province & Territory: 2023
What Does "Most Popular" Mean?
In short, "most popular" in this post means simply "most played."
Since most disc golfers play recreationally, the courses with top play counts usually have layouts that are enjoyable and encouraging for less-skilled players. This year, for example, every province's most popular course had an "easy" or "intermediate" layout option per UDisc's disc golf course difficulty rating system (one territory's did, one's didn't, and the other's didn't qualify for a difficulty rating). Popular courses also tend to be near large population centers and easily accessible by car or public transport.
Sometimes very popular courses are among what disc golfers have rated an area's best. A notable example is how British Columbia's most popular disc golf course from 2023 is not just the province's best-rated place to play but one of the 100 best disc golf courses in the world.
More often than not, though, "most popular" and "best-rated" differ, and there are lots of reasons for that.
Standout disc golf courses tend to require a lot of land, so they're typically built fairly far from population centers and therefore not as accessible. Extremely busy courses could take a hit in rating simply because players' moods are worse due to wait times. Possibly the players who are most likely to take the time to rate a course tend to be more experienced and so favor harder courses that get fewer plays over easier ones that are more popular. The list goes on.
All of that said, popular courses do tend to be very good courses — otherwise, who'd bother playing them? Of the most popular courses from last year featured in this post, the current average rating is 4.3 out of 5 stars. Only one course has an average rating below 4.0. Along with being enjoyable to play, these courses are often doing something important for the growth of the sport, too, by providing places where beginners and now-and-again players can have fun rounds and find their perfect balance of challenge and achievability.
What's the Average Age of Provinces & Territories' Most Popular Disc Golf Courses?
The average age of the most popular disc golf courses in Canada's provinces and territories is around 10.5 years old. Whereas exactly half of each U.S. state's most popular courses were built before the end of the 20th century, the oldest Canadian course featured in this post opened in 2001.
| Ages of Provinces'/Territories' Most Popular Course in 2023 | ||
| Year Est. Range | Number of Most Pop. Courses | Percentage of Most Pop. Courses |
| 2019-2023 | 4 | 30.8% |
| 2014-2018 | 3 | 23.1% |
| 2009-2013 | 3 | 23.1% |
| 2004-2008 | 2 | 15.4% |
| 1999-2003 | 1 | 7.7% |
The best explanation for the big difference in popular course ages between the U.S. and Canada is simply probability. In 2000, Canada didn't even have 50 courses whereas the U.S. had around 750. What's more, over half of Canadian courses in general were built just in the last five years whereas around just a third of U.S. courses were built in that time frame.
Essentially, Canada's courses are on the whole much younger than the United States', so it makes sense that their most popular courses, too, are generally younger.
And if you're wondering if Canada's climate might have something to do with later adoption of the sport, we're fairly sure that wasn't a huge factor. We checked the average age of 2023's most popular courses in the 12 U.S. states bordering Canada, and it was actually a tiny bit higher than the most popular state courses as a whole – 24.3 years old for the border states versus 24 for D.C. plus all 50 states.
A Way to Avoid Crowded Disc Golf Courses
If your closest course is a popular one and you'd like a way to avoid the crowds, don't forget that players with UDisc Pro can see real-time disc golf course traffic online and in the app. Just check under the photos of any course listing in the app or on the right of your screen beneath the map location on the web (for web, make sure you're logged in).
What to Know Before Reading the Stats
Here are important things to know before you dive into the table.
On Where the Stats Came From and Their Meanings
- $: This symbol means playing the course could require a fee of some type.
- Disc Golf Rounds Recorded: The number of rounds recorded in 2023 on a course with the UDisc app, the #1 app for disc golfers. Not every round of disc golf is recorded in UDisc, but it provides the best metrics disc golf has to identify which courses are played most often.
- New Champ: A "Yes" in this column means a province or territory had a different most popular course in 2022.
- World Pop. Grade: The "Pop." stands for "popularity. This is a quick and interesting way to compare every course's play total with 2023's most popular disc golf course in the world (a course in Denmark). If you've ever had a test graded on a curve, it's pretty much the same thing. The course with the most plays in the world set the bar and got a 100. The other courses' "grades" are based on what percentage their play counts are of the highest plays total. For example, if a course has a World Pop. Grade of 24, it means it had 24% of the plays that the world's most popular course did in 2023.
On Organization and Tips for Correct Interpretation
- The table is organized from the most played to the least played course, but...
- ... don't forget that the stats include only the top course from each province/territory. Because some regions have multiple courses with more plays than the top course in other regions, no course's position in the table – other than #1 – is guaranteed to reflect its overall popularity as compared to all courses in Canada.
The Most Popular Disc Golf Course in Every Canadian Province & Territory: 2023
| Province/Territory | Disc Golf Course | City | Free of Pay-to-Play? | Disc Golf Rounds Recorded | Year Est. | New Champ? | World Pop. Grade | |
| 1 | Alberta | Baker Park | Calgary | Free | 30,089 | 2011 | 70 | |
| 2 | British Columbia | Raptors Knoll Disc Golf Park | Langley Township | Free | 25,039 | 2019 | 58 | |
| 3 | Ontario | Sandy Hollow Disc Golf Course | Barrie | Free | 14,867 | 2013 | 35 | |
| 4 | Saskatchewan | Diefenbaker Park | Saskatoon | Free | 10,889 | 2005 | 25 | |
| 5 | New Brunswick | CDT Disc Golf Course | Riverview | Free | 9,549 | 2021 | 23 | |
| 6 | Québec | Parcours du Parc des Voltigeurs | Drummondville | Free | 6,611 | 2014 | Yes | 15 |
| 7 | Nova Scotia | Hammonds Plains Disc Golf | Hammonds Plains | Free | 6,358 | 2015 | 15 | |
| 8 | Prince Edward Island | Huck-It Disc Golf | Kinkora | $ | 5,322 | 2018 | 12 | |
| 9 | Manitoba | Happyland Park | Winnipeg | Free | 4,727 | 2001 | Yes | 11 |
| 10 | Newfoundland and Labrador | Confederation Hill Disc Golf Course | St. John's | Free | 2,789 | 2021 | 5 | |
| 11 | Yukon | Mt McIntyre | Whitehorse | Free | 1,924 | 2009 | 5 | |
| 12 | Northwest Territories | Yellowknife | Yellowknife | Free | 23 | 2022 | <1 | |
| 13 | Nunavut | Timmianut Pikiuqarvik | Iqaluit | Free | 4 | 2007 | <1 |
