The Most Popular Disc Golf Course In Every Country: 2022

2022 just came to an end, and it's time for our annual look at the year's most popular (i.e., most played) disc golf courses based on rounds recorded with UDisc, disc golf's #1 app. Here you can find out which course was the most popular in over 80 countries.

To jump to what you're most interested in, click or tap a section title below:

• What Does "Most Popular" Mean?
• Danish Disc Golf Course Gets #1, But Does It Want It?
• Åland's Numbers Continue to Impress
• What to Know Before Reading the Stats
• Most Popular Disc Golf Course In Every Country: 2022

What Does "Most Popular" Mean?

Disc golf courses that are a country or other large area's "most popular" tend to walk an interesting line. Though they're occasionally also what people consider an area's "best" course, it's fairly rare. But popular courses do tend to be very good courses.

Just to be clear before we keep going, "most popular" in this post means simply "most played."

In countries with multiple disc golf options, the most popular courses are often those near large population centers, easily accessible by car or public transport, and appealing to the majority of disc golfers. Since most disc golfers play recreationally, the courses with top play counts usually have layouts that are enjoyable and not demoralizing for less-skilled players.

Essentially, expect popular courses to have fun designs that will challenge the everyday disc golfer and be great for a family day out or someone's first round ever. The courses that manage to balance showing those demographics a top-notch time while also wowing experienced, competition-focused players are rare gems. They often make it possible through use of multiple tee positions, though, so make sure to check UDisc Courses for multiple layouts if a course catches your eye.

For those who want to know what the best disc golf courses in their country are, give "The 5 Best Disc Golf Courses In Every Country: 2022" a read.

Danish Disc Golf Course Gets #1, But Does It Want It?

Valbyparken in Copenhagen, Denmark, was the world's most popular disc golf course in 2022. For the last two years, Norway's Ekeberg course in Oslo has worn the crown, but it trailed behind a few courses in play counts last year.

While falling from the #1 spot in this category might feel like a loss to Oslo, we'd argue that having the world's most popular course in your town isn't something you want forever. What it typically means is that your area has a lot of enthusiasm for disc golf but not enough courses for players to comfortably spread out.

If you just take a look at the density of courses around Copenhagen and Oslo, you'll see a stark difference. The course count around Norway's capital is much higher than around Denmark's. And though Oslo has plenty of well-established courses, it also has quite a few that were built within the last two years that are offering some relief to the crowded fairways of Ekeberg. Around Copenhagen there's a distinct lack of courses considering the high interest in disc golf Valbyparken's play counts show.

The fact that San Diego's Morley Field also jumped ahead of Ekeberg this year is another bit of evidence for how high-interest, low-choice leads to huge round totals. Land in California is notoriously pricy and hard to come by, and in a city of over 1 million like San Diego (Copenhagen and Oslo are around 600,000), that's even more true.

Ultimately, we love seeing that a ton of people are playing disc golf anywhere, but we also hope disc golfers near these high-volume courses can use these numbers to convince local decision makers that there's plenty of demand for new places to play.

Åland's Numbers Continue to Impress

Åland is a collection of islands between Sweden and Finland and is actually not a country but instead a largely autonomous, Swedish-speaking part of Finland. We've followed the progress of its 16-course bid for disc golf tourism very closely.

Whether its mostly from tourists or the local population, the number of rounds played in Åland in 2022 is certainly impressive for a place with under 30,000 residents. Its top-played course managed to get more rounds than the top courses in countries like Germany and Australia. In fact, Germany's top course is in a city with a population that's more than double that of all Åland.

One of our writers got a chance to make an extended visit to Åland last summer, and we're excited to say we'll be releasing a disc golf travel guide to this charming destination in a few months.

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 next to a course's name means the course requires a fee of some type.
• Plays: The number of rounds recorded in 2022 on a course with the UDisc app. Not every round of disc golf is recorded in UDisc, but research conducted in 2020 suggested that roughly one out of every five rounds is. A course needed a minimum of two plays to be included.
• New #1?: A "Yes" in this column means a country had a different most popular course in 2021. A "New" in this column means a country didn't appear in last year's round-up of most popular courses in every country.
• +/-: How many spots a country's 2022 top course rose or fell in relation to where the country's top course was on the 2021 list. For example, Germany's top course was #11 in total plays in relation to other countries' top courses in 2021; this year it was #12 and has a ▼1 in this category.
• World Pop. Grade: The "Pop." stands for "popularity." This is a quick and interesting way to compare every course's play total with 2022's most popular disc golf course in the world. 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 20, it means it had 20% of the plays that the world's most popular course did in 2022.

Use This List for Travel With Caution

• Our rundowns of best disc golf courses are intended for travel purposes whereas we intend lists of most popular courses to show both where a high volume of disc golf is being played and simply where people have played disc golf at all. Do thorough research before planning travel based on courses in the table below as many of the courses are object courses, don't exist unless locals bring baskets to a park, require military IDs to enter, or are unavailable/unenticing to the general public for other reasons.

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 country. Because many countries have multiple courses with more plays than the top course in other countries, no course's position in the table – other than #1 – is guaranteed to reflect its overall popularity as compared to all courses in the world.

The Most Popular Disc Golf Course in Every Country: 2022

*Places with this symbol are special cases that may not technically be countries.