Boomtown: Triangle's affinity for disc golf grows, as more towns build highly regarded courses

MORRISVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) -- Disc golf is a growing sport nationally and in the Triangle area.

"It really took off during COVID, because you could be outside and social distanced," Morrisville Mayor T.J. Cawley said. "And this is just really a mental health type of thing. As you can see, the leaves are changing and it's beautiful. And it's just great to be outside."

Fall is not the only thing in the air in November. Disc golf frisbees can be seen flying high in towns like Morrisville and Cary.

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The Town of Morrisville is using the future site of the Town Center as a temporary disc golf course called the "Dragonfly." It opened in October as part of the town's efforts to embrace the niche sport.

"We're trying to expand our offerings to everyone because we are such a diverse community," Cawley said. "Even people come from over 50 miles to try this course, which is really neat."

Marc Moore, co-owner of Yeet Street Discs in Morrisville, said the pandemic was huge for the sport, especially the Triangle area, which Moore said has been a "hotbed of growth for the sport."

"Not a day goes by that somebody doesn't come in and say, I'm new to the sport," Moore said. "And it's getting a lot younger too. A lot of the top pros are teenagers. So, it's getting younger and growing at the same time."

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The Town of Cary is home to the Diavolo Disc Golf Course, a 22-hole disc golf course that was recently ranked as one of the top "wish-listed" course by U-Disc.

"We built this course to be where the sport is going," co-designer Mike Sink said. "I think we just hit it at the right time where the sport is developing into a professional sport and having a course that meets that need."

The course was built in October 2020 when the number of players exploded, according to Sink.

"Once we opened and saw the volume of play increase the way it did, maintenance became a very high priority for us," Sink said. "I think courses being installed are becoming part of municipal recreations portfolio, kind of like having basketball courts or baseball fields."

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The Diavolo course will be one of the locations for the 2024 PDGA Tim Selinske US Masters Championships.

Diavolo is highly rated and offers a nice flow for competition, according to VisitRaleigh.

"It's really expanding," Robert Falabella said about the sport before playing on the course on Wednesday. "I play with an 80-year-old, and a 75-year-old, and a couple of 60-year-olds ... it's just for everyone."