By Steve Hubrecht
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Frisbees could start flying a whole lot more around Invermere this year.
The Columbia Valley Flying Disc Club (CVFDC) is set to create a pair of new courses here, after Invermere councillors approved the club’s plans last week.
Both courses will be beginner-friendly, family-oriented, and free. The first is a nine-hole course planned on the Lake Windermere Resort (LWR) lands near James Chabot Provincial Park, and the second is a 13-hole ‘pitch and putt’ course in the green space around Pynelogs Cultural Centre and the old CPR Lodge.
The club first proposed the courses to Invermere council last year, and the idea was met with initial enthusiasm from both councillors and District of Invermere staff. In the ensuing months the CVFDC has finalized course layout and design plans, and outlined a more detailed budget. Last week council gave the projects an official thumbs up, and agreed the district will contribute $5,300 (a bit more than 20 per cent of the total cost) to help create the courses. The rest will be funded through a Columbia Basin Trust (CBT) grant.
“We’re hoping to start this summer,” CVFDC member Andre Lodder told the Pioneer. “It’s really exciting. There’s a big need for it. There’s a lot of challenging (disc golf) courses in the area, but nothing much for beginners. This will fill that void.”
Lodder said the courses, both in high visibility locations, will help raise awareness about disc golf.
The courses will be made with removable baskets, which the district can store away during winter months.
The club will build the James Chabot course first, simply because it is able to procure just nine removable baskets on short notice from the manufacturer. The other 13 needed for the Kinsmen course likely won’t be available until the fall.
The total cost for both courses is $34,000, but the CVFDC plans to contribute $7,000 worth of labour and design work, leaving a price tag of $27,000.
“We’re ready to get going, and happy to do whatever we can to help create these,” said Lodder.
The CVFDC also spoke with Radium council last week, outlining a desire to revitalize the Sinclair Creek disc golf course. The course is currently incomplete, with nine permanent baskets and nine temporary ‘tonals’, and since 2023 it has become overgrown.
Lodder told the Pioneer that CVFDC’s aim at the Radium meeting was simply to open up communication with council, explain the situation at the Sinclair Creek, and hopefully “kick start revitalization of that course.”
PHOTO ANDRE LODDER