“Before we had even left, we heard ‘ching’ on the chains; there were people playing when it wasn’t even officially open,” Shore said.
“One particular family had driven all the way from Palmerston North ... because they were that excited about it. For us, that is what it is all about - participation and getting people out there.
“It’s one of the most rewarding jobs that I have ever been involved in. It’s really cool to see it happening.”
Haydn Shore hopes by making the course easy and short, it will attract more people to play. Photo / Disc Shop Disc Golf
“In the past, some of the courses have been a bit hard for the community so the interest wasn’t as much,” he said.
“It’s a proven model now, nationwide. If the course is short and easy, then the disc golf grows dramatically.
“If it’s hard, you lose a disc, you can’t work it out and your mate is really good at it, then it doesn’t work as well. So make it easy, make it fun, make it rewarding, then you make people come back.”
Council strategic youth adviser Kayla Hyland said it was “really special” to see the course come to reality.
She said having an active, inclusive and free-to-access activity in Taihape would “make a real difference”.
“We’ve already had great feedback from local kura about using the course during class,” Hyland said.
“Seeing it built ... shows we’re investing in healthy, engaging spaces for our young people and, with free discs available for our kura, it helps remove cost barriers and makes the sport even more accessible.”
Nearby schools have been provided with disc sets to make use of the course and Taihape Library has disc hire for $5.
Shore said the installation was stage one of potentially three stages, based on the community’s response.
The other stages would include allocating more land to upgrade the course.
