It began with a flying dream.

And the dream came from the pioneers and the trendsetters of the sport, with an assist from the “Father of Disc Golf” himself. They bucked traditional thinking and forged ahead with a new sport called “Frisbee” Golf. It began in 1973 in Topeka, but 1977 was a big year as multiple object courses appeared in the Sunflower State, mostly on College Campuses.

See below for a list of the first “object” courses and the first “standardized” target courses in Kansas. If you have information or updates to this list or can provide us with course designers or years, please email us at ksflyingdiscsa@gmail.com.

Object Courses:

  1. Topeka High School Campus Course-1973 designed by Chris Breit and Alan Geiss. Chris started playing Frisbee in Emporia in 1972 (Peter Pan Park) and then moved to Topeka and graduated from THS in 1973.

  2. KU Campus Course-1977 designed by the KU Frisbee Club. This was the site of the 1979 and 1980 PDGA Central States Championships, one of the first major events held in Kansas. The Hole 1 tee shot was downhill from the Campanile towards the football stadium and was famously aced by Jeff Homburg with his thumber as he won both the 1979 and 1980 Central States Championships.

  3. Wichita State Campus-1977 designed by Brian Corn, Steve Chalker and others. A detailed map of this course still exists and is the header on this webpage. The story goes that the original course started on the front porch of one of the course designers. As the course got busier and more people played, they had the change the location of hole one because it was too busy on the front porch!

  4. Gage Park Topeka-1977(?) designed by Chris Briet and the Heart of America Frisbee Club. Gage Park was the main gathering place for the Heart of America Frisbee Club where all flying disc sports were played. The day usually ended with a round of disc golf which started on the oval grass area with the concrete picnic tables.

  5. Pittsburg State Courses-1977 9 hole Campus Lake course designed by Jeff Priest and Ted Smethers. 9 hole Campus course also designed by Jeff Priest and Ted Smethers.

  6. KSU Campus Course-1978 Designed by Larry Pankratz, Gordon Plank and Randy Schroeder. Scenic 18 hole course with many iconic shots including the BWFD.

  7. Old City Park Parsons-1979 Designed by Jeff Priest who also started the Parsons Frisbee Club at the same time.

  8. Emporia State Campus-1980 designed by Ray Wright and Roger Brickell

  9. Crestview Park Topeka-1980 9 hole course designed by Chris Breit. This course eventually became a basket course in 1983 and is the oldest operating course in the State of Kansas.

  10. Topeka Capital Course-1981 This was a 9 hole course designed by Rich Smith and Stuart Wallace. This was a fun course to play at night with Midnight Flyers as the Capital grounds were very well lit after dark…and after the bars closed. Hole 1 was an iconic tee shot off the top of the south Capital steps.

Standardized Target Courses* (pre-2000):

  1. Lindsborg Bethel Colllege-1977? designed by Ed Headrick.  This course is like a bigfoot; we are certain it existed but there are no records, pictures or documentation of it.  This course no longer exists.

  2. Lake Perry Disc Golf Course-1980 designed by Ed Headrick and Bill Gordon.  This was a highly technical wooded course that no longer exists. Per Bill Gordon, “we wanted this to be a Championship Course.” It was adjacent to the Wet Willy’s water slide 1 mile north of Perry, KS. When the course closed, the baskets were installed at Rosedale Park in KCK.

  3. Topeka Crestview Park-1983 designed by Chris Breit and the Heart of America Frisbee Club. This was an object course prior to baskets that was first used in 1980. Robert Janeski had a huge gas powered auger that was used to dig the holes.  The Heart of America Frisbee Club spent a lot of hours on that course. Paul Taggert called in sick the day the course opened and then his photo appeared in the Topeka Capital Journal!  His boss asked the next day if he felt better.

  4. Hays Frontier Park-September of 1983 designed by Ron Rice, Karen Elder and Les Dreiling. Updated to baskets in 1991. This is the oldest operating 18 hole course in the State of Kansas.

  5. Wakeeney Scout Park-1983 designed by Paul Wildeman

  6. Kansas City Kansas Rosedale Park -1985 designed by Ace Mason and Jim Steinhibel.  Per Mark Stiles: “the baskets, tee signs, etc. were sold in 82 by the Lake Perry Wet Willies' owner to Ace Mason and Jim Steinhibel. They were used by the club for demos and set up temporarily for the first two wide opens, then were installed at Rosedale park in may of 1985 permanatly. They were used down under for a number of years after the upper course got new baskets. When down under got new baskets for a worlds event, they were sold off to club members who had developed special relationships with certain ones.”

  7. Tick Ranch-1987 designed by Jeff Priest.  Aluminum irrigation tubing was first used as targets. This course was one of the original 12 Kansas Disc Golf Association tour courses in Kansas. It is the oldest private disc golf course continuously in operation in the state.

  8. Herrington Centennial-1987 designed by Dennis Vahsholtz.

  9. Valley Center Flying Bee Country Club-1987 designed by Bill Paulson.

  10. Winfield Cherry Street Park-1988 designed by Harvey Barger

  11. Salina Lakewood Park-1988 9 hole course designed and installed by Larry Pankratz. North 9 hole course was installed in 1995

  12. Wichita Central Riverside-1988 Designed by Stan Korth.  Course was closed due to complaints and 9 baskets were moved to Herman Hill and 9 to Oak Park.

  13. Wichita Herman Hill-1989 designed by Mark Jennings, Harvey Barger and Bill Paulson

  14. Wichita Oak Park-1989 designed by Mark Jennings

  15. Hays Rolling Hills-1990 designed by Ron Rice

  16. Winfield Southwestern College-1990 designed by Harvey Barger

  17. Olathe Prairie Center Park-1990 designed by Ned Smethers.  Crazy John said the course "is beautiful and in fact is heaven!"

  18. Norton Elmwood Park-Baskets built in 1988 and course dedicated in 1990 Designed by Ron Rice and others.

  19. Forest Park, Parsons-1989 Designed by Tom Lundblat and Wes Root.

  20. Carey Park, Hutchinson- July 1989 Designed by ???

  21. Emporia Jones Youth-1991 designed by Gail Shipman, Scott Rothe, Scott Davies, Kevin Babbit and Ty Wheeler

  22. Lawrence Centennial Park-1991 designed by  Dennis Vahsholtz, Steve Erb, Steve Brennan and Chad Lloyd

  23. McPherson Lakeside Park-1991 designed by Dave Stubbs

  24. Beloit Chataqua Park-1991 designed by ???

  25. Stockton City Park-1991 or 1992 This is a 12 hole course designed by ???

  26. Topeka Lake Shawnee-1993 designed by Bruce Hudson

  27. Wichita Cessna Park-1994 This course was originally a Tone Pole course. The course only lasted a few years but was resurrected as a basket course in 2016

  28. Colby Villa High Park-1995 designed by Gary Schuette

  29. Independence Riverside Park-1995 This was a 9 hole Tone Pole course that no longer is open. Designed by ???

  30. Great Bend-1996 Designed by Harvey Barger. This course is no longer open.

  31. Kansas City Kansas Rosedale Down Under-1999 The front 9 was designed by Ace Mason and James Wallace. James did the cutting out of the hillsides for the course. The back 9 was redesigned by Jay Rivard while he was the course coordinator. Like most courses, it has been improved and modified over the years.

  32. Fort Scott Gunn Park-1999 designed by Buckles and Danny

  33. Pratt May Dennis Park-1999 designed by Mark Echoff.

  34. Colwich Disc Golf Course-1999 Designed by Jeff Priest and Bill Paulson.

    *Please note this information was accumulated after exhaustive research and interviews with the OGs of Kansas Disc Golf (Bill Paulson, Chris Breit, Mark Stiles, Jeff Priest and others). A special thank you to Brett Eric Straight for his hard work and research in this area! Some of the information is only to the best of our abilities as documentation is limited and we are all getting old. These courses have evolved over the years and many have changed layouts and were improved as our sport evolved. Some of the courses are no longer in existence.

    If you have information to help us document and improve this list, please send an email to ksflyingdiscsa@gmail.com