Disc Golf Billings - 2023 year in review

We are proud of the work the Disc Golf Billings Club accomplished in 2023.

Disc Golf Billings members had a huge impact on the community this year. These contributions ranged from shoveling tee pads and participating in charity events, to doing the physical work maintaining our courses (building, scouting, mowing and moving baskets on our courses) or taking the time to teach people, young and old, to disc golf (for Billings Christian School, Go Unite and Tyler Technologies). DGB members show up.

And disc golf, we disc golfed! So much disc golf was played in Billing last year, including over 1,000 PDGA sanctioned rounds. Over $6,000 in pro purses paid out at DGB hosted events and more than $two grand in ace pots! Our summer league is now sanctioned and even more competitive. Besides our annual tournaments (Shivvver, Spring Fling, Big Sky State Games, the Rockslide Open) and leagues (Sunday, Summer and Glow league) we hosted the Montana State Doubles Championship on the Pioneer Park Championship layout and it was a blast!

The dates below detail the many contributions and events Disc Golf Billings made happen this 2023 year.  

Year round!:

Sunday League at the X is the club’s casual Sunday league at Diamond-X. It's free to play with the optional $5 big-daddy ace pot for DGB members, $1,900 was paid in Sunday ace hits in 2023. This league runs year-round at Diamond X and we play both the Red/Blues and Orange Triangle courses and will retreat to High Sierra when the weather demands. Details ….

• $289 raised for the club (we started taking $1 for the club late in the year)
• 58 players threw 464 league rounds
• Top 5 Attendees: 
  • Brad Dumont: 33 rounds
  • Andy Bottman: 33 rounds
  • Bill Erickson: 29 rounds
  • Matt Christianson: 29 rounds
  • Jake West: 26 rounds
• Aces:
  • Oct. 22nd: Peter Boyd Red #5 $500-
  • Sept. 3rd: AJ Duncan Orange #18 $500-
  • Feb. 26th: Devin Proudfit Orange #18 $400- 
  • Feb. 12th: Leate Rogers Orange #18 $0. 
  • Jan. 15th: Dave Pigott Red #5 $500-

March 4th 2023:

The Spring Shivvver the annual charity mulligan event put on by DGB for Tumbleweeds was again a success. Tumbleweed is a local charity that provides safety, assistance and hope to Billing’s vulnerable and homeless youth.

• Total Raised for Tumbleweed = $1,405
• Numbers:
  • Registrants = 21
  • Mulligans = 194
  • Donors = 5
  • Average Mully-per-Player = 9.2
  • Average Donation-per-Player = $56.1

Feb 26th - May 7th 2023:

2023 SF Fundraising league: Starting in February, the Sunday league becomes the 2023 SF Fundraising league for 10 weeks. The SF Fundraising league is a PDGA sanctioned league raising funds for the Spring Fling tournament. Details ….

• $477 raised was for the Spring Fling
• 39 players played 159 sanctioned rounds.
• Top attendees: Brian VanderKolk, Gregory Gaustad, Matt Christianson and Andy Bottman.
• 1 ace: Devin Proudfit ($400-)

Thru March, April and May:

Diamond X volunteer work parties did real work on building up the Red/Blue tee pads. Volunteers did some heavy lifting during half a dozen work parties, we built up pads, hauled tons of gravel, tamped and did our best to prepare the course for the spring fling. Great work everyone!

In March:

Disc Golf Billings volunteers took the time to introduce children from Billings Christian School to disc golf and had fun playing a round with them at Pioneer Park.

May thru September: 

Pioneer Park Summer League is Disc Golf Billings signature league at Pioneer Park. We played two sets of PDGA sanctioned leagues, plus dubs rounds along and the mid and end of year tournaments. Mid-year and end of year tournaments have handicaps, divisions and cash payouts. We now sanction, insurer and permit Pioneer Park every Tuesday during the summer, guaranteeing smooth play.

• 85 players participated throughout the summer.
• 598 sanctioned rounds were played. 
• Top 5 Attendees: Brad Dumont, Andy Bottman, Doug MacDonald, AJ Duncan and Coby Greenhagen
• 2 Aces: Jay Markham and Seth Neuhoff
• Top 3 scores 1st ½ season:
  • Will Peppard: 47
  • Steven Carreiro: 47
  • Christopher Hanna: 47
• Top 3 scores 2nd  ½ season:
  • Seth White: 47
  • Leate Rogers: 47
  • Steven Carreiro: 48
• Players/round:
  • Top: 40 players
  • Average: ~33 players
  • Bottom: 22 players

May 20th:

The Spring Fling at Diamond X presented by MariMint is the club's signature event and we knocked it out of the park again this year.

• https://www.pdga.com/tour/event/67759 
• PDGA sanctioned - Pro Purse: $2,896
• 80 players competed in the PDGA sanctioned event at Diamond X, playing both the Red/Blue and Orange Triangle courses. The Club did it right for their signature event, tee pads were improved beforehand and competitors received phat player packs or competed for a pro purse of nearly $3000. 

In July:

High Sierra work parties prepared the course for the Big Sky State Games. DGB volunteers spent multiple days of maintenance of fairways for the Big Sky State Games. We finished up with a tractor mower and carved out fairways on the overgrown High Sierra.

July 15th:

2023 Big Sky State Games:

• https://www.pdga.com/tour/event/72088
• 22 players competed for the Gold in two PDGA sanctioned rounds at High Sierra Disc Golf Course. DGB volunteers turned out multiple days, finally with a tractor to mow the overgrown fairways preparing the course for the Big Sky State Games.

July 27th:

GoUnite invited Disc Golf Billings out to assist with the Tyler Technologies Inc.’s company party at Pioneer Park! The club introduced disc golf to a whole new group of people! They even had custom printed discs from Legacy Discs for the event! DBG members assisted the new players, it was an awesome event and a great opportunity! 

Aug 5th: 

The 2023 Rockslide Open presented by Par Montana was a success! The weather cooled down for us and 25 competitors played two rounds at Diamond X. We played the Orange Triangle in the morn and Red/Blue in the afternoon. Hot scores, and good times! Thank you everyone who participated. 

• https://www.pdga.com/tour/event/72781 
• PDGA sanctioned - Pro Purse: $1,280
• 25 players - 2 rounds

In September:

Disc Golf Volunteers, “the boys”, updated the original Diamond X practice basket. Now deburred and painted, niiiice! 

Oct 14th: 

2023 Montana State Doubles Championship

• https://www.pdga.com/tour/event/74377
• PDGA sanctioned - Pro Purse: $1,966
• 80 players - 2 rounds
• We had 80 competitors total over six divisions! The weather was a little brisk on Saturday morning, but it turned out to be a perfect day for disc golf by the afternoon round! Congrats to winners in each division! We watched several battles unfold, including a 9 hole playoff for MA2 with a substantial gallery following them!

Oct thru the New Year

Glow League every Tuesday a free to play league w/ $1 optional Ace pot on glow bag tags for those “in the game”. We started in 2023 and we will play into this year until the sun stays up long enough for regular Tuesday league. Aces are being hit and fun is being had!