Portland AKA “The City of Roses”, “Stump Town”, and many other nicknames has been blessed with being chosen to host the 2014 PDGA Pro Disc Golf World Championships. This city has some of the most beautiful landmarks and terrain to be found anywhere in the world. With these features, the 2014 Pro Worlds is one that will not be forgotten any time soon by all of those who were in attendance.
The Pro Worlds are being played at five course locations:
- Trojan Park,
- Blue Lake Regional Park
- McCormick Park,
- Pier Park and
- Milo McIver (2 courses),
Along with these five courses there are 35+ courses that are within driving distance of Portland, which is more than enough selection to keep things interesting and making sure your game on its toes. That being said, Portland is most certainly one of the up and coming Disc Golf cities across the world and the great clubs and organizations don't have any intention of letting off the gas pedal any time soon.
With these five Pro Worlds courses there are three of them which are fairly new: Trojan Park (2006), Blue Lake Regional Park (2012), and McCormick Park (2013).
Trojan Park could be one of the most majestic courses that we have seen and it seems to be just showing it's flowers for the first time now as it's starting to get more play and getting worked in more. The course is one of the further courses from Portland, it took us about an hour to travel to but once we arrived we see why they chose to select this course for the tournament. Yes, there were a few things that needed adjusting but there has never been a course that is perfect from start to finish. The photo opportunities on this course seemed to be endless, every time you turned around there was a new view that needed to be captured. We think this course could be one of those epic courses that people will be traveling from all over to try to take on, and with more play more lines will appear and more shots will inspire young disc golfers to imagine shots they never shot before.
Simon driving at the Trojan Park.
Blue Lake Regional Park. This park is surprisingly good looking for only being 2 years old. Everything is clean cut and seems to be chiseled of stone. That statement rings true unless you leave the fairways. Off the fairways is a jungle of tall grass and blackberry bushes which is sure to eat wandering discs. But back to the good stuff, the fairways and trees that are in bounds seems to be perfectly trimmed and manicured to give you the best possible chance to play this course clean and not get the unlucky one lone branch knock downs. All of the tees pads are very close to level with the ground,, the tee signs are clear and easy to read and the eye catching Innova DisCatchers are a target you will be sure to be able to find when looking down the fairway.
One of the newest courses in the Portland area is McCormick Park. Which could be the trickiest of all of the Worlds courses to manage. This course will be one of those courses the people will come to so they can master their accuracy and gain the confidence of being able to manipulate and control their disc at all times. This course will eventually bloom into a local favorite and become an escape from the busy roar of the city. It will truly take a World Champion to manage this course and come out on top.
Pier Park is one of those courses that if you're in the area, you have to at least go check it out at least once. This old park doesn't have the length that the other courses in the area has but what it lacks in length it makes it up with the most unique views and fun lines to play, it is a must to play for sure.
The last 2 courses are located at Milo McIver. These courses are considered 2009 World Champion and Team Discmania Player Avery Jenkins' favorite courses of all time. With the long lines and variety of all types of shots found on this course makes it close to one of those magical places that you could play all day and look forward to coming back to the next day.
All of these courses test each and every one of these competitors. There is a little mix of everything. Whoever is crowned the 2014 World Champion, will be tried and tested for sure.
Portland also is home to two of the most widely know non disc producing brands in Disc Golf. These two brands are Keen and Huk Lab. Keen has been one of the biggest catalysts for Disc Golf in Portland. They are one of the main sponsors to help with the development of Blue Lake Disc Golf course and always seem to have their fingers in something to help with the growth of Disc Golf as a whole. The other brand is Huk Lab and we're pretty sure you know at least one person with a Huk Lab tri-fly disc. Huk Lab has one of the most impressive Disc Golf teams assembled across the globe and the unique style of the clothing and gear is sure to grab many future players' attention. With these two power houses found in the city there is no doubt that Disc Golf is sure to grow here.
Avery checking sweet shirts at Huk Lab.
Discmania discs at Huk Lab.
Simon says: you gotta visit Portland!
All in all, if you're an avid disc golfer looking to try to take on the most challenging courses or someone looking to take a vacation to a disc golf location, Portland should be on your radar for destinations to visit!