Cheney Parks and Recreation will soon be bringing a nine-hole disc golf course to the city of Cheney. The course will be located at Hagelin Park, within walking distance of the EWU campus.   

“The plan is to have it up by late spring [or] early summer,” Kim Best, recreation manager of Cheney Parks and Recreation said. “But that all depends on how long it takes to find the right design and put it all together.”

For those who haven’t played disc golf, the game is very similar to traditional golf, but instead of hitting a golf ball into a hole, players throw a disc toward a metal basket. The objective is to hit each target in as few attempts as possible.   

There are currently no disc golf courses in the Cheney area; the closest ones are in Spokane. Hagelin Park is located on the 700 block of Cedar Street.

The course will be open to the public and Best said she hopes it will be used by Cheney residents and EWU students, including the EWU disc golf club and P.E. classes.

“Disc golf is becoming more and more popular and we liked the idea of having it close to the schools,” said Best.

Disc golf doesn’t garner the attention that mainstream sports like football or baseball do, but it has been growing in popularity in recent years. Last year, the Professional Disc Golf Association reported its largest annual increase in members in the roughly 40 years of the organization’s existence.

Not everyone plays disc golf at a professional level. It offers a fun excuse for friends and families to gather outside and enjoy the warm weather.

“I didn’t know they were putting one up in Cheney,” Eli Holecek, an EWU student said. “I’ll have to get a group of friends together to check it out this summer.”   

The Cheney Parks and Recreation department received a grant for park improvements and the disc golf course is a key part of their plans.