A photographers view of Crater Lakes Disc Golf Park in Mount Gambier.

Compared to that game they play with sticks, a Disc Golf course can be installed almost anywhere. In Australia we have courses in public parks, on private bush blocks, along riverside gardens, in the deep forest, and on rocky mountains. Courses can sometimes be in untidy, scrubby bits of land that aren’t used for anything else and that only a disc golfer can love. But sometimes they are in the most beautiful places imaginable. Crater Lakes Disc Golf Park in Mount Gambier is most certainly in the latter category. Set on the crater of a dormant volcano that last erupted 6000 years ago: a place the Boandik people called ereng balam – home of the eagle hawk – a round of disc golf here will have you throwing off high ridges over lakes, along lush green fairways lined with giant weeping willows and through tunnels of natural bush.

The Mount Gambier Disc Golf Cub recently held ‘The Eruption’, and ADG major tournament at crater lakes, and among the action shots taken over the weekend we managed to collect some pictures of the stunning landscape in ‘the volcano’.

The ADG AGM will be held online on Thurs 8^th Dec 2022 at 8pm AEDT.

Further details can be found here

The AGM is a great opportunity to ask questions of the board, provide feedback and discuss what disc golf in Australia should look like in 2023.

At the meeting we will be electing the ADG board for 2023. This year we are making some changes to how the board is structured. This change will allow more people to be involved and help the board to achieve more through the creation of sub-committees with specific roles.

If you are interested in nominating for a position on the ADG board, Tournament committee or State Representative Body please complete this form by 5.00pm Thursday 10th November. You can find out more about these positions  here. If there is someone you think should apply please let them know you will support their application. We welcome applicants from diverse gender and cultural backgrounds.

Paul Arden – Director of Competitions and PDGA Liaison

A founder and still the longest-serving board member of ADG, Paul Arden is the mastermind behind the ADG Tour and has been instrumental in the development of governance in the sport since the mid-noughties. Let’s hear from Paul

Q: How long have you played (DG) and how did you get introduced to the sport?
A: About 17 years since 2005. A friend found out about Disc Golf through VFDA (Victorian Flying Disc Association) and we played their object/lamppost course in the Fitzroy Gardens. A bit of Googling and we quickly found the now removed basket course on the Whittlesea Golf Club course, hooked ever since. First real disc, Innova XD.

Q: What is your favourite place to play in Australia and why?
A: Likely a tie between Poimena and Crater Lakes as the most beautiful and enjoyable. Closer to home I love Stony Creek Disc Golf Course because it’s less than 15 minutes from home and I can just empty my bag over and over going for aces.

Q: How did you come to be on the ADG Board? and what are the responsibilities of your position?
A: I was one of the founding board members of ADG, at a time where if you wanted to play Disc Golf you had to have a hand in organising things. I have been Director of Competitions and responsible for the ADG Tour since then.

Q: Look ahead five years – what is your vision for disc golf in Australia?
A: More courses, more tournaments, more players! The last two years has seen amazing growth of the sport to the point where we now have the ‘nice-to-have’ problems we talked about 15 years ago. Now we need to start working on ways to accommodate the huge demand for Disc Golf in Australia.

Q: Do you have any tips or advice for people thinking of getting involved in the admin/management side of disc golf?
A: Focus. Select an area you believe you can make a valuable contribution to and focus on that. There is a diverse set of requirements and more than likely there will be a way you can contribute, whether at a local level or nationally.

Thanks Paul

For a more detailed account of Paul’s life in Disc Golf have a look at the fireside chat interview we did in 2019 https://www.australiandiscgolf.com/paul-arden-a-chat…/