Next up: The 2025 PDGA Amateur Disc Golf World Championships. Photos by Keith Borgmeyer
Since late last fall, Columbia has hosted a handful of state and national cross country, basketball, and wrestling championship sporting events that have helped fuel with local economy with an estimated $4.5 million in spending on hotel rooms, dining, and other retail activity.
That estimate comes from the Columbia Convention & Visitors Bureau. And there’s more to come. Columbia will also host the 2025 PDGA Amateur Disc Golf World Championships from August 19 to August 23 at its premier courses managed by the Columbia Parks and Rec Department.
Pro-am disc golfer Chris Baker, a member of the more than forty-year-old Columbia Disc Golf Club, said the club expects as many as 2,000 people to participate in or attend the August event.
“It will mean more foot traffic for local businesses,” Baker said. “We believe it will boost up the Columbia scene” for hotels, restaurants, and shopping.
The CVB team is also eager for the 2025 PDGA “Am Worlds,” as the disc golfers call it, and for the potential economic impact.
“Sports tourism is a very large and always-growing part of our tourism product,” Megan McConachie, communications and outreach supervisor for the Columbia Convention & Visitors Bureau, said in an email.
In fiscal year 2024, sporting events and competitions accounted for nearly $16 million in economic impact, in terms of events the CVB either supports monetarily or assists with logistics such as lodging.
“I can unequivocally say that sports tourism has a significant impact on occupancy at our hotel properties, especially for large-scale events like the MSHSAA and collegiate cross-country regionals and championships,” McConachie said, referencing the Missouri State High School Activities Association — which is headquartered in Columbia — and the new Gans Creek cross country course on the southwest side of Columbia.
The roundup of some of the more recent events includes:
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA)
2024 Cross Country National Championship
November 22, 2024
Direct economic impact: $918,715.78
2025 Girls Missouri Middle School State
Basketball Championships
March 7-9
Direct economic impact: $448,980.15
2025 Boys Missouri Middle School State Basketball Championships
March 21-23
Direct economic impact: $807,130.80
MSHSAA 2025 Boys and Girls State Wrestling Championships
February 26-March 1
Economic impact: $2,328,164.86
The CVB, which faces competition primarily from Springfield, Missouri, Overland Park, Kansas, and St. Charles, Missouri, often has a team that helps develop bid proposals for the biggest events, ranging from MSHSAA events to the upcoming NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships this fall at the Gan Creek course. The team has also assisted with bringing the PDGA Am World to Columbia in August.
McConachie said the CVB sports sales team builds partnerships, writes proposals, connects organizations with people in the community, solicits hotel room rates, helps find facilities, and is often on-site at events to ensure their success. The CVB also provides monetary support to many of the events through its Tourism Development Program, and often works with the Parks and Recreation Department, the University of Missouri and the Columbia College athletic departments, and local club sports organizations.
“Where there is a sports tourism event in Columbia,” she said, “our team likely played a significant role.”
In addition to disc golf, the local sports scene includes exponential expansion of pickleball courts, which reflects something of a national obsession with the sport. The Kitchen Grill & Games at 3711 Discovery Parkway has captured lightning in a bottle when it comes to the local pickleball scene. The new Trail Stop Brewery at 3019 Brushwood Lake in south Columbia has a vibrant pickleball following. The nonprofit First Chance for Children is hosting a fundraiser at Trail Stop — the Paddle Battle — to help fund the organization’s critical programs like the Baby Bags Diaper Bank, said Gay Litteken, executive director.
And there might be more recreation opportunities coming. According to the Boone County Resource Management Office list of April building permits, Concorde Plaza LLC is building a $2 million, 28,000 square foot spec building at 5755 Tom Bass Road just south of Columbia. One county planner said the permit documents don’t list concrete plans, but some have suggested it could house “possible indoor tennis courts and other businesses.”
Next up is the Am World that will take place at Columbia’s three competitive disc golf courses and possibly two courses in Jefferson City. COMO Disc Golf Club President Adam Morrison recently announced that the club, the city, the CVB, the Columbia Sports Commission, and Columbia Parks and Rec were awarded the championship event. Columbia’s courses include the Harmony Bends Championship Disc Golf Course at Strawn Park, the upper and lower courses at Albert-Oakland Park, and Indian Hills Disc Golf Course.
It’s not the first time Columbia has hosted a national or world disc golf championship. Columbia already hosts the long-running Mid-America Open, as well as other major championship events.
Baker said smaller events typically pay out around $200 in top prize money. The purse for bigger events can be in “the thousands,” he said. The sport is also played internationally, and some elite Columbia disc golfers, some of whom have corporate sponsorships, have also explored the European Tour.
Baker, now a document specialist at Shelter Insurance, said he’s trying to create a disc golf group there the same way there was a disc golf group at Veterans United Home Loans, where he met a friend who introduced him to the sport about three-and-a-half years ago. Baker said he quickly discovered the sport met more than his desire for competitive play.
“It’s an opportunity to be outside, to find a community that is inviting, and something I can be competitive at,” he said.
Harmony Bends is often cited in disc golf publications and on websites as one of the top courses in the country.
“One of the biggest factors is that it’s free to play and it’s accessible to everybody. And it’s easy to get to,” Baker said. He said the course is designed with layouts for three different skill levels.
“It’s made to be a challenging course,” he said, yet Harmony Bends is also suitable for those just getting started in the sport. “It is a sport that you can take as far as you want to go — just out to relax and have a good time, or to be very competitive and see who can walk away with the purse. And, really, there’s nothing better than being outside and being around friends.”
To gear up for disc golf, start out with one to three discs: a putter (smaller, more compact), a driver (designed for distance), and a mid-range disc. That trio of discs, depending on where they’re purchased, might cost from $60 to $70. A full bag of discs, with options for various conditions and distances, “could run you a couple hundred dollars,” he said.
A Quick Glance at COMO’s Disc Golf Courses
Albert-Oakland Park
1900 Blue Ridge Road
Albert-Oakland Park is a seventy-acre community park that features Columbia’s largest municipal pool, two 18-hole disc golf courses, twelve lighted pickleball courts, a basketball court, a lighted tennis court, lighted baseball/softball fields, reservable picnic shelters, playgrounds, and much more! It is a trailhead for the 4.8-mile Bear Creek Trail.
Indian Hills Park
5009 Aztec Boulevard
This 18-hole disc golf course is located on the east side of forty acre Indian Hills Park, which can be accessed from the east side of the park off Sandrock Drive. The par 54 course has eight holes with good sized fairways, with the remaining holes playing tight to the woods. It’s a good place to work on tight lanes and your control/placement game. The park is wooded with beautiful groves of cedars, junipers, and pines.
Strawn Park
801 N. Strawn Rd.
Harmony Bends Championship Disc Golf Course was designed by renowned disc golf course designer John Houck. It features big hills, wide meandering creeks, and lots of tall trees. Interesting creek crossings and ways to traverse the terrain were incorporated into the course design. The championship layout has a par of 68, including four par five holes. Most holes have three tees to accommodate everyone, from beginning players to the most experienced pros.
Fairview Disc Golf Course
1001 Fairview Road
The nine-hole course was established in 2024. All holes are less than 250 feet. The course was designed by the Columbia Disc Golf Club in conjunction with Columbia Parks and Rec.
