Bluebird Series Brings Region's Best Disc Golfers to Quail Ridge

Throughout the summer, disc golfers around St. Louis have been battling amongst each other to be the best in the region. On Saturday, they’ll settle the score.

Wentzville’s will be the host of a regional championship for the Bluebird Championship Series, a multi-city disc golf tour created by the Missouri Parks and Recreation Association that began in April. Spawned in 2010 as single-region tournament series around central Missouri, this year marks the first for the series to expand state-wide into four regions.

 “We wanted to do something that hasn’t been done before, something new for the state of Missouri,” said Brad Schmitt, MPRA’s sports section president and Creve Couer’s Parks and Recreation Director. “We see soccer tournaments and football tournaments, but nobody had done a statewide disc golf tournament before, so that was our motivating factor. (The MPRA’s) goals are to get people out and enjoy their parks and different recreational activities, and really the biggest goal is to improve residents’ knowledge of disc golf as a sport that can get them out and get them active.”

Saturday’s competition will be the Eastern regional championship between the top eight scorers from four qualifying tournaments which took place over the summer. The top three from Saturday will advance to the State Tournament of Champions in Marshall, MO on Oct. 8, 2011. Over 100 disc golfers participated in the Eastern region alone and, despite some overlap with existing club events, the Series has been regarded as a promotional boom for the sport around Missouri.

“I think now that the first year has passed, a lot of people are realizing ‘Hey, I missed out on that, and I’m bummed,’” said Mark Kane, vice president of the St. Louis Disc Golf Club, the River City Flyers. “Overall, people have been really excited about it, and I think next year is going to be even bigger. All three local clubs have taken interest in it, and I think it will become a great complement of fun and competition for our courses – not just at the open level, but also recreational for those who are just being introduced to the sport.”

Approached with the task of preparing the courses for tournament play, Kane and the Flyers moved to showcase as much as the region’s disc golf offerings as possible.

in Mehlville was used as a qualifying round to represent the Flyers, who maintains the course, while West City Park in Festus promoted the Jefferson County Sharpshooters club.

Representing the St. Charles Disc Golf Club, the Quail Ridge course will be used for a second time in the tour, though the layout will be completely different from the design of the qualifying tournament held in May. The course was also used as a qualifying round, to represent collegiate-level play.

The tournament will tee off at 10 a.m. on Saturday and run for two rounds. The Bluebird regional championship will eventually flow into a St. Charles Disc Golf Club event, the Quail Ridge Summer Glow, which features glow sticks and Frisbees in a night round of golf.

Registration for the Summer Glow will begin at 7 p.m. at Shelter #2, with a tee off of 8 p.m. Registration is $10 and $1 for three glowsticks.