In recent months and years I’ve talked more and more about the intersection of disc golf and resorts. I’ve suggested hiring local pros to design (or redesign) or course, regularly mow fairways, and put in high-quality tee pads. I’ve suggested making your UDisc profile the go-to source of insights into how well you’re doing and how to make it better.

I’ve seen a few resorts step up their game. Red River, for example, stepped up and has started making a lot of small, but meaningful improvements like:

• Updating maps, GPS, and course info on Udisc
• Flipping the front and back 9 so beginners start on the easier holes
• Adding new signs, scorecards, and way finding

They had an existing course, so what would it look like if a resort could do it right but work from a blank slate? Well, it’d probably look a lot like what Buck Hill just did.

#1 Work with a Local Pro
First, Buck Hill hired Cale Leviska to design the course. Cale has been around the game a long time and has a ton of cred in the disc golf world. His name attached to it means something. Cale also lives in Minnesota, adding an extra level of cred to his involvement.

#2 Mowing, Tee Pads, Signs
But they didn’t just add baskets, they built a course. Slopes are mowed, quality tee pads were installed, signage is up, and the bar and grill is even open. They’ve given their course a chance to be something special right out of the gate.

#3 Real Marketing
Then, they did some real, serious marketing just like they would with a ski-focused addition to the mountain. My favorite part? This coverage on a local TV station that my buddy Patrick Sande alerted me to.

When I talked about UDisc playing a really important role in the success of your course, I also got a little more specific:

“People will or won’t play a course solely on the rating, so start by at least knowing what your rating is. You really want to be up above 4.0 if you want any significant portion of disc golfers to take you seriously. Above 4.5 and you’re looking really nice.”

Out of the gate, Buck Hill is sitting at 4.3.

Kudos to Buck Hill for not just doing disc golf, but doing it right.

About Gregg & SlopeFillers
I've had more first-time visitors lately, so adding a quick "about" section. I started SlopeFillers in 2010 with the simple goal of sharing great resort marketing strategies. Today I run marketing for resort ecommerce and CRM provider Inntopia, my home mountain is the lovely Nordic Valley, and my favorite marketing campaign remains the Ski Utah TV show that sold me on skiing as a kid in the 90s.