How Emporia became king of the Disc Golf world

“A lot of people refer to Emporia as the disc golf capital of the world, the Mecca,” said Dynamic Discs founder Jeremy Rusco.

Lelan Dains, the director of Visit Emporia. echoed Rusco’s words.

“You know, we seem to have reached the pinnacle of the sport and are widely recognized as the disc golf capital, certainly in the US,” Dains added.

Emporia possesses the new Supreme-18 championship-level disc golf course at Jones Park, specially designed for the 2022 PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Championships, plus 10 additional courses within a 15-minute drive. And the city has more anchored disc golf baskets per capita than anywhere in the world. According to Dains, these courses are frequently bustling with activity.

“I see it on the daily just within our community how disc golf has grown,” he said. “The number of people that you’ll see in any given park where there’s a course. Playing on any given day and often in pretty extreme temperatures, as I continue to see this winter.”

Having the premier disc company globally, is also a key factor contributing to the mecca designation. Dynamic Discs has partnered with Swedish disc manufacturer Latitude 64 to create some of the topmost discs in the sport. Rusco has been involved with disc golf for two decades.

“I picked up my first disc and played my first disc golf round in 2002 out in Hays at Fort Hays State University,” Rusco said. “I was on the football and track team, and one of the football teammates got a group of us together and took us out playing. I was hooked right away.”

Rusco didn’t have much time to play in Hays, but when he transferred to Emporia State University, that all changed.

“Ultimately, that’s where I really got the passion for disc golf and ended up opening up a Dynamic Discs eBay business, which was just purely a college hobby,” he said. “I sold a disc the first week and a disc the second week, and then it turned into two discs a week and quickly ten discs a week, 20 discs a week.”

Rusco didn’t know where the venture would take him but sensed he might be on to something.

“The business just kept growing year after year,” Rusco said. “And you could definitely tell that there was something special about disc golf and that there was a bright future for it.”

Dynamic Discs also has six brick-and-mortar retail establishments. The Emporia location at 912 Commercial Street is its flagship store.

Interestingly, but not coincidentally, Emporia State’s disc golf programs have grown, achieving recent success.

“For years, we have talked about how great it will be when the ESU/Dynamic Discs bus rolls up to the National Collegiate Championship, and everyone knows that this is the team to beat,” Rusco said. “Finally, that day has arrived.”

The Emporia State men’s team is ranked No. 1 by College Disc Golf, and the women’s program is ranked No. 12.

Emporia State disc golf head coach Eric McCabe feels the Hornets’ success is symbiotically Emporia’s success.

“I personally believe it contributes to the local disc golf community in many ways,” McCabe said in an email. “One big one is obviously bringing new, quality players to town to help push the competitive side of our player base.”

McCabe said it’s a win for the city and university, stating that people are searching for reasons to move to Emporia for disc golf.

“And now, with the opportunity to play on scholarship at ESU, that will only help with those numbers.”

And for the uninitiated, disc golf is similar to golf with the objective to complete each hole (nine or 18) with the fewest throws. The holes are elevated metal baskets, and the sport is mostly played at public parks, but pay-to-play courses are beginning to emerge.

As the sport transitions into mainstream status, its economic impact on the Emporia area is appreciable. Woods said they’re able to track the usage of local disc golf courses annually, including large and minor tournaments. The individual nature of disc golf allows city and county stakeholders to ascertain how participants interact with the Emporia economy.

“We’ve got multiple courses that are set up,” Woods said. “We know that people travel to Emporia from larger distances, from metro areas, and then once they’re here, they’ll eat at our local restaurants, they’ll shop at local venues, they’ll participate in local entertainment options.”

Dains said hosting major tournaments for nearly a decade has had a tremendous effect on the Emporia economy, especially with two top-tier events — Dynamic Discs and Glass Blown — slated for the yearly disc golf schedule.

“So now we’ll have two homegrown tournament weekends,” Dains said. “The big tournaments are a pretty obvious impact. We see the thousands of people that come into our communities on those weekends, and obviously, they’re staying at our hotels and eating in our restaurants and shopping in our stores. So that’s significant.”

The Visit Emporia director cautioned that the city and its residents need to continue their high level of support for disc golf to ensure that Emporia remains the place of choice for disc golf enthusiasts, professional players and tournament directors.

“That means continuing to improve our course facilities,” he said. “And it’s just support all the way around. I think sometimes when you reach the top, it’s easy to kind of step back for a second, say, ‘All right, we’ve done it.’ Disc golf is growing rapidly and other communities are investing as well. And we can very easily lose our status as the preeminent destination for disc golf.”

Disc golf seems to be here to stay though profiling a high ceiling and low floor.

“Really, at every turn in the world of disc golf, you see that Emporia is at the forefront and a leader,” Dains said.