ESCANABA — While the height of the craze may have waned, Delta County remains a hot spot for disc golf, with parks across the county offering everything from world-class competition grounds to more relaxed and scenic courses.

“I go up there quite a few times a week for Little League and the concessions and there’s always quite a few cars parked out there,” said Wendy Taavola, Gladstone parks and recreation director, of the North Bluff Disc Golf Course, located at the John and Melissa Besse Sports Park in Gladstone.

Disc golf blends the relaxed atmosphere that many associate with Frisbee and other flying disc games with the challenge of golf. Participants throw their discs — which are custom-built for different types of throws, distances and techniques — at chain baskets that serve as holes. Each throw is scored as a stroke, and the disc golfer with the lowest number of strokes on the course is the winner.

While individuals are the primary users of the North Bluff Disc Golf Course, the site is also used for tournaments. One such tournament, the North Bluff Open, took place Saturday, June 21 and attracted 60 players for the Professional Disc Golf Association pro/am and C-tier tournament. Unlike A- or B-tier tournaments, C-tier tournaments allow individuals who do not have a current PDGA membership to compete, giving anyone the opportunity to participate.

PDGA-sanctioned events at the course shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. The course was designed in 2017 by 2010 PDGA champion and professional course designer Eric McCabe, of Emporia, Kan., who was asked to design a place where the Noc Bay Flyers Disc Golf Club could hold tournaments.

After showing McCabe a few potential spots for the course in Escanaba, the club decided to show him the old landfill area and bowl at the John and Melissa Besse Sports Park in Gladstone. When he saw the sports park, that was all McCabe needed to make a decision.

“He went up there and he was like, ‘that’s the spot.’ … Everything was set up, like the infrastructure is all there, it’s the perfect terrain, it’s underutilized land — I mean, he was really excited about it,” said Andy Hillman of the Noc Bay Flyers told the Gladstone City Commission in 2017.

While the North Bluff Disc Golf Course may attract more seasoned players, those just looking to have a good time while whipping discs have other options, such as a course at Escanaba’s Ludington Park called “Ludington Links” and a small practice course aimed at children at Escanaba’s John D. Besse Park.

But there’s another course that may be overlooked in Delta County — the one at Pioneer Trail Park.

That course has a sordid history, with local disc golfers feuding with park management not long after the course was opened.

Rory Mattson, then-executive Director of the Delta Conservation District, which managed the park at the time, said disc golfers had cut down or otherwise damaged trees in the park around the course during the winter of 2015-2016. The Noc Bay Flyers denied its members had anything to do with damage at the park, but the claims of damage, threats of criminal prosecution against those involved, and a new policy that disc golfers needed to pay a weekly or yearly fee to use the course left many looking for other places to play.

“There wasn’t a very welcoming environment, I’ll put it that way — But we’re definitely trying to change that,” said Heather LeDuc, who was recently hired as Delta County’s new park manager.

While there are still signs up at Pioneer Trail Park saying that disc golfers must register at the park office and pay a fee to play, that policy has ended. The course is now free to play for anyone visiting the park, and LeDuc is hopeful that those who may have felt unwelcome at the park in the past will give it another chance.

“For the most part, I’ve heard that disc golfers are pretty respectful. I think it’s great that they’re using the park for something besides just camping. Campers use it, but we also have visitors that are coming in the park, and we’re looking to do even more stuff in the park to bring other people in that have other interests that might not necessarily have a camper,” said LeDuc.

LeDuc said that people are often surprised to discover the course exists. She noted that one participant in the North Bluff Open told LeDuc she was surprised to discover the Pioneer Trail Park course while on her trip to the U.P. for the tournament.

Regardless of whether it’s seasoned pro disc golfers, novices or campers, LeDuc has one goal for the parks: to be welcoming.

“We’re a community park, and that’s how we want it to be,” she said.