2022 PDGA Pro Worlds TD Doug Bjerkaas and Shawn Sinclair of the PDGA speak during a recent PDGA visit to Emporia, Kansas. Photo: PDGA

Doug Bjerkaas used words like agile, receptive, and dynamic to describe the ongoing preparation for the return of a PDGA Major to Emporia, Kansas.

Just over eight months away, Bjerkaas and his team are feeling the responsibility that comes with serving as hosts of the 2022 PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Championship and it’s a task that they’re not taking lightly.

“We are ecstatic to have the opportunity to bring the best disc golfers in the world to Emporia,” the 2017 PDGA Tournament Director of the Year said. “Disc golf has exploded and we – our whole organization – believes that this is not just for Dynamic Discs and Emporia, but for all of disc golf.

“This World Championship in 2022 is likely going to be the biggest event in the sport up until this point. More people are demanding to see the sport, more people are playing the sport and all eyes will be on Emporia. We know we’ve got a big, tall task to accomplish here, but we know that we’ve got the people and the talent to support it. All of our preparation to this point and all of the preparation that will continue until late August will reflect the responsibility that we have to the sport as hosts.”

In December, members of the PDGA Operations and Logistics team — Shawn Sinclair and Patrick Graziani — visited Emporia for a check-in, a routine task for all PDGA Majors. These site visits ensure that the host teams and cities are well on their way for a PDGA Major to come to town — from the course selection and rules of play to the parking and all the other small details for players and spectators alike.

Patrick Graziani and Shawn Sinclair, of the PDGA's Operations and Logistics team, look over Jones Park with 2022 PDGA Pro Worlds assistant TD Jackie Morris. Photo: PDGA

The focus of these site visits is on the courses where the action will take place and champions will be crowned.

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Two courses will be in play for Pro Worlds, the crown jewel of Emporia disc golf at the Emporia Country Club (ECC) and the new Supreme 18 at Jones Park, a brand-new course that is currently being installed at Jones Park.

Crown Jewel of Emporia

The Country Club will see a few tweaks from its previous layouts, most notably a brand-new hole 10, which will add a wooded tunnel shot to the track. There will be adjustments to the out-of-bounds in a few spots to both increase the difficulty and provide a comfortable cushion between spectators and competitors.

“As we typically do, there will be a couple of adjustments to the course and a couple of things that we think will improve the course,” Bjerkaas said. “Hole 10 will have a tunnel cut out of the woods, much like we did for Hole 9’s teebox a couple of years ago, a move that has been well received. The new hole will provide another type of shot that players will have to hit.

“We’re completely outfitting the course to accommodate spectators with a number of designated areas where they can take in the action while giving the players a playing surface where they’re not worried about a bunch of fans right on their backs. We think that over the next eight months, fans of disc golf are going to have to answer the question of how they are going to watch the 2022 PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Championships, come to Emporia or tune into the Disc Golf Network.”

Kona Panis lines up a shot during the 2021 Dynamic Discs Open at the Emporia Country Club. Photo: PDGA

A stalwart of Emporia’s largest events, ECC, in Bjerkaas’ opinion, is an underrated course.

“A lot of people think, ‘oh, it’s just a bomber course with just big shots,’ and while you might get that impression on screen, when people actually get to the course they realize and see a lot of the technical challenges that players have,” he said. “There are a lot of holes on the course that are score differentiators and that’s what we need.”

The 2022 PDGA Pro World Champions will be crowned at ECC on Saturday September 3rd.

A Blank Slate

Receiving feedback and adjusting as necessary is a big part of hosting a PDGA Major event and that’s exactly what happened at Jones Park following the 2021 Dynamic Discs Open (DDO).

It’s led to a completely new course at Jones Park.

“When we first put in the bid for Worlds back in 2019 for the 2020 event (which was canceled and postponed one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic), we were pretty confident that an ECC-Jones Gold layout would be good for Worlds,” Bjerkaas said. “Jones Gold, for lack of a better term, was a safari course using the teepads and pins for Jones East and West for the most part. At the 2021 DDO, we played the course, and it wasn’t what we thought it was going to be. It wasn’t quite as challenging and wasn’t as received as well as we thought it was going to be. We knew that, come time for 2022 Worlds, that the Jones Gold layout would not work.”

Hole 6 of the Supreme 18 at Jones Park features a water carry to a tight green. Photos: PDGA

At the 2021 DDO, the MPO field played the Jones Gold course twice. Over the course of those two rounds, there were 30 scores of at least 10-under-par that were turned in. That wasn’t going to work for Worlds, the DD team determined, and the decision was made that course designer and 2010 PDGA World Champion Eric McCabe would design 18 new holes using the entirety of Jones Park with a blank slate.

“We had conversations with Shawn Sinclair and Todd Lion of the PDGA about how a redesign of Jones Park might be the exact answer we were looking for and the decision was made to design a fresh course,” Bjerkaas said. “Eric did a fantastic job designing it. We’ve got through a few iterations, working virtually with Shawn and Todd, going back-and-forth with adjustments.

“After the visit from the PDGA this week, apart from a few minor things, it’s ready. We think the top professionals in our sport are going to enjoy it and it’s going to challenge them.”

Eric McCabe looks over a course map during the PDGA's recent visit to Emporia, Kansas, site of the 2022 PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Championships. Photo: PDGA

Hole 2 is a long and challenging par 5 and is followed by a water carry on the third. Water comes back into play on hole 6 using the green of 17 on Jones West. Holes 12 and 13 play up and down the hill that houses the finishing holes on Jones East.

Bjerkaas just kept rattling off his favorite holes.

With an expected par in the high 60s, players and the event staff will get a trial run of the Supreme 18 at Jones Park during the 2022 DDO in April, which is a PDGA Elite Series and Disc Golf Pro Tour event.

Teepads and pin locations are currently being installed.

“We are very fortunate to be running an event with the new course,” Bjerkaas said. “If there are some tweaks, we’re going to be very receptive to feedback that we receive after the DDO and make any changes needed to make sure that it’s as good as can be for 2022 Pro Worlds.”

Final Push

Now, it’s on to the details for the final push to August and no stone will be left unturned in Emporia.

“We need to dial in the specific details – the devil is always in the details,” Bjerkaas said. “Different things – field events, practice areas, parking plans, spectator plans, security plans, volunteers, all of which are already rolling. I think we’ve got the competitive part dialed in and the courses are well on their way to where they need to be.”

The responsibility and expectations of hosting a PDGA World Championship are not taken lightly in Emporia.

“We’re confident that we will do a good job, but we also know that we need to be, well, dynamic,” Bjerkaas said. “Everything is always changing so we have to make sure that we can be agile and put on an event that we hope people are talking about for years to come for the right reasons.”

The 2022 PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Championship is set for Aug. 30 through Sept. 3 in Emporia, Kansas.