Ladies have been teeing off for the last two years at Riverside Park by making their mark as the only gender-specific league within the Guelph Disc Golf Club.
The ladies league started in 2021 and was created by Paulina Ciolko.
It's for women to have a fun, casual, social time and play disc golf, she said.
“Disc golf in general is a male-dominated sport,” said Ciolko. Manufacturers of disc golf equipment have started producing lighter discs for beginners and women, she said.
The disc golf ladies league season kicks off May 25.
“Women generally don’t have as high of an arm speed as men do. Of course women’s power comes from the lower body not the upper body like with men,” she said.
“Now there’s more opportunity for women to have a good time,” said Ciolko. “Whenever I play in tournaments and I see new ladies I just get so excited. And I want to see more of these ladies in Guelph.”
When she does play in tournaments she said about 15 per cent of the players are women, and the rest are men. She wants to change that.
A lot of women were happy to have an outlet and social interaction by joining the league since it started during the pandemic, she said.
One of the players was a 12-year-old girl named Sophie. Ciolko gave her some tips on the sport, convinced her to join tournaments and she ended up coming in first in provincials in her division.
She started out driving Ciolko.
Ciolko has tried to make the league accessible and the Riverside Park disc golf course made sense for the league to play at because it is flat, with no hills and an easier course, she said.
“Our whole club motto is about growing the sport through inclusivity and accessibility,” she said.
Ciolko was a golfer initially until one day in 2018 she passed by Riverside Park and noticed the disc golf baskets. She didn’t know what they were and decided to find out. Ciolko’s disc journey began there and has taken off since.
She is one of the founding members of the Guelph Disc Golf Club.
Discs are different from Frisbees. Disc golf is similar to traditional golf. The aim is to play each hole with the fewest throws possible. There are three different kinds of discs, similar to golf clubs there are drivers, mid-range discs and putters. Within those categories there are different moulds of discs with different flight ranges.
Tee locations in golf are different for men and women. Women’s tees are more forward to the hole than the tees men use. For disc golf it is course dependent, said Ciolko.
For the course at Victoria Park Valley Golf Club there are shorter tees, she said. Eastview Community Park has short and long tees. When a tournament is run women throw from the short tee with the exception of pro women players; they play from the long tee, Ciolko said.
The learning curve when people are starting out with disc golf is arguably easier to learn than golf because there is a club involved, Ciolko said. Whereas with disc golf you are using your hand and arm, she said.
There are also fewer barriers to entry because most disc golf courses are free, she said.
Ciolko is helping host the Canadian Women’s Event specific to women disc golf players. It will be hosted at Riverside Park on June 24 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. This is the first year it is being brought to Guelph.
“More so an event focused on celebrating women within disc golf,” said Ciolko.
“We’ve already had a bunch of ladies sign up which is exciting. Statistically speaking, ladies don’t usually sign up very early for tournaments,” she said.
