Four years after its first event, the Trilogy Challenge disc golf tournament last weekend brought in 66 participants from around the country, organizer Alan Combs said.
"I started hosting the Trilogy Challenge in 2014," he said. "It is sponsored by Dynamic Discs, Latitude 64 and Westside discs and tournament directors around the country work through them to host their own local Trilogy Challenges."
The first event had about 30 players, but its been consistently growing.
"We had players travel from as far as North Carolina this year to play in our tournament," Combs added. "They had other reasons to be in the area, but it's not uncommon for people to travel three hours to play in this event. It's our biggest event and the one that I put the most time and effort into organizing and advertising each year."
For Fulton Disc Golf Club members, the overall goal of this tournament is to bring players together and enjoy a day trying out three new discs. All players play with the same three molds, which they are able to get for the first time the day of the events.
"The course at Veterans Park is a great park for this sort of event and we always have players traveling to our course tell us how great it is," Combs said.
The Fulton Disc Golf Club has high hopes of seeing another disc golf course built in Fulton, he added.
"As the sport continues to grow, disc golf is a great way to bring people into the community. Columbia, Holt Summit and Jefferson City all have great courses that people travel hours to play," Combs said. "If we can get another course, we can start hosting larger tournaments and possibly join with Columbia or Jefferson City in one of their tournaments. Our biggest obstacle right now with our course is that we share the park with many others in the community. The shared park can be challenging in that we want to make sure other park goers don't get injured by the discs as they are flying towards the basket. We respect the park and others that are out and want to find ways to continue to grow while not being in the way of others wanting to use the park."
The Fulton Disc Golf Club hosts league play at 2 p.m. every Sunday, and includes a free division for those who wish to not play for money or just wanting to learn.
"Disc golfers, in general, create a natural community in which we all work towards the goal of growing the sport and being a positive impact in the communities we are involved in," Combs said. "Anyone wishing to learn more can check us out on Facebook or stop by the park just about any evening and they will be able to meet a fellow disc golfer."
The club started in 2014 with four members and has grown to more than 30 members. An average of 20-30 people play league each week, year round.
"We typically see over 60 individuals come out throughout the year and I know there are still a number of disc golfers in the area that haven't joined into any of our events," Combs added.