First disc golf course in northern Dauphin County opens this week

Jul 14, 2023

by: Amber Williams

Posted: Aug 23, 2023 / 09:18 AM EDT

Updated: Aug 24, 2023 / 09:20 AM EDT

DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) – The Wiconisco Creek disc golf course in Millersburg, Pennsylvania opens this week with a two-day celebration on Thursday and Saturday.

“We’re just trying to create a very large disc golf festival for the community to get this course started,” said course designed Christian Wenner.

Thursday will be the ribbon cutting ceremony which begins at 3:30 p.m. followed by the first throw, which will be done by Wenner. There will be a putting contest with refreshments after the opening of the course.

The festivities continue on Saturday from 12 to 4 p.m. for the grand opening celebration. There will be two Introduction to Disc Golf clinics at 12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. which are open to anyone who attends for free with no registration required. There will also be food trucks on site, a DJ, vendors and giveaways. The day will be capped off with a long drive contest at 2:30 p.m.

The idea for the new course came when Wenner was playing with his personal mobile basket in Wiconisco Creek Park with his brother. Whenever the brothers were both back in their hometown of Millersburg for holidays they would play disc golf in the local parks, creating their own courses.

“It was a beautiful day in the spring, and we were playing at Wiconisco Creek,” Wenner said. “We were shooting, making our fairways and I don’t know if it was him or myself but one of us was like, ‘you could put a disc golf course here’.”

Wenner has played at over 130 disc golf courses across the United States, including many of the top courses. Wenner always took notes at the courses and doing lots of research because designing his own disc golf course was a dream of his.

Now, that dream is a reality.

After that conversation with his brother Wenner presented a proposal to Anthea Stebbins, the Director of Dauphin County Parks and Rec, in April 2022, which was approved. Wenner began making the course in the summer of 2022.

Wenner designed each of the 18 holes after spending lots of time walking around Wiconisco Creek Park.

“I was out there in the woods, in the underbrush and it was a very creative process,” Wenner said. “It’s rewarding to see the vision I had for all the holes and actually see them come to life.”

Wenner created the holes with all levels in mind. There are options for beginners all the way up to advanced, professional players with different tee pads for each level of player from concrete slabs where players can run up and throw the disc to easy, natural surface tees.

Mostly, Wenner wanted to give another recreational activity as an option to kids and families in the community.

“I think it’s going to be a great opportunity for the kids,” Wenner said. “Growing up here, there wasn’t too much to do in Millersburg. Beautiful town, but sometimes we got really, really bored so I think this would be awesome for the kids and families.”

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The goal however for Wenner is to eventually be able to start local leagues and host large scale tournaments to bring in tourism revenue to the town.

Wenner is very proud of the new addition to the community and is hopeful that it will help grow the sport of disc golf and be appreciated by the local community.

“Once we started clearing some stuff out, putting the tee pads in, getting the baskets in, it was like ‘Wow. This actually looks even better than I expected.’ and it’s just extremely rewarding to see that,” Wenner said. “I hope a lot of people enjoy it. I hope it’s competitive enough for some of the advanced players.”

The first 75 people to arrive on Saturday to the celebration will receive a free, custom disc with a Wiconisco Creek stamp.

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