Two disc golf players hoping to build a course in Te Puke are still trying to get the project across the line.

Jordan Kemen and Sam Edwards last year secured the backing of Te Puke Community Board to build a nine-hole course at Donovan Park.

Te Puke Community Board chairwoman Kassie Ellis said the board was supporting the project as it felt it would be a great asset for the community, another activity for people to enjoy and would be in a great location.

A course has been designed, but more money is needed if it is to be constructed.

“The community board was really keen to get it up off the ground and instated and committed some funding that would be about half the budget,” said Kemen.

It’s now a case of chasing other funding.

“We’ve got nine holes so we could get nine businesses to sponsor them and have their names on a hole like a sponsor-a-hole situation.”

Alternatively, it might be possible for Edwards and Kemen to construct the course themselves.

“I think then we could go ahead with the funding we’ve acquired.

“It should only take us a few months to start breaking ground and make it happen. We did have dreams of having it all up and running for summer, but it just didn’t quite get there.”

Last year Edwards and Kemen had regular pop-up disc golf games at the park that proved popular, but other commitments meant they have not been organised this summer.

The rules of disc golf are similar to those of golf, but instead of hitting a ball into a hole, people throw a Frisbee-style disc into a chain basket, aiming for the fewest throws possible.

Players are currently taking part in a series of tier A events dubbed the Tour Down Under that features some of the top professional disc golf players from the US. The A-tier tournaments are the highest category of tournaments played in New Zealand.

Te Puke’s Nathaniel Crawford won the MA2 (mixed amateur division) and the second of the four rounds of the tour, the Taupō Classic and his brother Jono was seventh in the MA1 division.

Crawford has been playing for three years, and has what are perhaps surprising reasons for enjoying the sport.

“The way you can shape a disc’s throw, there’s science and physics behind it and I love it – it’s amazing to me how it all works.”

He said it would be amazing to have a course in Te Puke.

“I work at the gym in Te Puke and we have people coming into the gym when we were running the pop-ups last year asking when we are going to do it again and how great it was for the kids.

“We had a lot of teenagers that just came along and spent a couple of hours playing with us, so when we get it set up in Te Puke it’s going to be great for everyone.”

Another Te Puke player, Mitchell Keyte, won the MA2 division at the Xtreme 2024, the North Island Championship Round on the New Zealand Disc Golf tour held at McLaren Falls Park last year.

Earlier this month, Kemen took baskets to a recent Summer in the Park event in Te Puke for people to have a go, with a six-basket course set up and said the enthusiasm showed there was an appetite for the game in Te Puke.

“People were having a blast. I’d like to keep that momentum going, keep the awareness. Te Puke is crying out for things like this, it’s such a cool little community.”

Jordan is on the Tauranga Disc Golf Association committee and details of any events are posted on the association’s Facebook page.