PIMA — Forget pickleball — the hot recreation in Graham County is disc golf.
During Tuesday’s meeting, the Pima Town Council agreed with Town Manager Vernon Batty’s proposal to add a disc golf course to the redevelopment plans for the park by the Vard Lines Roping Arena.
Lee Patterson, with the nonprofit Gila Valley Disc Golf Club, said not only is local interest in the sport growing, but the sport also attracts tourists.
“In 2025, there were 2,418 rounds of disc golf played at Discovery Park, and 107 people came from further than 30 miles away to play that course,” Patterson said.
He also cost to develop a course is minimal — about $15,000 — as it does not require planting of grass or watering. He added the local nonprofit group will help design and maintain the course.
Pima is using grant funds from State Parks to upgrade the local park.
There are two disc golf courses currently in the Gila Valley — at Eastern Arizona College’s Discovery Park Campus and Graham County Fairgrounds. Once Graham County completes upgrades to the Fairgrounds, that course will be redesigned.
In addition to Pima, Safford is in the early stages of considering adding a disc golf course to Mt. Graham Golf Course.
Disc golf scores the same way as traditional golf — the lower the score the better — and “holes” are given a par score, meaning it should take the par number of shots to compete the hole. But instead of hitting a ball into a hole with a club, players throw specialized discs into a basket.
