On a Saturday morning in mid-October, a corner of Walton Park in Dothan will fill with the sound of plastic discs clattering against metal chains. That rattle is the signature noise of disc golf, and on October 17, 2026, Dothan Leisure Services is inviting anyone who has never thrown a disc to come learn what all the fuss is about.
The session is called Intro to Disc Golf, part of a series the city bills as Intro to Disc Golf Days. It is free, it is aimed at both youth and adults, and it assumes nothing. Participants will work through throwing techniques, the rules of play, scoring, how to navigate a course, safety, and sportsmanship. No experience is required, and discs will be available to use during the program, so a newcomer can simply show up at Walton Park without owning a single piece of equipment.
The setting matters. Walton Park is home to Walton Woods Disc Golf Course, an 18-hole layout that winds through the trees and is free to play. The course is maintained in partnership between Dothan Leisure Services, which operates the Walton Park Rec Center, and the Wiregrass Disc Golf Club, a local group founded in 2024 and based in Taylor. Reviews on the disc golf app UDisc praise the course for its upkeep, its clean tee pads, and its signage, with one player calling it a favorite and noting that every wooded hole presents its own distinct challenge. Players typically spend one to two hours on a round.
That a city parks department would run a beginner clinic at all speaks to how quickly the sport has grown. According to UDisc's annual growth report, there are now more than 17,000 disc golf courses worldwide, and roughly 89 percent of them are free to play. The number of courses globally has nearly tripled since 2015, with more than 1,100 built per year for six consecutive years. The report notes that 21.2 million rounds were logged on the app in 2025 alone, and that a disc golf course can serve about twice as many people per hour as a pickleball court. The first course was built in 1975 in Pasadena, California, in the backyard of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, with roots tracing back to the toy company Wham-O. Fifty years later, the sport has spread to 99 countries.
Dothan's own footprint in that map is modest but real. UDisc ranks the city as the 13th best disc golf destination in Alabama, with two courses, one league, and four stores that sell disc golf gear. The other course, at Mt. Gilead Baptist Church, sits alongside Walton Woods. For a city better known for peanuts and its annual National Peanut Festival, the disc golf scene is a quiet but growing piece of the local recreation landscape.
Walton Woods has had its setbacks. In January 2024, Dothan Leisure Services announced that the course, along with the Eastgate Park boardwalk, was closed until further notice because of storm damage. The course has since reopened and returned to regular play, hosting leagues and events again.
That recovery is part of why a free introductory clinic makes sense. Disc golf has a low barrier to entry by design: most courses cost nothing to use, the equipment is inexpensive compared to traditional golf, and a round doubles as a walk through the woods. The city's program leans into that accessibility, offering instruction in the fundamentals without asking participants to invest in gear first.
The clinic is also pitched as a gateway. The event description notes that whether someone is trying something new, looking for a family-friendly activity, or interested in competitive play, this is the place to start. The Wiregrass Disc Golf Club and the local league give beginners somewhere to go once they have learned the basics, and the course itself is open year-round for anyone who wants to practice.
For Dothan residents, the practical details are simple. The session is free, and it is held at Walton Park. Discs are provided. Youth and adults are both welcome. The only thing a participant needs to bring is the willingness to try a sport that, fifty years after it was invented in a California backyard, has become one of the fastest-growing recreational activities in the country.