“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” says…everyone. Everyone that’s ever been to the Vibram Open at Maple Hill anyway. The Vibram Open is perhaps the most beloved annual disc golf event of the touring pros, with more reasons than we can fit into any article. One could argue that the Maple Hill Gold course alone is enough to lure the best in the game, but that’s not why they make the trek to Leicester, Massachusetts each year. To quote Tournament Director Steve Dodge #22042, “We embody the concept of family. My mom does the parking, my sister and niece help with the scoring, my brother does the filming, and everyone here is a part of our family. It’s a family farm. My house is your house.”

Dodge isn’t just the Tournament Director, and Maple Hill isn’t just a disc golf course. The Dodge family owns and operates Maple Hill Farms & Southwick Farms, two neighboring large pieces of land that churn a profit from their Christmas tree farms, many of which help shape one of the best disc golf courses on the planet. The Dodge family home is also on site, having been in the family for nearly 200 years.

Family home at Maple Hill Farms.

To say that Dodge goes out of his way to make sure everyone here has a good time would be an enormous understatement. On top of opening up his home and property to the competitors, he makes sure that if and when there is down time, there is always something to do. From pie eating contests to disc golf mini-games to table tennis competitions and even a small arcade, the Vibram Open creates a festival-like experience. It’s an atmosphere that keeps the spectators entertained all week, and the disc golfers as well when they aren’t on the course.

The pro shop (left) and the game room (right) directly upstairs. 

Dodge City

One of the newest additions to the already long list of activities is Dodge City, an Old West themed strip of mini-games. They’re all a blast to play, and can be played by anyone, even someone that has never touched a disc golf disc before.

Dodge City mini-games at the 2016 Vibram Open.

• DISCHINKO - Plinko boards made for disc golf discs.
• DISC-TAC-TOE - Tic-tac-toe putting with nine baskets and two different colored putters.
• DISC AND DESTROY - Two teams build towers with wood blocks and then get three attempts with putters to knock as many of the towers down as possible. Points are awarded to the team with the tallest towers remaining.
• GOT SPEED? - 60 seconds. Stack of putters. Make as many as you can.
• MORE FASTER - Throwing speed competition clocked by a radar gun.
• AROUND THE WORLD - Putting accuracy competition with oddly shaped holes cut into a large world map as the targets. Smaller, trickier targets earn more points than their larger counterparts.
• KNOCKDOWN - Putters are thrown at triangular stacks of plastic pints, with points awarded for each cup knocked down.  

Dodge City - Disc-Tac-Toe

Vibram Open – A Merger of Two Tours

The four days of competition here at Maple Hill serve as both the opening event of the much anticipated Disc Golf Pro Tour (DGPT) and the sixth of seven PDGA National Tour events. The Disc Golf Pro Tour is the brainchild of Dodge, and there’s no place like home for him to kick off his tour, a series of six events across the country, something he’s been working on for years.

An enormous amount of information can be found on the Disc Golf Pro Tour website, but here’s what you need to know for the Vibram Open this weekend.

Live Scores and Stats

Thanks to a partnership with UDisc, the Disc Golf Pro Tour will be bringing you “Instant Stats”, a complex set of hole-by-hole and player statistics powered by the UDisc app. These stats include Circle 1 in Regulation (10 meters), Circle 2 in Regulation (20 meters), Fairway Hits, Scramble (par saves), average hole-out distance, OB penalties, and much more. Download the UDisc app now so you can watch the scores and stats come in this weekend with the built in live feed via SmashBoxxTV.

DGPT Instant Stats example - Click on the image to see the full size version.

DGPT Instant Stats for most, if not all, of the players will be available in the UDisc app as well as in a standard web browser. It will all be complimented by hole-by-hole scores for the lead card on pdgalive.com as well as updates, pictures, and videos via @pdgalive on Twitter. Round 1 begins on Thursday, June 23rd at 7:30am EDT, with live coverage of the “Champions Card” on the Disc Golf Pro Tour YouTube channel starting at approximately 2:30pm EDT, filmed and broadcasted by the SmashBoxxTV crew.

The Champions Card features #1 and #2 ranked disc golfers in the world, Paul McBeth #27523 and Ricky Wysocki #38008, 2015 Vibram Open champion Jeremy Koling #33705, and 2016 Vibram Open Advanced champion Anthony Cavalieri #66016.

The beauty of Maple Hill. Photo by Jon Baldwin #18114.