Michigan lands Disc Golf World Championships in 2026

MILFORD — The Professional Disc Golf Association has announced that the 2026 PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Championships will be held at Kensington Metropark Aug. 26-30, 2026.

In 2000, Discraft owner Jim Kenner created the Kensington Metropark Toboggan course for the World Championships event. Now, the event returns to the course for the first time in over a quarter century.

“It’s a very famous course,” PDGA President Nate Heinold said. “It’s one of the harder courses in the country. … It’s coming back full circle.”

World Championships, as the name suggests, is one of the biggest events in the sport every year. Courses have to submit bids on hosting the event years in advance, and after a rejected 2025 bid, the tournament will return to the legendary course next summer.

“I love the course. I love the elevation,” said Paige Shue, of North Carolina, who won the PDGA World Championships in 2018. “It really challenges players in a fun and unique way. It’s beautiful on top of that — the whole park in general.”

Shue won her tournament in 2018 in Vermont. Next year, she’ll be at the World Championships and will see the Toboggan course host the event for the first time in her playing career.

“I’ve been playing there for many, many years and it’s always a great time,” Shue said. “There’s always stuff to do outside of the course too. … It’s definitely one of my favorite (places) on tour and I know a lot of other players feel the same way too.”

The 2026 World Championships highlight a 12-month stretch where some of the biggest events in disc golf will be in Michigan. The National Amateur Disc Golf Championship will be held at Kensington Metropark from June 6-8 this year, followed by the Discraft Great Lakes Open, which is set to take place Sept. 4-7, also at the legendary course.

“(The Great Lakes Open) is going on 43 years now. That’s a tour event on the disc golf pro tour,” Heinold explained. “(The National Amateur Disc Golf Championship) has been at Kensington Metropark for more than 10 years. … It’s a cool thing for the amateurs to get to play at the same course that the top professionals play.”

Last year, Ryan Monn, of South Carolina, won the National Amateur Disc Golf Championship at Kensington Metropark and has since turned into a pro disc golfer.

“I was able to (win the tournament) by one stroke,” Monn said. “It’s a lot of fun. (It’s) very fun throwing up those hills.”

Monn is sponsored by Discraft, which is the biggest company in disc golf and is also headquartered in Michigan. The culture of the sport runs deep throughout the state.

“I like all of the golf in Michigan,” Monn said. “It feels like a home away from home. It just feels like a family with Discraft and Michigan as a whole.”

The fact that Michigan is playing host to some of the largest events the sport has to offer is intentional by the association. The “Great Disc State,” as the PDGA calls it, is widely considered to be one of the biggest disc golf hotbeds in the country.

“You have two of the biggest companies in disc golf (Discraft and MVP Disc Sports) headquartered in Michigan,” Heinold said. “Per capita there are more disc golf courses in Michigan than any other state and per capita more disc golfers. … Michigan has had a lot of (people) who have led the sport.”

The impact that disc golf has had and will continue to have on the community can’t be understated. It’s one of the fastest-growing sports in the world, and Michigan is arguably at the center of it all.

“The economic impact (on the community) will most likely be over $5 million and we’ll have 15,000 people here for the event,” Heinold explained. “Tens of thousands (will be) watching online through the Disc Golf Network. All of that will give a permanent rubber stamp on southeast Michigan.”

For more information on events, go to PDGA.com.