The Birthplace of Disc Golf in Spain
Growing disc golf in a new region takes dedicated, passionate individuals who want to share the sport they love with the community they love. Innova ambassador Carlos Rio has been that champion for disc golf in Spain.
In 2012, Carlos installed the first course in the country, Parque De Invierno, in his home city of Oviedo. With the course’s central location, design for all skill levels, and Carlos’s committed efforts to share disc golf within his community, soon the course at Parque De Invierno became busy. The city saw that success and reached out to Carlos to design a second, more advanced course in Parque Purificacion Tomas. Carlos’s hard work was paying off and disc golf in the region was gaining traction.
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With those first two courses in Oviedo, Carlos not only introduced disc golf to his community, but planted the seed for the sport to spread throughout the country. Today, ten years later, Spain has 22 courses listed on Udisc. Those courses span all parts of the country. Most provinces have at least one available to play. Since last year, the country has seen its number of rounds scored on UDisc grow by 83%. Disc golf in Spain is thriving. All that growth can be in part traced back to Carlos’s grass roots efforts to share disc golf with Oviedo and the installation of the course at Parque De Invierno.
The 2023 Oviedo Open
In July of 2023, the local club hosted the Oviedo Open at the Parque Purificacion Tomas, welcoming an international field to the birthplace of disc golf in Spain. Sam Ferrans and Jeff Panis visited Carlos and the hosts of the event to discover the beauty of the region and to express Innova’s support for Spanish disc golf. Special Guest “Big Jerm” Jeremy Koling competed in the event, leaving the community more excited about the sport than ever.
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There are a select group of people attributed to bringing disc golf in the States into popularity – Ed Hederick, Dave Dunipace, Dan Roddick to name a few. In Spain, Carlos Rio’s name will go down in history as an integral part of bringing the magic of flight to their country.
