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Sunday – Final Round!!!!!

Follow the live scoring action on PDGA Live!

Projected payouts available here: https://www.pdga.com/apps/tournament/manager/payouts_projected?TournID=64845

2023 Challenge at Goat Hill Park Caddie Book for download: https://www.dropbox.com/s/nfzoi5us8lrobe5/2023%20GOATHILL%20CADDIE%20BOOK%20WEB.pdf?dl=0

2023 Challenge at Goat Hill Park Course Map for download: https://www.dropbox.com/s/sk7eb0mm6w7z6nh/2023%20GOATHILL%20COURSE%20MAP.pdf?dl=0

We’re less than a week away from the 2023 edition of The Challenge at Goat Hill Park, Presented by Innova and all the details are coming together! All of the rain that Southern California has received this winter has turned Goat Hill Park GREEN! The rain, plus the fact that the management at GHP has gone on a turf-installing spree of late. If you’ve been to the Goat or watched the Central Coast videos, you’ll notice that the barren areas near holes 11, 12 and 13 are now full of lush grass. It’s spectacular! But on to the disc golf stuff…

We moved this year’s tournament to February in order to continue to attract some top players. Staying in our old early-May slot would have meant that players would have had to travel from Jonesboro, Arkansas to Oceanside in one or two days, which didn’t sound reasonable. So we moved to the front of the calendar and worked with the La Mirada Open and Wintertime Open to create a 3-event, pre-Las Vegas Challenge feast for the Pros.

And we are once again a USDGC qualifier! In fact, The Challenge is the first event in the “Road to the Championship” and we’ll be awarding four USDGC invitations to our top MPO finishers.

The result? We have some great players registered for The Challenge, including Eagle McMahon, Drew Gibson, Luke Samson, Albert Tamm, La Mirada’s Chris Pinegar, Eric Oakley, Gavin Babcock and Carlsbad native Cody Kirkland on the MPO side. And on the FPO side, 2-time Champion Ohn Scoggins, former Champion Jennifer Allen and DGPT standout Maria Oliva will all vie for the coveted goat trophies!

How can you watch them play, you ask? Easy! Follow this link to Eventbrite to purchase spectator passes. We have a limited number of VIP passes available for Friday in the morning and then both General Admission and VIP passes for Saturday and Sunday. VIP passes get you access to the entire course, while General Admission limits you to those holes with larger pathways for more spectators. We will have disc golf vendors on hand Saturday and Sunday and yes, we do plan to be watching the “big football game” after the goat trophies are awarded on Sunday.

Want to help us at the event? We’re still looking for a few volunteers to help out on all three days. Volunteers will receive an event shirt, two Challenge at Goat Hill Park discs and we’ll feed you too! Follow this link to volunteer: https://challengeatgoathillpark.com/volunteer-sign-up-form/

And if you’ve fallen in love with our tournament logo and would love to have a disc with a goat on it? Follow this link to our “Shop” page where you’ll find a variety of Innova molds in Halo Star plastic, Glow and Color Glow Champion, Metal Flake Champion and others. There are even some discs in lighter weights if that’s your bag. AND…use the coupon code “goat10” to get 10% off your disc order! Shop here: https://challengeatgoathillpark.com/shop/

Thanks for your interest in The Challenge at Goat Hill Park – we look forward to seeing you at the Goat!!!

We’re about six weeks away from the 2023 edition of The Challenge at Goat Hill Park, Presented by Innova! We moved the tournament earlier in the calendar in order to provide a challenging kickoff to the disc golf season in hopes that we could draw a top-notch crowd of players to Southern California, and that seems to be working. We already have some crowd favorites on the registration list and expect to add more over the next few weeks.

The “Road to the Championship” – the qualifying events that establish the field for the United States Disc Golf Championship – starts at The Challenge! Our event is the first contest of the USDGC Qualifier season, so don’t be surprised to see some more top talent show up on the registration list, hoping to secure their USDGC invitation early in the season, to lower their stress level for the rest of the tour season. All four of last year’s qualifiers: Luke Samson, Jacob Courtis, Cody Kirkland and Parker Welck are signed up, along with elite DGPT players Eagle McMahon and Drew Gibson!

Along with our MPO/FPO tournament at Goat Hill Park, we’re also partnering with the new Disc Golf Masters Tour to host part of the Old Goats Challenge – the kick-off event of the DGMT. Most of the Old Goats rounds will be played at Reidy Creek Golf Course in Escondido, but we’ll have some Old Goats at Goat Hill on the weekend as well, giving them a chance to stretch their horns a bit. And of course, the Old Goats will be welcome at all of our Goat Hill Park festivities on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Spectator passes will go on sale February 1st, but if you want to get a head start on your Goat support check out our “Shop” page for fundraiser disc purchasing. We have some amazing Innova discs available with our brand new tournament artwork. Our volunteer sign-up page will open soon as well.

Get ready for The Challenge!!!!!

The weekend is approaching and players are wondering, “what’s my tee time for Saturday?” Well, we won’t know exact tee times until Friday morning and the last-minute registration dust settles, but here are the blocks that we have assigned for the different divisions for this weekend’s 2022 Challenge at Goat Hill Park, Part 2 – Presented by Innova:

Three days of beautiful weather and a brisk breeze that built daily wrapped up on Sunday with two great champions at the Goat: Alden Harris winning the MPO title and Ohn Scoggins winning her second FPO title at Goat Hill Park. Harris, on tour out of Woodstock, GA returned to Goat Hill Park after playing in the 2021 Silver Series event and jumped onto the lead card for round 2 with an opening round 1041-rated, 10-under 58. Cody Kirkland, no stranger to the lead card at the Goat shot the hot score in round 1 with a 12-under, 1055-rated 56, setting the course record for the newly-modified Goat Hill Park layout. Five players (Josh Anthon, Jacob Blair, Jacob Courtis, Luke Samson and Levi Hancock) tied for third after the first round with 9-under 59s.

Alden stretched out his lead in round 2, setting a new course record with a bogey-free, 13 under, 1069-rated 55. Luke Samson stepped up from the group occupying third with a 10-under 58 that pulled him into second place. Drew Gibson and Parker Welck were the only other double-digit under par scorers in round 2, which earned them spots on the final round lead card, six shots behind Harris. Drew closed strong – 5-under on the final four holes, including an eagle 3 on the newly lengthened par 5 16th hole.

Sunday’s play added a bit of drama, as Harris did not simply run away with the title. It looked like Gibson might author an amazing come-from-behind story as he made up 4 of his 6 throw deficit through eight holes, until a bogey on the big downhill hole 10 stopped his charge toward victory. Samson started slow in round 3, spotting Harris two more strokes on holes 1 and 2 to put himself six behind the leader. But the he made of those six throws on holes 3 through 12, capping that run off with an eagle on the signature hole 12. Samson’s bogey on 13 provided Harris with his final margin of victory, although Samson still had a chance to pull even on hole 17 if it weren’t for a missed putt inside circle 1.

Alden Harris’ one-throw victory gave him his second career A-tier win (the other being the 2020 Music City Open) and the $1,709 pay day was the largest disc golf payout so far of his career.

The 2022 Challenge at Goat Hill Park provided another classic Ohn Scoggins/Jennifer Allen duel on the FPO side. Round 1 started off with Allen holding the hot hand, as she fired an 8-under par 62 that had only one blemish – a double bogey 5 on hole 9 aided by a rude rollaway. Scoggins lurked three throws back at 5-under, followed by Maria Oliva at 3-under and Chelsea Howells at +1. Fortunes flip-flopped on day 2 – Scoggins had the hot hand and set an FPO course record with a 9-under, 994-rated and bogey-free 61. Allen started slow, parring the first eleven hole but then shook off the cobwebs as she birdied six of the last seven holes en route to a 6-under 64 and a tie at the top for first place after two rounds. Oliva’s 4-under round 2 left her seven shots behind the leaders. Round 3 was played in a testy ocean breeze, and Ohn Scoggins set the story line with steady play early and then a turkey, birdieing holes 5, 6 and 7 to take a solid lead, finishing with a 5-under 65 and a total of 19 under par. Jennifer Allen ended up three throws back in second at 16-under while Maria Oliva completed the Team Innova sweep in FPO with her third place finish.

The MPO and FPO fields were joined on the course Saturday and Sunday with three divisions of age-protected PDGA pro players. Team Innova’s Chris Shotwell cruised to a five-throw win in MP40, closing with a 1009-rated 65 on Sunday. In MP50, Sergio Celis lapped the field, throwing two 1000+ rated rounds on the weekend to win by seven throws over a seasoned crew. And in MP60, San Diego veteran disc golfer Jeff Nichols bested Chula Vista’s Mike Reeves by one throw – the difference decided on the final hole when Reeves bogeyed.

We’d like to thank all of the volunteers who came out for the tournament days and for course et-up and tear-down – this event cannot happen without your hard work. Many thanks also to our friends at Innova Disc Golf, who provided us with access to many, many fundraiser discs that we sold for pro payout and other expenses. And thanks again to our colleagues at Goat Hill Park for allowing us access to this amazing golf course for a fantastic weekend of professional disc golf. We’re looking forward to 2023!

These are the tee time blocks for Friday, Saturday and Sunday as of 5/4/2022 @ 6:30pm. Please note that MPO tee times now begin at 7am. These time blocks are subject to change due to last minute adds and drops. Tee times for FPO/MPO Friday rounds have been published to PDGA.com. Saturday tee times for MP40/50/60 will be published to PDGA.com Thursday evening.

Another Challenge at Goat Hill Park is in the books!

I feel like the event was a smashing success! We had a tremendous field of players who performed like the professionals they are. They gave a great show for the large crowds of spectators to watch (I think we had around 500 on Sunday?). Managing crowds like that while implementing COVID protocols was tricky, but we did our best. Goat Hill Park was in beautiful condition and looked great on the Central Coast Disc Golf, GKPro and Disc Golf Network video coverage (please view on YouTube, like and subscribe to all three!). And our tremendous volunteer staff went above and beyond to make the event pleasurable for all involved.

Congrats to our 2021 Champions! Ricky Wysocki (MPO), Lisa Fajkus (FPO), Chris Shotwell (MP40), David Devine (MP50) and Mike Reeves (MP60) – you showed tremendous skills and I was proud to hand you your goat trophies!

I have so many people to thank! Maxine “Fairy Golf Mother” Duncan was our volunteer coordinator and made so many phone calls, so many decisions and taught me how precious and important our volunteers are. Shaun Watkins was my right hand – anything I needed doing, Shaun was there to do it. Tremendous! Mark Verrochi handled the UDiscLive and PDGA Live scoring, training new scorekeepers and fixing hiccups along the way, like the professional that he is. Chris Cauchon organized the Player/Goat disc auctions – something I had no clue how to do – helping us to raise funds for the event and the players. Glenn Duncan exhibited so many of his stellar skills: adding the final artistic touches to the big metal goat trophies, fixing my mistakes on the baby goat trophies, and creating solutions as problems popped up – he must be the best “whack-a-mole” player on Earth! A.J. Risley helped ensure that my vision for the course design was implemented in the field, stepped in front of the camera to put our best face forward and listed to so many of my crazy ideas and angry rants and brought me back to reality – I love you my son. Kevin Best stepped forward and took ownership of final course setup details, and then went out to the Goat to take down the Goat-a-Mids and donate the straw bales to a local tack store in need. Bill Maury-Holmes and Michael Sorich were the voices of the event at Tee 1 – A task that I used to handle but have now handed off to people who entertain and introduce with flair. Jackie Chamberlain was the glue that kept Tournament Central together – she handled question, problems, and jerks with grace and skill – Thank You! And so many more people who wore the blinding yellow volunteer t-shirts and helped in so many important ways.

Many thanks to John Ashworth and Eli Ivey of Goat Hill Park and all of the staff at the course. They allow disc golf to take over the course every year and we are very grateful for that. The staff are so helpful and so pleasant to work with. I feel like Goat Hill Park is truly our partner in this event and I look forward to working with them to take The Challenge up to the next level of disc golf competition and entertainment!

It was a pleasure and a learning experience to work with Jeff Spring, Seth Fendley and all of the staff of the Disc Golf Pro Tour. I learned so much from them through this experience and I hope the tournament was as successful in their eyes as it was in mine. Ian Anderson’s Central Coast Disc Golf crew and Luke Sampson and the GKPro guys were great to work with and made the event look spectacular on video (like and subscribe!). And the UDisc and PDGA staff helped us share the event with so many people who couldn’t watch live in person – this is a valuable service to our fans.

Innova Disc Golf – I don’t have enough words to describe how much I value our partnership. You guys help me in so many ways, teach me so much and make me look like I know what the hell I’m doing. I’m so proud to be an Innova Ambassador and to be able to show off the brand I have thrown since 1983. Mark, Sam, Joe, Jeff, Levi, Mike, Thomas, Suzette, Jonathan and Dave – thank you so much for everything.
I will thank our other event sponsors in a follow-up post, but I hope you all know how much I value your support and I hope you stay with us for the long haul. Bigger and better in the future!

A special final thank you to my son and daughter, AJ and Katie. You put up with so much of my craziness and rambling and messiness as tournament time rolls around. You own the success of my events as much as I do. And you own the smiles on the faces of the players, fans and sponsors as well.

As I told the crowds gathered on the first tee each day to watch the lead MPO card – I have played disc golf for over 45 years, and we’ve always said that “one day our sport will make it big.”

Well…TODAY is that one day!

The caddie book for the 2021 edition of The Challenge at Goat Hill Park has been uploaded to this website and can be accessed via this link: 2021 Caddie Book – The Challenge at Goat Hill Park

The caddie book contains all official course notes for the tournament as well as hole maps and sponsor artwork. If you download or view the caddie book, please make sure to check out the list of sponsors and supporters found on the last (back) page. These folks have made The Challenge possible!

Displayed below are the current tee time blocks for Friday and Saturday/Sunday. Tee time assignments for individual players will be available on Wednesday, 5/5/2021 by 5pm.

DGPT Silver Series event registration on PDGA.com: https://www.pdga.com/tour/event/48283

DGPT Silver Series event scoring on UDiscLive.com: https://udisclive.com/live/goathill2021

PDGA B-tier event registration on PDGA.com: https://www.pdga.com/tour/event/48284