Cedar Valley Lodge 233 plans 2026 charity disc golf tournament, scholarship fundraiser

Cedar Valley Lodge 233 is tying its summer disc golf tournament to the kind of local support that keeps small-town sports alive: scholarship money, charity dollars and a low-cost way for players to compete at Big Woods. The lodge’s 2026 Charity Disc Golf Tournament is set for Sunday, June 28, from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM at Big Woods Disc Golf Course in Cedar Falls, with a $45 donation securing two custom-designed discs and entry into the overall payout, ace fund, CTP and long-putt prizes.

The event has grown into more than a one-day competition. Over the past three years, Cedar Valley Lodge 233 says the tournament has raised more than $14,000 in sponsorships and donations, with the money supporting genetic research for a Cedar Falls teen, the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, local mental health initiatives and Ronald McDonald House Charities. That mix of beneficiaries shows how a modest disc golf event can become a dependable fundraising engine, especially when the sport’s entry costs stay low and the format works for a wide range of ages and skill levels.

Big Woods gives the tournament a fitting stage. The course is free to play and sits in Cedar Falls at approximately 42.54829, -92.434586. The PDGA course directory describes it as technical and challenging, with several heavily wooded holes, and its directions point players to parking at Big Woods Lake and a first hole just south of the lot. For competitors, that means a course that rewards placement and patience as much as power, which suits an event built around both play and giving.

The fundraiser also fits into a deeper Cedar Falls disc golf history. Cedar Falls Tourism says disc golf was formally recognized as a sport in the 1970s, Tourist Park was Iowa’s first disc golf course and the third established in the United States, and the city later added Island Park, a nine-hole course established in 2023. Nationally, the PDGA was founded in 1976, Oak Grove Park became the first official disc golf course in 1975 and the organization topped 100,000 members in 2017, a reminder of how far the game has traveled from its earliest roots.

For Cedar Valley Lodge 233, the tournament has become an annual identity piece as much as a fundraiser. The day gives players a structured round, gives the scholarship fund a revenue stream and gives charitable partners a share of the proceeds, all on a free course that reflects disc golf’s grass-roots appeal.