DGPT Creator Challenge returns with new doubles twist in Iowa

The Creator Challenge is back at Pickard Park with a cleaner, sharper second-year setup that asks the same big question: can creator-driven disc golf sell the sport without softening the competitive edge? The DGPT’s 2026 edition, presented by SkyZone, is scheduled for Thursday, August 7 at 6 PM CT in Indianola, Iowa, and it will pair eight touring professionals with eight amateur content creators in alternate-shot doubles. The defending champions, Gannon Buhr and J Milly, return with a chance to become the first back-to-back winners in event history.

Compared with the inaugural version, the format is less sprawling and more focused. Last year’s launch used a 12-hole modified routing across Holes 1 through 9 and 16 through 18, and it mixed in an Ace Run Challenge, a Spin-to-Throw hole and a Fan Substitution hole to push the entertainment angle. Year two pares that back to a 9-hole spectator-friendly layout using Holes 1 through 7 and 17 through 18, with the creators teeing off first on Hole 1 and a dedicated Ace Run Challenge on Hole 5. That ace station now includes three attempts per team, and both players must throw at least once, which keeps the gimmick from turning into a one-player coin flip.

The 2026 field again blends marquee touring talent with creators who bring their own followings. Buhr and J Milly are joined by Aaron Gossage and Hunter Thomas, Anthony Barela and Trevor Staub, Taylor Chocek and MJ Garber, Paul Ulibarri and Bodanza, Ezra Aderhold and Rip Disc Golf, Eagle McMahon and Jesse Stedman, and Silas Schultz and Broderic. That lineup matters because it shows where DGPT thinks the growth is coming from now, not just from gallery attendance or conventional tour coverage, but from personalities that already move clips, commentary and reaction content across digital audiences.

The setting gives the event more weight than a one-off exhibition. Pickard Park has become one of DGPT’s signature stops, and the tour has tied the Creator Challenge to a venue with real history, including the 2004 PDGA Pro World Championships. The 2025 Creator Challenge was later logged by the PDGA as complete in Indianola as a pro-am doubles Elite XD-Tier event, and the broader Pickard Park stop has only grown bigger, with the 2025 Discmania Challenge drawing 156 MPO and FPO players and a combined purse of $100,190. That is the signal here: DGPT is not treating creator golf as a sideshow. It is trying to build a second lane into the sport, and Pickard Park is where that experiment now has to prove it can carry real competitive credibility.