PDGA adds inaugural African Disc Golf Championship in South Africa

The PDGA is putting a continental flag in the ground with the inaugural African Disc Golf Championship, a sanctioned Pro/Am B-Tier set for November 6-8, 2026 at the Inanda Disc Golf Course in Kyalami, near Johannesburg. The event, which the PDGA lists in Midrand, South Africa, has Barend Meulenbeld as tournament director, giving the project the kind of formal structure that signals more than a ceremonial debut.

For Disc Golf South Africa, the championship is the clearest sign yet that the country’s local buildout is becoming part of the international calendar. DGSA, established in 2021, says it is a not-for-profit voluntary association and the PDGA-recognized partner in South Africa. Its Inanda course, established in 2019, sits on a private equestrian estate in Kyalami, Midrand, just north of Johannesburg, and has become the platform for a championship that could define the next phase of the sport’s growth on the continent.

The timing matters because African disc golf has been expanding from a handful of scattered venues into something closer to a real competitive network. The PDGA says its International Program has been working to grow the sport around the world since 2005, and its recent push in Africa includes the addition of Israel Muwanguzi as East Africa Coordinator for the PDGA and the Paul McBeth Foundation in 2024. That staffing move, paired with a continental title event, suggests the governing body is trying to build a ladder, not just a headline.

The numbers show why the championship lands at a pivotal moment. UDisc reported in 2024 that South Africa had fewer than 20 disc golf courses. A 2025 African growth summary said the continent had climbed from seven courses in 2020 to about 40 by the end of 2025, along with more than 500 unique players and nearly 10,000 annual recorded rounds. That kind of expansion needs more than casual play; it needs sanctioned events, repeatable competition, and a reason for clubs and volunteers to keep building.

South Africa is already giving the new championship a local runway. DGSA’s 2025 schedule includes the South African Open in Midrand, a C-Tier event, while a PDGA-sanctioned Africa Pamoja Disc Golf Open was held in Kampala, Uganda, on November 11, 2025. Together, those events show that African disc golf is no longer waiting for an entry point. With the first PDGA African Disc Golf Championship, the continent is being folded into the sport’s mainstream pathway, one sanctioned round at a time.