LELAND — Recreational sports dominated the conversation during a special meeting about Loblolly Park, held jointly between the Leland Town Council and the parks and recreation committee recently.
Leland began designing its new park in June 2026, slated to span 32 acres with a majority making up a disc golf course. Also planned — though subject to change — is a playground, a 1.5-mile walking trail, fitness facility and cornhole area.
More than a dozen people spoke at an Oct. 29 special meeting about Loblolly Park plans. Three residents were against the disc golf course because they said it did not accommodate the needs of everyone in the community. About 10 countered the argument that the sport welcomed people of all ages, including kids.
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If agreed upon by council, Loblolly Park would bring the first 18-hole disc golf course to Brunswick County, which local players suggested would entice more people to visit and help build community.
“Leland has the opportunity to be the first in all of Brunswick County, and I think that’s something that your town could always have to be proud of,” said Ocean Isle Beach resident Sean Whitfield, who also is a Professional Disc Golf Association member. “A quality course can bring families and players into your town who might not otherwise visit.”
Loblolly Park will be located off of Long Pine Drive, directly adjacent to Brunswick Forest — a 4,500-acre development community primarily serving residents aged 55 and older.
Brunswick Forest resident Kathy Short suggested the disparity between the demographics of the sport and the town made disc golf an unwise choice for the new park.
“Disc golf is a fine sport, but the demographic data shows who actually plays it,” Short said. “93% of active Professional Disc Golf Association members were male and 61% were between 20 and 40. Case in point, only 7% of PDGA members were female. Given it is a young male-dominated sport, it leaves out the majority of Leland citizens.”
The Professional Disc Golf Association keeps an annual record of its membership demographics, with 2025 noting 92.3% of disc golfers were men and more than half of its roughly 115,000 players aged between 19 and 39.
Leland’s population has grown 46% between 2014 and 2024; women make up 51% of the town’s population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The median age is reported to be 47 years old, though more than half of Leland’s population is over 50.
Short argued families would be more inclined to go to a park with more dedicated playgrounds, walking trails and the like.
Magnolia Greens resident John Wozniak agreed something more “balanced” could accommodate more groups.
“I can come up with the following recommendations: extensive paved paths and nature trails for walking biking and enjoying nature without concern about disc golf play, a serenity pond offering a peaceful place for relaxing and connecting with nature,” Wozniak listed.
He suggested adding bocci ball or a dog park.
Council member Frank Pendleton had similar reservations about whether disc-golf was well-suited for the community.
“Is this the best use of this piece of land?” Pendleton questioned.
In June, Summit Design and Engineering was contracted for $56,500 — $8,500 has been paid thus far — for the park’s designs. The firm most recently completed another disc golf course in Forsyth County.
Council member Leland Hyer wanted to know the full price tag to develop the park. However, Leland staff could not give a ballpark figure.
According to town spokesperson Jessica Jewell, $10,000 in grants have been awarded to Leland so far for Loblolly Park and the town intends to apply for more in the future. She added Leland has envisioned an 18-hole disc golf course since 2023, when plans for a course at Founders Park fell through to make room for other amenities and renovations.
“Because the Town was not ready to proceed with a permanent course at that time, a temporary course was installed on Village Road, while a new permanent location was identified,” Jewell wrote in an email to Port City Daily and added disc golf is “extremely popular” in Leland.
The president of Leland Disc Golf Club — the local chapter of the Professional Disc Golf Association — Hastin McGill, explained the sport’s local popularity is not waning. McGill hosts events every Wednesday in Leland.
“We had an average this summer of 33 players,” McGill said. “We had weeks with 56, 54, and 52 players, with the age range being 14 years old to 71 years old.”
Many senior residents took the podium to share their perspectives, including 74-year-old Tommy Ashcraft. A Leland resident, Ashcraft plays disc golf with his wife as part of the New Hanover Disc Golf Club.
Ashcraft currently has to travel to New Hanover County to play 18 holes; two courses exist there, one in Castle Hayne and the other in Silver Lake. Ashcraft said in the last two years, he’s seen more children and couples attend the courses.
“They’ve actually got a youth league now for young people. So, there’s more opportunities for people,” he said. “And if you haven’t tried it, try it — a disc costs 10 bucks.”
Others boasted about the opportunity to also bring professional tournaments to Leland. According to the PGDA, the standard course size for professional matches is 18 holes; the Town of Leland Disc Golf Course, open for three years, only has 12 holes.
Both staff and town officials believe tournaments could bring economic benefit to the town. Economic and Community Development Director Barnes Sutton pointed out the town received a presentation in April explaining sports were an economic driver.
Sutton used numbers presented by a disc golf group called Throw Coast in Bladen County, which said 33% of visitors that came for a two-day disc golf tournament in April spent between $51 and $150; 31% spent $151 to $300 and 13% spent over $300.
“Then [players] spend those dollars within the local community on food, gas, souvenirs, and the like,” Sutton said.
However, some council members still had concerns about Loblolly’s disc golf course. Pendleton and council member Veronica Carter worried it could pose a safety issue because of its juxtaposition to busy roads and the Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point Railroad.
“I’ve been around a lot of golf courses and not every golf ball gets hit straight down the fairway every time. Are the disc-golf players so proficient that they’re never going to throw the disc and it winds up either near or over the railroad tracks?” Pendleton asked. “Or are we going to put up some type of barrier that’s going to prevent these from going anywhere near the tracks?”
Mayor Pro Tem Bob Campbell echoed the sentiment.
“I have often, many times, had an errant golf ball go where I didn’t want it to go,” he said. “I’m sure that those discs sometimes have a mind of their own.”
Summit’s engineers originally suggested the trees on the property could act as a barrier around the park, and the placement of the holes on the course would force players to throw inward rather than in the direction of either the road or the train tracks. Summit principal landscape architect Tim Guadagno said the course is about 15 to 20 feet away from the edge of the property on each side.
Carter, a retired Army officer at Sunny Point, said the buffer between the two may need to be wider. She pointed to a joint land use study conducted by MOTSU in 2018, which enforced a three-quarter-mile safety screening zone around the railroad tracks.
Guadagno explained an additional buffer zone would be addressed in future technical review committee proceedings, but added he would take Carter and Pendleton’s concerns into account when updating the plans. Jewell explained town staff do not expect to see any major changes to the current designs.
No vote was taken at Thursday’s meeting before adjournment.
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