A warning sign greets players on the first tee of the Dogwood course in Tyler. Photo: Hayden Henry / PDGA

TYLER, Texas – Just over a year ago, the big, gold belt buckles arrived that were going to serve as the Texas-style trophies arrived. The course, like the emblazoned trophy, was shined and ready for the best in the sport to come to town.

But then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit  and the world stood still.

“We had everything ready to go – literally the trophies arrived the day before we got the call,” Rose City Disc Club president Steven Sisemore said. “It was wild.”

A year later, after another round of getting everything ready to go, the opener of the PDGA National Tour stop that was awarded to Tyler has arrived.

The 26th Annual Texas Disc Golf Championship presented by Latitude 64 kicks off Friday.

Players are warned when they step to the first tee of the Dogwood course in Tyler, a town of just over 100,000 in east Texas: This course is not for the faint of heart.

The first hole, compared to the 17 that follow, is deceptive. You get to air a disc out a little bit before the pines and cedars begin to creep in.

From the second hole on, it’s a battle that will test the physical and mental game of some of the best in the sport. There are doglegs. There are hallway tunnel shots. It takes a backhand, a forehand and every shot in between. One minor miscue and the rough shows its teeth quickly.

“It takes the entire arsenal,” Sisemore said. “Every shot has to be executed at a high level to grab a win here.”

How to Watch: Texas State Disc Golf Championship »

The Dogwood course checks in at 7,683 feet with a par of 62. It’s certainly not the longest on the professional tour so far this season but it gives players a quick introduction to woods golf after stops in Las Vegas, the Memorial and Belton. Brazos Park East in Waco, at least half of it, is comparable and players have likened Dogwood to W.R. Jackson, Iron Hill and Brewster Ridge.

Sisemore, who has helped lead the charge to get the courses ready, notes Dogwood’s third hole, a 564-foot, Par 4 for the men’s open field and a par 5 for the FPO field, as the first true test. From there, hole 4 is a dogleg, hole 5 pinches off to perhaps the narrowest gap on the property before hole 6 gives players a slight break.

You notice a trend forming, and it continues that way until the very end.

Scores & Coverage: National Tour — Texas States »

After the turn, hole 10 provides a little breathing room. Players have to hit an initial gap and then navigate a somewhat-open – by Dogwood standards – fairway. It’s 681 feet for the men and 459 for the women.

Hole 14 is a straight-up U-turn. Hole 15 gives players an ace run, if they finesse the perfect angle down the hill through the trees. Hole 17, Sisemore’s favorite, is a scenic 555-foot par 4 that bends left-to-right before finishing in the trees.

Then there’s 18.

Winners of the Piney Woods Open are displayed on hole 18. Photo: Hayden Henry / PDGA

As players walk up the closing hole, beaten or triumphant or a mix of both, they’ll have to navigate past the ‘graveyard,’ an out-of-bounds circle midway up the fairway. Inside that circle, outlined by wooden posts, they will see the names of past champions of the Piney Woods Open, Tyler’s long-running A-Tier event that has traditionally closed the season in the winter months. 2020 marked the 17th PWO tournament.

Names like Eagle McMahon, Paige Pierce, Nikko Locastro, Lisa Fajkus, Jay Reading, Des Reading, Cale Leiviska and Eric McCabe have grabbed wins in Tyler.

Now, just over a year later, the PDGA National Tour is back in action and Dogwood is ready to make its Elite Series debut and test the best of the best in every way possible.

By the Numbers

26: This is the 26th annual Texas State Disc Golf Championship, a yearly showdown that has long rotated throughout the Lone Star State in its history. Judah Moser (MPO) and Andi Young (FPO) claimed the first titles in 1996. A year later, Ken Climo added a Texas championship to his resume. Juliana Korver is a two-time Texas State champion. Des Reading picked up her second state title and a National Tour win in 2006 in Houston with Barry Schultz taking down the MPO side. Reading is a six-time Texas champion.

Oklahoma's Coda Hatfield was three wins at the PWO. Photo: Hayden Henry / PDGA

5: 2021 marks the fifth time that Texas States has been a PDGA National Tour event.

• 2006 – Houston
  • MPO: Barry Schultz
  • FPO: Des Reading
• 2011 – Hitchcock, Texas
  • MPO: Nikko Locastro
  • FPO: Valarie Jenkins
• 2013 – Austin
  • MPO: Ricky Wysocki
  • FPO: Sarah Hokom
• 2014 – Round Rock
  • MPO: Ricky Wysocki
  • FPO: Paige Pierce

51: The hottest round in a sanctioned event on the Dogwood course is a 51 from Bradley Williams at the 2017 Piney Woods Open. Williams fired off the 1080-rated round from the third card to grab his first of two Texas state titles.

11: With his win at The Open at Belton this past weekend, Wysocki continued a hot trend in the Lone Star State. In 22 career events in Texas, Wysocki has won 11, including four Texas state titles and the two National Tour wins in 2013 and 2014.

25: While the National Tour was canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 25th annual event went off later in the year with Bradley Williams and Valerie Mandujano picking up wins.