Creekside Park
The Story
Creekside is one of the oldest permanent disc golf courses on earth. Designed by "Steady Ed" Headrick — PDGA #001, the father of disc golf — and installed in 1982 in the Creekside Area of Big Cottonwood Regional Park. The course is officially named the Walter Fredrick Morrison Memorial Disc Golf Course, honoring the Utah-born inventor of the Frisbee.
Morrison (1920–2010) conceived the flying disc while a POW at Stalag 13 during WWII. He sold the rights to Wham-O in 1957 for $2,000 plus royalties — earning roughly $2 million by the time Headrick installed this course. A 1,500-pound sandstone monument was dedicated at the course in 2004 during the Creekside Open VI, with Morrison himself present at age 84.
In 2023, Salt Lake County invested approximately $200,000 in a major renovation — catalyzed by ElevateUT taking over the Creekside Open. New 2x4m concrete tee pads, MVP Black Hole Portal V2 baskets at a $6K discount through MVP Disc Sports, updated signage, and a full layout redesign. Despite 8 weeks closed for construction, play increased 54% year-over-year. UDisc Blog featured Creekside as their lead case study in course upgrade impact.
The course now hosts the USWDGC 2026 — the 25th Annual US Women's Disc Golf Championship — as one of four championship venues alongside Brighton Resort, Dragonfly, and Roots.
Layouts
UDisc
What Players Say
I absolutely loved this course. This is the epitome of disc golf. Fair lines, defined fairways, easy walking but still some elevation in play. Perfect.
Very nice 18 hole track. Technical with many shot shapes to hit. Great mix of distances. All par 3's. Wooded with many mature trees throughout the fairways. Classic wooded park-style golf. Bring an extra disc or 2 as a few holes play along the creek.
My favorite course in Utah. Such a fun and beautiful course. You have to play it if you're in the area.
Definitely one of the better Utah disc golf courses. Plenty of fun wooded shots with difficult mando's that will test your ability time and time again. Overall, an excellent course.
Beautiful course with a great variety of pin placements. Highly recommend playing with a local as some of the lines are hidden and some baskets are tough to see.
Maintenance
Ben Marolf (Another Round SLC owner, PDGA #187215) serves as the primary maintenance lead, working directly with Salt Lake County Parks. The county handles mowing through Casey Turner's crew; ElevateUT volunteer crews handle disc-golf-specific upkeep — basket sleeve replacement, mando sign repair, brush clearing. Three active ElevateUT leagues at Creekside fund ongoing course improvements through the Course Improvement Fund. Ben has been covertly spreading grass seed at holes 3, 6, and 12 for over a year.