A disc golf mecca

Good morning! Today is Monday, November 2, 2026. You’re reading The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with local business-y news and insights for Charlotte, N.C.

Today's Charlotte Ledger is sponsored by Robinson Bradshaw, an esteemed Carolinas-based corporate law firm committed to providing clients with comprehensive legal services of the highest quality.

Happy November! Tomorrow is Election Day! 🇺🇲 A tip for those planning to fulfill their civic duty and hit the polls tomorrow: do your ballot research today to save you some time when you’re voting. The Election Hub is a free, non-partisan election guide that breaks down who’s on the ballot (local and statewide candidates) and what’s on the ballot (constitutional amendments and bonds). It’s a great resource! And if you need to find your polling place in Mecklenburg, you can search for it by clicking here. Happy voting!

by Lindsey Banks

Owen Rice loves disc golf so much that he chose to attend UNC Charlotte partly because of its nationally ranked disc golf team and the city’s reputation as a hub for the sport. 

Now, the 22-year-old is in his fifth year of college. Disc golf might have something to do with that, too. 

“I was playing too much disc golf,” he joked. Rice, who grew up in Holly Springs, N.C., started playing the sport in high school and when it came time to apply to colleges, UNC Charlotte had the country’s top-ranked collegiate team at the time. He enrolled and went on to win a national championship. 

But Rice isn’t the only one drawn to Charlotte by flying saucers. 

Charlotte has quietly become something of a disc golf mecca, attracting players from across the country who come to play on the courses, compete in tournaments and, in some cases, put down roots. 

According to data provided to The Ledger by disc golf tracking app UDisc, Mecklenburg County was the most-played county in the country from 2020 through 2024 by app users. It narrowly lost that title to Austin, Texas, in 2025, recording 150,339 rounds compared with Austin’s 153,970, but has reclaimed the top spot so far in 2026. 

Mecklenburg’s 37 courses – 25 of which are open to the public – are the third most of any U.S. county, and 17 have opened since 2020, UDisc reported. Six were installed last year, and Charlotte alone has 25 courses. 

The courses aren’t just being used by locals either. About 6,300 disc golfers who live more than 50 miles away recorded rounds in Mecklenburg County last year, according to UDisc, which is more than any other U.S. county. More than half traveled at least 250 miles. 

Disc golf is similar to traditional golf, except players throw small frisbees toward metal baskets, with the goal of completing each hole in as few throws as possible.

For Robert “Bobcat” Buckley, Charlotte’s disc golf scene was enough to convince him to pack up his life in Buffalo, N.Y., and head south. 

Buckley, 34, had spent years mentoring a young disc golfer named Justin, whom he met at a local league when Justin was just 12. Up until that point, Buckley, who started playing at 16, had never met someone that young playing the sport. 

When Justin and his family decided to move to Charlotte in 2020, Buckley realized he had little keeping him in Buffalo, so he tagged along. 

Today, Buckley serves on the Charlotte Disc Golf Club’s board of directors, helps organize tournaments and teaches the sport to kids at summer camp. He’s one of the most well-known amateur golfers in the area. For his day job, he works remotely as a business reporting analyst.

He believes Charlotte has something that sets it apart from other disc golf destinations: accessibility. 

“Any metro city that I've lived in or have visited since I've been playing disc golf, you have to drive out of the city to play disc golf,” he said. “Charlotte, you have to drive into the city.”

And unlike many other destinations, nearly all of Mecklenburg County's courses are free. UDisc reports that 36 out of the county’s 37 courses don’t charge players. 

It’s like retirees moving to Florida, said Richard Tsui, president of the Charlotte Disc Golf Club. There’s an abundance of golf courses and year-round warm weather.

The combination of high-quality courses, relatively mild weather and a strong community has helped Charlotte build its reputation. Hornets Nest Park, a favorite among local players, has hosted some of the sport's biggest competitions, including the Disc Golf Pro Tour Championship for three consecutive years from 2019 to 2021 and the Professional Disc Golf World Championships in 1997 and 2012, as well as the Queen City Classic this past March. 

Tsui, 50, said Charlotte Disc Golf Club, which has more than 300 members, helps maintain at least 23 courses through partnerships with local parks departments. The club is a nonprofit organization, and the $20 membership fee goes toward the maintenance of those courses, Tsui said. 

Rice, who has traveled up and down the East Coast competing in tournaments, said Charlotte’s sheer number of quality courses is hard to beat. 

“I feel very spoiled living in Charlotte,” Rice said. 

His favorite course is Hornets Nest Park, which also tops Tsui’s list, along with Bradford Park near Huntersville and Eastway Regional Recreation Center in east Charlotte. Buckley said he prefers Bradford, where he says the course offers something for everyone, from beginners to experienced competitors. (According to golfers, a “good” course means it’s challenging and requires a variety of shots, has decent amenities, and is well-maintained and landscaped.) 

Charlotte's disc golf scene has also helped support businesses built around the sport. Another Round Disc Golf, a shop and taproom in NoDa that got its start in Charlotte, is now expanding through franchises in cities across the country. And just down the road in Rock Hill, major disc golf manufacturer Innova has its East Coast hub.

Like many outdoor activities, disc golf experienced a surge in popularity during the pandemic; it was a sport that could be done while social distancing. 

Tsui picked up the sport in 2020 and quickly became hooked. Within a few years, he went from beginner to competing professionally in masters divisions. Now, he’s serving a two-year term as president of the Charlotte Disc Golf Club. He retired from his job in the real estate finance industry at age 47.

But Buckley said the competitive scene has cooled somewhat since the pandemic-era, when tournaments could attract more than 200 players and events filled up almost immediately. 

Now, he said, fewer tournaments are being organized nationwide, and some struggle to fill their available slots. But that doesn’t necessarily mean people stopped playing; they most likely have returned to playing casually rather than competing every weekend, Buckley said. 

UDisc’s numbers also show the sport has staying power locally. Players recorded nearly five times as many rounds in Mecklenburg County in 2025 as in 2019, although some of that increase reflects more people using the app. 

And those rounds add up: UDisc estimated that 248,000 hours across 290,000 miles of Mecklenburg County courses were logged last year. 

For Rice, though, the biggest draw to Charlotte is the community. 

“Most of my friends that I made in Charlotte are through disc golf,” he said. 

And with graduation eventually on the horizon, Rice is still pursuing professional tournaments while enjoying the community that helped bring him to Charlotte in the first place. 

“It’s cheap,” he said. “It’s kind of the perfect hobby.” 

Lindsey Banks is assistant editor for The Charlotte Ledger. Reach her at [email protected].

Today’s supporting sponsor is Landon A. Dunn, attorney-at-law in Matthews:

Raki McGregor, the former consultant to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools whose $30,000-a-month contract led to investigations of the school district, said in an interview published Sunday that the money was spent to get an affordable housing initiative “over the finish line.”

In his first public comments since news emerged last month that a Raleigh law firm signed him on as a highly paid consultant, with CMS picking up the bill, McGregor told journalist Michael Graff of The Charlotte Optimist that he’s proud of the work he and his wife did to help CMS succeed in the classroom.

“No one has asked me about outcomes,” the publication quoted McGregor as saying last week. “No one has said, ‘What did y’all deliver?’ … What we’re talking about is, ‘is there a conflict of interest?’ … I’m not going to apologize for doing what I think was best for students.”

McGregor had been an adviser to former Superintendent Crystal Hill, paid for by CMS through his wife’s firm as well as through the Charlotte Executive Leadership Council, a group of CEOs and other top leaders of Charlotte-area companies. Hill, though, discontinued his contract in 2025 after learning about his involvement in school board political campaigns and perceived conflicts of interest, since his wife’s educational consulting firm also received CMS contracts.

The Charlotte Optimist article with McGregor’s perspective doesn’t answer all the outstanding questions about CMS. We still don’t know the precise circumstances surrounding law firm Poyner Spruill’s decision to hire him — including who arranged it and why. And we don’t know what precisely he did for that money, though his lawyer told the publication it was akin to “project management,” with McGregor adding: “A lot of this stuff is not tangible. It’s helping people see it through.”

And McGregor declined to comment on some of the most intriguing matters, like whether that arrangement was meant to go around Hill.

But the piece provides a perspective that has been missing from the CMS case and fills in some gaps.

➡️ You can read the full Charlotte Optimist article here.

—Tony Mecia

Related Ledger article:

As the midterm election approaches, a U.S. Bank investment strategist says the American economy remains surprisingly resilient, supported by strong consumer spending but with higher prices threatening to slow growth.

Speaking last week at a gathering for Charlotte business leaders and bank clients, Tom Hainlin, the bank’s national investment strategist, said the economy has defied forecasts and been more durable than predicted, and the outlook still remains favorable.

“We still think opportunity outweighs risks,” he said.

Among his observations:

◼️ Consumers continue to spend: Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70% of the economy, remains healthy, and income growth has outpaced inflation this year.

◼️ Businesses are investing: Commercial lending continues to grow, and business investment remains on the rise. Hainlin said the latest figures show confidence from businesses willing to invest and banks willing to lend.

◼️ Corporate profits are surging: Earnings growth for the largest U.S. companies is surpassing expectations from earlier in the year, which continues to power the stock market.

◼️ Inflation persists: High energy prices, tariffs and competition for workers continue to force inflation higher.

He said the first signs of a weakening economy would be rising layoffs, slowing consumer spending, tighter credit or higher inflation, though those conditions are not evident at the moment.

And he said the results of Tuesday’s election are unlikely to have an immediate effect on the stock market.

“It's not necessarily who wins on Tuesday,” he said. “It's really how the policies that advance from there affect economic underpinnings of growth and inflation.” —Tony Mecia

➡️ Watch a short video of U.S. Bank’s Tom Hainlin explaining the U.S. economy.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ School Choice lottery for the 2027-2028 academic year opens today, after a less-than-smooth lottery experience for many CMS parents last year.

The Ledger previously reported that last year’s lottery (for the current academic year) had many parents in an uproar after results seemed to ignore factors like sibling and continuation guarantees, and transportation-zone prioritization.

In acknowledging the confusion, CMS said that last year was its “first fully digital lottery” and its “first year with a true waitlist for all schools,” and that Student Choice families and continuation students “should not have applied for their existing program.”

This year’s lottery is open from today through Dec. 11. CMS’ School Choice lottery includes specific programs and “specialized learning pathways,” and getting into certain schools and programs can be highly competitive.

The Ledger reviewed ParentSquare emails from the start of the academic year from Collinswood Language Academy Principal Dina Modine that said the K-8 dual language school had 18 open seats each in its kindergarten and first grade classes. In an early September ParentSquare post, Modine asked parents of Collinswood students to reach out if they knew anyone interested in attending the school.

The Ledger reached out to CMS on Oct. 1 with questions about the ParentSquare emails and, more broadly, about how School Choice lottery waitlists are handled in the event of open seats, then followed up on its inquiry with CMS nine times in the past month. As of Monday morning, The Ledger has received one response from a CMS spokesperson on Oct. 13 that said that the system is “working with our School Choice team to get you specific answers and info.”

School Choice lottery results for the 2026-2027 academic year, last updated in April, say there were 133 waitlisted for the Spanish immersion program at Collinswood, although the amount varies widely based on grade. For example, there were none on the waitlist for second and seventh grade, but 84 for sixth grade. There was one kindergartener and six rising first graders on the Collinswood waitlist.

For this academic year, Central Piedmont Early College had the largest waitlist per grade, at 506 for students entering the ninth grade. The magnet program at Rea Farms STEAM Academy had 332 waitlisted students for rising sixth graders and 219 for rising kindergarteners. The Charlotte Engineering Early College had 301 on its waitlist for rising ninth graders.

Lottery results are expected to be published Jan. 5. Several open houses, information sessions and tours are scheduled this fall. —Ashley Fahey

Events submitted by readers to The Ledger’s events board:

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3: “Yoga at the Mint,” 5:15-6:15 p.m., at Mint Museum Uptown, 500 S. Tryon St. Participate in a one-hour yoga class with Dancing Lotus Yoga + Arts every Tuesday. Registration required. Free for Mint members. $10 for non-members.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5: “Whitton Executive Series,” 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., at Whitton Auditorium, Carroll Hall, Winthrop University, 883 Ebenezer Ave., Rock Hill, South Carolina. Explore technology, entrepreneurship and innovation—and learn what it takes to turn bold ideas into reality.  Featured speaker: Zainab Ghadiyali. Free. 

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7: “NAMIWalks Charlotte,” 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., at Mint Museum Randolph, 2730 Randolph Rd. Walk with NAMI to raise awareness, break stigma and support free mental health programs, resources and support for our community. Family and pet friendly, live DJ, vendors, food trucks and fun! Free.

NOVEMBER 12: “Verse & Vino,” 6-9:30 p.m., at Charlotte Convention Center, 501 S. College St. Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation presents Verse & Vino, the region’s premier literary event presented by PNC Bank. Verse & Vino welcomes acclaimed NYT bestselling authors Isaac Fitzgerald, Lucy Foley, R.F. Kuang and Walter Mosley. Attendees will enjoy exclusive opportunities to meet each author, an elegant, seated dinner and unlimited wine. $250.

➡️ List your event on the Ledger events board.