“We always thought if we added another location, this would be the place.”
The COVID-19 pandemic reshaped recreation, with more people looking to bicycles, exercise machines, kayaks, and long walks with new pets. While some of those booms eventually proved to be temporary, one pastime-turned-sport has continued to see durable growth: disc golf.
Also called frisbee golf or “frolf,” this golf-like game has boomed locally, aided by the presence of well-regarded courses — the ones in Deer Lakes Park and Moraine State Park are globally acclaimed by amateurs and professionals on UDisc, the sport’s dominant app — and Squirrelly Discs, a Wexford retailer with a stable enough customer base to expand into Pittsburgh. The new location, opened fittingly in Squirrel Hill, just minutes from the well-trafficked Par 3 course in Schenley Park, opened to the public May 31 with prizes and pizza.
“We always thought if we added another location, this would be the place. More players, by an order of magnitude, play Schenley Park than any other course in Pittsburgh,” Craig Wilkins, the store’s founder, tells Pittsburgh City Paper. “It’s just a bonus that we were already named Squirrelly Discs.”
I play disc golf and have been a Squirrelly customer. The sport is one my elder millennial joints can handle, and disc golf, with its low price point and free access to courses, is far cheaper than its country-club cousin. There’s also the collectible aspect — I joke with Wilkins that buying discs is sort of like adult Pogs.
For his part, Wilkins got into the game through his son Cohen “right around COVID time.”
“I used to play ultimate frisbee here in Pittsburgh years ago with some of the club teams, so it was just a natural transition to disc golf,” he says. “I travel around a little bit for work, and I travel and play courses. And I’d see all these great disc golf shops in these other cities. It just felt like that was kind of a gap here in Pittsburgh.”
When his son graduated from college, the family went all in on Squirrelly.
I arrive at the new Squirrel Hill location in a lower-level space next to Steal City Vintage and find Wilkins’ mom folding store-branded shirts while his stepdad brings boxes of inventory down from street level. Wilkins says the local ecosystem for disc golf has only grown stronger in recent years, with new courses springing up in Denny Park near West View and East Park in Monroeville.
“We’re blessed to have courses here that are free in public parks, which is awesome. That is not the case nationwide,” Wilkins says. As for COVID-era growth, “at least in my experience, those people are still playing, and they’re expanding their game, and they’re moving on to bigger and better courses.”
Squirrelly stocks both new and used discs and equipment. Members of the store’s Acorn Club can sell their old discs for store credit. For new players, Wilkins recommends that players “start with a putter … What we see a lot of is people will go out and buy the biggest distance driver they can; you know, a speed 14. And that’s not always a recipe for success right out of the gate.”
Beyond giving old discs a new home, Squirrelly stocks discs by Worthington, W.V.-based Elevation Discs, and Wilkins also name-checks Trash Panda, a Colorado company that makes new discs out of ground-up old ones. “You’re seeing more and more of these sustainable materials, rubber materials,” Wilkins says.
Squirrelly also has a TechDisc simulator (think batting cage) that allows frolfers to analyze their arm speed, release angle, and other aspects of their game. Wilkins says he’s been surprised by how long customers hang around the store, whether browsing the inventory or spending longer stretches using the simulator.
“People come in and they’ll be here for an hour. They want to talk about disc golf. They want to browse some discs. Maybe they throw a few in the [simulator],” he says. “Maybe we have the pro tour going on on the TV. It’s kind of like a whole event for them.”
Squirrelly isn’t events-focused — Wilkins and his family and staff are leaving that to Pittsburgh Flying Disc and other local boosters of the game. But he’s hopeful locals and visitors to Pittsburgh’s acclaimed courses, including nearby Schenley, will build in a trip to the store when they come to town. There’s no shortage of upcoming tournaments and league play for Greater Pittsburgh’s thriving disc golf community, and Wilkins says Squirrelly plans to hide a few branded mini discs around Schenley Park and give away T-shirts to entice people into the store.
Wilkins says Squirrelly Discs plans to reach out to other Squirrel Hill businesses around their new home and perhaps even schools to encourage interest from younger players. It’s all a great sign for the game’s popularity in the Steel City.
I text my regular disc golf group about my interview with Wilkins and ask why they love the game. “In disc golf, you alternate between expansive views of nature and focused attention on the game,” one buddy responds. Other positive aspects include stress relief and “bullshitting with friends.” Both Wilkins and my group chat speak of a growing local “community” around the game — that community now has a retail hub in the heart of the city.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misidentified Cobi Davidson in the captions of two photos. The error has been corrected above.
This article appears in Jun 4-10, 2025.
