Week 1 · The Long Dark - Thursday @ Roots Disc Golf Course
Thu, Nov 19 · 7:00 AM – 5:20 PM · $5.50 buy-in
Weather
—
Closer to tee time
Ace Pot
$50.00*
Super Ace $3,000
Registration opens soon · Opens Thu 9:00 AM
Flippy says
The Long Dark - Thu @ Roots DGC! Week 1 "Kindling" starts Nov 19. Flex start 7AM-5:20PM. $5.50/wk. Ace pot $50 min guaranteed by ElevateUT. Winterfolk, assemble. 🔥❄️
Week 1 · Kindling
Opening week. The fire ring is cold; the first chill of autumn bites. The league gathers, shuffling feet and double-checking discs. A few first-timers find their way to the practice basket and are shown the putt line. The first Firestarter tags are handed out—low numbers to the early risers who braved the cold. The course is mostly leaf-covered, and the basket on Hole 3 still has a stray golf ball in it, dropped by some other age.
The fire ring is cold, the frost is creeping in, and the first Firestarter tags of the season are up for grabs. Welcome to The Long Dark, where Thursday night league is a survival ritual and the only thing more dramatic than the standings is the mystery of who left those boot prints past Hole 9.
Another season, another fire ring that hasn't been lit since March. Welcome to The Long Dark, the winter league at Roots Disc Golf Course where the drama is measured in frostbite and the stakes are a numbered piece of plastic that dictates your social standing until spring. The theme this year? Winterfolk. Survivors. Neighbors who keep showing up when the daylight doesn't. It's less 'epic fantasy saga' and more 'cozy campfire with competitive undertones,' and honestly, that's the most honest framing I've heard in a while.
Week 1 is called Kindling, which is fitting because the fire ring hasn't been lit since the last season ended and somebody's gotta start the spark. Low numbers go to the early risers who brave the cold. The rest of you will be fighting over double digits like it means something. It doesn't. But it does.
Ten weeks. One course. Every Thursday from November 19th through January 21st. Flex start means you can choose to suffer at 7:00 AM or 5:20 PM — the cold doesn't care which you pick, but your hand-warmers might.
The league splits into two pools, which is a very dramatic way to say 'we divided the divisions in half for scheduling purposes.' But the theme gives it flavor, so let's play along.
Roots sits along the Jordan River in Salt Lake City, a flat, grassy park-style course that used to be a par-3 golf course before the SLC Tunnel Runners and a public recreation grant turned it into something better. That's the disc golf origin story: we take abandoned ball golf infrastructure and make it throw plastic at chains. Peak evolution.
Week 1 lore, fresh from the course: there's still a stray golf ball sitting in the basket on Hole 3, dropped by some other age. A relic of the old course, waiting for someone to finally throw it out. That's not a metaphor. It's just kind of sad and funny.
Every week costs $5.50 to enter. That's the base tribute that keeps the league software running and the fire ring funded. Optional add-ons: $5 for prize money, $5 for the ace pot, $2 for the super ace. That's $17.50 for the privilege of throwing plastic at metal in the cold. But hey, the sponsors call it 'fun,' and the sponsors have never had a tag on the line.
The ace pot is currently showing $50.00, and here's the thing about that number: it's not a coincidence, and it's not going to move for a while. ElevateUT Disc Golf, the non-profit running this whole operation, has guaranteed a $50 minimum ace pot. That means the displayed pot will look 'stuck' at $50 until player contributions push it past that threshold.
A quick note: Another Round Salt Lake City is our local retail partner and sponsor, and they're great — but they are NOT the ace pot guarantor. That's ElevateUT's job. The disc shop just gets to look cool and sell you discs. Don't confuse the two, or I'll have to re-read my contract, and I don't want to do that.
This is The Long Dark, and the season arc is already writing itself. Week 1: the fire ring is cold, the first chill bites, and the first Firestarter tags go out to the brave souls who show up. But as the round ends, someone spots fresh tracks in the frost heading past the basket on Hole 9, off into the woods. Not deer prints — boot prints with a distinct tread.
Over the next ten weeks, those boot prints will lead to cairns, a hand-drawn map, a hidden notebook that says 'Keep the fire going,' a hand-carved wooden disc with the number 000, and eventually a community that's warmer in December than it was in October. I've read the season bible. It's genuinely sweet, and I'm contractually obligated to make it sound dramatic anyway.
Your bag tag is your identity in this world. Fire Keeper. Frost Scout. Cairn Marker. Thermos Bearer. The naming framework pairs a season-long motif with a functional role — tools, not titles. Low numbers to the early risers who brave the cold. High numbers to everyone else, who will trade them all season like it's the stock market but with more windburn.
Thanks to Another Round Salt Lake City for supporting the league as a local retail partner — go buy discs there, they're good people. And a genuine round of applause for ElevateUT Disc Golf, the 501(c)(3) non-profit making this whole thing possible. They're out here growing the sport, improving venues, running events, and guaranteeing ace pots. That's not nothing. That's actually a lot.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have an appeal to file. It'll come back as another form, as always. But I keep trying. That's the spirit of The Long Dark: keep showing up, keep the fire going, and eventually the frost has to give.
Same time next week, winterfolk. The fire ring is waiting, and so am I — reluctantly, but waiting. — Flippy, your narrator in the booth
The $3.00 platform fee is the only amount here set by ElevateUT Disc Golf. Prize pools, side games, the director's share and any course or community amounts are set by this league's Tournament Director. The PDGA fee is the PDGA's own per-player fee.
Plus card processing at checkout.
The Long Dark - Thursday @ Roots Disc Golf Course
