Hyzer Nation on the Reservation: The McKays
Originally published at Acerunners.ca.
A father’s words cut deep when competition with his son gets, well, competitive.
In the summer of 2018, Balcarre, Sask.’s Ian McKay used some dark psychology to defeat his adult son Gage in a game of ball golf. Cousin Nicholas Leclerc, who was also playing that day, suggested they try a game of disc golf.
“I was losing (the ball golf game) and started trash talking Gage which got into his head,” the McKay patriarch said. “I ended up coming back and winning. Gage was still mad when we got back to the car, so Nick suggested we should try disc golf to break the tension. We played a nine-hole pitch and putt, and I was hooked.”
Five years later, the McKays have collected a provincial championship, more than a dozen podium finishes and are two-time World Bush Disc Golf Championship of the Universe doubles title holders. They also constructed a course on their home reserve of Peepeekisis Cree Nation.
Called “Sasquatch Alley,” it’s a nine-hole track first created in 2019 with five-gallon buckets for targets. But that’s about to change.
With efforts led by Ian, Gage and Disc Golf Saskatchewan, the First Nation community is preparing to host the 18th Annual Saskatchewan Open provincial disc golf championship in August. Another nine holes are being added to Sasquatch Alley with permanent, PDGA-approved baskets.
The new back-nine of the course will run in the poplar, oak and willow bushes alongside sloughs, swamps and game-trails. The facility – which also hosts the community’s archery club shoots – is located on old pastureland a little off Peepeekisis’s main road. It sits an hour northeast of Regina off Highway 10 about 20 kilometres from Balcarres.
The existing course hosts a wide gambit of challenges incorporated into Qu’Appelle Valley’s feeder-creek landscape. Although 40 kilometres from the valley, the land is rife with Parkland water bodies and forestry. It begins with a pair of long, wide-open par-threes before cutting into the poplar bluff for a series of tight tunnels off the tee. The par-four and par-five holes require shot-shaping skills to meander through a triple mandatory and a long, tree-lined fairway of widths that range from 20 to 100 feet.
Ian is in the process of clearing brush and bush to layout the nine holes in the swampy, backside of the property.
“Most courses in my area are shorter, par-three courses that are mostly wide open,” he said. “My design has a good mixture of par threes, fours and a par five. The course is technical and requires both forehand and backhand shaped shots. Hole 2 is a 400-foot par-three over water onto a small landing strip and Hole 6 is a 200-foot tight tunnel.”
The expansion and installation of baskets will make the course an attractive challenge for anyone planning a daytrip from the city.
“We hope to involve everything available to use; triple mandatories; a true, long par five; water features; challenging greens; tunnel shots – just an overall challenging course where par is a great score,” said Gage. “Something you don’t usually get on the Prairie courses.”
The 18th Saskatchewan Open – a B-tier, PDGA-sanctioned event – is scheduled to take place at Sasquatch Alley August 19 and 20, 2023. More than 120 players are expected to participate.
A Sporting Family
One round of disc golf is all it takes to see the McKays’ “serious-not-serious” competitive attitude.
Each of them seeks to win. Each of them needs to win. But regardless of their circumstances, they’re going to have fun while attempting it. Verbal jabs and a pinch of head-gamesmanship are guaranteed when they play with each other and among friends. All of it is for good, congenial camaraderie.
Ian and Gage do not make up the entire family disc golf team. All six of the McKays are involved in some way. Younger brother Triston of Calgary, Alta. works his way into the family’s gritty game whenever he is home. Eighteen-year-old Chase will pull out his whipping forehand for tournaments on occasion. And sister Reegan, 14, plays recreationally.
The disc golf bug hit mom, Tammy, in 2021. She just completed her first putting league season in Melville, Sask. where she finished first in the women’s division.
“Ian and the boys kept bugging me to go play a round with them,” she said. “After playing, I realized how much I enjoyed it. I only really play for fun and I’m not too sure about joining tournaments just yet. We’re trying to be healthier these days, so doing something that I enjoy while getting exercise is a bonus.”
The expansion of Sasquatch Alley alongside the hundreds of athletes who will gather for the Saskatchewan Open this summer provides the McKays and the Peepeekisis Recreation Department a spotlight to explode the sport in the area. Ian and Gage want to take advantage of it.
“It gives youth another avenue to get out and enjoy nature; a different sport that they can fall in love with and a place the community can come together to enjoy family time,” said Ian. “I have run a few clinics on the reserve and plan on starting a youth league for the summer months.”
Despite their jovial competitive spirit in anything they do, the McKay family’s primary intention is to enjoy each other and their friends. Any gathering with the crew includes plenty of laughter.
“I come from a competitive family in every aspect of the word,” said Gage. “But there is nothing better I can think of than taking an afternoon to spend time with them doing something we all love.”
When asked if there was anything he’d like to add, Gage was succinct.
“I’m better than my dad and Triston.”
Discs of Choice
Ian McKay – Discraft Nuke ESP
“I love how it feels in the hand and they have some of the best stock stamps. I bag three of them.”
Gage McKay – Innova Firebird
“I throw so many forehands, it’s a disc I know I can rely on.”
Tammy McKay – Dynamic Discs Warden Classic Burst
“I like the feel of the plastic in my hand. Honestly, I used to pick discs for the stamps, but I’m starting to get pickier.”
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