Ledgestone Disc Golf is happy to announce several details as it relates to the 2025 Discraft Great Lakes Open presented by Gerrit J Verburg Co. On day 4 we had previously announced Gerrit J Verburg would return as the presenting sponsor for the 2025 event. The DGLO announcement is the 7th in our series of announcements on the Twelve Days of Ledgestone. Today’s announcement will include details on this year’s DGLO course schedule, details on this year’s DGPT added cash, information on the addition of a new course for DGLO and some improvements we are making for the 2025 event.
With the day 7 announcement, Ledgestone is doing a 30% off sale on the DGLO collection at the Ledgestone retail website. This sale will only run today, December 15th exclusively at the Ledgestone retail website. This discount will be above and beyond any other discounts offered. “We wanted to add some extra value with our 12 Days of Ledgestone promotion this year, and that is why we are offering these daily, exclusive discounts,” said Heinold.
For the 2025 event, the event team is adding a new course to the AM schedule: Cass Benton. Independence Lake East will be swapped out of the course schedule for 2025, with Cass Benton taking its place. “The main reason for the swap is variety. Player feedback taken from our annual DGLO player survey indicates that players want to see some kind of course variety from year to year, and so swapping in Cass Benton will allow us to provide a new look to the schedule for most divisions,” said Nate Heinold, DGLO TD. This change will also ease some concerns about space at Independence Lake, as this will now allow better warmup areas for those playing Independence Lake West. The event conducted a survey after the 2023 and 2024 events to gauge how competitors felt about the event and the course schedule. The feedback from the survey indicated that competitors were generally happy with the schedule of courses but wanted to see some variety from year to year. In order to satisfy the desire for repeat players to play unique courses each year, the event made the decision to add the new course while providing changes to the course schedule
On the professional side, the event will once again be a DGPT+ event and will boast a minimum of $60,000 added cash. “We are excited to host DGLO as an Elite+ event for 2025. Our plan is to add a minimum of $60,000 to the FPO/MPO purse, which will make it the largest DGLO payout in the history of the event,” said Heinold. MPO and FPO will continue to play the Kensington Toboggan layout for the event. 2024 saw an enhanced spectator experience, which the team plans on bringing back for 2025. The elevated platforms on holes 3 and 18 and the catch cam video board on hole 1 are in the plans for the 2025 event. The team is excited to debut some course changes for the 2025 event, including a new tee for hole 15 that will elevate this hole into a par 5 for MPO. The DGPT event will be contested over 4 rounds of competition.
The team is planning several enhancements to the 2025 DGLO event. “The goal is to always be improving and evolving the event to continue to push things forward. We want people to have a great experience every year when they come to DGLO,” said Heinold. Some of the planned enhancements the team has in mind for 2025 include the following:
- Increasing the amount of food for our Player Dinners
- Adding CTP’s for female divisions
- Longer AM check-in windows
- The addition of a Flymart with other vendors on Saturday night
- Improvements to DGLO branded apparel
- Additional investments into event trophies
- Additional player pack options
Gerrit J Verburg Co debuted as the presenting sponsor for the 2024 DGLO event and Ledgestone is happy to once again be working with Gerrit J. Verburg Co in 2025. Gerrit J Verburg came on as a sponsor for the Ledgestone and DGLO events in 2023, entering the disc golf market at the highest level for the first time. Gerrit J Verburg has been in business since 1979 and is headquartered in Fenton, MI. They import licorice, candy, chocolate and confectionary products. “Nate and his team at Ledgestone have been great to work with. As a sponsor of the Ledgestone and DGLO events, our company felt they have exceeded expectations in representing our company and product. With the recent substantial growth in the sport of disc golf, we found significant appeal in the value proposition offered by Ledgestone’s 2025 event sponsorship packages and we are excited to partner with them at the highest level to present the 43rd DGLO event,” said Jason Aric Jones, CFO & COO of Gerrit J. Verburg Co.
The 43rd Annual Discraft Great Lakes Open will take place September 4th to the 7th in and around Wixom, Michigan. Registration will take place exclusively at Disc Golf Scene and will open in the spring of 2025. Spectator passes will be available for purchase exclusively at Eventbrite through DGPT. Demand is expected to be very high for players who participate in the event. Registration for AM players and age protected professionals will take place here.
