What does a park look like when its first grant pays for one thing? In May, the Town of Leland received $10,000 from the North Carolina Amateur Sports Youth Sports Grant Fund to plan and design a disc golf course on Long Pine Drive. Leland was the only municipality in Brunswick County to get money from that fund in the 2025-2026 cycle.
The site is just over 32 acres, a long, narrow tract on Long Pine Drive inside Brunswick Forest. In the town's own words, the park master plan "will build on the disc golf course design." The course is the starting point, and the trails, playground, restrooms and picnic areas will be planned around it. Those pieces are still open for discussion, and tonight, Thursday, Oct. 29, is the last scheduled public meeting this month to comment on them.
The course is the anchor, and it's being designed to host tournaments
The town hired two firms for the design. Summit Design and Engineering is the civil engineer, and Innova Disc Golf is the course design partner. In its October 8 notice asking for public input, the Town of Leland described what it wants the course to do:
"The course will create new recreational opportunities for residents and visitors while supporting tournaments, community events, and partnerships with local organizations and businesses."
Leland's only town course today, Leland Disc Golf Course at 893 Village Road, has 12 holes on just over 13 acres beside Sturgeon Creek. It runs a little over 2,900 feet in total, with 11 par-3s and one par-4. The early Loblolly concepts call for 18 holes. Right now the nearest 18-hole course to the Village Road course is Arrowhead Park in Wilmington, 9.9 miles away by UDisc's measure. Once Loblolly is built, Brunswick Forest residents would have a full 18-hole course in their own community.
What's still being decided
WECT reported in August that the first concepts included a multi-use trail network, the 18-hole course, a playground and active picnic areas. The town's project page adds two more specifics. The playground is described as inclusive, and the trail is meant to connect "nearby neighborhoods and existing pedestrian infrastructure." The town also says the designers are still refining the plans after its review and feedback.
No hole layout, trail route, parking plan or construction cost has been released yet. Those details are what the master plan process is supposed to produce, and the town has said the plan will also "establish a framework for future development." For anyone living along Long Pine Drive, the open questions are the practical ones. Where will people park? Where will the trail connect to the neighborhood? Where on a long, narrow site will the restrooms and playground go, compared with the fairways?
Here is the timeline the town has published so far:
| Milestone | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Design begins | June 15, 2026 | Done |
| First-round concept design plans received | Aug. 11, 2026 | Done |
| Concept plans received, public workshop announced | Oct. 2, 2026 | Done |
| Public open house at Town Hall | Oct. 28, 2026, 3 to 6 p.m. | Held Oct. 28 |
| Joint Council and Parks Board meeting with public comment | Oct. 29, 2026, 7:30 p.m. | Tonight |
| Design complete | Second quarter of 2027 | Projected |
| Construction begins | October 2027 | Pending funding |
| Substantial completion | Not set | TBD |
The construction date carries a condition. The town lists October 2027 as "pending funding," and the $10,000 grant covers course planning and design, not construction. Even if the town keeps that date, the first rounds are at least two seasons away.
Tonight's meeting at Town Hall
The Leland Town Council and the Parks and Recreation Board meet together tonight, Oct. 29, at Leland Town Hall, 102 Town Hall Drive. According to WECT's coverage, the boards will take up two items:
- 6 p.m.: review of Leland's 10-year Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Master Plan, which sets recreation priorities and park investments through 2036.
- 7:30 p.m.: the Loblolly Park Master Plan, with a formal public comment period.
The two meetings are connected. The parks master plan is the town's long-range list of what to fund. Its public survey closed September 14, and the town expects the finished plan in spring 2027. Construction money for Loblolly is still unsettled, so where the park ranks in that 10-year plan will help decide how fast it moves after design wraps up next year. If you can only make one, the 7:30 p.m. session is the one with public comment on Loblolly.
Until then, where to play now
Brunswick Forest players don't have to wait for Loblolly to find a round or a weekly group. Most of the local disc golf scene runs on weeknight doubles, and several are within a reasonable drive.
Leland Disc Golf Course, 893 Village Road. This is the home course for now. Throw Coast Disc Golf's local events page lists Leland Disc Golf Club weekly doubles on Wednesdays at 6 p.m., with a $15 buy-in. On Sundays at 7:30 a.m., the same page lists the Church of the Frisbeetyrians at the course, free and often played for Leland Disc Golf Club tags. The group's UDisc listing sums it up: "Service starts early Sunday morning."
Throw Coast Disc Golf, 1026 Appleton Way NE, Unit 140, Leland. A dedicated disc golf shop in Leland with new and used discs and gear, plus posted weekly hours. Its events page also covers clubs across the region. Check with each club before you go, since weekly schedules change.
Arrowhead Park, Wilmington. The closest 18-hole course for now. UDisc lists the Monkey Junction Aceholes' weekly club tag match there. New Hanover Disc Golf Club also holds a monthly morning round at Arrowhead.
Farther afield on Tuesdays. Pleasure Island Disc Golf Club holds weekly doubles at Trinity at Good Hops, 811 Harper Avenue in Carolina Beach, at 6:30 p.m. for $10. Brunswick County Disc Golf Club holds Bill Smith Doubles at Bill Smith Park, 446 Fish Factory Road SE in Southport, at 6 p.m. for $8.
The trail side, and why it links to something bigger
The park's other main feature, its trail, ties into a gap in Leland's walking network. The town's closest finished trails today are at Westgate Nature Park, off Westgate Drive behind the shops on the south side of U.S. 17. The park has 0.3 miles of paved and elevated boardwalk trail, two nature-themed play structures, picnic space, an event lawn and an outdoor classroom. For longer outings, Brunswick County's Brunswick Nature Park covers 911 acres. It has miles of hiking and biking trails, a pavilion and a kayak and canoe launch, and it's open year-round from 8 a.m. until dusk. It sits at 2601 River Road in Winnabow, about 10 miles from Leland, with access to the county paddle trail.
Leland has a concept-stage proposal, the Leland Greenway, to link Westgate Nature Park with Brunswick Nature Park. It's an idea on paper, not a trail under construction. Loblolly's trail is planned to connect nearby neighborhoods to existing pedestrian routes, which makes it one of the pieces Leland's trail network could eventually build around. That's why the trail routing deserves a comment tonight, even from people who will never throw a disc.
The disc golf course is the anchor of the plan. Where the trail runs, where people park and how the playground and picnic areas fit along Long Pine Drive are still on the table at 7:30 p.m. tonight at 102 Town Hall Drive.
If you live near Long Pine Drive and want to know how a new park could change your corner of Brunswick Forest, Lumina Blue Properties follows these projects from first concept to opening day. Get a Free Home Valuation, and we'll include what's planned around your street.
