Dual attractions at vineyard disc golf course bring hole-in-one for this Kansas entrepreneur trio

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EDGERTON, Kansas — A rural Douglas County family is pairing its award-winning Kansas table wine with 18 holes of disc golf and earning national recognition in the process, Christy Fuller-Flyntz shared.

White Tail Run Winery, Vineyard, and Disc Golf Course landed at ninth on the list of best winery disc golf courses in the world, according to UDisc, an app that includes the largest and most frequently-updated directory of disc golf courses.

Wine in the tasting room at White Tail Run Winery, Vineyard, and Disc Golf Course; courtesy photo

“We were shocked,” continued Fuller-Flyntz, who runs the winery — initially launched in 2010 — with her father (Dan Fuller) and brother (Dusty Fuller). “We did not go into it thinking that we would ever be ranked like that. We wanted to build the course because we think it’s a great sport. It’s something that people can easily do. It’s not expensive. Our kids love it, and it’s a great way for a family to get out there and get some exercise, see a little bit of nature, and see some different views with the vineyard.”

“But we couldn’t be more pleased that we got that recognition, and it’s been a boost,” she added. “I think there’s 200,000 courses that the app tracks. So it was a pretty big deal for a winery in the state of Kansas to be ranked ninth worldwide for our disc golf course.”

The 18 holes of the White Tail Run course — which opened in 2023 — are in and around the five-acre vineyard. There is a $5 green fee and discs are available to rent for $10.

“This is an intermediate-level par 56 course that entails technical wood shots, open field shots, water shots, an island and you get to play through an active winery vineyard,” according to UDisc.

Vines meet disc golf in a field at White Tail Run; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News

From the green to the tasting room

While wine and disc golf might seem like an unlikely pairing, Fuller-Flyntz said, she’s enjoyed introducing a new demographic to their tasting room and their 22 varieties of Kansas wines, which can also be found at various liquor stores on the Kansas side.

​​”It’s mainly men that come out and play our course,” she explained. “We sell beer and hard seltzers and things like that, but it has actually been so much fun to introduce these men that are normally beer and hard liquor drinkers to our wine and show them that we aren’t snobby, and wine can be enjoyed by everybody, that there’s no rules to wine anymore. If you like it, you like it. That’s been our motto. It’s your money, your taste palette; you just enjoy what you enjoy.”

Some of the men who come out to play the course also bring their partners, Fuller-Flyntz noted, who can enjoy the tasting room and outside seating while they play.

“Then they can all come back and use it as a clubhouse, if you will, and decompress and talk about the course and everything and enjoy a glass of wine or beer here after the round,” she continued. 

The addition of the disc golf course also makes the winery more family-friendly, Fuller-Flyntz said.

“All ages are welcome here,” she added. “Most times you’ll see our kiddos running around when we’re out here working on weekends.”

The disc golf course isn’t the only part of the White Tail Run vineyard that’s gained recognition. The Fuller family has also won multiple awards for its 22 wines, which are made from the three varieties of grapes from their vineyard (​​Chambourcin, Seyval, and LaCrosse), and supplemented with other grape varieties from Kansas vineyards.

“That’s been fun, just trying to change everyone’s opinion on wine, especially Kansas wine,” Fuller-Flyntz said. “Kansas wine is good. They just need to give us a shot.”

“We are a true family farm,” she added. “My dad lives on this property, well all of us have at some point on another for the past 50 years.”

A disc golf basket or hole at White Tail Run; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News

Grown from unexpected opportunities

An amateur wine competition in 2008 changed everything for the Fuller family, Fuller-Flyntz recalled. After retiring from the postal service in 2002, Dan Fuller decided to start a vineyard in 2003. However, damage from deer set him behind a couple of years and he didn’t see his first harvest until 2008.

“That’s why we call ourselves White Tail Run because we want to see the deer run away,” she noted.

By the time her father was ready to sell the grapes, Fuller-Flyntz continued, an economic recession was battering the industry and consumers. 

“Nobody was buying grapes at that point, or if they were, we would have been in the red for what people were willing to pay,” she explained. “So dad made our semi-sweet Seyval wine, entered it into an amateur competition, and won a bronze. Then he came back to my brother and I and was like, ‘We have five acres of grapes at this point. How about we try opening a winery?’”

So in 2010, the family got a winery license, opened its first tasting room in 2011, and then opened a current larger, log-cabin style tasting room in 2014 (where they also serve beer and mocktails).

Then when the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, Fuller-Flyntz said, she and her brother found themselves getting their kids out of the house by playing disc golf at a local course.

“We loved it,” she noted.

White Tail Run Winery, Vineyard, and Disc Golf Course; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News

And when she saw that the state of Kansas Tourism Department offered Attraction Development Grants — for projects that will draw new visitors to the state — she knew building a disc golf course on their 40 acres was the next step for White Tail Run. 

“It would bring another amenity and differentiate us from other wineries,” Fuller-Flyntz explained. “So I applied for the grant and we won it.”

The Fuller family hired course designer Scott Reek and spent 2023 overseeing the design and construction of the disc golf course, which opened in November of that year.

“Ever since then, we’ve had people come from all over the United States to play our course,” Fuller-Flyntz said, noting they will be hosting a Professional Disc Golf Association sanctioned tournament in May.

On top of disc golf tournaments, White Tail Run also hosts various events throughout the year, from St. Patrick’s Day Shenanigans to Ladies Day Out Sipping and Shopping, a Spring Balcony Paint and Sip Party, and an Adult Easter Egg Hunt on the disc golf course.