In 2011 Nate Heinold had the crazy idea to run a tournament and have it be called the Ledgestone Insurance Open to promote his growing insurance business. After playing tournaments that summer he realized that he could run a tournament with a small budget and get sponsors on board to give players a great event. The thought came in June and in August of 2011 the tournament came to fruition. Because he had never run a tournament before he decided to make it a non-sanctioned event. The tournament was full ten days before the event and drew 105 people. The event's first year was played at Northwood Park on a 21 hole layout. Al Hermosillo shattered the course record in the first round and the course was subsequently redesigned in 2012. With the success of this tournament Nate decided to go "all in" for 2012 and run a series of events, part of the Ledgestone Insurance Series.
He ran a few more events in the fall of 2011 to begin raising money for the 2012 Series. Throughout 2012 he ran many events throughout the series, culminating with the 2012 Ledgestone Insurance Open. That year's event not only was a large A Tier but was the Series Finale, as players in all divisions won prizes for playing well throughout the year. The year was very exhausting, as Nate also traveled to Charlotte for the World Championship in addition to helping run more than 12 events.
Nate spent the next 6 months doing his real job instead of disc golf and rejuvenated himself in time to prepare for the 2013 A Tier. The 2013 event was a huge success and once again had spectacular weather. 2014 further increased the payout and number of players, and then 2015 was a monster year. The 2015 edition will forever go down as a turning point in the history of the sport, as the event had the largest pro purse in the history of the sport and was a National Tour stop. Big changes happened in 2016, as the Eureka saw a massive overhaul while the event began its transition away from stroke and distance OB. 2016 was also the inaugural year for the DGPT, with Ledgestone being a founding event and member of the DGPT. The event continued to host a record payout year in and year out, and by 2018 Eureka looked a little different again, with stroke and distance OB finally saying its goodbye. In the winter of 2017 Nate and the team began working on Northwood Gold, which debuted for MA1 at the 2019 Ledgestone and then made its Ledgestone debut for MPO at the 2020 event. The 2020 event saw a record donation to St Jude and another $100,000+ pro purse. Big things are in store for the future!
See the Ledgestone disc release history
Sep 14 2021
We've broken down the entire tour schedule and examined exactly how difficult Northwood Black plays compared to the other challenges disc golfers face around the country.
Aug 11 2021
The 2021 Ledgestone Insurance Open blew its previous events out of the water - in total players, added cash, and payouts. But the most impressive record of all was the $200,000 raised for charity.
Disc golf has grown almost exponentially over the past year. But the sport's popularity with the staff and volunteer community of St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Peoria got a head start several years ago when the charity began partnering with the Ledgestone Insurance Open.
Aug 9 2021
Congrats to Calvin Heimburg and Ricky Wysocki for taking down the 2021 Ledgestone title and being named co-champions.