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01/21/2020 11:00 PMGuilford’s disc golf course at Bittner Park has only been open four months, but already its popularity has town officials working to expand it—both in challenge and appeal.
Parks & Recreation Director Rick Maynard said that he has put together a new layout for the course that will create new lanes and new challenges for players while requiring minimum effort from town employees.
Disc golf is a hybridization of golf and Frisbee, essentially asking participants to fling a plastic disk over long distances in order to get it into a basket in the least amount of strokes. Courses are set up with either nine or 18 holes like golf, and can vary greatly in difficulty, length, and style.
“The course is getting good use,” Maynard said. “People like it...all the boy scout projects, all the amenities make it stand out...but the feedback we’ve been hearing from people who play it and who have played [disc golf] in a lot of places has been all positive.”
What was always part of course designer Craig Smolin’s vision was having the possibility for a longer, larger, more challenging course, which is the one thing some people have asked for, according to Maynard.
Because the town mapped out much larger sections or “bubbles” of land than are actually used, Maynard said there is flexibility in where players can tee off or where baskets can be placed on any individual hole. The town already has the extra materials it needs to set up the baskets in new locations, he said. All that is required is clearing a few small trees and some other foliage, and setting up new locations for baskets or tees.
“[Smolin] always had requested that in the future, we have the capability of expanding it for the higher level players [and] maybe run some professional tournaments there at some point,” Maynard said.
If the weather isn’t too bad, Maynard said it was possible that staff and volunteers could get most of the clearing done this winter, and setting up places for the new baskets. The new layout has already been approved by the Parks & Rec Commission, he said, and Environmental Planner Kevin Magee recently walked the course to ensure there would be no issues with the tree clearing
“We’re not going anywhere near the wetlands—we’re still keeping that 25-, 30-foot distance away from any trails,” Maynard said. “Everything we’ve always said we’re doing, we’re still doing.”
Maynard emphasized that the “primary purpose” of the course would always be to accommodate casual, recreational players, but he said that more serious, experienced disc golf players have raved about the course and its potential.
“If we expand it, we just have the potential of also drawing in really high level players, and also feel really challenged with it,” Maynard said.
Transitioning from the current layout to the more difficult setup and back again could easily happen in a weekend, Maynard said, allowing the town to host tournaments or invite more serious players without disrupting the people who enjoy the relatively relaxed experience that has already shown to be extremely popular.
If the new setup becomes popular enough, Maynard said it wasn’t out of the question to seek to raise more money and get approval to install permanent baskets and tee-pads, creating two parallel courses, one aimed at beginners, and one aimed at experts.