Panther's Lair @ Potomac Middle School - Dumfries, VA

[G Bud]

http://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=832&pictureid=6097

Panther's Lair @ Potomac Middle School, 3130 Panther Pride Drive, Dumfries, VA 22026

This course will be set up temporarily for public preview on July 10th (11 - 7) and July 11th (9 - 5).
Please come play our design and tell us what you think.


We are very much down the development road on this one. The above picture is not installed but the property is marked and we are moving towards installation. The club Forum where you can find the course thread is: http://dgcnv.manaze.com/forum/index.php This is the Northern VA DG Club forum and you might have to register to view the forum. This course thread is under the "Other Courses" Menu.
The property consists of three elevations with the school on the highest, a good 40 - 50' lower is the football field and finally a similar drop to the soccer field. Because of the fields, trees don't come into play much. Yellow OB are 8' Chain-link fences. The white tee #6 would be our signature hole. (in pic #3, the tee is on the hill behind the bleachers.) When finally installed, the course will not be playable during school hours or after school activities.
I am the music department chair and teach orchestra & guitar at the school. We don't have very much DG going on here in Prince William County, VA. I know of two other middle schools in county that have DG courses. I mentioned this to the PE department chair in passing one day in April. She presented it to the Principal and 24 hours later, I found myself with the task of designing a course on campus. :eek: I owe a ton of thanks to Dave Steger and Tim Beron for their help and expertise on this project. We probably won't be this close without them. :clap:
The Principal is funding the project and we are working with the EDGE organization in purchasing the equipment. These folks have been great and we are just waiting for the books to open on the new school year to place our equipment order with them.
The design was near complete prior to the end of school so I couldn't resist but to get some kids on the course. We found out that the elementary school across the parking lot had Frisbee Golf targets (that's what is on the box) and we borrowed these just to get play started. They are little more then a big fish net on PVC piping but they were definitely better then nothing. My 8th graders were really jacked with the activity and most came out the four days we played. Some pic are attached.

Upon follow up with EDGE we found that the DisCatcher Pros are on back ordered until September but they will send us the installation sleeves so we can get the major part of installation done in the next few weeks. Tees will be natural and have to be under the mower line. So they will be a basic toe-line with a 4' pressure treated half round flanked by tee colored pavers with tee number & distance. Tee installation will begin next week.
So as mentioned at the front end, we are impatient and are gathering baskets to set this course up to be played by the public. It is designed to be player friendly from beginner to pro level players. We even have a super secret Blue Tee layout. We don't plan to get to that until what you see in the current picture is complete. So plans for growth are already in the works.
This will not be our only preview week this summer. But we hope if you are in the MD/DC/NoVa metro area, you'll stop by and check us out. :thmbup:

[G Bud]

Our temporary set up, though attended by just a few, went very well and people came back to play a second day. We were up against a good size area tourney so many top, competitive players were unable to attend. We are considering setting up the design again next Sunday (7/18). If the interest to play the course is there, I think we will go for it. PM me if this applies to you.

Not much action from the green tees but the best scores were a -7 from the red tees and a -6 from the white tees. But the really best score was seeing that the design is solid and people enjoy playing it. Can't wait until it is permanent.

[Radarx]

I will be playing Giles run next Sunday in the Lorton area next weekend, Should have enough time to run down a couple exits to Dumfries. Think its about 15-20 min drive from Giles.

[G Bud]

I will be playing Giles run next Sunday in the Lorton area next weekend, Should have enough time to run down a couple exits to Dumfries. Think its about 15-20 min drive from Giles.

Even quicker if traffic is good. Hope we'll see ya!

[G Bud]

Just got the word from my Boss and we will not be able to open the course this Sunday, 7/18. :( For now our efforts will focus on Installation. :thmbup:

Stay Tuned! :popcorn:

[G Bud]

Spent the weekend stenciling bricks for the tee markers.

http://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=900&pictureid=6837

We're going with natural tees basically with a toe line. Add a 4 ft piece of 2X4 pressure treated and here's what the final product should look like.

http://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=900&pictureid=6838

The exposed wood will be painted white once installed. Installation begins tomorrow.

I also spoke with the folks at EDGE. They are confident they will be shipping us equipment later this week and we should start getting it late next week. So the ball is rolling and we enter the next phase - Installation.

[G Bud]

This is a little tougher task than I thought it would be. But it still needs to get done. Knocked out #1 on Tuesday & #2 today. With the Virginia heat and humidity, my body will not let me do more than three at one shot. So we'll just do one hole at a time. Sure glad it's only a 9 hole. Hole 3 on Friday.

Here's what they look like once in the ground. I think they will work great!:thmbup:

1st one in!
http://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=900&pictureid=6873

Then came red.
http://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=900&pictureid=6874

The White tee for 1 is on the side walk so it has a little different set up. But here is the white tee 4 which was in the area.
http://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=900&pictureid=6875

The fun continues on Friday with Hole #3. :popcorn:

[chrishysell]

How much did the bricks set you back? I have been wanting to do something like that at Dorey Park.

[G Bud]

How much did the bricks set you back? I have been wanting to do something like that at Dorey Park.

The bricks are retaining wall caps. I think Lowe's calls them Castle wall caps. They run about $1.84 a brick. (54 bricks in all to do three tees for nine holes.) My principal was worried about kids pulling them up but the bricks are a good 3 inches thick and the rough sides I hope will help to set them in the ground and make them harder to pull up.
Then 8 ft pressure treated 2X4s cut in half for 4 ft toe lines. (14) The paint I had sitting around the house so no cost there. All totaled was about $175.00 for materials.
I went with this due to the fact that any tee stuff had to below the mower cut line and we couldn't put signs or raised materials around the playing fields. This was a good cheap solution. Let me know if you need some help or have more questions.

[chrishysell]

That #4 is huge. You would need bigger blocks if you had an 18 hole course. I'm going to do something similar. I think i'll skip the board at the end. It will become a nuisance eventually.

[G Bud]

The hole number is a 6" stencil & the distance are 2". I'm sure you could go smaller with a 4" or 5" number for double digits.

[Tortuga]

Any update about this course? I live in the NOVA area and would like to play it when everything is up and running. Thanks in advance.

[G Bud]

Hey, sorry for the delay in keeping things updated. I'm back teaching school and I pulled a ligament or something in my heel and it has slowed both course work and DG play. But I think I'm healed enough to get back to the course work. SO I am hoping to get back at it this Friday after school by doing the three tees for #6. Since football & soccer practice has started, I can only do course work on the weekends.
As for our targets, we are stuck in the politics of a school division who with budget cuts are a bit short handed. First it took us a while to find out who to contact to place the work order. We got bounced around from dept. to dept. until finally we got our contact. I actually heard from our contact today and it looks like we are waiting for Risk Management to give the go ahead. They will be looking at the two middle schools currently with courses in the county to see if they find any issues. I'm am confident that our design is solid and issues, if any, will be minimal.
If the installation of the targets continues to be delayed, I'm going to talk with my principal to see if we can do another temp set up weekend to keep the buzz going. Thanks for your interest on our project.

[G Bud]

So I was given a message this monring to call Risk Management and so I did. They wanted to come check things out and see a demo of DG. I passed on my planning periods and and set up two of the Traveler on hole #1 and #5. At 12:20 my RM contact arrived and the tour and demo began. He was very much impressed with what we have done to this point and gave us the Risk Management Thumbs up. :thmbup: He seemed to show an interest in DG and we chatted for quite a while about the sport.
So we are good to go from a saftey stand point. I asked what the next step was and he said to email him the Work order number and the link to EDGE. He would then give the dept. with the work order a call and let them know that they have gaven their blessing and to procede with the installation of the targets. :thmbup:
So now we are back to the waiting game to get the targtes installed but at least we have crossed one more huddle towards our goal. :hfive:

[G Bud]

Wow, we've been waiting a while on this one. :wall: The latest was about two weeks ago when I heard from PWCS which said that we had the blessing of risk management to go ahead and install the targets. They also recommended a contractor to do the job. We've been waiting for weeks just to get a pat on the back and a good luck!?! :sick: We really just need someone to come dig the holes. The installation sleeves are a fairly easy task in comparison. SO I called the suggested contractor and asked for two price quotes. One for a full install of the targets and one for just digging holes. My principal wants both quotes and since she pays the bills she gets the final word. She is getting as impatient as I am which is good. :thmbup:
On other news, the tee marker installation has been going just as slowly but has been moving forward. Recently installed a couple more and we are currently 7 of 9 holes with tee markers on all three tees. Only 2 more holes and 6 more tees to go. This part of the project may be completed this weekend depending on the weather. Definately by the end of the month we will have places to throw from. Now if we can just get some movement on the targets we'd be good to go. :wall: :popcorn:

[G Bud]

We've been having some great weather here in VA and it was all I could do not to go push some plastic. :\ But I was a good boy and so the tee markers for #8 went in on Saturday. One more hole and three more markers and phase II (tee installation) will be complete.
Still in a holding pattern about the target install but I'll be focusing all efforts in that direction next week. We're getting close.
Close enough that I will be asking the Principal next week if we can do another temp set up weekend like in July. Should be real easy with the tee markers in and the baskets already lined up. I'll be asking for Nov. 13-14 so keep an eye out for that announcement. Geeze, I hate baby steps!

[G Bud]

:clap:The Panther's Lair will be open for play on November 13th & 14th from 9AM - 4PM :clap:
This is not a tournament, just a chance to play a new course.

Yes! we are going to do a temporary set up weekend of the Panther's Lair while we continue with the bidding process on target installation. ALL of our tee markers are in :hfive: and we just need targets to start playing. So out come the portables and let the plastic fly! Come at your leisure between 9 - 4 and play a few rounds at the Lair, if you dare....... :sick:

Potomac Middle School
3130 Panther Pride Drive
Dumfries, VA 22026

Panther's Lair DGC is located to the rear of the building. When entering the parking lot, do not go forward, that is the bus lane that will just horseshoe you around the two schools. After you make the right into the schools, make your 1st left to enter the parking lot.

[G Bud]

:clap:The Panther's Lair will be open for play on November 13th & 14th from 9AM - 4PM :clap:
This is not a tournament, just a chance to play a new course.

Yes! we are going to do a temporary set up weekend of the Panther's Lair while we continue with the bidding process on target installation. ALL of our tee markers are in :hfive: and we just need targets to start playing. So out come the portables and let the plastic fly! Come at your leisure between 9 - 4 and play a few rounds at the Lair, if you dare....... :sick:

Potomac Middle School
3130 Panther Pride Drive
Dumfries, VA 22026

Panther's Lair DGC is located to the rear of the building. When entering the parking lot, do not go forward, that is the bus lane that will just horseshoe you around the two schools. After you make the right into the schools, make your 1st left to enter the parking lot.

That's right! As part of this weekend's activities at the Lair, at 1:30 both days, we will take a tour and play a round on our blue tee set up that will be our project next summer. It's gonna be beautiful weather and a perfect time to check out this course. Bring family and friends, we'll have plenty of discs for borrowing if needed. If your in the NOVA area, hope you'll check us out. :)

[G Bud]

It was another gorgeous day today so after school I thought I would do a rough stake out of the blue tees in prep of this weekend's preview. Take these distances with a grain of salt. I basically paced them to the white tee and just added the distance. The exceptions are #7 & #9. The Blue tee line was nowhere near the white tee so I just paced these. This also does not consider elevation changes which occur on 7 of 9 holes. Here goes:
#1 - 380 ft.
#2 - 489 ft.
#3 - 311 ft.
#4 - 589 ft.
#6 - 610 ft.
#7 - 345 ft.
#8 - 325 ft.
#9 - 330 ft.
Total: 3739 ft. :)

[G Bud]

What a gorgeous day at the Lair on Saturday! I hope whatever you were doing you were doing it outside. Saturday saw our usually Friends of the Lair: Larry, Tom & Rory. The rest of the day saw: Art, Greg, Dave, Bryan & Daniel come enjoy the course. Oh, and I got to participate in my first rounds on the course as well. :thmbup:
The comments on the tees markers were positive and the new players enjoyed the design too. Thanks guys!! :) We did figure out that the course favors lefties. The records are still in tack. -7 from the red & -6 from the white. Larry came close but basket banging putts won in the end. A handful of discs found the other side of fences but were easily recovered now that I possess a key. No one was interested in playing the blue tees by 1:30 but we pointed them out as we went around. Except at the end of the day when "just one more" was heard many times as the bags were emptied off blue #5. It is just too pretty a spot not to just let em fly.
Another day at the Lair awaits! :clap: Gotta go stretch out the soreness of Saturday and go set up the course in prep of another great day. Think I'll tackle a round of blues in the morning while the ibuprofen is still working. Hope to see ya!!

[gottafixit]

Got to play this on Saturday, can't wait for it to post so I can add it as played. It's a simple course but still has a good bit of challenge and really uses the land to its fullest. Hands down the nicest Grade School Course I've played. Great Job on this.

[G Bud]

Yes, finally after a lot of :wall: and :doh: we have a date for the installation of our targets. They will be installed by B. Rushing Landscaping on Tuesday, 1/25. Before you know it, our little project will be complete. :(
Keep an eye out for this course to come on line in the next few weeks. :clap:

[swatso]

So, what baskets and/or tees are in and ready for play?

[G Bud]

Sorry Swatso, I posted this on the local forum but I guess I dropped the ball here. :o I'm still trying to get beyond the situation as it knocked me down for a minute. Literally the day before the install, I mean Miss Utility had just left campus, the principal tells me she has to put the project on the back burner until Spring due to shortfalls on the financial front. I guess I understand, it's a common theme now a days, but it didn't do much to ease the blow. :wall:

So we are still just a bunch of tees without targets for the moment. But I am holding a disc golf club interest meeting on Thursday. We have enough portable targets that we can start getting the kids in involved. :thmbup:

[G Bud]

I actually can't believe I am finally posting this.

Friday morning (12/16) at 10:30, a four man crew from B. Rushing Landscaping headed by Everett, pulled up to Potomac Middle with one purpose: Install 9 DiscCatcher Pro installation tubes and finally make the Panther's Lair for real.

To my surprise, no auger. But the crew got to work digging the holes, took lunch and returned at 1:30 for the install. Without an auger, they quickly found out their holes were too wide. They dug them the width of the valve covers, which were nice and big but way more hole than they needed. So there's probably about 120+ lbs of concrete holding on to Hole 1. The rest of the holes would be back filled first before concrete and with every hole the crew's work improved. The last four or five holes were perfectly done. We finished at about 4:30 and I've been pinching myself ever since.

10 keyed alike, 3" shank locks have been ordered directly from Masterlock. I will start putting baskets together this week and as soon as the locks arrive get those puppies in the ground. It may not happen until after the first of the year as school closes for winter break on Thursday afternoon.

In passing, the Principal and I chatted briefly. I am finding it hard to explain the benefits of leaving the course open to the public to someone who has never seen the game played and wouldn't know a pole hole if it fell on her. Eventually she will see that she doesn't have the room to store 9 DisCatcher Pros and disc golfers will be just like other public who run on our track and play on our fields during non-school hours.

So our biggest hurdle is finally behind us and we should see smooth sailing on this project from here. (Famous last words.) Soon we'll be bundling up kids and hitting the course once a week after school. And I'll be able to leave work and step directly onto a course, which has been my real motivation the entire time.

Looking towards the future, keep an eye out for events at the Lair this spring & summer. Because we are a learner's course, our events will be geared towards Ams & Jrs. We will likely start the install of our 4th set of tees, the blues, this summer making the Lair a tasty destination for all levels of play.

http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/g450/yobass251/Pomischdgc05242010.jpg

[Timber]

Way to go Bud!

[prerube]

very cool let us know when it is ready to play.
I just got a grant for my school and $875 is earmarked for disc golf baskets and $100 for signage. It won't be as nice as your nine, but we are getting DG into the schools. :thmbup:

[G Bud]

As I expected, the locks did not get ordered until after our Winter Break and apparently they were not in stock at Masterlock so it will take a bit longer since they have to be made. :wall:

But we are ever vigilant. I'm pretty sure I talked the Principal off the ledge about having public play the course. She doesn't have problems with small groups of a few people on the course but she is really worried about large groups. She related this to the running track as, "We let people use our track but we don't want to come down and find a track meet going on." She absolutely forbade me from posting the course on any websites. She said let them come find us. :| of course, in a free country, I have no control over what other people do. ;)

I'm sure once she see and learns the game she will become more relaxed with the situation. But until those locks arrive, here's where we stand.


http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/g450/yobass251/Panthers%20Lair%20DGC%20at%20Potomac%20Middle%20Sc hool/20111228104232.jpg

Thanks for your patience. More soon.

[aPfaff]

She doesn't have problems with small groups of a few people on the course but she is really worried about large groups. She related this to the running track as, "We let people use our track but we don't want to come down and find a track meet going on.


It's not like we are going to randomly going to show up in a mass group flaunting signs that say we found this on DGCR. :D

[G Bud]

It's not like we are going to randomly going to show up in a mass group flaunting signs that say we found this on DGCR. :D

Yes, but she is 100% clueless about the game. So she is just being tippy toe cautious. you might be surprised how many organizations would grab a soccer field, a football field, a track or even an open space if given the opportunity not to go through proper channels. Goofy thing about Prince Wm County, the P&R folks can come in and take over a school facility no questions asked. We have to calendar everything because of it. It's a pain.

Something else is that every PWCS has a security resident that lives at the school. They also are required to walk the building and grounds every few non-school hours. So there is a good chance you will spot someone spotting you when on property.

There will be a big learning curve for the Principal once this puppy is in the ground and activity begins. Which hopefully should be any day as we are still waiting on these silly locks. :wall:

Just last week she asked me to work with the bookkeeper to order 10 discs she can give away as part of her spring test rewards. She also spoke about getting something together for the faculty to get involved and play. We hope to build a great DG community in our little corner of the county. :thmbup:

[G Bud]

:clap: YES! We have security and baskets are going in the ground! :clap:
http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/g450/yobass251/Panthers%20Lair%20DGC%20at%20Potomac%20Middle%20Sc hool/Angel1.jpg

So, I can only take 2 baskets at a time in my Explorer so #1 & 2 are up. #3 & 4 are currently in the back of my truck. Hope to make 2 trips on Friday. (No Glohick again!) Then take the last one over on Saturday and spend the rest of the day flagging and cleaning up the tees and cleaning up the greens and playing, of course. :thmbup:
Folks are welcome to come out and check the joint out. I'll post a more formal hours of play next week.

The insanity at the Lair is just beginning! :popcorn:

[swatso]

Might be in the area the afternoon of the Sat-28th - will the course be ready and available for play? Thanks.

[swatso]

Meant to put a question mark in the title of the previous post! :gross:

[G Bud]

You betcha Swatso! So we currently have 1,2 6 & 8 in the ground. I'm dropping 4 baskets today and will drop the final basket tomorrow (Sat. 1/28) morning. I haven't done squat on the course in over a year so I'll spend the rest of the day flagging and cleaning up the tees and cleaning up the greens and playing, of course.
Folks are welcome to come out and check the joint out. I plan to be out there most of the day like from 8 - 2 or so. Maybe a good chance of a meet up. That would be cool! :thmbup:


I also dropped an email to our security resident today letting her know what was going on. She's been in on the project since the beginning and has been outstandingly supportive. She was glad to see Hole #1 standing not far from her door. So there should be no problems playing the course, provided your not tearing up the place. Don't be surprised if she gives you a wave or says hello if she sees you out there.

The one thing you should know if you do come out and play is how to get in. As you make the 1st right on the campus, there are two schools on property, Potomac MS on the left & Mary Williams ES on the right.
Once you make the right onto campus, make the very first left into the parking lot. DO NOT CONTINUE GOING FORWARD AFTER TURNING ONTO THE PROPERTY. If you do, You will be in the bus lane between the two schools and end up right back where you started to try again.
Make the 1st left into the parking lot and go to the back of the building to park. Walk behind the building and down the sidewalk to hole #1. The toe boards are at ground level so I will flag them on Saturday for easier locating. Once they get played and wear in the will be easier to find.

Here is a map you can print out if you like: http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/g450/yobass251/Panthers%20Lair%20DGC%20at%20Potomac%20Middle%20Sc hool/Pomischdgc05242010.jpg

So we should be open for business upon the marrow. I will post more formal hours of play but mainly no play during school hours 8 - 3 or school activities which may run 3 - 6 depending on the sport. Weekends should be wide open unless the space is being used by an organization which does not happen often.

Hope to see you at the Lair! :D

[G Bud]

The last and lucky #7 Basket went in around 8:30 AM this morning and our first real day at the Panther's Lair was great! :clap: It was super nice of the DGCR Marylanders: Swatso, DWill and Fascinated Flyer for taking time from their visit to Giles to come play on opening day.

Point of clarification, park in the parking lot between the two schools, towards the back of the lot. Do Not go around and park in the back of the school. Most of the spaces in the back are reserved though it was not a problem today.

Before meeting up with the DGCR guys, I cleared and flagged all the toe boards, finished numbering the baskets, picked up a bunch of trash and ran the weedeater around the 8th green. I also did a little design work while I had the chance. Come the last day of school, PWCS is expanding our building across the 1st fairway, so we need to start looking at alternatives. With that mind, As you come off the 9th hole, you would have to walk back up towards the school to go to the 1st hole. I have flag a possible alternative hole in preparation for the coming construction. You can go ahead and walk up to #1 or you can play your way up there giving a 10th hole option. Here's how it plays:

As you come off #9, if you look up the hill toward the first basket, you will see some pink flagging tied to the top of the fence. The basket is about 60 feet back, directly in line with the flagging.
the tees are flagged by color and marked with red paint. (In case someone pulls my flags.)
The green tee is flagged at the base of the hill it is approx. 150+ up the hill to the basket.
The red tee is just behind and to the right of the storage building by the edge of the drop off towards 9. Maybe 250+ to the basket.
The white tee is inside the track near the long jump box. Maybe 375 to the basket.
There is a blue tee but is it not marked, It would be on the lower level on the other side of the road from #7. An easy 450 from the lowest level. :gross:
Did I mention the OB, I have the hill up to the fence corner flagged with green flags making anything on the right side of the line or the connecting fence OB from the road up to the fence corner and beyond. It's mainly to protect the green on #3 and did come into play today. A little added design bonus in a way we didn't use the property, going up hill. I dig it and think it will improve the flow. Please let me know if there is any feed back on this possible future hole.

Otherwise we're in and open for business. Please come out and play, enjoy the course and let me know what you think. Thanks for your patience. I'm bursting that we finally have this joint up and going. :D

[G Bud]

So I had plans to meet up with my old DG friend Scottbird at the Lair after school today. Of course, I brought a change of clothes cause Wednesdays are tie day for me. :confused: (Don't ask) On my first planning period I jumped out to my car to grab my change of clothes, DG bag, etc.. when I notice the PE teacher from Mary Williams ES riding his bike toward our property with kids in tow. He often does this cause our schools share the facilities. We use the baseball & softball fields behind their school. They use the tennis courts and track at our school. I wish we could have used some of the space over near the ball fields but there was just no flow. Again, he has 6 kids in tow and I see each kid has a disc in hand! :thmbup: I was like get the Freak out! So I make my way down to that end of the building, kicking myself in the @$$ cause I don't have my phone on me for any pics. :doh: I get to the gate and sure enough, he's got the kids standing on the track throwing plastic at #4. It was flippin' awesome! :clap:
Mr. Carroll has also been in on this project from the beginning. The little PVC netty things were targets we borrowed from him.
http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/g450/yobass251/Panthers%20Lair%20DGC%20at%20Potomac%20Middle%20Sc hool/Malcolmmissesputt.jpg
He said he saw the baskets were up and though he give them a try. So soon we'll have our ES feeder tossing plastic before they even get to me. :hfive: And so it begins....... beware of the Lair!