How to get City to build a course?

[dirtydmix]

I live in a fairly new city just north of dallas. (new as in just starting to really grow). The closest course from our city is about 15 miles south, but i was really wanting to see if my city could build one. I think it would bring in some good traffic to our city and also give us a badA park.

Anyhow, whats the best way to get a city to even start to look into that? I mean most people i talk to about disc golf are like 'what the hell is that?'


oh and btw, i even have a neighbor who is on the Planning and Zoning committee. that might help.

[thepowerofpancakes]

talk to you neighbor, work those connections, who's the head of the parks department? does your neighbor know him? get with dallas area disc golf, they are a 501c3 trying to put more courses in dallas. what's the park like? will it make a good course?

when funkytown wanted to get a course at gateway we showed up at a parks and rec meeting that was held to discuss the new trinity river developement. we thought the soccer moms and the bicycle enthusiast would get all of the attention, but an army of disc golfers showed up holding discs and we ended up being the only presentation that was well recieved (there was a lot of arguing and other bizness going on). anyway, that park board new what disc golf was after that, and later when one of our members put in a grant proposal for a park in west ft worth, the city asked him if he would like to put one in at gateway instead. prepare to take on more than you planned for, good luck....

[jhgonzo]

I don't know if it'll be as easy for you, but for me all I did to get the ball rolling was go to Village Hall (I live in a small town, around 1400), and they put me on for a presentation at the next monthly meeting with the board, so I came up with a rough draft of my idea (satellite or aerial image of the land in question with an EXTREMELY ROUGH draft of your proposal) and presented it to the board, most of whom hadn't even heard of disc golf (others were like, "Oh, is that what those baskets are in Manitowoc and Sheboygan?" [2 metro areas nearby that have decent courses that are pretty popular]), and they gave me the green light so long as I could get sponsors for the holes, not disturb the natural surroundings, etc. Anyways, it's a long story, and it took a couple years to actually get it installed, but that was how I started. PM me if you have questions or want further details...but I'd say just go to City/Village/Town Hall and ask to be heard at the next meeting.

Good luck!

[dirtydmix]

my neighbor could easily get my voice in. My next question would be on who did u contact for a sponsor?

[CaptainAnhyzer]

this article from ESPN about the Vibram Open could help.............

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=mccluskey/090819

[GALLOW1217]

I went right to the parks dept. and talked to the director. I made the presentations and got the captian of another course in a town 20 miles away to back me up. After a few years they finally said OK. I got the park and we found some discatcher baskets from a private course that was not in use anymore and the captain used his course funds to buy the baskets. Then we looked for sponsors for concrete, which we found. The sponsor is putting up the funds and the concrete is actually going in this week. I turned in old park that didnt get any use to having many disc golfers everyday playing and more people feel safe to walk in the park again. Of course the parks dept. loves us now. Just go to the park dept with a good presentation. GOOD LUCK!!!!

[thepowerofpancakes]

my neighbor could easily get my voice in. My next question would be on who did u contact for a sponsor?

i agree with going to the parks dept and making a good presentation, the first goal is to get the city to fund it. and if not then permission to raise funds yourself to install it. this is where i would get with dallas area disc golf. but more than likely you will need to be creative, find some local biz to pitch in. the best bet is to get the city to cough it up. find out what there budget is and what they will spend it on, try to make a course one of those things.

[Omega SuperSloth]

Make a video of some of your nicer looking friends and family playing at one of the nicer parks , dont make it real long or just one shot ,its pretty easy to edit a cool looking video now days. Film a whole round then edit it down to a 3-5 minutes and no hippies or alcohol .

[thepowerofpancakes]

Make a video of some of your nicer looking friends and family playing at one of the nicer parks , dont make it real long or just one shot ,its pretty easy to edit a cool looking video now days. Film a whole round then edit it down to a 3-5 minutes and no hippies or alcohol .

thats a good idea, and maybe splice in a bit of tournament action and talk about revenue from disc golfers coming into your town to play the course and spending money on food and beverages etc....

[Omega SuperSloth]

thats a good idea, and maybe splice in a bit of tournament action and talk about revenue from disc golfers coming into your town to play the course and spending money on food and beverages etc....
good idea, you could show them all the sponsers and vendors too. And maybe mention all the Pias stores and others stores that sell disc golf and how much more discs they sell when theyre close to a course.

For a city that dosnt have any stores that sell dg stuff go for more of a tourism thing or for more of a promotional thing that makes the city more attractive to investors or buisnesses or homebuyers.
And leave the tye dye discs in the car ; )