Park Boards Ranked by % Land Devoted to DG

[Steve West]

From the 2014 City Parks Facts, The Trust for Public Land, here are some of the largest U.S. cities ranked by disc golf courses per 10,000 acres of parkland.

These are the courses the park board owns, and the total parkland within the city limits. The cities with zero courses are ranked by increasing acreage.

Stockton               29.7
Durham                 15.7
Mesa                   13.2
Anaheim                11.7
Tampa                  10.6
Milwaukee               9.6
Lexington/Fayette       9.0
Lubbock                 9.0
Fort Wayne              8.3
Bakersfield             7.5
Tulsa                   6.9
Orlando                 6.7
Fresno                  6.4
Minneapolis             5.9
Arlington, Virginia     5.6
Madison                 5.5
Denver                  5.1
Charlotte/Mecklenburg   4.9
Henderson               4.8
Glendale                4.6
Sacramento              3.9
Las Vegas               3.3
St. Petersburg          3.2
Long Beach              3.2
Omaha                   2.9
Columbus                2.8
St. Louis               2.7
Indianapolis            2.7
Fort Worth              2.6
Tucson                  2.6
Plano                   2.4
Kansas City             2.3
Atlanta                 2.3
Arlington, Texas        2.1
Baltimore               2.0
St. Paul                2.0
Austin                  1.8
Seattle                 1.8
San Francisco           1.8
Greensboro              1.6
Raleigh                 1.6
Louisville/Jefferson    1.2
Oklahoma City           1.1
Albuquerque             1.1
Memphis                 1.1
Nashville/Davidson      1.0
Aurora, Colorado        1.0
Houston                 1.0
Colorado Springs        0.9
Philadelphia            0.9
San Antonio             0.8
Virginia Beach          0.8
Portland                0.7
Jacksonville            0.5
Dallas                  0.4
Phoenix                 0.4
New Orleans             0.4
San Diego               0.2
Anchorage               0.1
San Bernardino          0.0
Gilbert                 0.0
Fremont                 0.0
Scottsdale              0.0
Chesapeake              0.0
Irvine                  0.0
Reno                    0.0
Hialeah                 0.0
Winston-Salem           0.0
Laredo                  0.0
Norfolk                 0.0
Chula Vista             0.0
Jersey City             0.0
Buffalo                 0.0
Newark                  0.0
Toledo                  0.0
Cincinnati              0.0
Pittsburgh              0.0
Corpus Christi          0.0
Riverside               0.0
Santa Ana               0.0
Wichita                 0.0
Cleveland               0.0
Oakland                 0.0
Miami                   0.0
Washington, D.C.        0.0
Boston                  0.0
El Paso                 0.0
Detroit                 0.0
San Jose                0.0
Chicago                 0.0
Los Angeles             0.0
New York                0.0

 

[biscoe]

Arlington, VA- 1 9 hole course.

 

[jcf5083]

Very cool Steve, thank you!

 

[tom12003]

These stats can be very misleading. The cost of land factors into how much acreage an area has for parks. A heavily populated area might have dozens of parks that are under 10 acres but only one park that can support even a 9-hole course (e.g., Arlington VA), while more moderately populated areas might have dozens of parks that could support DG courses. Locally, Charlotte/Mecklenburg County (about a million population) has 20+ parks with 50+ or so acres; almost all of them have a DG course. More rural communities (cheaper land) could easily have several parks over 300 acres but only have 2-3 DG courses. Forget about New York City! Steve, I don't know what these stats actually imply.

 

[DaBigKahuna]

Interesting. I know of only 1 DG Course in Anaheim. A small 9 hole at Twila Reid Park.

Irvine is listed with 0 but it has a 9 hole at Deerfield Community Park. There's also a course at UCI but I assume it wouldn't count as it's not controlled by the city parks dept.

 

[BionicRib]

It would be interesting to conduct a survey for those park departments that have more courses per 10000 acres of park land. Maybe then we could figure out exactly how to get parks departments on board.

 

[reposado]

These stats can be very misleading. The cost of land factors into how much acreage an area has for parks. A heavily populated area might have dozens of parks that are under 10 acres but only one park that can support even a 9-hole course (e.g., Arlington VA), while more moderately populated areas might have dozens of parks that could support DG courses. Locally, Charlotte/Mecklenburg County (about a million population) has 20+ parks with 50+ or so acres; almost all of them have a DG course. More rural communities (cheaper land) could easily have several parks over 300 acres but only have 2-3 DG courses. Forget about New York City! Steve, I don't know what these stats actually imply.

what percentage of parkland is devoted to disc golf?

 

[Steve West]

Here, I figured out how to format a couple of more columns, and the zeros are sorted by acres now.

City                  PopulationPark Acres   Courses       Per
Stockton                 297,984       674         2      29.7
Durham                   239,358     2,555         4      15.7
Mesa                     452,084     2,281         3      13.2
Anaheim                  343,248       853         1      11.7
Tampa                    347,645     4,709         5      10.6
Milwaukee                598,916     6,280         6       9.6
Lexington/Fayette        305,489     4,424         4       9.0
Lubbock                  236,065     2,224         2       9.0
Fort Wayne               254,555     2,400         2       8.3
Bakersfield              358,597     5,335         4       7.5
Tulsa                    393,987     7,291         5       6.9
Orlando                  249,562     2,972         2       6.7
Fresno                   505,882     1,573         1       6.4
Minneapolis              392,880     5,055         3       5.9
Arlington, Virginia      221,045     1,795         1       5.6
Madison                  240,323     5,447         3       5.5
Denver                   634,265     5,900         3       5.1
Charlotte/Mecklenburg    969,031    20,472        10       4.9
Henderson                265,679     2,085         1       4.8
Glendale                 232,143     2,188         1       4.6
Sacramento               475,516     5,080         2       3.9
Las Vegas                596,424     3,072         1       3.3
St. Petersburg           246,541     6,159         2       3.2
Long Beach               467,892     3,121         1       3.2
Omaha                    421,570    10,391         3       2.9
Columbus                 809,798    10,861         3       2.8
St. Louis                318,172     3,684         1       2.7
Indianapolis             834,852    11,203         3       2.7
Fort Worth               777,992    11,667         3       2.6
Tucson                   524,295     3,892         1       2.6
Plano                    272,068     4,243         1       2.4
Kansas City              464,310    17,525         4       2.3
Atlanta                  443,775     4,418         1       2.3
Arlington, Texas         375,600     4,709         1       2.1
Baltimore                621,342     4,905         1       2.0
St. Paul                 290,770     4,965         1       2.0
Austin                   842,592    27,398         5       1.8
Seattle                  634,535     5,546         1       1.8
San Francisco            825,863     5,685         1       1.8
Greensboro               277,080     6,202         1       1.6
Raleigh                  423,179    12,879         2       1.6
Louisville/Jefferson     750,828    16,865         2       1.2
Oklahoma City            599,199    26,154         3       1.1
Albuquerque              555,417    27,373         3       1.1
Memphis                  655,155     9,390         1       1.1
Nashville/Davidson       648,295    29,468         3       1.0
Aurora, Colorado         339,030    10,276         1       1.0
Houston                2,160,821    52,154         5       1.0
Colorado Springs         431,834    11,157         1       0.9
Philadelphia           1,547,607    11,211         1       0.9
San Antonio            1,382,951    24,662         2       0.8
Virginia Beach           447,021    24,916         2       0.8
Portland                 603,106    14,204         1       0.7
Jacksonville             836,507    65,107         3       0.5
Dallas                 1,241,162    23,331         1       0.4
Phoenix                1,488,750    49,254         2       0.4
New Orleans              369,250    28,432         1       0.4
San Diego              1,338,348    48,468         1       0.2
Anchorage                298,610   501,785         3       0.1
Hialeah                  231,941       175         0       0.0
Santa Ana                330,920       515         0       0.0
Norfolk                  245,782       602         0       0.0
Newark                   277,727       847         0       0.0
Chula Vista              252,422       907         0       0.0
Miami                    413,892     1,180         0       0.0
Gilbert                  221,140     1,469         0       0.0
Laredo                   244,731     1,552         0       0.0
Jersey City              254,441     1,660         0       0.0
Buffalo                  259,384     1,903         0       0.0
Corpus Christi           312,195     2,147         0       0.0
Toledo                   284,012     2,716         0       0.0
Reno                     231,027     2,990         0       0.0
Cleveland                390,928     3,068         0       0.0
Pittsburgh               306,211     3,122         0       0.0
San Bernardino           213,295     3,370         0       0.0
Winston-Salem            234,349     3,450         0       0.0
Riverside                313,673     3,687         0       0.0
Wichita                  385,577     4,629         0       0.0
Boston                   636,479     4,916         0       0.0
Detroit                  701,475     5,921         0       0.0
Oakland                  400,740     6,063         0       0.0
Cincinnati               296,550     6,821         0       0.0
Irvine                   229,985     8,508         0       0.0
Washington, D.C.         632,323     8,513         0       0.0
Chicago                2,714,856    12,485         0       0.0
San Jose                 982,765    16,463         0       0.0
Fremont                  221,986    21,656         0       0.0
El Paso                  672,538    28,759         0       0.0
Scottsdale               223,514    28,817         0       0.0
Los Angeles            3,857,799    36,112         0       0.0
New York               8,336,697    38,606         0       0.0
Chesapeake               228,417    56,359         0       0.0

 

[Steve West]

These stats can be very misleading. The cost of land factors into how much acreage an area has for parks. A heavily populated area might have dozens of parks that are under 10 acres but only one park that can support even a 9-hole course (e.g., Arlington VA), while more moderately populated areas might have dozens of parks that could support DG courses. Locally, Charlotte/Mecklenburg County (about a million population) has 20+ parks with 50+ or so acres; almost all of them have a DG course. More rural communities (cheaper land) could easily have several parks over 300 acres but only have 2-3 DG courses. Forget about New York City! Steve, I don't know what these stats actually imply.

Your hypothesis sounds logical, but it turns out not be true. Shockingly, there is not a significant relationship between population density and how much of the total (not just park) land area is devoted to disc golf.

 

[Doofenshmirtz]

Here, I figured out how to format a couple of more columns, and the zeros are sorted by acres now.

City                  PopulationPark Acres   Courses       Per

Anchorage                298,610   501,785         3       0.1

This one is kinda funny - I guess half a million acres of park will skew that acreage percentage.

 

[dreadlock86]

Your hypothesis sounds logical, but it turns out not be true. Shockingly, there is not a significant relationship between population density and how much of the total (not just park) land area is devoted to disc golf.

is that why there are no courses in NYC, 1 in LA, 1 in Dallas, 1 in San Diego, and 1 in Philly?

Chicago and Houston are oddball exceptions, with lots of ****ty courses.

 

[joecoin]

Charlotte/Mecklenburg ? Two cities, one park board?

 

[Steve West]

is that why there are no courses in NYC, 1 in LA, 1 in Dallas, 1 in San Diego, and 1 in Philly?

Chicago and Houston are oddball exceptions, with lots of ****ty courses.

NYC is the extreme and only one data point. But, look at the second most densely popluated city on the list - San Francisco. It's one course gives it a respectable 2.6 disc golf courses per 10,000 acres.

Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Arlington, Virginia, Denver, San Francisco, Long Beach, Anaheim, St. Paul, St. Louis, Baltimore, Seattle all have devoted a larger than average proportion of their total land area to disc golf, despite being more densely populated than the average big city.

The cities on this list with higher than average population densities (above 7.8 ppa), also have higher than average number of courses for their land area. (1.44 vs 1.32). (Despite Chicago having zero courses credited to its park board in this list.)

Look at all the less densely-populated cities that also have zero courses. Low density didn't help them get a course. There must be something else happening. Or, more likely, not happening.

The point is, we can no longer use the excuse that "my city is too densely populated to have a course". There's just no evidence for it.

 

[Steve West]

This one is kinda funny - I guess half a million acres of park will skew that acreage percentage.

Anchorage could hold all the existing disc golf courses in the world on just a fraction of their city parkland.

 

[ejvogie]

Toledo 284,012 2,716 0 0.0

Toledo has 1 19 hole course on city park acreage. The 9 hole elementary school course I won't include here

It's entirely possible that they used data for the regional metropark system instead of the city's own parks department...

 

[bikinjack]

Charlotte/Mecklenburg ? Two cities, one park board?

Charlotte is in Mecklenburg county. The city and county parks departments are one in the same, as is the police department, and many other local government agencies.

 

[BionicRib]

Chicago is in cook co. Those numbers should be higher.

 

[dreadlock86]

NYC is the extreme and only one data point. But, look at the second most densely popluated city on the list - San Francisco. It's one course gives it a respectable 2.6 disc golf courses per 10,000 acres.

Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Arlington, Virginia, Denver, San Francisco, Long Beach, Anaheim, St. Paul, St. Louis, Baltimore, Seattle all have devoted a larger than average proportion of their total land area to disc golf, despite being more densely populated than the average big city.

The cities on this list with higher than average population densities (above 7.8 ppa), also have higher than average number of courses for their land area. (1.44 vs 1.32). (Despite Chicago having zero courses credited to its park board in this list.)

Look at all the less densely-populated cities that also have zero courses. Low density didn't help them get a course. There must be something else happening. Or, more likely, not happening.

The point is, we can no longer use the excuse that "my city is too densely populated to have a course". There's just no evidence for it.

yes, NYC is one extreme data point. that's why i also mentioned LA, Dallas, San Diego, and Philly.
no evidence? look at a map of any of the cities i mentioned.


obviously density isn't the only factor, it's just an easy excuse for bureaucrats, city council members, and park directors to give to disc golfers who are a tiny, fringe percentage of park users. users who require an exorbitant amount of land relative to the number of people who will use it, in places where millions of people live and recreational space is already at a premium.



i'm with Tom

These stats can be very misleading. I don't know what these stats actually imply.

not to mention that this isn't a comprehensive list, only a list of courses the park board owns. and even then it's still incomplete:

(Despite Chicago having zero courses credited to its park board in this list.)

 

[dreadlock86]

San Francisco. It's one course gives it a respectable 2.6 disc golf courses per 10,000 acres.

what is that supposed to mean? i don't know what is respectable about a single course serving an area with about 5 million people in a park where there are pedestrians everywhere and playing a round takes hours.

 

[scarpfish]

I'm not sure why your list has Wichita listed with zero courses when there are two full 18 holers on public park land, both of which have been that way for more than a decade. In fact, they're the best two courses in the metro.

I'm also not sure why we're making much ado about how much land a core municipality has dedicated to disc golf when most of our meccas are usually defined by an entire metro area with multiple municipalities, and multiple park boards. Many of these areas have white flight issues and most of the people who play disc golf and a lot of the tax dollars needed to fund course construction have been chased off to the suburbs.