Saving a course?

[Nussbuss]

Hello,

I am a student at Oakland University in Rochester, MI. Since my freshman year, I have enjoyed playing on the campus course, Grizzly Oaks. This 18 hole course makes great use of the natural beauty of my school's campus with an even mix of right and left curves, length, wooded/technical shots, and a couple open holes. This course is also the course where I scored my very first ace in September 2010. As the university has undergone many cosmetic changes (medical building, engineering building, clock tower, new dorm, parking lots/structures), one particular project, a set of astro-turf fields and track and field facilities has led to partial deconstruction of this course. The project slowly dug into the first three holes of this wonderful course. It was speculated to be re-opened in May, yet it is now almost June. 12 out of the original 18 holes are still "playable." The only real reason that these holes are playable is because I knew the course like the back of my hand, and was able to find the baskets. Absolutely no maintenance has been done to this course, leaving fairways, baskets, and tee areas to be overgrown. Remaining tee boxes and baskets lie helplessly on the ground, and there appears to be no intention of repairing the damage done to this "grizzly" course (PUNS! :clap. I ask you fellow disc golfers not necessarily for financial assistance, but rather advice and insight as to what I should do in order to maintain this course? I am currently in the process of contacting the original course designer (an OU alum). Since this course was a student initiative, it is up to us students to keep this course alive.

Any advice/insight would be extremely helpful. Thank you all for your time!

 

[Nussbuss]

More pictures

:thmbdown:

 

[Nussbuss]

A couple more!

 

[Nussbuss]

:gross:

 

[sjberry2017]

Does your school participate in club sports? Or do they have a student recreation department? At my school (Clemson University), we have an 18 hole course at one of our recreation areas called Y Beach. It isn't much (mostly baskets in a field, although there are a few half decent holes), and the student rec division runs the course. However, our club team (of which I am a member) is involved in some of the care of the course. Namely, we are asked to pull most of the baskets on home football weekends so that the course can be used for football parking.

Perhaps you could try to do something similar at your school; create a club team, and see if the school would let y'all take on some of the maintenance of the course, and/or pitch the course as a great recreation benefit to the students. I know that disc golf is advertised as one of the activities available at Y beach in our school's main gym.

 

[eegor]

A swell of student feedback to the administration at the University is your best bet. It will need to be a lot of students to be effective. I hope there are quite a few disc golfers there along with their friends. Good luck!

 

[Rizbee]

You need to find out who on campus (an employee, not an alum) has responsibility for the course. That person is the key to getting repairs done. Only a campus employee is going to receive emails about construction/maintenance projects and is going to be privy to meetings and hallway conversations about construction and maintenance.

At Cal State University San Marcos our 18-hole course has changed numerous times - only 6 holes remain unchanged from its Grand Opening 5 years ago. The course is overseen by the Campus Recreation office and their director is very proactive about contacting folks in the Athletic Dept, Planning Design and Construction and the Facilities Services office. I am a campus employee and designed the course, but I'm in IT so I am rarely involved in the conversations about the course.

And once you find that person, be reasonable with them and ASK for help, don't demand. Recognize that the course will almost always be on the losing end of conflicts with Athletic Department projects, new buildings and parking lots. The course needs to have a champion on the staff who watches out for potential conflicts and plans ahead. I keep my ears open regarding upcoming construction and I always have several replacement hole designs in mind for various locations.

Good luck. Feel free to PM me with questions.

 

[ru4por]

I did not know the baskets here were still in the ground. Nuss, you would need to contact the school and find out some information. It seems nobody is really interested in this course. I think getting those baskets out and into storage for future build or courses would be a needed step. No offense to the course there, I have played it several times, but the interest from the University seem to be missing. Keep us posted on what you find out.

 

[esdubya]

Good luck Nuss! If you need help don't be afraid to ask on here. There are several DG advocates / course designers in this area that would be happy to help you.

 

[donnyv]

Is the construction still going on? I haven't been to the Grizzly Oaks course since May 2012 (I think) and they were just starting to mark and stake for construction of something. I heard the course would re-open in 2014 but that came and passed.

If I remember correctly, the first couple holes were only so-so. I won't miss those, but there were some decently designed holes after that. I did not like how most tees were above ground though.

Keep in mind I haven't been to OU in 3 yrs, but I think finding space for 6 new holes is gonna be tough. Unless they allow the designer to use other areas of the campus, I doubt it'd be worth to cram 18 in there. I wonder if there can be a way to use the land just east of the course. I really liked how the terrain looked along the Meadowbrook fence-line. Every time we played there I wished they could have used that elevation and woods on the Meadowbrook side of the fence. It looked a lot cooler than some of the blah holes at the beginning of the course by the dorms.

I assumed they pulled all the baskets. If I would have know they were still in, I would have stopped in there to play. Hope it can be saved. Maybe try discgolfscene to find out who knows who to contact.

 

[donnyv]

Looked her up on GE. Whoa! They really did use a good chunk for those athletic fields! Last time I was there it was just a parking lot with a bullpen near hole 1 and 18. What else have they built there?

I might be off a little on the mapping but think this is close to what it was
Here's a aerial view from the past year

Here's what's left. It would be cool if you could use some of that space on the border shown near the top of this pic. Is Meadowbrook owned by OU?

Here's the latest info: Mid-Summer

 

[ru4por]

Looking at Disc Golf Scene, the following looks like it was posted a few month ago:

Josh Hewitt March 11 at 12:06pm
"We will be relocating the 5 holes displaced by the construction. Hopefully by mid-summer." - Gregory T. Jordan - Director Department of Campus Recreation

I don't know how much is still accurate, but this seems to imply the University has intentions to do something.

 

[donnyv]

Looking at Disc Golf Scene, the following looks like it was posted a few month ago:

Josh Hewitt March 11 at 12:06pm
"We will be relocating the 5 holes displaced by the construction. Hopefully by mid-summer." - Gregory T. Jordan - Director Department of Campus Recreation

I don't know how much is still accurate, but this seems to imply the University has intentions to do something.

^^^Hopefully it's done before they decide to put more dorms and stuff there.

 

[Rizbee]

^^^Hopefully it's done before they decide to put more dorms and stuff there.

The "before" won't matter. If a university has to choose between a dorm (or other building) and a disc golf course, the disc golf course will lose every time. Convenient space is typically at a premium near a college or university and activities that impact more people (sleeping, classes, admin work, intercollegiate athletics) will supplant disc golf holes. If necessary, you can try to design holes that can be integrated into these other uses.

 

[donnyv]

The "before" won't matter. If a university has to choose between a dorm (or other building) and a disc golf course, the disc golf course will lose every time. Convenient space is typically at a premium near a college or university and activities that impact more people (sleeping, classes, admin work, intercollegiate athletics) will supplant disc golf holes. If necessary, you can try to design holes that can be integrated into these other uses.

This seems to be the case for the university courses around here. My buddy goes to school at Lawrence Tech and their 18 hole course has been moved around a few times. The design suffered and they were stuck with a half-hearted course from the get-go.

Over the past year they've been adding buildings and stuff to the campus and the course isn't even playable anymore. One basket was crushed by heavy duty equipment. Students don't even play it anymore. I hope they can salvage what's left otherwise the course's days are numbered.

 

[Nussbuss]

Thanks

I haven't been on the forums in a little bit. Thanks for everyone checking out this thread and contributing to it. I'll be looking for contact information for the director of campus recreation today.

 

[Nussbuss]

The "before" won't matter. If a university has to choose between a dorm (or other building) and a disc golf course, the disc golf course will lose every time. Convenient space is typically at a premium near a college or university and activities that impact more people (sleeping, classes, admin work, intercollegiate athletics) will supplant disc golf holes. If necessary, you can try to design holes that can be integrated into these other uses.

I have actually heard word that the university may be expanding into the south side of campus for more dorms. I do not know if this is true, but perhaps there's hope for preserving the large wooded area remaining.

 

[scarpfish]

In my experience, college campus DG courses are some of the most dynamically changing layouts out there, usually because they have to give way to make room for something else. Sometimes, but not often, the relocation leads to a better course.

 

[filobedo]

$1 million endowment should do it with the provision the dg course is saved. If the golf team is getting it as a practice facility, you may have a chance of salvaging it possibly.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

This seems to be the case for the university courses around here. My buddy goes to school at Lawrence Tech and their 18 hole course has been moved around a few times. The design suffered and they were stuck with a half-hearted course from the get-go.

Over the past year they've been adding buildings and stuff to the campus and the course isn't even playable anymore. One basket was crushed by heavy duty equipment. Students don't even play it anymore. I hope they can salvage what's left otherwise the course's days are numbered.

IMHO LTU's course was garbage from the start. Among other issues, it has you throwing too close to traffic... multiple times. I'd like to see those baskets get used elsewhere.

Grizzly Oaks was reasonably fun and challenging... hard to say if there's room to add another 6 holes to supplement the remaining 12. I hope the University finds a way to maintain a course on campus, but it doesn't seem to be any sort of priority for them.