Anyone ever hit a kid? Dangerous courses?

[NovaDiscHead]

At Burke Lake, this is a disaster waiting to happen. I try to go out of my way to be nice and point out that walking through the middle of a wooded disc golf course with your toddler in tow is not a safe activity.

The vast majority of them are nice and and follow my directions to the closest exit point, but of course you always will run into the a-hole who decides you're not going to tell them what to do.

What's especially galling is the laissez-faire attitude of the Park Manager in regards to the safety issues involved. I have pointed out that a simple set of signs with warning messages would help improve safety, but he always has a reason not to do it.

Has anyone here found the best way to deal with these issues?

 

[Thumber]

Disc golfers are the only people who see a course. Everyone else sees a park. Unless the park is posted as a designated disc golf course you have no grounds for asking anyone to leave the area. I love how you characterize the guy who doesn't want to leave as an a-hole. How would you react if someone walked up to you and told you to get out of the park?

 

[TOURNEYPLAYER]

Disc golfers are the only people who see a course. Everyone else sees a park. Unless the park is posted as a designated disc golf course you have no grounds for asking anyone to leave the area. I love how you characterize the guy who doesn't want to leave as an a-hole. How would you react if someone walked up to you and told you to get out of the park?

I dont think he is telling the guy to leave the park. But pay attention. and dont be a dick by standing in the middle of a fairway. he could step aside for a second, let the guy throw his disc in the briars. and then continue on.

I cant stand people who think they own the park. DGers or pedestrians. work together, communicate.

 

[sneakytiki]

I once DRILLED the side of some guy's truck while he was sitting in it, pulling up across a fairway. Thought he was going to kick my ass. He did not look happy. He was driving through the fairway to park it just beyond the outfield fence of his kid's little league game. It was NOT a parking area.

As far as people, I've only ever hit my brother before, but he asked for it. He went up ahead to start looking for his disc, and popped out onto the fairway after my disc was out of my hand. Whoops.

But Yes, I know what you mean. I typically play a course that will have picnickers in the middle of fairways, people walking through the course, runners, etc. Most of them have a very confused look on their face when I tell them I'm about to throw and they should take a few steps back. The scary thing is it really would only take one incident to possibly ruin the course.

 

[SteezeOG]

Too many people just wander through the park without any sense of awareness. I've grown tired of waiting until they move or teaching them how to be a part of a sharing society. Now a quick scream of "head's up" before we throw is all they get.

 

[thrembo]

Courses should be well marked. Some are and some are not. Most all of the people that I have encountered wandering around on the course usualy leave when they realize whats going on. No one seemed to mind when the womans cross country team ran through our course though.

Some courses, like the old New Lenox layout, were in the ground before they started puting in pavilions, vollyball, horseshoes, etc right in the middle of the fairways. Of course, nongolfers started getting hit. The layout was eventualy changed. Disc golf should be in an isolated area of the park, just like ball golf. This will probably mean more pay to play. But to get courses like Hudson Mills etc I think that its well worth it.

 

[Halcón]

I have never hit anyone, but saw an autistic teen get nailed once with a drive to the arm. He screamed very loudly, and kind of just rubbed it off. I scolded the guy who hit him, and warned him that he is autistic and doesn't pay attention if you tell him to move. I like what was posted here once, that if there's a chance you'll hit someone, wait.

 

[mashnut]

Too many people just wander through the park without any sense of awareness. I've grown tired of waiting until they move or teaching them how to be a part of a sharing society. Now a quick scream of "head's up" before we throw is all they get.

You may regret that attitude when someone gets hit and the parks department decides disc golf is a liability...

 

[NovaDiscHead]

First, there are signs designating it as a "Frisbee Golf Course". Second, I don't do this for anyone who's walking through the course, just people with kids. I gently point out that they're in a golf course. I show them the discs, and tell them the danger involved in having their kids there. There's also a ball golf course in the park...should they feel entitled to walk around the fairways and holes there as well?

 

[thrembo]

First, there are signs designating it as a "Frisbee Golf Course". Second, I don't do this for anyone who's walking through the course, just people with kids. I gently point out that they're in a golf course. I show them the discs, and tell them the danger involved in having their kids there. There's also a ball golf course in the park...should they feel entitled to walk around the fairways and holes there as well?

This is a somewhat valid argument, but ball golf courses are almost always isolated from the rest of the parks activities, often fenced in, and way less likely to have other park users wandering through. Yes, there are some people who still have never heard of dg, and need to be educated about it.

 

[SteezeOG]

You may regret that attitude when someone gets hit and the parks department decides disc golf is a liability...

Possibly but it has no effect when you stand there and wait or tell them you're playing disc golf and they are in the path. Honestly I've had more mothers with kids just stand there after you tell them that because they want to watch you throw and they think the kid will get a kick out of it. It's baffling. I do what I can to protect them from getting hit by one of my discs but if their own parent isn't even going to try to keep their kid safe does that burden fall on me? They need to start being aware of their surroundings and the activities of others just like I do every single round.

I've debated this with a friend's wife over and over. She has almost got herself and kids hit numerous times and I've never felt like one of the disc golfers was at fault. She was standing in a blind fairway and left to cross the bridge so they threw thinking they had moved on. Well then her and the daughter go running back across the bridge and almost catch one to the dome. Her fault.

Maybe it's different in your area but I've never seen a disc golfer do something blatantly dangerous. We joke about it but we're much more attune to our surroundings. Have to be. Park walkers generally don't consider other's activities. Just my opinion.


Head's up works better than fore too. No one but a golfer/disc golfer even reacts to "fore"

 

[Dan Ensor]

Disc golfers are the only people who see a course. Everyone else sees a park. Unless the park is posted as a designated disc golf course you have no grounds for asking anyone to leave the area. I love how you characterize the guy who doesn't want to leave as an a-hole. How would you react if someone walked up to you and told you to get out of the park?

The guy is an a-hole for endangering a kid. Not because he "doesn't want to leave".

I've seen a kid hit. I didn't hit it. The parents seemed pretty chill, all things considered.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again: (ball) golf courses on public property are different. The guy out walking alone that happens to put a foot on the course is an a-hole for breaking your concentration. Give him a heads up you're hitting? Why? It's a golf course. What else would I be doing?

Then disc golf, it's like people want you to hit them, and then get pissed if you ever do ... ... ...

 

[kcplease]

I think that you got the a hole reaction because of how you informed them. I always say something to the tune of hey, you are in the middle of the Fairway of a disc golf course, people will be throwing frizbees around you. Be careful, we don't want to hit anyone. I've never had anyone have an issue with that.

 

[bradharris]

Park walkers generally don't consider other's activities. Just my opinion.

Not sure if this is meant to be a jab at walkers or not.

But keep in mind, walkers aren't out performing an activity where they could accidentally hit and injure someone. So awareness is not as important. With disc golf, we have the potential to injure someone hundreds of feet away so must be acutely aware of our surroundings in order to prevent incidents. The onus is on us, not them.

 

[NOStheBOSS]

Usually around here it's either cross country runners or non english speaking people. If I were to tell a pedestrian (who could understand me) that they should probably move to avoid being hit, and they told me to buzz off, I would have no sympathies if they got hit by a champ boss. I obviously would not aim at them, but I wouldn't feel sorry for them

The thing is, even multiple, clear signs are not really helpful. this happened at a tournament, and as a result 3 signs were put directly in the face of park-goers by the lake area. When I play these holes, when I yell heads up to someone they still give me a look like I'm wearing a tin foil hat

 

[SteezeOG]

I think one issue is no one but us knows how dangerous a disc can be. These people are thinking if they get hit it's like a big lid frisbee on the 4th of july. No big deal. Might leave a mark. Watch a squirrel hanging on the side of a tree get cut in half by a destroyer and I bet they look around some more before they go walking across the disc golf course.


Also...the parks here do a good job of keeping the course to a certain area well away from the kids area. I say if you decide to wander out of your activities designated area you better be prepared for anything. They don't walk across the tennis courts when people are playing because it's dangerous and rude. They don't think twice about standing and leaning on a basket while they talk on their cell phone and kid's run around unsupervised though. That's why I don't baby them anymore.

 

[General Scales]

Yes I hit a kid once. A four year old, clean in the forehead, knocked him straight out.

I had been waiting to throw this hole at Corbin park for 5 minutes, this kid was banging his hands in the basket, his parents would just sit there and say things like "Oh honey, you have to move". They'd get up and go grab his hand and slowly lead him away and when he wanted to pull away to go play with the basket, they'd let him. Finally they lead him away about 200 feet to the left of the basket, wave me on to throw, I say thank you, rip my drive (Predator) and watch the head wind that had been so prevalent on the hole die and my disc start to hyzer out bad. I see this kid start running back towards the basket as soon as the disc came out of my hand and the only thing I can think of in my head is that there is no way my disc is going to catch up to the kid. Nope, dead wrong.

Kid in mid step takes the disc to the forehead, there is no sound from him, just the sickening sound of plastic against skull. He comes off his feet, straight to his back and side and doesn't move. At this point, I am running at full speed towards him hoping I did not just kill a kid and praying the parents don't have a gun. I get all the way there, the mom and dad are standing over him, I am absolutely apologizing as much as I can, they look at me and say words I'll never forget "It's his fault, not yours. He's fine, he's breathing".

:-O describes my face at that moment. I apologize some more, grab my disc, play off at the basket (almost bang a 50 foot jumper) and move on. It's the only time I've ever hit a child, scared me half to death. Not long after that, a couple kids during a baseball game were hit by a group of chuckers and the hole got moved to a less then stellar 150 foot dinker.

 

[NovaDiscHead]

I think that you got the a hole reaction because of how you informed them. I always say something to the tune of hey, you are in the middle of the Fairway of a disc golf course, people will be throwing frizbees around you. Be careful, we don't want to hit anyone. I've never had anyone have an issue with that.

I do the same thing. I'm very nice and polite about it. There are some people who, no matter what, won't listen.

The guy who was the worst was there with 2 kids and a dog. I did my usual routine, of introducing myself, and was just about to tell them about the disc golf course, when he interrupts me and says "I know all about the course. But this isn't your park!" He gets worse from there.

Now, here's what pisses me off. He's not only putting his children in danger, but he's doing so knowing the danger involved, and does it repeatedly.

I pointed toward the ball golf driving range, and asked him why doesn't he take his kids for a walk through there? He says "that's a golf course!" Still didn't see the irony. He also felt that being rude, obnoxious and cursing at a stranger in the park was appropriate behaviour in front of his kids. Funny thing is I didn't raise my voice at him at all, and called him sir the whole time.

 

[NOStheBOSS]

Not sure if this is meant to be a jab at walkers or not.

But keep in mind, walkers aren't out performing an activity where they could accidentally hit and injure someone. So awareness is not as important. With disc golf, we have the potential to injure someone hundreds of feet away so must be acutely aware of our surroundings in order to prevent incidents. The onus is on us, not them.

he's right, people in parks don't give a flying F about what anyone else is doing. MOST disc golfers make sure the coast is clear before they throw, especially on a blind hole. I can not stand going to a multi use park and seeing a peewee team taking batting pratice right in front of a basket. There are always many other places they could practice. It is everybody in the park's responsibility to watch out for each other, same with driving on the road, working in a factory, etc.

I pointed toward the ball golf driving range, and asked him why doesn't he take his kids for a walk through there? He says "that's a golf course!" Still didn't see the irony. He also felt that being rude, obnoxious and cursing at a stranger in the park was appropriate behaviour in front of his kids. Funny thing is I didn't raise my voice at him at all, and called him sir the whole time.

See, that's the problem. Some people are just idiots, no way around it.

that's very funny btw.

 

[SteezeOG]

Not sure if this is meant to be a jab at walkers or not.

But keep in mind, walkers aren't out performing an activity where they could accidentally hit and injure someone. So awareness is not as important. With disc golf, we have the potential to injure someone hundreds of feet away so must be acutely aware of our surroundings in order to prevent incidents. The onus is on us, not them.

and I agree with that somewhat but just leaving your house is dangerous enough you should pay attention to your surroundings. And how selfish is it to wander around aimlessly with no sense of respect for others using the park? You're not the center of the universe and there are actual designated walking paths and parts of town. Just like there is a dog park for dogs but no one seems to care. If you come to a multi-use park you better be prepared to deal with the multiple activities. We all share the burden equally.