Building new par 3 course in Darlington, sc

[Gardnerbp]

Any players from around the area want to help with some design and discussion to help drive use of the course would be appreciated.

I'm thinking of doing a small tournament to bring the public out and want to know if players would come to a tournament on a par 3 9 hole course. The layout will have two locations for targets. So they could easily be moved to run a tournament with 18 holes... and a 30 minute intermission for course layout changes. Maybe do drinks and food during this period...

 

[Gardnerbp]

Course will be on city property and open to the public for free

The course will be open to the public and free

 

[Cgkdisc]

Might be easier to design each hole with two interesting tee positions rather than fiddling with basket moves.

 

[Gardnerbp]

Great idea. I thought of having a beginner tee and a expert tee. But two different locations or lines. Would automatically give us a style that could be played daily and make 18 holes. Great idea!

 

[Cgkdisc]

Great idea. I thought of having a beginner tee and a expert tee. But two different locations or lines. Would automatically give us a style that could be played daily and make 18 holes. Great idea!

Take a look at these courses where we did this concept: Red Oak in Burnsville, MN and Brockway in Rosemount, MN. There are two tees on every hole. Hole 1 has a tee labeled 1 and the other is labeled 10. The next hole has tee 2 and tee 11. So you play the course following the tee sign numbers and get an 18-hole (or 20 at Red Oak) experience with 9/10 baskets.

 

[Orioles_Lefty]

To echo others, multiple tee pads (excluding a beginner-not beginner model) makes for more interesting repeat play value than two basket placements. The tee pads more significantly reshape the entire hole. Often, a second basket is clearly in a "lesser quality" position.

Also, in terms of communicating hole details, I find people succeed better at explaining where a second tee is than noting where a basket is currently located.

 

[Gardnerbp]

Great points. That's what I will do then. In that case I was thinking of getting inavos 3x5 rubber mats for the course. Do you think they're worth spending the 120 per hole? That be 4 mats for beginner/advanced and 1-9, 10-18 holes

 

[Gardnerbp]

Innova. Sorry I guess I just showed that I bought my disc last weekend and played 3 courses since. So I'm as new as it get's. Minus some research about a year ago. I'm just a city councilman for Darlington, sc. who's just trying to add a relatively cheap recreation for my town and something fun to do for free.

I got 10k in funding. I figure do 9 holes. I will then be bale to show proof of concept for less than 5k. Do sponsors for each whole for 500$ and make the city investment back. Then I'm payed back for my original 9 targets. At this point I can then reinvest the now whole 10k again on a 18 hole course in town on another piece of land we own and try again. Maybe a little longer course and definetely individual holes.

I don't have a progressive enough council to afford a designer. So I'm just going to wing it as best as I can, with the volunteers I have and hope you make a succeful course and maybe a few new disc golfers.

 

[DavidSauls]

I suggest you contact the South Carolina PDGA coordinator, Alan Beaver. He can give you some guidance, and perhaps some design help or at least tips. The closest collection of disc golfers to you is in Columbia; if you're on Facebook, you might want to find and join the Columbia Disc Golf Club group page. There may be people on your side of Columbia who are interested.

 

[kmelton]

Try to make it 18 holes. With 10k you could do it very easily. If your current location/park doesn't have enough room, find some better land. I live 40 min. away would be glad to give input. You would build the sport and have more visitors if you had a full 18 holes with multiple tees.

 

[DavidSauls]

If that kmelton fellow's offering help, take him up on it.

 

[Gardnerbp]

Land for 9 holes maybe not 18

Kmelton I have a priority of one spot, unfortunately it can only hold 9 baskets.. Otherwise I would totally try for 18 holes.

 

[Gardnerbp]

I would love some help. So if you could come over sometime. I would love to show you the land and our thoughts.

 

[brutalbrutus]

If any of the local schools/universities happen to be replacing their artificial turf football/soccer fields, you can use strips of that as an alternative to paying for concrete or rubber mats.

 

[Gardnerbp]

Good idea. Are people comfortable with the rubber mats? Are they fine for a pad..?

 

[brutalbrutus]

It really depends on the course. If you have a course that has lots of shade and gets frequent rain, they can get mossy and/or muddy. Rubber mats can get very slippery under those conditions. If the tees will be out in the open then that isn't as much of an issue.

 

[Orioles_Lefty]

It really depends on the course. If you have a course that has lots of shade and gets frequent rain, they can get mossy and/or muddy. Rubber mats can get very slippery under those conditions. If the tees will be out in the open then that isn't as much of an issue.

Two ideas to add:

1. They sometimes benefit from a cleaning -- like hosing or scraping them off -- after heavy rain depending on location. I've seen some get caked with rivers of mud and be unusable.

2. You will want to actively budget for replacements. I don't know their life span, but I've seen plenty that needed to be replaced.

 

[brutalbrutus]

Yes. If you are using the Fly18 like recycled tire pads, they can tear. I havent played on the newer style, that's like the kind of thing you would see in a store entryway. The cell constructed rubber or plastic mats like this...

Ive seen them used in tournaments on youtube so maybe someone else here has some experience with them.

 

[DavidSauls]

Depends on the course---Owens Field (Columbia, SC) had the rubber mats at one time, and people stole then.

Until the course gets heavy play, you can make do with natural tees---just a couple of tee markers and a sign.

 

[brutalbrutus]

One of the local small 9 hole courses used the rubber surface that some playgrounds are using. I haven't been out there since they opened it last year to know how they've held up. But they worked well the time I was there.