DGA Giveaway - Day 2!

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Day 1 is complete! Tons of awesome answers and I encourage everyone to check out the thread. It was really difficult to pick a post to win but I liked Mr. Butlertron's post about getting a course in to grow the sport in Japan.

For those unfamiliar with how the giveaway works, here's a link to the intro post.

So on with Day 2! The prizes today are an Upside Tee and a Proline Breaker!

Finding an adequate location for a new course is not always the hardest part of the process of course development.


What do you see as the biggest obstacle in getting a new course installed and how would you (or have you) overcome it?

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[ElementZ]

The biggest obstacle I've found to installing a new course is finding funding. When I was studying abroad in Germany, the hardest part of getting the course installed was convincing the government to invest $15,000 on a sport that they've never heard of. However, through numerous examples of how successful disc golf is in the United States (and other cities in Germany/Europe), I was finally able to get the government on my side and install a course that is now very loved by the community. They made the right choice!

 

[ihatepickles]

Having built mountain bike trails in parks for 10 years, I've found most of the same obstacles exist in disc golf. When approaching the governance, their biggest complaint has been the lack of a cohesive leadership team when a special interest is lobbying for their activity.

City leaders do not like to speak to 101 difference facets of a interest group. They want to speak to a small team of people. I've seen ideas for trails drag on year after year because there's a couple of dozen people that all want their voice heard about the details. Disc golf seems to fall into the same problem, too many people are trying to get their voice heard.

Bottom line, the first hurdle in getting a piece of land developed is getting the user base to trust you to represent their interests.

 

[JSurmann]

After find a location (which I would say is the hardest), the second hardest aspect is convincing other groups that are vying for that same piece of land that disc golf would be the best use of the property.

I've seen courses fall to mountain bike trails, hiking, atv trails, soccer fields, excavating companies that need fill dirt and countless others. Because most vacant land is owned by a government entity of some sorts, we also need to convince them that a disc golf course is going to bring more money into the area than the other activities proposed. The best way to do that is by hosting well run tournaments that bring in out of town people to stay in the hotels, eat at the restaurants etc... Obviously it takes time to get a great course in and sometimes even more time to get a great group of people maintaining and actively running the disc scene.

Short version: Convincing people that disc golf is the best use for the space

 

[Rol6566]

Agree with what's been posted. Getting people who are not aware of disc golf interested and get them to invest is the one of the hardest part.

We had a problem with a local course. We have 9 holes in and they put a hault on it because all the board members were not on the same page about what disc golf is. They were seeing a clubhouse, golf carts, greens fees, manicured course. The course is still sitting at 9 holes

 

[Kenny53691]

I'm currently working on a course and by far the hardest thing has been to make a course challenging for experienced players to want to come back, but creating fun alternate pads to accommodate people that have never played the sport since this course is going into an area that is going to grow the sport to people of all ages and skill level. This a a fairly confined area, so safety has to be my number 1 priority to allow people to enjoy the experience and not have to worry about safety. This will be another city that is about to grow the sport one course at a time!!!

 

[BDC Concepts]

The human mind.

Sometimes the hardest thing is trying to get rid of the pre conceived notion of what disc golf is. In some areas of the u.s., disc golf is unjustly identified as a bunch of dirty hippies smoking weed and throwing frisbees in the park.

Getting rid of the label and stigma of uninformed people should be the first thing on any course promoters list. Be professional in how you speak and present your plans to the city council and allow them to actively include themselves in the discussion.

The course designer for my local course went about it in the completely RIGHT way. He had meetings with the city council, brought in a variety of discs and even a basket to allow the council members to hit some putts.

He then upped the ante for the council by raising all of the needed funds for the course by getting donations from businesses around the community and subsequently getting the course installed for free for the city.

What better way to get the thumbs up on something from the city, than increasing the tax base while not costing anything out of pocket to the city.

 

[AndyJB]

With the course I built on my base in Korea (the Dragons Lair on Camp Casey) funding was never an issue. There was a bevy of people within the disc golf community willing to donate everything from money to teesigns to baskets.

My biggest obstacle was trying to get the people in charge of the space to understand what disc golf was. Verbal explanations and even a 45 minute PowerPoint presentation that included video clips from the Ken Climo/Dave Feldberg instructional video simply weren't enough. I had to think outside the box.

With a mixture of American contractors and local Koreans on the Camp Casey Department of Public Works board, I had quite a pickle. After a month of setting up meetings and arranging schedules (along with waiting several weeks for an order of begginers discs to arrive via boat) I was able to set up a round for the whole board. With the help of one of my Korean friends I was able to guide them through a fun round which not only showed them the intended layout but also what exactly the game of disc golf is.

I recently encountered the same problem back here in the States where I am working with to my local base (Ft. Carson) to revamp their haphazardly thrown together course. I will be taking the MWR and DPW staff out for a round at a beautiful local course at the end of October and this will hopefully allow us to meet throughout the winter in order to provide a great course in base.

 

[rocthecourse]

The biggest obstacle is the the trees, to overcome them I would get a chainsaw.

 

[archon21]

I believe THE biggest obstical in putting in a new course is money. Money handles everything. Buying the property, getting baskets, pouring or laying teepads, labor costs, maintenance, clearing out trees, mowing. All the equipment used takes gas which takes money. Getting to the course takes gas which takes money. Money is the biggest problem in putting in a disc golf course.

As for how to overcome this obstical, there are a couple things that I have or have seen done. First is a donation box. Not really forcing players to pay to play, just giving players a place to donate to the course. We've had good success with making our local courses a dollar a day to play, but leaving the box there as an honor system. Only problem we've had is people breaking into the lockbox. Next are hole sponsorships which are a bit more difficult, but you can acquire more money quicker. Just a simple durrable sign to put up with the company name and some sort of contact info/address. Put the sign up for a year at a time on the hole they want to sponsor. Charge them the cost of the sign and plus whatever profit you need(within reason to not scare the sponsors off). Then just general upkeep of the property making sure no one is drawing anything on any company signs. You could also use this as a whole course sponsorship and just put the sign at the entrance to the course. Those are two good ways of fundraising I've seen/used.

 

[Emoney]

Biggest obstacle is getting approval from the city. They want to see profit sometimes and disc golf doesnt have a high profit they can make on it. Plus they have to pay ppl to maintain the course, which also costs them money. I dont see a issue getting money for tee pads,baskets, and landscaping. The funds can be raised and the labor volunteered. So how do we get city approval and in a adequate timeframe.

First you have to find a great piece of property. Not one u have to destroy 100 trees or anything. Something that already has a DG landscape. Then you have to have a very knowledgeable passionate proffesional person that will keep on the city officials and present your plans.. Also, to really make it appealing to the city u have to figure out how they can make a profit or how it will greatly enhance the community. Finding courses inside large parks that already have a "pay-to-enter" system is the best bet. Tell the city they can charge an xtra couple dollars to a park that already makes money and tell them they dont have to fund the baskets or pads. Plus, its already being maintained anyway, and that makes for an appealing proposal.

Thats how i would approach it. How can i help u help me.

 

[cheese dog]

I vote for the post above by emoney, he nailed it. I know the pads, signs, and baskets are expensive, but without having your local city on board it is impossible. disc golf is not very popular and not very well received in my area, so that makes approval a challenge. money can always be found within local businesses or corporate disc golf companies. getting your local city to understand that disc golf is more than hippies wearing sandals and throwing Frisbees is difficult if they are not familiar with the sport. and DGA I hope you guys are looking at post counts, there were a lot first post guys wanting some swag, not cool.

 

[Cards-fan]

Having to convince the Park and Recreation Board how great disc golf really is...Disc Golf is an under appreciated sport, and having to ask for money for an "unknown" sport can be difficult, but spreading the game to new areas require some effort to extend the game to everyone, but it can, and hopefully will be accomplished through hard work and determination

 

[ViolaBouquet]

The biggest obstacle for me seems to be getting the non-playing public to understand the little amount of alterations that have to be done at the park. At my old local course in Mount Pleasant, MI they limited us to only cutting 10 trees. We made a large 18 hole course by sticking to trails and only using a small fraction of the park grounds. That was only about 8ish years ago. Since then a second set of 18 has been installed in the same park!

 

[vach0601]

Getting the community behind you, often times disc golf is viewed negatively in the general public eye, this can be over come by getting the local disc golfers involved in volunteering, positive visual involvement can go a long way when it comes to getting a new course put in.

 

[Fntsygamr]

The biggest obstacle of getting a course developed would be convincing those in authority that what you are doing is going to be worthy of the land and resources needed. Just saying that disc golf is a growing sport doesn't always work. There are places around that have the known reputation of "bad elements" that come with disc golf. Neighbors to the course may not like having people around all the time. Noise, public alcohol use, recreational use of "herbs", profanity, music, etc. can be a deterant. Once you are able to convice the higher ups that it is a safe environment, course development may go a little smoother. Funding the course is right up there as well. Laying tee pads, building the basket foundations, purchasing the baskets, etc. all take a little more than a few thousand dollars. A major hurdle indeed, but can certainly be overcome with a little elbow grease and the right connections with business owners.

 

[Mark1974]

Getting things done

I really want to have a course in my part of the country (being the Netherlands). I figured that way I will get a chance to meet other disc golfers, not playing alone anymore. Hmmm, that was a mistake. Nobody heard of disc golf to begin with. So getting a course in the ground would be like a privte course.
So i started with getting people to learn more about it. An article in some locall papers, volunteering as a td and getting our national tour to a locall park playing a temporarily course. Then i hosted an ace race and after that I established the first locall disc club in the Netherlands; Bear disc golf.
After a year we are slowly gaining ground in many ways, members, equipment ( so we can do clinics) and most importantly people are getting to know the sport we all love so much.
I found out that one of the biggest obstacles is dedication. A lot of set backs, people who do not live up to their words, funds, permits etc. can all be won over when there is a solid dedication. One you can share with others. One that is so strong that you can go without actually throwing a disc because you have paperwork to do, meetings to go to and equipment to be moved around.
Dedication is the obstacle that can keep you away from all the others. In a way, being that dedicated and passionate, all the other obstacles can be seen as luxury problems....
By the way, this thursday we can pick up 7 baskets that we can loan for the time being. With our personal baskets we have 9 all together. That means clinics, new members and more solid ground to start talking about a permanent course with the locall government.

 

[Wood Chuk]

Inertia

Every course will have different obstacles depending on where the course is located, who it is intended to serve, and what level of play is going to be supported. The key to getting a course put into place is identifying these obstacles and overcoming them. Our club wanted to put a course up in a neighboring city where many club members lived. The big obstacle we faced was inertia: the city parks department did not want the new problem.
So we began by asking the city if we could have a weekly league in what we felt was the best venue. This required setting up and taking down courses each and every time we played. The league made disc golf a use in the park, so after demonstrating success with league, we asked permission to hold a tournament and set up a temporary course that would remain up longer than one day. The city asked for maps, safety analysis, liability insurance, and permits. We jumped through all the hoops and developed a tone pole target and tee sign system that was low enough cost that we felt comfortable leaving it out in the park. We held a tournament and gave free player packs to city officials as our invited guests. All invited guests showed up and were placed on selected cards. At that point disc golf pretty much sold itself. The temporary course has been up for two months and has turned an unused area in the park to the most used area in the park. Last week we received the word that the city is talking to professional course designers and wishes for us to participate in these talks.
It took time and effort to build a league without a course. The first league meeting was three of us moving two practice baskets around the park and throwing at them. Setting up and taking down a course every time we wanted to play was a pain. Mapping hole locations, communicating with city officials, jumping through hoops, and providing analysis is not as much fun as just showing up and playing disc golf. Over time we grew in numbers and developed momentum. There were times when it seemed things were going to fall apart, but because we were a club we were able to handle issues as a team. I do not think we would have been successful without the larger club behind us. The larger, active club behind us helped provide the push to overcome the initial unwillingness of the city with positive actions and communication. Inertia is now in our favor and we are on the verge of a new course.

 

[fykeadelic]

Finding an adequate location for a new course is not always the hardest part of the process of course development. What do you see as the biggest obstacle in getting a new course installed and how would you (or have you) overcome it?

We can always find another spot for a course. The biggest issue is getting the permissions to build the course and then raising the funds to build it. A way to get raise funds would be to host disc golf fundraiser tournaments in the communities surrounding where you want to put the course. Also, talk to local shops and have them help get the word out about the tournaments as well as blasting social media