Multi use park etiquette

[caveman62]

More a rant than a question. I am in Central VA and have played Rockwater Park in Culpeper a few times. I like the course. But there are a lot of walking paths running through the course. I'm OK waiting for people who are walking to be clear. Well, patient enough anyway.

But I have come across this a couple of times, people sitting, or even picnicking, in the middle of the fairway! Are they just oblivious?

One hole (13) is a beautiful downhill where you can watch your drive sail beautifully, but unless you hit a gap it will likely hit trees. Not nasty lost forever trees, but a stand of tall trees spaced enough apart that you won't lose a disc. I once threw there and people were picnicking under those trees. I didn't come very close to hitting them but they said, "Hey, how about a "fore""? I didn't really say anything but wanted to say, "How about not having your picnic on the damn fairway?"

End of rant.

 

[BillFleming]

But I have come across this a couple of times, people sitting, or even picnicking, in the middle of the fairway! Are they just oblivious?
.

Yes, they are. There are more people unaware of what disc golf is than are aware of the sport. At Fountain Hills DGC in Arizona (one of the courses for the Memorial), people will even have picnics or just sit right next to the basket. At Watson Lake Park (also in Arizona), one round there was a family that set up a tent inside the island green so they could sit and watch the lake while they ate and their young kids could get out of the sun.

Some folks are courteous and will move when they are told they are on a disc golf course. But some will be rude and say it's a public park and they can be wherever they want to be.

 

[ru4por]

Sadly, in the public park hierarchy, disc golf ranks pretty much last. It is likely that the courses longevity hinges on our stewardship. It is tedious to play ambassador to the oblivious, but I don't think I have ever heard of a walking path getting pulled, because they were getting in the way of disc golfers.

Everyone in a park has the right to use it, as they see fit. Discs can be VERY dangerous. Be patient, be friendly and skip a hole to avoid injury or confrontation. I would spend some time chatting them up, letting them know about the game, invite them to throw a couple. Inform them that there may be groups that don't understand courtesy and they could be in harms way. Wish them the best of days and move along.

 

[wolfhaley]

A fairway to us on here is just a nice grassy field, great for a picnic to the vast majority of park users. Skip the hole and move on.

 

[tbird888]

More a rant than a question....End of rant.

Keep throwing on people, and you'll no longer have a course to enjoy at all. Behind that course is probably somebody who had to work real hard to even get it installed. Don't be the guy who makes it impossible to get the next one installed. Go throw Walnut Creek instead.

 

[brutalbrutus]

I've seen a group picnic put plastic down in a basket and fill it with ice and beer...:|

 

[Armus Patheticus]

Years ago girls used to hang hammocks next to 4's basket at Banklick. It was comical to watch the poor frisbee boys try to figure out how to handle it.

 

[txmxer]

Played Bicentennial this morning. There are a lot of dog walkers that wander the course, and many that let the dogs off leash. This one old dude had a lab, a wiener dog and what looked like a pit pup with a broken back.

On first encounter the lab comes up to us in the tee pad. No big deal, then he wanders in to the fairway. I asked the dude to call the dog so we wouldn't risk hitting him. He did, but the dog decided I was playing catch and chased down my drive, picked up the disc and started running back towards us. I was annoyed—concerned the dog would damage the disc. Fortunately not.

This area of the course makes a u turn on the next two holes, with the second hole throwing across a large creek and a walk bridge near the basket. The dude with the dogs was in the area of the walk bridge on the north side. We throw south, cross the bridge and are getting ready for our second throw which goes along the creek and over the bridge. Dude walks to the middle of the bridge and stops. He is now directly between me and the basket, telling us to go ahead and throw. We are telling him we can't throw with him and the dogs there. If anyone gets hit it's going to hurt a lot.

We are careful not to throw towards people, and will wait or skip a hole if necessary. Dude wasn't trying to be in the way, but everything he did was exactly the wrong choice.

 

[HyooMac]

Played Bicentennial this morning. There are a lot of dog walkers that wander the course, and many that let the dogs off leash. This one old dude had a lab, a wiener dog and what looked like a pit pup with a broken back.

On first encounter the lab comes up to us in the tee pad. No big deal, then he wanders in to the fairway. I asked the dude to call the dog so we wouldn't risk hitting him. He did, but the dog decided I was playing catch and chased down my drive, picked up the disc and started running back towards us. I was annoyed—concerned the dog would damage the disc. Fortunately not.

This area of the course makes a u turn on the next two holes, with the second hole throwing across a large creek and a walk bridge near the basket. The dude with the dogs was in the area of the walk bridge on the north side. We throw south, cross the bridge and are getting ready for our second throw which goes along the creek and over the bridge. Dude walks to the middle of the bridge and stops. He is now directly between me and the basket, telling us to go ahead and throw. We are telling him we can't throw with him and the dogs there. If anyone gets hit it's going to hurt a lot.

We are careful not to throw towards people, and will wait or skip a hole if necessary. Dude wasn't trying to be in the way, but everything he did was exactly the wrong choice.

Perfect example of well meaning ignorance. No bad intent; they just think we're out there farting around with frisbees. Like they're just out there farting around with dogs.

We should try to remember: they have no idea how seriously we're taking this "activity in the park", and no clue about how fast golf discs fly, or the harm they can cause.

They still piss me off, in all their slow-walking glory. But this reminds me that I need to cut them a lot of slack - at least until disc golf becomes an Olympic sport!

 

[jupiterboy]

I had an elementary class playing kickball with cones in the middle of a fairway the other morning. I sat down on the tee box, checked my mail, and waited about 20 minutes for them to finish up. I greeted the teacher as they left and said nothing more. It's multi-use. There's no priority. This is the Serengeti waterhole of territory. Take a pause.

 

[Jukeshoe]

I had an elementary class playing kickball with cones in the middle of a fairway the other morning. I sat down on the tee box, checked my mail, and waited about 20 minutes for them to finish up. I greeted the teacher as they left and said nothing more. It's multi-use. There's no priority. This is the Serengeti waterhole of territory. Take a pause.

Kill or be killed?

 

[nothinbuttree]

The hole will still be there tomorrow. The picnicker likely will not. As some have mentioned, don't be the one who gets a course pulled because you ticked off the mayor and her family enjoying the pretty field.

 

[wolfhaley]

Kill or be killed?

Do you throw a Cheetah or a Gazelle? I would've said Lion but nobody throws that damn mold.

 

[zontar]

Do you throw a Cheetah or a Gazelle? I would've said Lion but nobody throws that damn mold.

my first two aces were with a Leopard and a Panther. I'm forever in debt to cat molds.....

 

[jupiterboy]

Kill or be killed?

Surprisingly, the various groups take turns, almost like they have a little truce so everyone can get a drink.

 

[Jukeshoe]

Do you throw a Cheetah or a Gazelle? I would've said Lion but nobody throws that damn mold.

Leopard.

 

[dmoore1998]

Everyone in a park has the right to use it, as they see fit.

I'll disagree with this, specifically because it leads into my main point/question. Not everyone has a right to use the park "as they see fit". Some areas of a park are often set aside for very specific activities (you typically don't have a right to have a picnic in the middle of a skate ramp, for example).

The question becomes what the "fairway" use is. In some places I've played at mix-use parks...the disc golf course is set aside for disc golf (though that seems to be pretty rare). In some/most, where disc golfers play is also a potential picnic area.

I would bet that in a multi-use park...just in my experience...the big open spaces of grass are for everyone to use...not just disc golf. So if someone wants to set up a game of croquet, or tag, or a picnic...they have every right to do so. It also helps to recognize that typically the reason we can HAVE disc golf in these parks, is because they already had the space acquired for people to do these things in big open grassy areas.

It may be that they are oblivious. It may be that they're jerks. It may be that they were simply there first. If the space in question is mixed-use space...you don't have some innate right to the space because you're throwing a disc and someone else is picnicking.

 

[txmxer]

If it's a mixer use public park, I'd bet 99% if the time the park existed and DG was an add on.

Because of the nature of DG—requiring large open spaces—people are going to see it as just an open field for general use.

Walkers don't understand that just because they aren't in my line they may not be safe being 50-100' from the desired path.

So, we have a greater burden in a mixed use public park to be courteous.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

Whether it's written or not, the rule of thumb is, "Right of way goes to the pedestrian." We have to assume that any people on or extremely close to the course, who aren't playing, are oblivious to us or what we're doing.

That said, I find it a bit annoying that one of them said, "How about a 'Fore'?"

That seems implies they knew where they were setting up, and basically took no personal responsibility to avoid getting hit.


If there was a picnic table or similar attraction there, that's on the park.

 

[autocrosscrx]

Practically speaking, we got 3 options...

- Throw into people, possibly seriously injure someone, put yourself up for some serious liability, put local disc golf at risk.
- Get mad and confront people, paint disc golf in a bad light, possibly confront the wrong person of influence and put local disc golf at risk.
- Be patient/skip holes and politely warn people that they could be injured by an errant throw by someone else and hope they change their habits.