Can we get some Chicago disc golf?

[teetones]

I just moved from the Detroit area to Chicago, and the lack of disc golf is painful. I don't have a 3 star course within 100 miles from me!

My goal is to change that.

I plan on starting a Kickstarter to fund a respectable disc golf course near the city. I wanted to post here first to see if I can count on any support from this community!

If you have any ideas or strategies to help me with the cause, please let me know. All information is helpful.

Cheers

 

[notroman]

Where are you talking about? It's not like people haven't been trying. The disc golf community here is very active. It's just a very large city and it's hard to get anywhere with a lot of the park districts right now.

Your first major obstacle will be the Kamms...aka Midwest Disc Golf.

 

[teetones]

Not sure what you mean by Kamms, but as for location, Edgebrook Woods was my first choice. I will be contacting them next week.

 

[Jukeshoe]

Um, where in Chicago do you live that you can't make it to any of the following 3-disc courses in under 100 miles? opcorn:

Highland
Grey Fox
Oswego
Channy
West Park (questionably a 3...I consider it as my "boilerplate" for 18 hole 2.5-disc courses)
Trinity

Just off the top of my head.

Edit: I mean, I hear you, the area's courses for the most part are pretty bad...but there are definitely more options than you make it sound like.

 

[notroman]

Not sure what you mean by Kamms, but as for location, Edgebrook Woods was my first choice. I will be contacting them next week.

Kamms are the owners of Midwest Disc Golf and they are the reason you see so many crappy 9 hole courses all over the place. The parks here aren't interested in disc golf, and if they ever show the slightest interest the Kamms move in and install a crappy 9. Even if you started the negotiations, the moment they catch wind that you're working on something they'll find a way to get involved. Good luck.

 

[Jukeshoe]

Kamms are the owners of Midwest Disc Golf and they are the reason you see so many crappy 9 hole courses all over the place. The parks here aren't interested in disc golf, and if they ever show the slightest interest the Kamms move in and install a crappy 9. Even if you started the negotiations, the moment they catch wind that you're working on something they'll find a way to get involved. Good luck.

And MAN are their designs baaad. :thmbdown:

 

[teetones]

Um, where in Chicago do you live that you can't make it to any of the following 3-disc courses in under 100 miles? opcorn:

Highland
Grey Fox
Oswego
Channy
West Park (questionably a 3...I consider it as my "boilerplate" for 18 hole 2.5-disc courses)
Trinity

Just off the top of my head.

Edit: I mean, I hear you, the area's courses for the most part are pretty bad...but there are definitely more options than you make it sound like.

My goal is not to bash anything that is already established. I only want to give a better experience to players in the area.

 

[thrembo]

The only way that I could see it getting better would be to get courses put into the Cook County Park and Forest Preserve system. What a vast untapped source for Disc Golf courses that could put the Chicago area into a higher level of courses such as Michigan. But good luck with that!

 

[Jukeshoe]

My goal is not to bash anything that is already established. I only want to give a better experience to players in the area.

I didn't say you should bash anything.

You stated in the OP that there weren't any 3-disc courses within 100miles.

That is clearly not true.

 

[JoeBob21]

Katherine Legge Memorial is the closest decent course to the downtown area. Its in Hinsdale and about a 25 min drive from downtown without traffic. Id say that is your best bet.

 

[thrembo]

You could also explore Wisconsin, which I hear has some pretty good courses. Or Lemon Lake in Indiana.

 

[teetones]

You could also explore Wisconsin, which I hear has some pretty good courses. Or Lemon Lake in Indiana.

I go back home often to play great golf. My goal is not to play better golf, but to supply better golf to the area!

 

[Clonan]

I go back home often to play great golf. My goal is not to play better golf, but to supply better golf to the area!

Join the movement! J-Town, Discontinnum are very active in making disc golf better in the Chicagoland area!

 

[CherryDrank]

Um, where in Chicago do you live that you can't make it to any of the following 3-disc courses in under 100 miles? opcorn:

Highland
Grey Fox
Oswego
Channy
West Park (questionably a 3...I consider it as my "boilerplate" for 18 hole 2.5-disc courses)
Trinity

Just off the top of my head.

Edit: I mean, I hear you, the area's courses for the most part are pretty bad...but there are definitely more options than you make it sound like.

I agree with you completely. I play mostly at Kress Creek, KLM, or Oak Brook but have played Oswego and Highland recently as well. There is plenty of good disc golf around. I even did a search for the OP within 100 miles and guess what? 63 results. Sure there are a lot of sub-par/mediocre courses, but there are plenty of gems too. Now if you want to talk about actually IN the city of Chicago, that's a different story, but 100 miles is really not giving a lot of credit to the stuff available to us.

Been lurking for a while and this post made me finally register...

 

[notapro]

I didn't say you should bash anything.

You stated in the OP that there weren't any 3-disc courses within 100miles.

That is clearly not true.

I am curious about this as well. Is 100 miles an exaggeration? Are you using your own scoring rubric (as opposed to DGCR's)? Feel free to bash away; if you think Highland, Grey Fox, Eagle Ridge, Lemon Lake, etc. are too far/not good enough, that's a different story.

 

[wingit]

You could drive out to BF Rockford Il, Anna Page now has 3 courses and the new South course is amazing!!!

 

[mashnut]

I think it's a bit condescending to think you're going to come into the area and suddenly be able to change something that hundreds of disc golfers have been working on for a long time. The Chicago area has a strong history of courses designed by non-disc golfers or by players who don't have good design understanding and experience, but that doesn't mean that local clubs and players haven't been trying to change that. Up in Round Lake there's a redesign going on where locals were able to get the city to bring in a real designer (Chuck Kennedy) and by all reports the new layout is going to be really nice.

There are some major obstacles to overcome if you want good courses close to the city. The forest preserves have been approached numerous times and just aren't interested in disc golf at all. Outside of that, there isn't a whole lot of interesting land that's available to make a fun and challenging course. I applaud your enthusiasm, and there's definitely room for improvement in the way Chicago puts in disc golf. I recommend getting in contact with local clubs and with people like Brett Comincioli (former state coordinator and someone who's been very involved with a lot of the course improvements in the north suburbs), you might find that someone has already jumped through a lot of the hoops you're about to try or you might find that there are contacts that can help you get a little farther up the decision making chain. Either way, working with locals who have the same goals you do will make it a lot easier to accomplish something than coming in and acting like you're the only person around who knows what a good course looks like.

 

[dmk1978]

This guy is a troller. Go back to Detroit

 

[Jenks13]

There are lots of good points being made on this topic. I'm sure that he exaggerated with the comment about 100 miles but realistically I would like to see more courses put up around the city of Chicago. I like his enthusiasm and agree that local clubs will definitely be the place to start but don't start calling him a troll for trying to improve disc golf in our area. Lets be honest our community must be doing something right with the last couple of mens am champs and 2013 womens am champ coming from IL. Lastyl, I respect michigan courses as I take a weekend trip out there every summer but we have to get the forest preserves on board.

 

[IHearChains]

This summer I played Margreth Reimer Reservoir course in Palatine and was pleasantly surprised. It has Real Elevation! Don't see much of that around Chi area. Low rating on here, but most reviews are on the front 9 only. The back 9 was very recently added, and there are some pretty good holes.