Designing on a Ball Golf Course

[aardvarkious]

I am working hard to get some courses built in my city. I am basically approaching every single entity that has the space for a possible course. One group I want to approach is the local ball golf courses: I know that elsewhere, other disc golf courses have been built on these.

How does that work?

Do disc golfers use the same space as the ball golfers, or do these courses have an area completely set aside for disc golf? What I mean is, do the ball golf and disc golf courses interact with each other at all by sharing or intersecting fairways? If they are somewhat integrated with each other, how do you design the course to make sure the two activities do not disrupt each other? What course rules do you put in place to make sure they don't disrupt each other?

And can anyone point me to some ball golf courses which have successfully incorporated ball golf. I am hoping for two things: maps to give me ideas, and websites I can point local ball golf managers to in order to say "see, here is a ball golf course which has successfully integrated disc golf?

 

[jimbosprint]

At Lava Creek in Paradise, ball golfers and disc golfers play simultaneously on the same space. It's a private 9-hole ball golf and 18-hole disc course. The two courses follow basically the same path, but the disc course zigs and zags across the fairways to make better use of trees and elevation.

It took some time for the ball golfers to get used to, but now they don't seem to mind at all. And the rule is that discers must let ballfers play through (which is fine with me since they pay more and usually go farther with each shot). Many of them are very interested in disc golf, and some have even come to watch our tournaments.

There's a link to the course page in my signature below.

 

[DavidSauls]

River Chase in Union, SC incorporates the disc golf with the ball golf so the flow is the same. You could even have a disc golfer and ball golfer share a cart and play a round together. This is a LONG course (13,000 feet). Tees are mostly on cart paths, baskets off to the sides of fairways.

Sadjo is the DGCR expert on this course.

It would be great if a golf course had enough spare land to put in a disc golf course, so you had all of the resources but none of the conflict. I doubt that's true many places, though.

 

[Cgkdisc]

Maybe Steve West will pop in. He has some good info on getting DG courses on ball golf courses.

 

[mfcastillo17]

http://www.dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=4860&mode=ci

This may help although this is a mountain course that closes to ball golf in the winter.

http://www.dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=3808

This course we built on the perimeter of the golf course

 

[jimbosprint]

Something else to consider is avoiding the golf greens to prevent damage. At Lava Creek they are OB, and the course is designed so they aren't likely to get hit very often.

 

[TrippinBill]

Verdugo Hills DGC in California is on a ball golf course. All the holes are par 3 for the ball golfers so they are short and the disc golf holes follow the ball golf holes exactly. They even tee from the same place.

 

[Steve West]

On the page linked below is a PDF you can download which presents disc golf to golf course owners as a way to serve more people or raise more revenue for a minimal investment.

http://www.stevewestdiscgolf.com/For-Golf-Courses.html

Here are three courses I've been involved with (the last as Chuck's assistant.)

Fort Snelling
Wirth Par 3
Bulldog Run DGC

You can get some maps there.

To answer your questions, disc golf on a golf course CAN work, but not on every course. Figuring out whether disc golf is right for a course is the first part of the design.

As to HOW it works, the best answer is that it will work however the golf course manager wants it to work. There are several ways to make it work. The most obvious is to have the course open only when there are no ball golfers. And, as has been pointed out, ball golfers and disc golfers can play the same course at the same time – with the right design.

Other ways will also work, depending on the needs of the golf course.

No designer should go into it thinking he will tell the golf course what will and won't work. The managers of the golf course have a huge say in what will work. Not just because it is their decision, but because they have years of knowledge about how their course plays and what their clients are like.

 

[joegraham]

Reese Swinea has installed disc golf courses all over the country on ball golf courses. I've played on three of them in southern California and they're great. See his info at: fly18.com

 

[DavidSauls]

Reese is absolutely devoted to the concept. Be forewarned that he's over-the-top gung-ho about it, but he does have some experience. I was underwhelmed by the one course of his I played, but salute him for getting it done at all.

 

[Sadjo]

Having been involved in getting Disc Golf on ball golf courses, I suggest the more blue collar, less expensive courses is the best way to go. I'm not big on designs that criss cross ball golf fairways.

River Chase in Union has enough land to have a course in areas that are not in play for ball golf but that would end up giving the owners more maintenance. The reason to add disc golf is the low cost and the fact that there isn't or shouldn't be any added expense other than the cost of baskets and scorecards.

 

[johnogorrell]

Rules?

Does anybody have a list of rules that might be posted on one of these courses? I work for a park and we are in the process of putting baskets on a seldom used par-3 course, but we want to keep it open to ball players as well. And my boss wants a list of rules about accommodating players of both games.

 

[Steve West]

Most of the rules will be the same as for golfers: hours, paying, walk-alongs, severe weather, where you can drive carts, etc. It's a good chance to review the rules that are posted for golfers, to see if they are still relevant, too.

For Fort Snelling and Wirth Par 3, we just looked at the rules that were posted for golfers and made them inclusive. This means just adding "or discs" wherever it says "clubs" or "balls", and making sure "players" referred to both kinds of players.

Also, re-word any rules that disc golfers (or new golfers) might not know - like the "90 degree rule".

Beyond, that any additional rules you'll need are probably course-specific and you should talk to management about any concerns they have and whether a rule is needed (or the best way) to address it.