TheBeardedFatGuy
Birdie Member
Last summer, when I read in the paper that the nearby city of Pasco (Washington) was building a new disc golf course, I decided to look up the Parks & Recreation director cited in the article and found his email address online. I let him know I was excited about the new course, and I offered to help design the tee signs for the course. (The only somewhat related experience I had previously was drawing maps for the NYT bestselling novels of an author friend.) I arranged to meet with the director and he decided to give me a shot. To show what I could do, I mocked up a sign using a Google Maps satellite view. He and the president of a local disc golf club, who was also involved in the new course, liked what I'd done enough to give me the go ahead. They provided me with two massive satellite images of the area, one with the tee pad and basket locations and distances marked, and a clean one without markings. It took me a couple weeks working on the signs in my spare time and some back and forth to complete the signs for all 18 holes. (I use an old version of JASC's Paint Shop Pro, a good basic drawing program.)
Here's the really amazing part. Nobody I was working with on the project offered any thoughts on OB areas or names for the holes, so I came up with them on my own. I let them know I would change any of them they didn't like, but they never offered any objections to the names or the OB areas (which are all based on paths crisscrossing the area). I did this for two reasons. First, the course shares space with crisscrossing cross country paths. Making the paths themselves OB was sort of obvious as golfers need to try to avoid hitting people on the paths. It also allowed me to add some challenge to the holes to make up for the almost total lack of trees. (It's not as dull a course as that makes it sound as there are several interesting elevation changes involved.) They also didn't have any logo for the course, so I drew a very simple one until they gave me something better, but they never did.
So, as amazing as it sounds, I was allowed to name all the holes and specify the OB areas, and I don't know if the latter was allowed because I'd done a good job selecting them, or they just didn't have any interest in giving their input. In any case, the signs were printed as decals and applied to metal parking signs by the city shops and are up on the course.
If any of you reading this is interested, I'd really appreciate any input on the tee signs (which can be seen here: https://www.dgcoursereview.com/media.php?id=9367&mode=media#). There's another course near here with aging signs and I'm considering offering my services there, so any feedback that could help me do a better job next time would be greatly appreciated.
I really do feel fortunate that I was given the opportunity to do the tee signs on the new course, and I'm humbled that the hole names and OB areas I came up with are what were ultimately use. Just goes to show what can happen if you just step up and offer sometimes.
Here's the really amazing part. Nobody I was working with on the project offered any thoughts on OB areas or names for the holes, so I came up with them on my own. I let them know I would change any of them they didn't like, but they never offered any objections to the names or the OB areas (which are all based on paths crisscrossing the area). I did this for two reasons. First, the course shares space with crisscrossing cross country paths. Making the paths themselves OB was sort of obvious as golfers need to try to avoid hitting people on the paths. It also allowed me to add some challenge to the holes to make up for the almost total lack of trees. (It's not as dull a course as that makes it sound as there are several interesting elevation changes involved.) They also didn't have any logo for the course, so I drew a very simple one until they gave me something better, but they never did.
So, as amazing as it sounds, I was allowed to name all the holes and specify the OB areas, and I don't know if the latter was allowed because I'd done a good job selecting them, or they just didn't have any interest in giving their input. In any case, the signs were printed as decals and applied to metal parking signs by the city shops and are up on the course.
If any of you reading this is interested, I'd really appreciate any input on the tee signs (which can be seen here: https://www.dgcoursereview.com/media.php?id=9367&mode=media#). There's another course near here with aging signs and I'm considering offering my services there, so any feedback that could help me do a better job next time would be greatly appreciated.
I really do feel fortunate that I was given the opportunity to do the tee signs on the new course, and I'm humbled that the hole names and OB areas I came up with are what were ultimately use. Just goes to show what can happen if you just step up and offer sometimes.
