Disc Golf on Ball Golf Course

[Sadjo]

I have been approached by a community owned ball golf course to add Disc Golf hoping it will create enough additional revenue to help off set the cost of operations. It's a 9 hole Ball Golf Course. It features lots of elevation, enough trees to keep it interesting and water in the form of two ponds and three small creeks.

Here are the options I'm considering including on the proposal...

1. Duel tees & one basket per hole

2. Duel tees & two baskets per hole (choice of playing long of short basket location from either tee)

3. Two sets of duel tees & two baskets per hole (play one round of tees & baskets first time around and different set of tees and baskets second time around) This would utilize one side of fairway for one round and other side of fairway for the 2nd time around the course. There is enough room and separation to make this happen.

4. Two sets of duel tees & two baskets per hole (play two Disc Golf holes per one regular golf fairway. You would play 18 holes over the course of 9 ball golf holes.)


I've been asked to get it done for about $10k. That would cover the cost of the targets and tee material. The design would be done by me or another local player and the installation would be done by employees of the course.

I know we can fit 18 Disc Golf holes on to 9 ball golf holes but what's the best way to make it work, if we add 2 baskets per ball golf hole?

 

[who-dat]

Will the 'duel' tees be equipped with 'dueling' pistols?

Dual tees might be helpful to your idea though.

 

[Sadjo]

Will the 'duel' tees be equipped with 'dueling' pistols?

Dual tees might be helpful to your idea though.

Thinking of having red and blue tees. We can even use the cart path for even more tees, if needed.

 

[keltik]

do you have a map of the current course?

 

[dashiellx]

Will the 'duel' tees be equipped with 'dueling' pistols?

Dual tees might be helpful to your idea though.

:clap:

 

[Homemade Lovin']

Check out the layouts for Goat Hill in Oceanside, CA plays on an 18 but good layout. Or even better is Spring golf course in Spring, TX Plays 18 holes on a 9 hole ball golf course. Good luck and I hope that dual course catches on because I hate driving by an empty ball golf course when us Disc golfers could be using that space.

 

[anborn]

just cause there is a golf hole already, doesn't make it a good dg hole. if the installed course isn't worth $$$ to play it, they won't be getting any repeat business and will have just sunk $10k to make their problems worse.

i'ld treat it as a completely blank property. utilizing features of the golf course where it makes sense, but also utilizing the woods and other features that may be on course, but not apart of a current bg hole. i'd be willing to bet none of the "best DG holes" on your course will match any of the current BG holes.

 

[harr0140]

PM sent Sadjo . . . I am willing to discuss this including showing you some design ideas I have for certain golf courses.

Without seeing a property it is hard to know how good it will be, but if you can send me an address or name of the golf course I will scout it out on google maps.

 

[BionicRib]

Getting it to flow properly with the actual golf course isn't easy.

I would recommend talking with Steve West or Dana Vicich as they have some experience involving disc golf on ball golf courses.

What tee surfaces are you proposing? If you are using concrete IMO, unless you know a guy who knows a guy.....yada yada. I highly doubt you could get dual concrete tees, targets, reasonable tee signs and other miscellaneous costs for less than 10k.

Without knowing the location its really hard to give advice. PM me if you want me to take a gander at it.

I would also suggest staying out of the golf fairways as much as possible if they plan to have disc golfers and ball golfers on at the same time. If disc golf is only going to be a seasonal thing then I wouldn't worry about that as much.

 

[JC17393]

First thing...DO NOT just lay out the entire DG course to follow the existing ball golf fairways. Utilize areas off the ball golf fairways where you can. Design the course like it's a completely blank canvas and make it a disc golf course that happens to share land with a ball golf course rather than making it a ball golf course retrofitted with disc golf targets. That should enable you to design a course that will have wider appeal. Frankly, I'd get bored just throwing down ball golf fairways the whole time.

That said, always be conscious of the flow of the ball golf course when you design. Make sure that in any areas where the courses cross paths, no one is doing it blindly. Last thing you want is disc golfers throwing and walking across fairways and unwittingly being in the line of fire of ball golfers, or vice versa.

I'd contact the guys at Petersham Country Club in Petersham MA. They've recently done exactly what it sounds like your course wants to do, and having played there, I can say they did it rather effectively. Probably 50% of the disc course is independent of the ball golf course (no conflicts of use) and 50% of it shares the ball golf fairways (usually just portions rather than the whole thing). But both courses begin and end in the same area (shared tee 1, basket 18/green 9 within 50 yards of one another and the clubhouse).

 

[DavidSauls]

Not knowing the property, I'd say Option #4, perhaps #3.

It's worth far more to go to an 18-hole course, let alone play it. A choice of tees or baskets on essentially the same disc golf fairway is nice, but it's not the same as an entirely different hole. Plus, if anyone ever tries to run a tournament, they'll want a full 18.

2 disc golf holes per ball golf hole gives you the flexibility to have some short birdie holes as well as places to air it out, without creating extremely long holes or transitions.

 

[mashnut]

You're better off following the flow of the course than going across or against the flow of ball golfers. It's great to hope that people will use common sense and watch out for each other and give ball golfers the right of way, but that's just not going to happen with some disc golfers. If you follow the same flow then there's no issue of crossing or shooting at one another, both sports have similar etiquette on waiting until the group ahead of you is clear or at least out of range. It might limit how good the course can be, but it'll also mean more potential traffic if both disc and ball golf can be offered at the same time without conflicts.

 

[Sadjo]

For those asking here and through PM, the tees will be pavers. You can building a 5'X12' tee with pavers. If you've ever parked a car on a grass parking lot that was used regularly and not covered in ruts, they probably used pavers. That's what is now being used at several courses in the southeast. Some fill with crushed rock while others fill with dirt and plant grass. Solid like concrete with no mud or ruts.

Innova sells pavers. Cost about $60 per tee.

In some areas the cart path can be used for tee pads as well.

 

[harr0140]

Are these pavers solid . .. like the same used for patios and sidewalks? Or permeable . . . meaning they get filled with gravel and allow the rain to soak through instead of running off?


Are you certain they are ok with you putting pavers out on the golf course . . . they could lead to strange bounces of the golf ball which could be a serious safety hazard.

Will the tees be located in unreachable areas with the golf ball (because the minute someone gets a bad bounce of a golf ball off of one of these teepads they will complain. We have to respect that golfers pay likely 5-10x as much as disc golfers would for the use of the course, so they are obviously more important than us . . . and the minute they get upset and decide to no longer play there, then the golf course may reconsider.

I suggest using rubber mats at first, make sure there are no problems with them being out there (I know they wont cause the dangerous weird bounces pavers or concrete will).

 

[Sadjo]

Permeable. I've been through the course and most areas I identified for tees are not in play for ball golf or unlikely to be in play.

 

[Sadjo]

As I've been exploring the property, there is an area of woods that has some old cart paths that isn't used any more. IT would allow Disc Golf to disappear into the woods about the 6th ball golf fairway and play several holes and come back on to the course about the fairest for #9.

Is this an option that would work or would you worry about pace of play and coming out of the woods in front or a group you were previously behind due to disc golf playing faster?

 

[wake_rider]

First thing...DO NOT just lay out the entire DG course to follow the existing ball golf fairways. Utilize areas off the ball golf fairways where you can. Design the course like it's a completely blank canvas and make it a disc golf course that happens to share land with a ball golf course rather than making it a ball golf course retrofitted with disc golf targets. That should enable you to design a course that will have wider appeal. Frankly, I'd get bored just throwing down ball golf fairways the whole time.

That said, always be conscious of the flow of the ball golf course when you design. Make sure that in any areas where the courses cross paths, no one is doing it blindly. Last thing you want is disc golfers throwing and walking across fairways and unwittingly being in the line of fire of ball golfers, or vice versa.

I'd contact the guys at Petersham Country Club in Petersham MA. They've recently done exactly what it sounds like your course wants to do, and having played there, I can say they did it rather effectively. Probably 50% of the disc course is independent of the ball golf course (no conflicts of use) and 50% of it shares the ball golf fairways (usually just portions rather than the whole thing). But both courses begin and end in the same area (shared tee 1, basket 18/green 9 within 50 yards of one another and the clubhouse).

I think the advice to try and keep out of the way of ball golf play is solid. Also, keeping in mind landing zones for discs, even considering grossly off target throws, would be positive. Tomb stoning an off target thumber into a green would be a quick way to piss off everyone involved on the ball golf side of things.

The link of the dual use course listed above shows a pretty ideal setup in my opinion of how to blend the two sports in a responsible way at one location. Plus, the open layout of a ball golf course would lend a pretty boring round, but every bolf course I've ever played has plenty of unused wooded areas or open space between fairways to be able to make a pretty entertaining disc layout and I'm sure both the bolfers and the crew running the course would appreciate seeing the wild areas of the course being put to use. It would, I'm sure, interest them to see the natural aspect of disc that attaches to bolfs beginnings, but that interest has the capacity to be ruined if disc impedes on their golf round.

 

[mashnut]

As I've been exploring the property, there is an area of woods that has some old cart paths that isn't used any more. IT would allow Disc Golf to disappear into the woods about the 6th ball golf fairway and play several holes and come back on to the course about the fairest for #9.

Is this an option that would work or would you worry about pace of play and coming out of the woods in front or a group you were previously behind due to disc golf playing faster?

If you're popping out in the middle of a fairway, that's definitely a problem. If you can route it so that disc golfers are coming out of the woods at a ball golf tee, it's no big deal that they got ahead of or behind other groups. If they show up halfway down the hole, too many disc golfers aren't going to pay enough attention to not walk right out in front of someone teeing off.

 

[Sadjo]

If you're popping out in the middle of a fairway, that's definitely a problem. If you can route it so that disc golfers are coming out of the woods at a ball golf tee, it's no big deal that they got ahead of or behind other groups. If they show up halfway down the hole, too many disc golfers aren't going to pay enough attention to not walk right out in front of someone teeing off.

You would enter the woods mid fairest on #6 and comeback out of the woods right before hole #9.

 

[Stan McDaniel]

I think Cam Todd was involved recently in a redesign of a course in SC. The entire 18 disc holes are on 9 of the ball golf holes. I hope to see it soon. It was fun before, but a bit much work to play nearly the entire length of a full ball golf course.