Every course is a pay to play...

[DavidSauls]

It seems to me that most public courses are indeed free---free to play. That is, playing is free; it costs you the same, whether you choose to play or not. In that sense, disc golfers right when they refer to the courses and disc golf on them as free.

Admittedly, they don't exist without someone's money. From the disc golfer's point of view, that's virtually all someone else's money.

 

[jmdaire27]

I really thought this was going to be a hypothetical conundrum.

"All disc golf courses are now pay to play, including your "home" course. Do you still play it regularly, are you branching out to others more, do you play less...?"

Something to that effect.

 

[air show]

I could see paying $50 for a great day of disc golf... one day I hope to find the course that I feel is worthy of that much coin.

 

[Hampstead]

$50 to throw frisbees? The amenities better be amazing.

 

[Noill]

that's the one with a cabin and fire pit after the day rounds while you ready up for a night round.

 

[Casey 1988]

Okay so what about the option of State Park Courses where you have to either pay to play or have a park pass? That is never mentioned in discussion and those courses seem to be the best as they often have good disc golf but the price is low enough to justify going to the place. Also often have onsite camping at 90% of the State Park Courses.

 

[Chaz58]

Even on courses where you don't pay "at the door" to play, like most of the courses in my state, you still are paying to play. Most courses in my area are kept up by park districts. Where do the park districts get their money in the budget to upkeep courses and other parks, playgrounds etc.? They get it from taxes (property taxes and the like) that they collect from the citizens, including people like me. Plus guys like me perform some maintenance as we play, such as picking up the litter left by lazy slobs like paper, empty beer cans and bottles. A lot of times the lazy slobs will throw this trash on the ground when there is a garbage can within 10 feet or so where they have littered.

 

[wolfhaley]

I understand that we all pay for the majority of courses we play through taxes. But this year 2 of my local courses went to pay to play. $4 a day or $30 annually for a season pass which is very reasonable and good for both courses. They claimed on the sign that it was for renovated restrooms at one and to pave the parking lot at the other. I'm all for both but the gravel parking lot is in great shape and the restroom at the other is used by tons of other non disc golfers who use the park for "free". What's even more strange is one place got 19 new Mach X's last year before the pay to play happened. I'm not complaining at all, just curious how many years it's going to actually take to pave the parking lot or renovate the restrooms with a $30 annual pass?

 

[scarpfish]

Great. Now the lack of bathrooms will be the least of worries.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

Disc golfers are cheap, but I get OP's point. However, an IP course is there whether or not you use it...so...

And you pretty much pay the same taxes whether you use it or not.

 

[DiscFifty]

The only time disc golf is free is the first time you play, when someone gives you a few discs to use. Assuming you enjoy the experience nothing about the sport will ever be free again.

 

[Tripper]

Even on courses where you don't pay "at the door" to play, like most of the courses in my state, you still are paying to play. Most courses in my area are kept up by park districts. Where do the park districts get their money in the budget to upkeep courses and other parks, playgrounds etc.? They get it from taxes (property taxes and the like) that they collect from the citizens, including people like me. Plus guys like me perform some maintenance as we play, such as picking up the litter left by lazy slobs like paper, empty beer cans and bottles. A lot of times the lazy slobs will throw this trash on the ground when there is a garbage can within 10 feet or so where they have littered.

I have witnessed trash on the ground in close proximity to a proper receptacle at many courses. Very disappointing.

 

[biscoe]

I have witnessed trash on the ground in close proximity to a proper receptacle at many courses. Very disappointing.

In my experience having trash cans on a course leads to more litter than not having them...

 

[Tripper]

In my experience having trash cans on a course leads to more litter than not having them...

Sad but true...

 

[ejvogie]

In my experience having trash cans on a course leads to more litter than not having them...

"My 5' jump shot with an empty brown bottle got rejected by the front of the rim. No, I'm not going to bother to bend over to pick it up. Even if I'm doing the same with a frisbee 5 times per hole."

Note: Chuckers are not 100% of this problem.

 

[curmudgeonDwindle]

an old topic, perhaps not thoroughly rehashed enough…

it seems a truism that 'there's no such thing as a free lunch', which ultimately may have some thermodynamic underpinning - this indicates everyone 'groks' this at an intuitive level at least. notice how i'm trying to persuade you?

fruitless are the complaints of 'freeloaders', as their existence appears an omnipresent fact of human social life. dualistic arguments have been made stating in effect, that were 'everyone always contributing' we would have no basis of comparison - without the rainy day, one could not appreciate the sunny. even so, a hierarchy always emerges, who contributes 'more' and in what manner. the very structure of golf is an elaborate hierarchy ritual (or game). I suggest that a complainer's best course of action would be persuasion, rather than condemnation - if the intention is a more enthusiastic participation in the game. In many respects, that's how we got where we are today.

regarding taxes: despite the fact of the astonishing loss of privacy in today's world, only a non-tax paying fool would publicly admit to it - he might get eaten…anybody remember that old Molly Hatchet hit?

 

[takman]

Pubic courses should be free to play.

Most of the pubic courses I have played are technically regarded as private parts and are quite difficult to access.

 

[Chaz58]

"My 5' jump shot with an empty brown bottle got rejected by the front of the rim. No, I'm not going to bother to bend over to pick it up. Even if I'm doing the same with a frisbee 5 times per hole."

Note: Chuckers are not 100% of this problem.

I get this!

 

[Three Putt]

I used to work in parks and recreation. We used to put "we are the fun part of paying your taxes" in the brochure.

It is a jumbled mess to figure out, though. There are huge measurable advantages to green space and places to recreate in your community, it leads to healthier and happier residents. The idea of parks is that the community (through taxes) would support these places to the advantage of all.

Then there were problems. Things like swimming pools are expensive as all Hell, so in order to offset the losses you had to charge. People seemed to get that, so it wasn't a huge deal.

Then you get to the 80's when the people making the decisions move from the Greatest Generation to the Baby Boomers. Baby Boomers were a wave of selfish, self absorbed, greedy people all looking out for themselves and not the greater community. Parks under their leadership were not about how you could make the community healthier, it was about the bottom line. Kids in the summer are going to a free day camp in the park. Forget that, charge them. Families are reserving shelters for picnics for free? Charge them. Youth baseball teams are practicing on the ball field? Make them buy a permit. The idea that the ball field is there in the first place to give kids a constructive place to play goes out the window. It's all about the almighty $.

Then you had to have a fancier water park than the next town, and you had to have golf course, and you had to have this and that (disc golf courses included) that would create programmable space in your parks. That open field that you mowed that people used to play in on their own? Bah, pass a bond issue and build a skate park and tennis courts and a concession stand in the middle to sell unhealthy snacks and soda and make that open field turn a profit. Open space be damned.

That disc golf courses would be shoved toward the "pay" model is not surprising. Parks and recreation isn't about the experience or the exercise or the place to mingle with your neighbors anymore, it's about balancing a budget.

 

[PMantle]

Free disc golf is a misnomer.

Sorry, but you're wrong. It is absolutely free.