New Course in Benton Harbor, MI

[davetherocketguy]

River Park is going to be the home of a new 18 hole DG course. Have to credit Larry Leonardi of Essential Discs for getting this installed and working with Benton Township on this beautiful parcel of land. Will have signs and baskets in by this coming Saturday for the grand opening. If you are in the area please make a showing between noon and 3pm on Saturday (9/23). Press and newbies should be there so a large showing from the local disc golf community would be great. For those that want to help out, bring some discs to give away to newbs that seem interested in the game and help us teach those same newbs the game and how to throw. Not entirely sure how many will show...

For the time being there will not have tee pads but will be teeing off of grass. Tee pads should be installed either this fall or next spring.

Park Address:

451 Zollar Drive
Benton Harbor, MI 49022

First tee is *roughly* here:
42.064243, -86.448589

That should get you close enough to figure it out. If for some reason that coordinate is way off let me know.

 

[ru4por]

River Park is going to be the home of a new 18 hole DG course. Have to credit Larry Leonardi of Essential Discs for getting this installed and working with Benton Township on this beautiful parcel of land. Will have signs and baskets in by this coming Saturday for the grand opening. If you are in the area please make a showing between noon and 3pm on Saturday (9/23). Press and newbies should be there so a large showing from the local disc golf community would be great. For those that want to help out, bring some discs to give away to newbs that seem interested in the game and help us teach those same newbs the game and how to throw. Not entirely sure how many will show...

For the time being there will not have tee pads but will be teeing off of grass. Tee pads should be installed either this fall or next spring.

Park Address:

451 Zollar Drive
Benton Harbor, MI 49022

First tee is *roughly* here:
42.064243, -86.448589

That should get you close enough to figure it out. If for some reason that coordinate is way off let me know.

You should probably put this post in this thread as well.

https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47059&highlight=michigan+updates

Great work out on that side of the state, Dave. :thmbup::thmbup:

 

[davetherocketguy]

You should probably put this post in this thread as well.

https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47059&highlight=michigan+updates

Great work out on that side of the state, Dave. :thmbup::thmbup:

It's in that thread.

Thanks for that but I really can't take any credit for it. This is all Larry's doing. Without him and all his hard work, this would never have happened. I'm just pimpin' the heck out if it where ever I can.

 

[davetherocketguy]

How cool is this???

Benton Township DG Course Grand Opening

Free discs to the first 150 kids??? This is awesome!

Once again...cannot take credit for any of this.

 

[ru4por]

How cool is this???

Benton Township DG Course Grand Opening

Free discs to the first 150 kids??? This is awesome!

Once again...cannot take credit for any of this.

Well......hand out some credit. Who is ponying up the discs?? :thmbup::thmbup:

 

[davetherocketguy]

Well......hand out some credit. Who is ponying up the discs?? :thmbup::thmbup:

Well...I don't know yet. I will find out soon enough yet though.

 

[davetherocketguy]

Well......hand out some credit. Who is ponying up the discs?? :thmbup::thmbup:

So I found out today. Had to stop by the course on the way home from work and managed to catch up with the parks manager. Apparently, these aren't going to be actual golf discs but some cheapy frisbees that are being purchased by the township. :wall: Oh well...too late to complain about it now. Don't want to look a gift horse in the mouth because this is going to be a good course and the township has been fantastic about getting this course in for us.

Interestingly enough, the parks guy is not a dg'er but is very adamant about getting this course right as in making the best they can with the resources at hand. Not a "oh thats good enough" kinda guy so I was pretty impressed. Without any prompting from anyone he put in a bunch of foot bridges over some of the drainage ditches for example. So we discussed all sorts of things like how the baskets should go in tomorrow and signs ought to be in by the end of the week. So nice to have someone at the township on our side as it were.

-Dave

 

[ru4por]

So I found out today. Had to stop by the course on the way home from work and managed to catch up with the parks manager. Apparently, these aren't going to be actual golf discs but some cheapy frisbees that are being purchased by the township. :wall: Oh well...too late to complain about it now. Don't want to look a gift horse in the mouth because this is going to be a good course and the township has been fantastic about getting this course in for us.

Interestingly enough, the parks guy is not a dg'er but is very adamant about getting this course right as in making the best they can with the resources at hand. Not a "oh thats good enough" kinda guy so I was pretty impressed. Without any prompting from anyone he put in a bunch of foot bridges over some of the drainage ditches for example. So we discussed all sorts of things like how the baskets should go in tomorrow and signs ought to be in by the end of the week. So nice to have someone at the township on our side as it were.

-Dave

Great stuff, Dave. I wish you were closer, I would love to show up. Freebies are freebies. If you are handing out stuff to kids, they will love it no matter what. Good luck with the opening. I look forward to getting out that way to check out the course. I have a good buddy in Benton Harbor, I will have to try to get out and see him before the snow flies.

 

[davetherocketguy]

Great stuff, Dave. I wish you were closer, I would love to show up. Freebies are freebies. If you are handing out stuff to kids, they will love it no matter what. Good luck with the opening. I look forward to getting out that way to check out the course. I have a good buddy in Benton Harbor, I will have to try to get out and see him before the snow flies.

HMU if you make it out this way. Would love to do a round with fellow DGCR folk.

 

[davetherocketguy]

Woohoo! Got everything entered for this course today. Jeez thats a lot of work for a new course lol:

https://www.dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=9411

Even typed in a review. Freaking fantastic course!

 

[davetherocketguy]

Township sorta went all out for the grand opening...

 

[discNDav]

How's the neighborhood? The pictures seem to show a well groomed park. Growing somewhat nearby in Indiana, BH doesn't have the best reputation.

 

[JSurmann]

How's the neighborhood? The pictures seem to show a well groomed park. Growing somewhat nearby in Indiana, BH doesn't have the best reputation.

The sketchier parts of BH are miles away. I think it's a non issue.

 

[davetherocketguy]

How's the neighborhood? The pictures seem to show a well groomed park. Growing somewhat nearby in Indiana, BH doesn't have the best reputation.

And for good reason. I am a long time resident in these parts. At one point, 1 in 600 BH residents was a victim of homicide.

The sketchier parts of BH are miles away. I think it's a non issue.

I wouldn't say it's a non-issue. There are still sketchy elements that come down there now and then. However, it is NOTHING like other areas of BH so using some common sense goes a long way here. I would have no issue going down there and playing by myself in the daylight. This is part of the reason Benton Township wanted a DG course here so bad. There are a lot of people that come down there to ... ahem ... complete some unsavory transactions and the like. By having dg'ers wandering around seems to discourage that behavior. Since the course opened I've seen several cars come into the park watch us play for a few minutes and then decide to leave. No idea if we are having the intended affect but I can say there are an awful lot less of the randomly parked car next to the trees.

-Dave

 

[ru4por]

And for good reason. I am a long time resident in these parts. At one point, 1 in 600 BH residents was a victim of homicide.



I wouldn't say it's a non-issue. There are still sketchy elements that come down there now and then. However, it is NOTHING like other areas of BH so using some common sense goes a long way here. I would have no issue going down there and playing by myself in the daylight. This is part of the reason Benton Township wanted a DG course here so bad. There are a lot of people that come down there to ... ahem ... complete some unsavory transactions and the like. By having dg'ers wandering around seems to discourage that behavior. Since the course opened I've seen several cars come into the park watch us play for a few minutes and then decide to leave. No idea if we are having the intended affect but I can say there are an awful lot less of the randomly parked car next to the trees.

-Dave

Certainly not the first time a disc golf course has helped decrease unwanted activity in a park. In fact, it is sometimes a nice selling feature for putting one in. Just the additional foot traffic can help deter criminal elements.