Pay2Play poll

[reposado]

also how do you expect the sport to grow if you have beginners forking out money to pay to play a course.

it seems to work ok in maine. courses there are as crowded as anywhere else.

but for my answer to the op. it would depend on the course.

some i would play less. i dont think id pay to do solo rounds or putter onlys or anything like that.

some i would never play.

 

[ThrowinGhost]

I agree with the people who posted earlier saying that if only disc golfers had to pay to use multi use/public parks then I would avoid playing that course as much as I could. You don't see people walking around on golf courses because golfers pay partially for the exclusive use of the land.

 

[JC17393]

That sounds reasonable. Is the ~30 dailies to break even the norm? I can see how that'd be a decent chunk to drop at once if you weren't sure that you would hit that number. This also varies a lot regarding what other courses are near by (and if they are also p2p). For myself - I'm somewhere in between. My home course (2 18s on site) is on a state park with a $6 to park / $65 yearly parking pass (which is also free entry to other NYS parks) so it is a complete no brainer for me as it is really easy to hit 11 uses and other courses are a bit further away but free (another 10 mins for an ok course, another 20 for a few very nice ones).

Like I said, I can't really speak for other courses or their norm. I honestly don't know what they charge for yearly passes, mainly because I'm not in the market to buy one anyway. But for us, we have to balance affordability with our own bottom line. Unlike parks departments, we don't have alternative income streams (tax payer money) to supplement what the greens fees don't cover.

The odd thing is that we've always charged the same amount for our yearly pass since we started offering them, but our daily fees have gone up in that time. So the value of the pass has actually increased (used to be 40 days was the break-even point), but sales of the pass haven't. I put that on the fact that there are more courses than before (players choosing to spread their play around).

 

[ru4por]

Many courses in SE Michigan are P2P. Annual pass is 25 dailies, plus another 30 bucks for the annual park sticker. It has been pretty effective in keeping crowds and undesirables down at a couple of the courses, not so much at another couple. The passes cover all the parks by the way. The courses were top notch facilities to begin with, but he money collected goes in the general fund. Course improvements have been seen, but I don't know how much is the active clubs or the park itself. I would like the parks with overcrowding, vandalism and littering going on to send the guy in the box around the course once in a while on a bicycle ( to minimalize erosion ) to keep some of the stupidity in check. I will vow to email them a few times to this effect. *steelyresolvesmiley*

P2P is great and I would frequent only these courses if crowding, vandalism and littering was patrolled.

 

[Timeetyo]

Many courses in SE Michigan are P2P. Annual pass is 25 dailies, plus another 30 bucks for the annual park sticker. It has been pretty effective in keeping crowds and undesirables down at a couple of the courses, not so much at another couple. The passes cover all the parks by the way. The courses were top notch facilities to begin with, but he money collected goes in the general fund. Course improvements have been seen, but I don't know how much is the active clubs or the park itself. I would like the parks with overcrowding, vandalism and littering going on to send the guy in the box around the course once in a while on a bicycle ( to minimalize erosion ) to keep some of the stupidity in check. I will vow to email them a few times to this effect. *steelyresolvesmiley*

P2P is great and I would frequent only these courses if crowding, vandalism and littering was patrolled.

That is very nice. Some of the benefits of P2P while still having a good amount of course variety.

 

[Discette]

Park dept not charging. Park leases out the pro shop space. New Leasee decides that they are going to charge to play the course. The local club made all the improvements from monthly fees and donations. Pro shop guy just wants more money.

Can you tell us what course this may be?


Are you referring to La Mirada? (I am thinking it is not LaMa since the current pro shop lessee is not "new". They have had the pro shop contract for a couple of years now.) However, I do know almost every improvement done at La Mirada is a direct result of the club and not the pro shop operators.


Maybe El Dorado? Did they get a new lessee in the Tennis Pro Shop? It seems it would be hard to collect P2P fees in such an open park. Plus the locals don't appear to put much back into the course.

I doubt you are referring to Oak Grove, because that club is working together with the city on upcoming course improvements.

Probably not Chavez, because there is no pro shop and LA county would require bidding before awarding a vendor contract or lease.

Everything else is already P2P.... including Whittier, Sylmar, Verdugo Hills, DeBell, Wrightwood, San Bernardino Parks and Lake Casitas.

Am I missing something? Which course is it?




(I'm still going with La Ma as the only possibility even though the "new lessee" isn't exactly new. )

 

[Tfire25]

I don't know of any pay to play courses in the dfw area. I guess this is the norm up north?

There is a couple problems with p2p at a public park IMO. They tax payers(us) already payed to have the park built. On top of that, the tax payers pay for the maintenance workers that upkeep the park. Sure we have local leagues that maintain the parks to more suit the dg needs but in theory the parks dept should be maintaining what they have built. They work that in the budget pre plans.

I would not have a problem paying at courses that are dg only, private or public. It's the multiuse parks that I would avoid like the plague if I had to pay.

 

[Mabuku1]

It's all hypothetical. Sparking up conversations to see what everyone here thinks and for everyone to see what other regions of the country view it as. But I like that you automatically went to real life situation.

Me personally, I would stop going as much. Like others stated it would have to be sectioned off from other park goers if I'm paying for it.

 

[DavidSauls]

So many factors....

---the quality of the P2P public course, and whether it is shared use with other park activities
---the amount of the P2P fee
---the alternatives available (whether free nearby courses, or better P2P private courses)

Everyone's situation is going to be different.

 

[Mabuku1]

So many factors....

---the quality of the P2P public course, and whether it is shared use with other park activities
---the amount of the P2P fee
---the alternatives available (whether free nearby courses, or better P2P private courses)

Everyone's situation is going to be different.

That's why it says "around you" in the question, to get everyone's view at their specific location. I would assume the courses would go with a comparable rate as the other p2p courses nearby.

 

[DG_Before_Breakfast]

Low cost is a big plus for Disc Golf as a sport for me, but I'd still pay to play the championship courses around Santa Cruz for a good amount, e.g. $5-10. Those are Dela, Pinto Lake, CSUMB and Ryan Ranch. If some of the smaller courses around here charged too much, I might not play them as often, e.g. Aptos or Black Mouse.

I would like to see local players get a discount and/or the option for buying a yearly/monthly pass at reduced cost as well.

 

[Discette]

It's all hypothetical. Sparking up conversations to see what everyone here thinks and for everyone to see what other regions of the country view it as. But I like that you automatically went to real life situation.

Me personally, I would stop going as much. Like others stated it would have to be sectioned off from other park goers if I'm paying for it.

Ok, hypothetical.

But I'm still guessing La Mirada...

 

[Mabuku1]

Well that's my home course, so that's what I based the poll off of, and I'm not talking about patrick.

 

[filobedo]

I grew up playing traditional golf since the age of 6 or 7 so I was accustomed to having to pay greens fees. I will never understand the logic that having to pay $5 to play disc golf is a deterent but I do understand that disc golfers that pay taxes locally feel they should not have to pay to play in a park they already support with revenue. I have played > 500 rounds at Trophy Lakes which is p2p over the past 9 years for $5 per day and I would gladly pay $10-$15 if they charged it. Currently I play around 80% of my rounds at p2p courses (TL, JICP and Sewee) and 20% at public courses (mostly Naval Weapons Station and Kiawah) when I am home in Charleston. I spend more in gas probably going to play these than the greens fees currently since the closest course I play is about 20 miles away. The closest free public course is 10 miles away (Park Circle) and I have not played it but once in 3 years because the others are much better and less crowded.

 

[Pwingles]

really weird concept. i started off playing only pay courses.

but i cant imagine a pay course where non players can freely enter the course area. it seems like

a. plenty of people are going to not pay and play

b. you lose all the benefits of it being a pay course. ive played mediocre pay courses(in maine) but at least there was no non-disc presence on the course.

I agree.

I am pro P2P, but im not paying to play somewhere that others can just be in my way for free.

Id feel better about it, if the walkers and birthday parties and bbq's all paid.

Otherwise, no, i would hardly go to a pay course where i had the same problems as the previously free park i used to play at.

My two fav courses in my area are pay to play, its wonderful. Makes me resent park golfing almost every time i do it. I would kill for my city, which has 5 courses in the city limits, would scrap all but one, and have one great pay to play instead of a bunch of junk

 

[Dthunderchicken]

I'll gladly pay for quality courses.

 

[gradus]

I'd pay if all of the Charlotte courses became P2P. Glad they're free.

 

[Moose33]

I would be fine with it if that meant it would have more consistent maintenance and less through traffic. I've nearly nailed several pedestrians with drives. Had discs stolen by dogs too.

I would pay a fiver a round to stop that.

 

[eegor]

If the course is fenced off for disc golf only, I don't have a problem with it at all. This would be nearly impossible for most of the courses in the DFW area. Lester Lorch and Crossroads could do it, since they're pretty much disc golf only venues now.

Fences on the big parks would cost a fortune to install.

 

[Jaxully]

As long as some of the money is going back into the upkeep of the course I think p2p is great.