Proposing DG Course in City Water Supply Protection Area

[Agarner14]

Hello Everyone,

A friend and I are in the early planning/proposal stage of a hopeful course, there are a couple obstacles that I'd appreciate some insight with:

The park is an underutilized, but well-groomed grassy field with trees combined with some more natural grassy areas and a forest section next to a river. It is more than large enough to accommodate 18 holes. The land is not technically owned by the city (It is owned by a non-profit land management group who is interested in the project), but the land is located within a designated city "water supply protection area", so my understanding is that it is managed by the public works department. Our concern at the moment is that this designation will prevent a course from being installed. A sign on the property specifically identifies "projectile producing activities" as prohibited, but the examples given are hunting, paintball, and ball golf all of which produce much smaller, higher velocity projectiles. The water facilities are not within 500 feet of where the course would be.

So my basic question is this, does anyone have any experience in explaining how disc golf would not endanger the water supply? And/or does anyone know of any other disc golf courses that are located in similar areas as an example of this being done without interfering in the water supply area?

I appreciate any thoughts or ideas that might be helpful in us pleading our case.

 

[elmexdela]

need details of water supply area

pics also help

 

[Agarner14]

So I've attached two images to this reply.

One has the potential play area with some rough distances included, the other has a google maps view of the park with the public works and water treatment area to the north of the park. You'll see some pools of water directly north of the park on the other side of a fenced in gravel lot (about 500 ft) from the park boundary, and then to the northwest of the park you can see two water storage tanks just to the left of the public works department.

My basic understanding is that the water supply protection area is basically a designation to prevent any sort of damage or contamination to the water supply. During our walkthrough of the park, we could not identify any water supply infrastructure what so ever.

I don't know of any other specifics beyond that.

 

[Agarner14]

This is the view of the park with the water treatment facilities in view. See reply above for further details.

 

[Jah Plastifari]

I'm in the water treatment field, so I can offer some insight.

Source water protection of surface water has as its largest concern spills that could effect drinking water, and disc golf should do nothing to significantly raise the risk of any spills. The largest water quality concern raised by a disc golf course would be erosion and increased turbidity from runoff of the course area. It looks like your area is fairly flat, so this helps mitigate this concern. One thing that would be helpful in your pitch for a course would be the inclusion of multiple pins. Moving baskets would lessen the wear and erosion in the area around each basket.

As far as the projectiles go, as long as you factor in that you don't want any discs ending up in the river, it should be possible to design a course that prevents this.

Hope this helps.

 

[txmxer]

Seems very small for 18 holes.

I say that more because of erran I those that go OB.

 

[ElementZ]

Give it a shot! You miss every shot you don't take and I'd say this has a solid chance of success.

If you need help, the PDGA has an awesome template that I've used in the past.

https://www.pdga.com/documents/sample-course-proposal

 

[Agarner14]

Seems very small for 18 holes.

I say that more because of erran I those that go OB.

I didn't include (in the measured area) The wooded area adjacent to the open grassy areas. That is why it seems small for 18 holes. That area is between the park and the river.

 

[txmxer]

I didn't include (in the measured area) The wooded area adjacent to the open grassy areas. That is why it seems small for 18 holes. That area is between the park and the river.

If that area is available, it's a big plus. We have a nearby course that's about 2000' x 700'--fairly rectangular. Some trees, but a few wide open areas. That said--the square footage isn't a big problem, but narrow areas bordering OB (other's property or the river) pose an issue. For reference, I have a triangular area that's about 6 acres. The triangular shape really eats away at useful real-estate for DG.

Without obstructions like trees, your fairway--or your recoverable area for discs needs to be about as wide as it is long. For me, throwing about 300' in backyard with virtually no trees in the throwing area, a disc can go offline by ~1/2 the intended throw distance. Meaning If I'm throwing in an open field and my target is 300' away, a grip lock or angle error or wind error and I could be off by 150' of my intended line at just about any point between tee and target.

It's okay to call that OB or hazard or whatever from a golf standpoint, but your neighbors may not appreciate it.

Certainly hope you can get something going. If you can incorporate the areas towards the river, it looks like you could have an interesting course.

 

[Agarner14]

If that area is available, it's a big plus. We have a nearby course that's about 2000' x 700'--fairly rectangular. Some trees, but a few wide open areas. That said--the square footage isn't a big problem, but narrow areas bordering OB (other's property or the river) pose an issue. For reference, I have a triangular area that's about 6 acres. The triangular shape really eats away at useful real-estate for DG.

Without obstructions like trees, your fairway--or your recoverable area for discs needs to be about as wide as it is long. For me, throwing about 300' in backyard with virtually no trees in the throwing area, a disc can go offline by ~1/2 the intended throw distance. Meaning If I'm throwing in an open field and my target is 300' away, a grip lock or angle error or wind error and I could be off by 150' of my intended line at just about any point between tee and target.

It's okay to call that OB or hazard or whatever from a golf standpoint, but your neighbors may not appreciate it.

Certainly hope you can get something going. If you can incorporate the areas towards the river, it looks like you could have an interesting course.

Yeah, I attached what I've measured and outlined up to this point, but the land along the river is all public and fair game, the only issue is that it is technically on the flood plane, but I'm thinking that smart tee and basket placement paired with removal of baskets during high water can easily overcome that obstacle. I don't know what the exact acreage is for the site, but in our walk-around and rough planning thus far it seems like it should be able to accommodate 12 - 18 holes. Our city (Billings, MT) has a number of 9 hole courses, but we'd really like to find room for 18 in more of a park setting. We have a couple 18 hole courses out in the desert, but they are not very groomed or refined and often involve a lengthy drive.

We are getting the ball rolling either way, we just wanted some good information regarding the Water Supply Protection area to be ready for that inevitable question.

 

[BillFleming]

The number one thing you need to show/prove is that discs won't end up in the water supply. I think the best way to do this is show the layout, distance from each tee pad and basked to the water supply and the distance discs go. There are always exceptions to how far a disc can travel; is there a tail wind? is it a roller? But I think if you could show them that it would be near impossible for a thrown disc to reach the water supply; that might help you win their acceptance. For example, if the nearest tee pad to the water supply is 1000 feet, it would be near impossible for even a driver thrown as a roller to reach the water supply - notice I said 'near impossible'....but that should be good enough.

 

[txmxer]

In addition to my acreage--I was using this nearby course as a reference:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/W...85ab209a7!8m2!3d32.768147!4d-97.6768342?hl=en

It's Par 3, 18 holes. Disc can float out in to the road pretty easily along the south side, but mostly they stay in the park.

It is next to a small water treatment plant. The overall area is ~2200' x 1300', but really only uses about 2100' x 700' for 18 holes.

It is pretty flat, but most holes have low tree ceiling. Helps keep things inside the park. Also allows the lanes to be fairly close together without too much entering neighboring fairways.

good luck with your proposal.

 

[coupe]

the only issue is that it is technically on the floodplain

FTFY.

Depending on the nature of the floodplain, you may need a permit for flloodplain development from the Army Corps of Engineers. If the floodplain encompasses federally designated wetlands or a sensitive ecology, it's going to be a non-starter, so before you invest much more time and energy in this proposal, check with the ACE to see if it's even permissible.