What is the oldest course still alive?

[BionicRib]

Illinois has west park...been in the ground since 1979

 

[hoppedup]

I like trivia. So the oldest park, and oldest park still in use in NC is Horizons Park.

http://www.dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=355

 

[BuzzzChief]

Most people say the oldest in Illinois is West Park (Joliet), installed in 1979. Adler Park (Libertyville) may have been installed in 1978, but was originally a cone hole course and had 18 holes. It's a 9-holer now.

 

[Tripper]

I like trivia. So the oldest park, and oldest park still in use in NC is Horizons Park.

http://www.dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=355

Horizons is where I started playing. Just went back for the first time in almost 10 years last weekend. When did they shorten all the holes? I remember that course used to seem long before i knew how to throw.

 

[Chromezero]

Santa Cruz in Tucson, AZ has apparently been around since the late 70's. I've asked about it a couple times and no one seems to have an exact year, just "the late 70's".

Santa Cruz River Park

 

[runningDoc]

actually one of my local courses (still is 45min away but I've played there often) is Kisco in Leonard Park NY established in 1977.

there's been a lot of changes to it, it used to be a fun little course with natural teepads and mostly par threes totally in the woods. Now there are awesome concrete teepads and they made it a lot longer with some par 4's and a LOT of elevation. Some argue that the new holes are unfair-ways, but I like it.

 

[Monocacy]

My old neighborhood pool has a 9-hole object Frisbee course dating to 1972 or so. Not sure if anyone still plays it.

 

[ncbrett92]

His specific question was what is the oldest course still in use. The object course thing is a fair point, so if there are locations that pre-date Oak Grove and are still used as disc golf courses today, by all means they should be brought into the discussion. The posting of "course X is the oldest in my area" stuff where none of them pre-date Oak Grove is more what I was referring to as trivia.

I posted the OP and I would totally count object courses that have been converted into basket courses. But not ones that shut down and have reopen.

 

[ncbrett92]

Only if the OP is specifically asking about the oldest basket course still in use. Absent that specification, there are several courses predating Oak Grove still in use that started life as object courses.

The current Rutgers course, for example, is built on the skeleton of the 9-hole object course installed by Dan Roddick and Bob Eberle in 1973, which quickly expanded to 18 holes, but wasn't converted to a basket course (courtesy of Mazda, for the WFDF US Open) until 1982.

Do you or anyone have the link to this course? I travel for work a lot and try to take my discs with me whenever I can so I'm going to try to play some of these old courses mentioned here.

Thanks for all the responses gang!

 

[RobA]

The Disc Golf Hall of Fame? Where's that?

International Disc Golf Center in Appling, GA

 

[Innovafan2562]

Sinnissippi in Sterling IL since 1982

 

[RobA]

His specific question was what is the oldest course still in use. The object course thing is a fair point, so if there are locations that pre-date Oak Grove and are still used as disc golf courses today, by all means they should be brought into the discussion. The posting of "course X is the oldest in my area" stuff where none of them pre-date Oak Grove is more what I was referring to as trivia.

This is fair. I still think it is open for discussion rather than being a trivia question with one right answer. This may bring out some cool artifacts some of us didn't know about.

 

[mattw]

Tourist Park in Cedar Falls IA still has a Steady Ed course that was installed in 1978. Fun course to play with a putter.

http://www.pdga.com/course-directory/course/tourist-park

 

[filobedo]

I played Oak Grove in 2015 and the locals note it as the oldest. I played several courses last fall in Alabama and was told that Brahan in Huntsville was the first course east of the Mississippi still in existence.

 

[Clonan]

Sinnissippi in Sterling IL since 1982

West Park in Joliet was put in in 1979 and is still going.

The first permanent course in Illinois was Gillson Park in Evanston, IL (or Wilmette?) from 1977-1983. It was a Steady Ed as well. 2 of the baskets from Gillson were purchased off Craigslist and are now practice baskets at Fairfield Park in Round Lake, IL.

 

[dalenoel]

Sedgley Woods in Philadelphia is 1977. Small, tight but great course.

 

[Reedteaches]

More trivia: Beaver Brook in Monmouth, ME is the older course in the northeast. Established in 1976 according to the PDGA, designed by Steady Ed. I believe the configuration is still unchanged, but I could be wrong on that.

 

[JC17393]

More trivia: Beaver Brook in Monmouth, ME is the older course in the northeast. Established in 1976 according to the PDGA, designed by Steady Ed. I believe the configuration is still unchanged, but I could be wrong on that.

Configuration has changed very little, though it's hard to tell since they've always had natural tees that have never been all that well marked (so they've migrated a bit over the years). Most of the baskets are original patent-pending Mach 1s as well.

Ed wasn't good at keeping records so he never could say exactly, but he said that Beaver Brook was somewhere between #3 and #10 of the courses he designed and installed. He claimed Oak Grove was #1 and I believe Huntington Beach was #2. But like I said, his record keeping wasn't perfect (the established date here for HB doesn't support that memory).

 

[coupe]

Do you or anyone have the link to this course? I travel for work a lot and try to take my discs with me whenever I can so I'm going to try to play some of these old courses mentioned here.

Thanks for all the responses gang!

PDGA Course Directory link (Note: Year Established date listed on the page is wrong; see History of the Rutgers Course on the Rutgers DGC website).

 

[Darthmerj]

At the IDGC they encourage you to putt into that basket, and they bill it as being a basket that Ed welded himself in his garage.
I've always thought that was one of the coolest parts of the museum there.