PROS & CONS OF DISC GOLF

Written By: Bill Ashton

Contributors: Suzette Simons, Tom Monroe, Squipple


DISC GOLF COURSE PROS & CONS

PROS:

1. Inexpensive Recreation - Most Courses are Free to Public

2. Age-less Game - Can also be "Family Orientated".

3. Healthy Recreation - low impact,aerobic workout, walk through nature.

4. Cost effective: 9-holes can be installed for under $5000

5. Usage: 72 People an hour can play on an 18-hole course

6. Low Maintenance

7. Reduces Vandalism

8. Attracts people from community and outside community to park.

9. Businesses in close proximity benefit from course usage

10. Area schools can potentially utilize course for physical
education and field trips.

11. A course can be designed and installed easily within the
frameworks of many different types of parcels of land such as nature preserve, flood plain, wooded areas and under utilized areas.

12. Lifetime Recreation

13. Courses can be designed to be handicap accessible.

14. Disc golf can be a source of revenue for a park department or a pay-to-play facility.

15. Disc golf tends to decrease undesirable activity in under-
utilized areas of a park.

16. Disc golf provides a recreational facility for local churches
and scout groups.



CONS:


(Ways to help)

1. Litter (Garbage Cans at Each Tee would help to reduce litter).

2. Erosion (Adding Cement Tee Pads minimize erosion).

3. Course Conflicts with Neighborhood Yards (Design away from homes).

4. Extra Foot Traffic Past Homes (Design away from homes).

5. Basket Theft (Reinforce Baskets by tack welding material to post and ground sleeve).

6. Heavy Course Traffic/Flow - (For heavy course usage; there will be waiting/backups at peak times, and parking area will be full.

Potential solutions: Install 9 more holes or build another course within the city).

7. Limited or no restroom facilities: (If restroom facilities are
not present or open year round, portable units will need to be
provided and properly maintained).


* SPECIAL NOTE: (Made by: Squipple @ www.playdg.com (http://www.playdg.com))

"The problem with CON #6 is if you build more courses, it increases interest because the sport becomes more visible to the public, which in turn creates more traffic. This is definitely a good thing for the sport, but doesn't help with course traffic flow".

* Special Thanks to Suzette Simons for adding additional comments and solutions for Con issues #6 - #7.

* Special Thanks to Tom Monroe for contributing PRO #16

We also play on golf courses, with rubber fly pads, and bathrooms his and hers, a bar, and restraunt, with a scorecard, and pencil ,and the distance is correct on all the holes.....This is not the 80s, the info on the pdga course design is old info and needs to be updated also.......Pay for play is the way..... ;)Change the venue, change the coustomer ,change the coustome change the results.You are where you play fact.....

You should return to your recently announced policy of not being your own worst spokesperson! :D "coustome"?

iceberg goldberg :eek:

Good point! I'll add that to the list of Pros. Thanks!

Bill Ashton

PROS & CONS OF DISC GOLF (UPDATED: (7-27-06)


PROS:

1. Inexpensive Recreation - Most Courses are Free to Public

2. Age-less Game - Can also be "Family Orientated".

3. Healthy Recreation - low impact,aerobic workout, walk through nature

4. Cost effective: 9-holes can be installed for under $5000

5. From a parks' perspective, disc golf is unbelievably cheap.
A decent, medium-sized playground will cost around $35,000
and can only accommodate 20-30 kids (at an absolute maximum).

6. Usage: 72 People an hour can play on an 18-hole course

7. Low Maintenance

8. Reduces Vandalism

9. Attracts people from community and outside community to park

10. Businesses in close proximity benefit from course usage

11. Area schools can potentially utilize course for physical
education and field trips.

12. A course can be designed and installed easily within the
frameworks of many different types of parcels of land such
as Nature Preserve, Flood Plain, Wooded Areas and under
utilized areas.

13. Lifetime Recreation

14. Courses can be designed to be handicap accessible.

15. Disc golf can be a source of revenue for a park department or a pay-to-play facility.

16. Disc golf tends to decrease undesirable activity in under-
utilized areas of a park.

17. Disc golf provides a recreational facility for local churches
and scout groups.

18. Disc golf is easy to learn, but challenging to master.

19. Hosting a disc golf tournament for charity can bring community together to help raise money for certain causes while enjoying the fun of playing and socializing.

20. Disc golf is now also being introduced and sharing space with golf courses across the country. As duel sports, essentially adaptable to each others terrain and toporgraphy. Another way to provide an additional source of business growth and income within a newly discovered market.



CONS:

(Solutions to Cons - Ways to help)

1. Litter (Garbage cans at each tee would help to reduce litter)

2. Erosion (Adding cement tee pads minimize erosion)

3. Course Conflicts with Neighborhood Yards (Design away from homes)

4. Extra Foot Traffic Past Homes (Design away from homes)-(however, foot traffic near homes are extra sets of eyes helping reducing daytime theft and burglaries).

5. Basket Theft (Reinforce Baskets by tack welding material to post and ground sleeves).

6. Heavy Course Traffic/Flow - (For heavy course usage; there will be waiting/backups at peak times, and parking area will be full.

Potential solutions: Install 9 more holes or build another course within the city).

7. Limited or no restroom facilities: (If restroom facilities are
not present or open year round, portable units will need to be
provided and properly maintained).

* SPECIAL NOTE:
(Provided by: Squipple @ www.playdg.com (http://www.playdg.com))

* The problem with CON #6 is if you build more courses, it increases interest because the sport becomes more visible to the which, in turn creates more traffic. This is definitely a good thing for the sport, but doesn't help with traffic flow.


WRITTEN BY: Bill Ashton


CONTRIBUTORS:

Special Thanks to Suzette Simons for adding additional
comments and solutions for Con issues #6 - #7, Tom Monroe
for contributing PRO #17, Squipple for adding an additional
solution to Con #6, Harold Duvall for providing Pro #18 and
an extra solution for Con #4, Lyle McCoon, Jr. for providing
Pro #5 and Reese Swinea for providing Pro #20.

"Duel sports" - Are you suggesting that the ball golfers and the disc golfers get out there and shoot each other at 10 paces?

"Dueling Drivers" :DI'd bet a Tee Rex will go farther than a "Big Bertha" driver!

PROS:

Ken Climo
Barry Shultz

CONS:

Cameron Todd
the guy who shot John Houck in the booty

what's the point?? :confused:

to make the sport huge and have million dollar payouts every weekend?

I created this list to help show some positive attributes to the sport of disc golf. I have helped to install about a dozen disc golf courses in Minnesota. Over the years, I've had to deal with a couple of neighborhood meetings with park departments. These meetings are never pleasant when the neighborhoods press the negative issues of disc golf. I was hoping a list such as this would help to counter balance the negatives. I've posted it for others to contribute ideas and suggestions to help improve it. I was thinking something along these lines might help other courses that may be plaqued with negative neighbors complaining. As you can see by this list, the positives out weigh the negative.

Disc Golf Rocs!

Bill Ashton

Funny, but I have never heard anyone opposing a course list any of the cons that you did.

Their list is normally quite different and fairly short.

Believe it or not, I've had some of these comments raised in park meetings over the last 30 years. I'm working on one particular park project right now that is reviewing disc golf within their master park plan. During the public comment phase, one neighbor raised the negative comment in concerns to people smoking cigarettes in the woods and possibly causing fires. What about people walking through the park that smoke? Aren't they just as subject to possibly starting a fire?

What's funny is that the NIMBY (NOT IN MY BACK YARD) type neighbors will say anything to discourage courses from going into their parks. I've certainly heard my share of negative comments over the years. So nothing surprizes me in that department.

This list was started as a way to show that there's a lot more positive aspects to disc golf then the negative issues neighbors try to raise discrediting the game. We need to find ways to educate the public that disc golf is a viable recreation and that disc golf doesn't bring servere problems to the neighborhoods.

Bill Ashton

PROS

Ken Climo
Barry Schultz
Brian Schweberger

CONS
Jeff LaGrassa
Cameron Todd

:D Wish I could respond (to more of) your posts Morgan...but your player rating is just too low. :p

"Inexpensive Recreation - Most Courses are Free to Public" This can also be a con.

Nice list Bill. Everything that could help getting more courses in the ground and help this great sport grow is well worth a cheer...

Related to
11. Area schools can potentially utilize course for physical education and field trips :

Disc golf often attracts and catch a lot of people who are not usually interested in playing "regular" sports and athletics, i.e. kids outside the "standard sports crowd". Thus providing an important community way to give new groups of kids (and of course adults alike) a meaningful and healthy occupation. Which in the long run will lead to less need for general health care, and help reduce overweight in the population.

Many Phys.Ed. teachers I've spoken with have really caught on to this aspect of the sport of disc golf, and some have even helped out in the contacts and discussions with parks and community boards, highly supporting the idea of installing a course near their school, as valuable means to help getting more kids into sports and healthy outdoor acitivities.

Pro's- It enstills a sense of community in the youth that play.

Con's- Those punk ***** kids tell their friends , then their friends come out to a mini, break into the td's car and steal the course's monies!

Two main cons that would have to change in order for disc golf to become a televised even would be the following.

1. All of the pot smoking that is done at the tourneys.

2. All of the peeing in the trees between holes.


Just my opinion.

2. All of the peeing in the trees between holes.




Yes, in a hole would be better...

Yes, in a hole would be better...



I'm sorry, I should have been more specific. When I said between holes, I really meant between the holes in which small animals live. That my friend, is why I said between holes, because peeing in the holes where small animals live would just be absurd and wrong and smelly for the animals.

because peeing in the holes where small animals liveld have been more specific. When I said would just be absurd and wrong and smelly for the animals.



...but fun!

because peeing in the holes where small animals liveld have been more specific. When I said would just be absurd and wrong and smelly for the animals.



...but fun!



Unless it's a hornets nest.

PROS & CONS OF DISC GOLF

WRITTEN BY: Bill Ashton

PROS:

1. Inexpensive Recreation - Most Courses are Free to Public

2. Age-less Game - Can also be "Family Orientated".

3. Healthy Recreation - low impact, aerobic workout, walk through nature

4. Cost effective: 9-holes can be installed for under $5000

5. From a parks' perspective, disc golf is unbelievably cheap. A decent, medium-sized playground will cost around $35,000 and can only accommodate 20-30 kids (at an absolute maximum).

6. Usage: 72 People an hour can play on an 18-hole course

7. Low Maintenance

8. Reduces Vandalism

9. Attracts people from community and outside community to park

10. Businesses in close proximity benefit from course usage

11. Area schools can potentially utilize course for physical
education and field trips.

12. A course can be designed and installed easily within the
frameworks of many different types of parcels of land such as nature preserve, flood plain, wooded areas and under utilized areas.

13. Lifetime Recreation

14. Courses can be designed to be handicap accessible.

15. Disc golf can be a source of revenue for a park department or a pay-to-play facility.

16. Disc golf tends to decrease undesirable activity in under-
utilized areas of a park.

17. Disc golf provides a recreational facility for local churches
and scout groups.

18. Disc golf is easy to learn, but challenging to master.

19. Hosting a disc golf tournament for charity can bring community together to help raise money for certain causes while enjoying the fun of playing and socializing.

20. Disc golf is now also being introduced and sharing space with golf courses across the country. As duel sports, essentially adaptable to each others terrain and topography. Another way to provide an additional source of business growth and income.

21. High Schools and Colleges are now installing permanent courses right on campus or school grounds.

22. Ski Resort facilities have begun to install disc golf for extra spring through fall season business.

23. Campground facilities have the ability to offer disc golf.


CONS:

(Solutions to Cons - Ways to help)

1. Litter (Garbage cans at each tee would help to reduce litter)

2. Erosion (Adding cement tee pads minimize erosion)

3. Course Conflicts with Neighborhood Yards (Design away from homes)

4. Extra Foot Traffic Past Homes (Design away from homes)-(however, foot traffic near homes are extra sets of eyes helping reducing daytime theft and burglaries).

5. Basket Theft (Reinforce Baskets by tack welding material to post and ground sleeves).

6. Heavy Course Traffic/Flow - (For heavy course usage; there will be waiting/backups at peak times, and parking area will be full. Potential solutions: Install 9 more holes or build another course within the city).

7. Limited or no restroom facilities: (If restroom facilities are
not present or open year round, portable units will need to be
provided and properly maintained).

* SPECIAL NOTE: (Provided by: Squipple @ www.playdg.com (http://www.playdg.com))

* The problem with CON #6 is if you build more courses, it increases interest because the sport becomes more visible to the which, in turn creates more traffic. This is definitely a good thing for the sport, but doesn't help with traffic flow.


CONTRIBUTORS:

Special Thanks to Suzette Simons for adding additional comments and solutions for Con issues #6 - #7, Tom Monroe for contributing PRO #17, Squipple for adding an additional solution to Con #6, Harold Duvall for providing Pro #18 and an extra solution for Con #4, Lyle McCoon, Jr. for providing Pro #5, Reese Swinea for providing Pro #20 and Tim Gill for providing Pro #21.

disc golf seems like a classic Tragedy of the Commons. free use of public lands encourages overuse. except for #7 con, all of the cons are likely to increase with use. pay-to-play with a portion of the proceeds funding environmental protection practices is one possible solution. ironically, the growth of higher quality free public courses could increase the cost of building the fee-based courses that would reduce the burden on the free courses.