Sunday, June 17, 2007
Disc golfers need another course
Christian Trejbal
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One of the lesser-known recreation gems of the New River Valley waits just over the bypass from Christiansburg's vast swathes of pavement and commercial development. The Golden Hills Disc Golf Course tranquilly winds through the trees at Mid County Park.
Disc golf, for those not in the know, used to be called Frisbee golf. Like normal golf, it involves making one's way from a tee box to a hole in the fewest number of strokes. Instead of a hole, though, a chain basket rattles as it catches thrown discs.
The discs themselves are to Frisbees as a Prius is to a Model-T. Players need only one to start, but some carry more than a dozen discs: drivers, midrange and putters, each designed to fly different distances along different paths.
It's an underground sport whose popularity has grown in recent years. At the least, it livens up a healthy walk through the woods. At the most, it offers fun competition between friends.
Montgomery County Parks and Recreation, which built Golden Hills in 1999, has tracked the popularity.
"If it's a really nice day with Virginia Tech and Radford in session on a Saturday, we can get upward of 500 people coming through," said Brad Buchanan, outdoor recreation supervisor for county parks and recreation. "It gets an extremely heavy amount of use, almost too much in a way."
Golden Hills, where play is free, is the only disc golf course in the New River Valley, so the crowds, who show up even with snow on the ground, are hardly surprising. Golfers must travel to Roanoke to find another course.
Plus Montgomery County did things right. It built an excellent -- if short -- course that challenges experienced players. Competitors in the Commonwealth Games of Virginia will play there next month.
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A tough, wooded course is not ideal for everyone, though. Roanoke's Fishburn Park course, for example, caters to beginners with wide-open holes. The New River Valley needs something comparable where new players can learn the game and experienced players can get in a quick round.
Then the region needs another challenging course.
Local parks and recreation officials agree the demand exists, but there is a gulf between demand and financial reality.
Art Price, director of Christiansburg's parks and recreation department, concluded a couple of years ago that his department needed to plan for a course. He named the unbuilt aquatic center as a possible site. Yet, with the aquatic center now under construction, the course remains a distant dream.
"It'll depend on how the park and everything gets developed," Price explained. The town plans to expand the skate park first. If space allows, a disc golf course remains a possibility.
Radford, where plenty of college students would play, is also considering a course and included one in its riverfront master plan.
Ken Goodyear, Radford's parks and recreation director, cited money as the problem. He hopes to have financing for a nine-hole course in the capital budget within a couple of years.
Even in Montgomery County, there is talk of more disc golf. Buchanan explained that the Golden Hills course was designed with expansion in mind. It has room for nine more holes, but like in Radford, the money is not available right now.
Disc golf courses are not particularly expensive. Beyond the baskets, which cost about $500 each, little public investment is required, though more is welcome.
Disc golfers, like skateboarders, accept that theirs is a niche sport. They therefore commonly volunteer their time and effort to ease the burden on public coffers.
At Golden Hills, players designed the course and now maintain it. They clean up garbage, clear brush and keep up the facilities. The county enjoys a public disc golf course that doubles as hikeable green space open to everyone.
If only more sports' boosters had a similar attitude instead of an overblown sense of entitlement. Imagine if baseball and soccer parents invested their own sweat to maintain fields. Limited public resources could then support so much more.
Until a new course or two open, though, the New River Valley has Golden Hills. Pick up a disc and try to rattle the chains. Disc golf caters to all ages and skills. Just watch out for the poison ivy after an errant shot.
Trejbal is an editorial writer for The Roanoke Times based in the New River Valley bureau in Christiansburg.
