East China Township Park is a large community park offering multiple recreational opportunities for all ages. The disc golf course is located near the southern end of the park away from the playing fields and trails.
PROS:
FREE TO PLAY
Course Difficulty Matches the Areas Needs ~ Disc Golf is new to the area so the course needed to stay simple enough not to scare away first-timers, while still offering a challenge to the regulars. The course is mostly beginner-friendly as long as you can keep it on the fairways. The rough is still pretty thick from it being a newer course. Winter play is a lot easier without the foilage.
Fair Design ~ Course flows smooth from hole-to-hole but the longer walk from hole 6 to 7 can get confusing for the first timers without a scorecard map. There is an even mix of variety with 3 holes ending right, 3 holes ending left and 3 holes that are straight. Most holes range from 300-400 feet in the field, to 200-300 in the woods. The fairways are just tight enough to thwart off the chuckers who'll learn quick when they end up in the wild raspberry bushes with their errantly thrown warp speed drivers.
Minimal Water Hazards ~ The course plays along the Belle River, but not over it. This reduces the chances of losing discs. Water does come more into play in the proposed "back 9", but it will be across the smaller creeks that flow into the Belle River. Worst case scenario you'll be ankle deep in spots that are OB.
Tee Signage ~ Next Tee arrows and signage are on the small side but seem efficient enough to deter vandalism. Hole map, number and distance in feet are shown. The "Next Tee" arrows are here and there to help you at the trouble spots.
Bathrooms, Drinking Fountains and Shade ~ Bathrooms are just a small walk from the course, BUT only one by the sledding hill is open during WINTER. The course has plenty of shade trees near the tee areas to help keep you cool in the summers. Another bonus is that that the taller trees keep the sun out of your eyes when its low.
Possibility of Expansion ~ The disc golf course is currently a 9 Hole course. The tee areas are currently natural terrain. This will give the parks a chance to see what works best before the permanent tees are installed. There are possibilities of moving the tee areas and/or adding dual tees in 2013. The course could also be expanded to 18 holes/baskets upon the 9-hole course success. There is just enough room to make it into 18 holes if we can show the parks dept how DG will benefit the park and its users.
Cons: CONS:
Since it is a busy park, the area for the disc golf course is very limited. Avoiding pre-existing trails and seasonal sports activities has been the toughest part in planning the location, design and flow of the course. The best hope is for the front nine to be successful in order to give us a little more to work with for the back nine.
Teepads are not installed yet. As of Jan 2013, the course has natural tees. Posts with hole number and hole map/length are the only way of knowing where to tee.
Raspberry Bushes ~ Rough is full of wild raspberry bushes. Not a fun place to land in, but you can't chop everything down and make it too easy. I'm just glad its not the thorny crabapple trees I had to deal with when I was building the Ira Twp DGC.
Parking ~ In peak soccer or baseball season, the parking lots fill fast on late afternoons and weekends. Otherwise it's not much of an issue EXCEPT from Nov-May where the gates are usually closed and you have to park a long ways away. On the bright side, it does prevent the course from becoming a muddy mess during the wet months since it will keep the usage down.
Dead Trees ~ There are many dead trees throughout the park, especially in the woods. Quite a few are leaning on top of other tree's making it difficult to safely remove them. Half of the proposed back nine is in the woods and cannot be started until it is safe.
Missing Baskets ~ Two baskets were removed for the winter because someone, somehow, bent/tipped them over. They will be out of the ground until sometime in the spring.
Missing a couple other things...
Although the course is open and playable, there are still things that are not in place yet until spring. The tee areas still need woodchips spread on the high traffic areas, as well as some kind of benches and garbage cans to be put in place. The main course sign also needs to be installed near hole 1/ parking lot.
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paul laboyteaux
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May 7, 2013
