New disc golf course planned
Published 2:54 pm Saturday, June 28, 2008
For young and old, disc golf has become a way for people to enjoy the outdoors and to play a game for relatively little money.
Albert Lea has seen the success of its nine hole course at Bancroft Park grow since it was first established five years ago and now plans are in the works to add another 18 hole course on Aug. 9.
Jim Troe, Dan DeBor and Glen Stevens are working on installing the additional 18 holes on the south end of Bancroft Park, next to the lower parking lot.
Troe said the site lends itself easily to another course.
“The way it’s mowed, it’s almost like its designed for a disc golf course,” he said.
Each hole will be sponsored by a local business with sponsorships running at $500 each. Troe has lined up 13 sponsors already and plans to have all 18 sponsored by Aug. 9.
DeBor and Troe, who work for Pro Manufacturing, are making the targets for the course, and with the help of a group of area church members will install the targets and construct the tee boxes.
DeBor, Troe and Stevens hope to make the new course into a site where tournaments can be hosted, much like the course at Todd Park in Austin.
All three started playing the game five years ago in DeBor’s backyard and they soon found out the game was a way to release stress and a round typically takes an hour and fifteen minutes.
“You can play 18 in an hour and 15 minutes,” Troe said. “And it doesn’t cost anything.”
The group originally played with the big Frisbees used for recreation, but after learning more about the sport decided to purchase the standard, smaller discs because they travel farther.
DeBor and Troe often play during their lunch break and play during the winter even. They have noticed the increased use of the nine hole course and decided the time was right to add another 18 holes.
“Two years ago you never had to wait,” Troe said. “Now you constantly have to wait. This is a good timing.”
They are somewhat of an anomaly on the course as the sport mainly attracts teenagers and college students looking for cheap entertainment, but older people are taking up the sport in more numbers.
“The kids accept you as one of them,” Troe said. “When we played in Chicago and California the players tended to be older.”
The process got started in May and things quickly picked up because of the ease it takes to build a course.
“We’ve noticed this spring how much use the nine is getting maybe we better expand it,” Albert Lea Parks and Recreation director Jay Hutchison said. “We had talked about it before.”
The first nine went up in 2003 and that’s when Albert Lea resident Travis Braget started playing the game.
“Once they built this one I got hooked,” he said. “It’s just a good way to get exercise.”
The discs range in cost from $8.99 to $18.99 at Martin’s Cycling and Fitness and starter sets are available for $30.
Store manager Justin Bolinger has noticed an increase in sales this spring.
“We’ve sold a lot more this year,” Bolinger said.
The store has had to order more discs than before to fill the increased demand.