Crockett Park Disc Golf Course work for 2010

[Don Blankenship]

I guess I have too much time on my hands the last couple of days, so I started putting together a list of Workday stuff at Crockett. Hopefully we will be able to set up some volunteer time over there after the first of the year.

Ron, RD, Richard?? Where do we stand on having enough dollars to buy the club insurance? What else do we need for Brentwood to let us work on the course?

Mulch first: (Ron, can you get them to drop some mulch?? Pleeeze)
· All the “wooded“ hole fairways except #6 which the city already did (nice job, too); 3 tee area, 4 basket, 5 tee, 7, 8, 15 basket.
· All the paths; to 3 white tee, to 5 white tee, to 8 tees, to 9 tees, to 16 tees.
· Some of the basket areas, maybe 5’ radius?; 3, 10, 12 short, 16 for sure, 17.

Pruning, undergrowth.
Where to start? Anything we get done before it turns green again would be awesome. If we don’t it will get overgrown like it did this year.
· Prune all the overhanging and low limbs on all the fairway tree edges so (pleeze, Ron, talk to them) the mower guys can actually mow up next to the edge.
· Cut back the undergrowth 15 or 20 feet off the fairways so we can find our friggin disc!
· Check the playing areas for the thorns on the dang hedge apple trees. When we installed the course we cut all the thorns from eye-level on down, but now it is getting dangerous again. Dang it.

Tee pads.
Until we get some real ones, we need to fix these carpet pads. Some are holding up better than others. At least we don’t have the mud anymore. Ron, where did you get the scraps? More, we need replacements. Soon.

Other stuff.
· Basket numbers. Richard, did you do those ? We need more.
· Need steps up to 16, down 18 fairway, and another one added on 16 fairway. Didn’t “Steps” John do those on 16?
· Add alternate basket placements on 2, 4, 5, and 11. Oh, yeah.
· And can we get a sign pointing to dg at that first stop sign? Can someone make one? Would that be ok?

Geez, I feel like we are a year behind already. Let’s get some pride back in the course and go to work!!

Don

[bullington]

IMO, on the tees it is better to put a new piece of carpet over the old rather than pull up the old piece. That may be what you had in mind, but you used the word replace.

I have seen them add layers of carpet in Florence, AL for several years, it works quite well.

[RD]

Geeez Don, you must have been sleeping for a year and dreamed of all these improvements.

They all sound like great ideas to me, the job they did on 6 is excellent.
If i remember right this time of year they mulch up a bunch of christmas trees that would be PERFECT to spread around.

i definitly think around the basket on 4, 7, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16 is a MUST, and 17
at the end of each pad would be nice too, so if your run up is long you wont slip.

i agree that we could put new carpet down OVER the existing, the ones in Florence do work quite well

we are working on getting the money up for insurance, we have to sell more bag tags.....did you get yours yet by the way?
you'll have to let Ron respond about what else is needed, hes the one communicating with the parks people

Thats where were at, if we can get the ok back from them, the workdays can follow and the pride you speak of will be able to be distributed around the course again.

dont get me wrong, the things the park workers have done are great, i would like to work WITH them, but there are a few things only a golfer can do that will improve on what is already a great course

[Ron Pittman]

Don,
Great list!!

Heavens. If that list gets done by spring--- it would be just wonderful. I am still most hopeful that we can hammer out a working relationship with the city(to host events) and a volunteer relationship to work on course upkeep.

In my mind (a most feeble place to keep anything), I keep hoping that an upkeep partnership with the city could/would make the course what it ought to be. They have the ability to do some heavy lifting; bush hog, turf mowers, chippers, etc. and we have the manpower to do the fine tuning. The couse needs both. It is a big piece of land.

Dave had ok'd it for me and his staff to walk the couse together. I hope to set that up this month.

Mulch? Great timing. RD is right. CHRISTmas tree mulch is good stuff. I am still out of town, but will get an email to Dave.

And you may have hit upon the right emotion -- Pride. IMO, with the current economic picture, the city doesn't have the dollars or the time to do much more than hit the high spots. Do they have the heart? We shall see.

Ron Soap Box Moment.
The effort to create pride in a course (with golfers) has to be on-going. WCDGC has to stand for something. Our number one expectation of a member should be for them to be willing to learn how to be an ambassador. I don't think it comes naturally.

What comes naturally? Writing your name on a tee sign when you make an ace. ARGH. So help me, if we can find out who did that on #8, I shall see that they are charged with vandalism. Time for that deer cam.

What comes naturally? When some limb or tree is dangling in your way, just snap it off. Sure, we can all agree that the course is overgrown and there is concern if last year's new growth will ever be cut back -- but to start snapping trees!!!!

What comes naturally? Thinking that you are in your own back yard!! Brew and bowl-packing are for YOUR yard, not the local course. And pick up your trash while you are at it.

What comes naturally?
Not giving any thought to others. I've heard some young rec golfers actually complain about joggers on the path. And no -- when they walked by, the young golfers were anything but ambassadors.

What comes naturally?
Taking care of yourself (to the exclusion of others)
Crockett has lot of newcomers, families, etc coming to play. They wander up to the map with nothing but expectation. What will they find? Will they be welcomed? Noticed? Invited to join a group? Will their questions about where and how be answered? Will they find their way around the course? Will the targets have numbers on them? (sorry, that one still pisses me off) Will they learn the rules? Will they learn to play with courtesy?

I am convinced that the presence of a growing group of ambassadors --- especially during casual play---- makes a HUGE difference as to the reputation that a course developes. It goes way beyond course maintenance. WCDGC has been and hopefully will continue to be that influence.

Sure, we lost some ground this year. A club without a weekly presence is mostly just a good idea. I don't expect the city to understand this. They may know parks, but they don't yet know the positive influence that an active club can make to THEIR park.
Ron down.

And get your rakes ready. A little insurance. A little meeting. A lot of mulch. I see a Crockett Volunteer Workday in our future.

Ron

[becker]

Whew. Once I heard Ron start on the "What comes naturally," I was afraid I'd have to endure another lecture about birds and bees, and I've not seen any of that kind of action on the course.

I'm always happy to recruit new folks for the course, and though I'm not as quick-carded as Woody, I'll keep bringing new faces. Regular events would definitely help, as they'd have a good opportunity to meet the fine folks that play (and upkeep) Crockett. (They'd meet me too, but hopefully they'd overlook that.)

Seriously, it'd be nice to have more control over moving baskets and prepping some areas. #12 used to be a cave, but now there are too many entries. Same goes for #15, which used to force a tunnel or an over-the-top. If non-players are in charge of trimmings and cutbacks, it removes some of the challenge that any good course should have. At the very least, I'm happy Ron'll walk the course with some park staff for suggestions.

Weather in the 30s, huh? Yug. May as well make 'em workdays, as the labor will help keep us warm. Lemme know when the workday(s) are scheduled. Justin's looking forward to working a chainsaw this year.

Oh yeah: when is the city sponsoring golf carts?

[bryan]

I'm in for some workdays, but my kids keep a pretty busy schedule on the weekends and it can be hard to carve out 4-5 hours all at once. Happy to make a meaningful contribution with the checkbook, however, if one is needed. In summertime, I have a lot of free time, but in the winter and spring it can be tough.

As far as course improvements are concerned, here's another thought, though I don't know if everyone will agree. It might be nice, and serve both the recreational and more serious players to purchase a second basket for 12 so that it can consistently be played both ways -- to the cave and long. The cave placement doesn't really work with the tee positions for 13, and the alternate tee there really changes the nature of hole 13, where OB is always on your mind. That would even allow rec players to play the course as 19 holes by playing to 12 cave then to 12 long if they wanted.

Sharp Springs hole 14 (or is it 15) has this same setup: a shorter, ace-able basket along with a really long position -- both of which are always set with a target.

Speaking of Sharp Springs, a couple of months ago one of their volunteer crew did some beautiful steps and tiered retaining walls at the end of the first hole with timbers and mulch. There's no question that helping hands can turn in some really nice work to beautify the course, as well as make it safer and easier to get around. All without costing the city a dime.

[RD]

bryan,
good points, all of which i hope can become reality some day
Hopefully when we get going again, we can implement workday hole adoptions again.

this allows each person to take pride and focus on one or two holes rather than worry about the whole course.

if we had say 36 people in the club, and two were adoptive of 1 hole, a whole lot of work could get done in a real short time.

and i love how you put "all without costing the city a dime"
once we have insurance and rhe city cuts us loose, we will see the course get back up to speed. sharp springs is a great example of some great workday improvements.

[RD]

There is a monster pile of multched up christmas trees on the hill going down from 5 to 6.

Lets hope the park spreads in out on the course some, that would be VERY cool of them

.......it smells REALLY good too!!

[Ron Pittman]

Bryan,
You are on target with your thoughts on #12? (does that qualify as a pun?)

One of the greatest challenges of course design is to create a course that is enjoyed by multiple skill levels. Crockett meets a lot of needs with the double set of tees, but your notion on how to handle the TrueParFours is the best.

When a new player/casual player/etc comes up to our #12Long they can sometimes be more bewildered than excited. It makes perfect sense to install a permanant target in the par 4 spot --- and rotate the par 3 target from whatever pin positions exist.

In the final design for Crockett, there is to be a par 4 position for holes 2,4,5,9, 11, 12, & 18 (island hole). The club has always planned to finance a permanant target in those spots. That way you could not only have the option of playing red or white tees, but you could play the white tees to the par 54 positions OR you could play the white tees to the par 61 postitions. Depends on your time/skill level, etc.

Ron

[RD]

Ron,
whats the word on the pile of multch, any chance the course will get some?

[bryan]

Some mulch has been spread on 4 around the pin as well as on 7s fairway (such as it is). It seems as though there was some in one other place too -- maybe on the walkway leading up to 3s tee or around the teebox on 5 white? Anyway, it looks as though it has just been poured out by a loader and not really spread out with rakes. On 4 it seems to me to be a little too thick and spongy around the green as it is now deployed.

Something is desperately needed on 15 around the basket -- nothing but mud around the pin. Where does that water come from, anyway? It's not exactly the lowest spot around but always seems swampy there.

[RD]

Sweet, im glad to hear they are spreading it, if it is just dumped take some time to use your foot as a rake and spread a little, its all better than nothing. were playing glow tonight, i'll see if we can do a little with it.

I think the wet pin you speak of is 16 not 15, i think ron has said there is a big flat area of rock not far under the dirt so the water just sits rather than soaks into the ground

and yes i agree it has been the worst one as far as mud goes

and it may seem too thick in areas right now, but as we found last year, the christmas tree mulch tends to decay away faster than most, but like i say, its all better than nothing

i dont know if anyone from the city reads this board, if you do, THANKS!!

[RD]

Good gosh, they did a lot of spreading, and yes it is VERY thick, by spring it should be flattened out nicely.
they did a lot of work, thanks to them