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Fore!
Disc golf course set to put Knoxville ‘on the map’
by Clint Casey
The appeal of disc golf is straightforward. Throwing a modified children’s toy hundreds of yards into a metal basket with authority and accuracy is a thrill. And, best of all, discs are inexpensive and playing around the region is free.
At the moment, Knoxville has two disc golf courses. An intermediate course located at Morningside Park on Dandridge Avenue near downtown, and a novice course on Northshore Drive near the fringe of Farragut. However, a third course is slated to open at the new Victor Ashe Park on July 17 with a tournament hosted by the Knoxville Disc Golf Association.
Since 1975, when the sport originated, interest has increased progressively, an average of 10 percent per year, with very little marketing. The courses in Knoxville see an average of 100 players a day, far more than most public tennis courts. Brain Beauchene, owner of Pluto Sports and member of the KDGA, suggests that the success of disc golf is because the sport is a low-priced alternative to traditional golf that is much easier to learn.
“The rules are pretty much the same. You can carry 14 discs, like 14 clubs in golf, but you really only need one disc,” Beauchene says. “With disc golf you don’t need special shoes or outfit or golf cart. You can have fun even if you’re not good. But if you play one or two times a week for a month, you can get pretty good pretty fast.”
Disc golf uses the same terminology as traditional golf. Birdie, bogey, and “you’re away” are applicable. Should the disc land in the water or land in a tree, there is a one-stroke penalty. “It offers the same challenges, decisions and dynamics of golf with less time and energy spent on fundamentals,” Beauchene says.
The disc is thrown from a concrete pad, traditionally, 200 to 500 feet at a minimum to a large metal basket outfitted with hanging chains that work as a slowing mechanism. Regulation concrete pads are 6 by 15 feet with a 3/4-inch upward tilt and have a rough texture to keep players from slipping when the surface is wet.
Made of plastic, there are three types of discs, ranging in price from $8 to $20: driver, mid-range and putter. A driver has a sharp edge to cut through the wind, a mid-range disc has an edge not quite as sharp, and a putter typically has a domed or flat edge that offers more resistance and control. A novice player shouldn’t expect to throw a disc much more than 100 feet, an intermediate player can typically throw 300 feet, and most professionals can throw more than 500 feet.
Similar to golf’s PGA, the sport is somewhat regulated by the 30,000 member Professional Disc Golf Association. The PDGA considers the quality of discs before approval for large-scale production and holds and regulates tournaments.
Locally, however, the KDGA represents and maintains Knoxville’s courses and players. The organization began in 1992 as the Knoxville Area Disc Golf League, but when they discovered that the Internet domain name www.kadl.com was unavailable, the name was changed to Knoxville Disc Golf Association. Dues for the organization are $10 per year. Half of that fee is earmarked for tournament prize packages for weekly tournaments, and the other $5 is allotted to area course improvements. KDGA holds doubles tournaments most Wednesday evenings at Morningside and handicap tournaments are held on Sunday afternoons at Admiral Farragut Park.
The course at Morningside was the first, sort of. In the early 80s, the baskets were originally located in Sequoyah Hills on the waterfront, but the complaints of dog owners bombarded by discs forced the city of Knoxville to reposition the course to Morningside Park.
Joe Walsh, deputy director of parks and recreation for Knoxville, says, “Before the course came into Morningside, the park was overrun with prostitutes and drug users, but it’s become a very friendly atmosphere.” The intermediate course began with 18 holes, was reduced to nine with the James White Parkway expansion, and later reorganized to offer 13 holes totaling 5,400 feet. A number of the baskets at Morningside are rickety, upwards of 20 years old, but in late July the course will get a facelift with a redesign and re-welded baskets.
Baskets were placed in Admiral Farragut Park on Northshore Drive near Pellissippi Parkway more than seven years ago. “It was a good idea at the right time,” Knox County Director of Parks and Recreation Doug Bataille says. “In the past, there wasn’t a good user group there. We had some problems. A park with secluded shelters used to be a good thing, but now we design parks wide open.”
The county helped with the cost of providing the baskets and the workers to construct the course, but, aside from mowing duties and trash pickup, the KDGA maintains it. The nine-hole course is geared more toward beginners, with a total length of 4,200 feet, and the site balances holes with a mix of wooded and open areas. “Disc golf brings a nice user group of kids and adults playing together,” Bataille says. “The biggest problem is that it’s only nine holes. We’ve got some undeveloped land in the Concord park system, and we’d like to put 18 holes in there and provide a higher level of play.”
However, Knoxville will have a brand new course at Victor Ashe Park located off of Pleasant Ridge Road in mid-July. According to local PDGA members, the course rivals the best in the world and, when it opens, will be the longest course with the longest hole in Tennessee. “We built the course around what was already there,” KDGA club president Mike Burns says. The course, dubbed VA, is significantly longer, at 8,100 feet total, than the two other courses that the city and county currently offer. “Augusta National Golf Club had to back the tees up to keep up with the technology of golf balls and clubs,” Burns says. He suggests VA was designed longer to keep up with disc technology—improved design and engineering, made with superior plastics.
Although the city poured the concrete tees and placed baskets, KDGA supervised the process, clearing much of the brush themselves in the construction of the course. In addition, organization member Sam Moffat sold hole sponsorships to help fund the upcoming Morningside redesign.
The KDGA hopes to work with the Knoxville Sports and Tourism Corp. in scheduling future tournaments at VA, Burns says, “We didn’t have any courses in the area to bring players to Knoxville. Warrior’s Path [course] near Kingsport brings people from more than an hour away. But this course is going to put us on the map.”
June 17, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 25
© 2004 Metro Pulse
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