The new course below the DMC also made the Mercury News last week.





--- In montereydiscgolf@yahoogroups.com, "Greg Pool" <gpoole13@...> wrote:
>
> http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/local/16101571.htm
>
> Posted on Sun, Nov. 26, 2006
>
> Park new site of disc golf course
>
> By DANIA AKKAD
> Herald Staff Writer
>
> Local golfers will have yet another course to play early next year.
>
> Like Pebble or Spanish Bay, the 18 holes of this course will be
> surrounded by beautiful trees, fine hotels and the occasional fog
> bank. But unlike most other courses, you won't have to call ahead for
> a tee time and you can leave your clubs at home.
>
> Instead, bring flying discs.
>
> Monterey's Don Dahvee Park -- 36 woodsy acres sandwiched between the
> Jack in the Box and Del Monte Center on Munras Avenue -- will soon be
> the site of a disc golf course.
>
> For a year, members of the Monterey Stinging Jellies Disc Golf Club, a
> nonprofit group, have proposed to permanently install baskets at the
> park and provide players and those who want to learn the sport with
> the fourth course in the county.
>
> Two others -- Oak and Cypress -- are located at CSU-Monterey Bay. A
> third course is at Carmel Middle School.
>
> Having a disc golf course for free play right in the heart of Monterey
> will help increase awareness about the sport, give families a
> recreational outlet and increase revenues for surrounding businesses,
> particularly if a tournament drawing out-of-town visitors is held at
> the course, said club treasurer Sean Allen.
>
> At the same time, Allen said, the atmosphere at the isolated park
> might change, too.
>
> "It seemed like a perfect place," Allen said. "Parks that have some
> kind of negative element like homeless people or drug use or whatever,
> the city doesn't seem to be too happy with it. Disc golf seems to be a
> great alternative."
>
> This month, the city's Park and Recreation Commission agreed. The
> course may be open as early as January, said Doug Stafford, a deputy
> public works director for the city.
>
> "Bringing people into the park is what I'm interested in," Stafford
> said. "It's a great big space there and we don't have too many people
> going through there."
>
> Other than city employee time to work on the project, the club is
> paying for the project and, depending on the advice of the city's
> legal staff, members may also help install it, Stafford said.
>
> By selling discs and other disc golf paraphernalia at tournaments,
> Allen said, the club was able to buy 18 baskets at $300 each.
>
> The gist of the game is much the same as golf, but in place of holes,
> there are baskets into which to toss discs.
>
> The big difference is the cost and the attitude. With a disc and some
> free time, the game is a relaxing, low-key leisure sport and most
> courses are free, Allen said.
>
> "It's like a walk in the park," Allen said. "It's relaxing. It's
> therapeutic and you don't really have to take it all that seriously.
> You don't have to count your strokes it you don't want to."
>
> The club, which was founded in 2004 and has 100 members ranging from
> 13 to 70 years old, hosts a beginners' seminar every couple of months.
> Allen encourages anyone interested to come out and learn how to play.
>
> "Everybody is so nice in the disc golf world," he said. "Even
> beginners can play along with us, and we don't mind teaching them."
>
> www.montereydiscgolf.com
>
> Dania Akkad can be reached at 646-4494 or dakkad@...
>