Saga of a Disc Golf Course Restructure - Part 2

Before I continue, I should probably provide a cast of characters of those involved.

First of all, me: Tim. As I stated previously, I’ve only been playing Terrace Creek for a little more than 2 years, but being the disc golf addict that I am, I’m usually out there at least 3-4 days of the week, if not more. In my eyes, its a good disc golf course with great potential, and in comparison to other courses in the area, it could use some much needed TLC.

Aaron: One of my good discing buddies that I met from playing many rounds at the course. He’s probably done more for the day to day maintenance of the course than anyone else. The city provides almost no support to the course, other than an occasional, uneven mowing. If there’s a trashcan that’s emptied or litter that’s been picked up, there’s a good chance Aaron was involved.



Lowell: An old school pro who has been around since the sport’s induction. He is the one largely responsible for the course being installed in the park in the first place. He is the self-delegated “president” of the Seattle Disc Golf Club (more on the quotation marks some other time).

Ken: The main guy in the parks department. We rarely see him, but he is our main connection to knowing what’s going on with the city plans and so forth.

Robin: The main, make that the only person that is against the disc golf course. She is an environmentalist, which is all well and good, but she has it in her mind that she would like to turn Terrace Creek Park into a wilderness sanctuary. She believes that disc golf is a harmful activity and would like to see us gone. Unfortunately for us, she has experience and education, so even though she is only a single voice, she is effective in her arguments.

So, knowing that the changes were to be inevitable, Aaron and I started taking treks through the woods, trying to find suitable replacement holes for the four that we would eventually be losing. We found a few possible locations, but ran into some problems. One place that would be a prime area for us to put a hole is a party spot used by the local teenagers–a natural clearing in the woods that would make a perfect green area that is regularly filled with empty beer cans and stolen lawn furniture. It would be an ideal solution, we’d have another hole, and we’d be helping out the city by clearing the kids out (at least of that particular area). The problem is that the hole is separated from the main pathway of the park by a small creek. The simple solution would be to build a bridge or two over the creek. But apparently if we were to build a bridge, it would have to be done by the city (if it were even allowed), and that would be expensive and would take far too long. Further complicating the situation, on the other side of the possible hole, is an extensive swamp area.

Aaron and I explored the area and though there were possibilities of holes, it was not an ideal solution by any means. Because of the swamp, we’d essentially have to walk the perimeter of the park in order to connect with other parts of the course. We did find one hole that would work, and be able to connect back with the main path, so after several hours of exploring, we had found one of four replacements. We reported our findings to Lowell, which is when he informed us that we should really be looking for six replacement holes. There were two more holes that the city would like to see moved.