STROUD TOWNSHIP, PA

Stroud Township's Yetter Park Disc Golf Update

     A disc golf course is almost complete in Yetter Park off of Roosevelt and Wilson Avenue. It is located down the road from M & S Country Store on Stokes Ave.  and borders Brodhead Creek.   A Grand Opening is expected to be held this summer along with a workshop or demonstrations to show how the game is played.  The parking lot and most of the holes and baskets are in.  Course signage and a bulletin board with the course design and score cards will be erected before the Grand Opening.  Meanwhile, enthusiasts are welcome to practice on the parts of the course that are completed.  

       All 18 baskets are now installed, most of the 17 tee boxes are constructed, and filled with gravel. There is still some clearing to do and signs to be placed at each hole.

      This course came about because a group of local young men spear-headed by Jordan Bunn approached Stroud Township's Park and Recreation Board last year with a proposal and request to put in an 18 hole disc golf course in one of the parks. After visiting Hickory Run State Park's disc golf course, Board members were enthusiastic about putting in a course in the township as it would provide a free activity for residents and not have much of an impact on park land.  Unlike regular golf, disc golf holes can be played in a wooded setting as well as on grass.  The cost of the discs is not very much, so it is a very economical and family friendly game. Besides walking through a lovely park for a little bit of exercise and being admidst nature, players enjoy the competition and challenge of getting as close to the basket with as few shots as possible. You need not be an athlete to play this game.  You need not call ahead to make a tee time.  As in regular golf, players range in age from children to those in their 80s.  Usually, once a disc golf park opens, leagues form for the thrill of competition.

     Jordan personally cleared brush for the tees, and put in the in the baskets and tees himself, occasionally with the help of other disc golf enthusiasts and some other volunteers including teachers and students, church youth groups, and cub scouts giving a few hours of help for service projects.  We are grateful to them all for their help.  The Township Park crew put in the trail through the park, which is also part of the Levee Loop Trail. http://www.srosrc.org/Levee%20Loop%20Trail%20Project.htm

      Jordan assisted Dr. John Duesler, 2004's PDGA State Representative for Pennsylvania, in designing the course.  Dr. Duesler has designed and  installed over 20 courses using the natural and man-made features of the land. 

     A description of disc golf is: you have 18 holes and tees as in regular golf, and you keep score as in regular golf.  Instead of hitting a ball with a golf club, you throw small plastic frisbees called discs, which are chosen as golf clubs are, for whether you want it to go far, straight or with a hook.  Instead of a hole, you aim for a basket made of chains. You do not try to get it to fall in like a ball in basketball, but get it to go into the chains and stay inside.   Disc golf has been around at least for a decade in places down south and in Philadelphia but is new to the Pocono area.  There are a few established courses in the Lehigh Valley.  Competitions and championships have been played there.  For more on the history of disc golf and the various types of discs, visit: http://www.innovadiscs.com/aboutus.html

     For more information on this sport, visit the website of the Professional Disc Golf Association www.pdga.com/

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05-30-07