News Archive
Provisional Course Proposal Update: 9.8.99
The meeting with the Sub-Committee of the Commission of the Department of Recreation and Parks went as well as we realistically could have hoped for. Concerns were raised over the facts that limited notifications had been sent out to the about the walk-through of the provisional course, the notices were only sent a week in advance of the walk-through, and the walk-through had been scheduled so close to the date for the Commission meetings. A member of the community also expressed concern over the proposed concrete tee pads, stating that he "goes into the park to escape all of the concrete of the city, not find more of it."
Club president Greg Quiroga made a brief presentation to the sub-committee, underscoring the key messages you've all heard so often. Greg also took the opportunity to directly answer the issue of concrete tee pads saying that if concrete tees were the sole obstacle preventing installation, we'd just as soon work with the community to find a tee surface acceptable to all --such as wood chips. One of the more interesting points to note: one of the appendixes of our proposal is a partial list of disc golf courses in the United States. Sacramento is listed as having 7 courses, which raised the woman chairing the meeting's eyebrows, "you are telling me Sacramento has 7 courses? Are they all 9-holes?" When Greg told her they were all 18-hole courses, she was incredulous.
"Are there 18-hole courses all over the state?" she asked. "Maam," he said, "I can name the 20 or so disc golf courses I travel all over Northern California to play on a regular basis."
After about a five minute Q and A, Ross spoke, and he covered all of the points Greg had missed, and underscored a few of the ones he hadn't. Ross mentioned the fact that the SFDGC did demonstrations with over 3,000 school children last year, and that the Board of Supervisors currently has over 800 letters of support for a frisbee golf course, including 600 from SF children. The Commissioners decided that another community walk-through is in order, but that the Sub-Committee does not need to hear from us again before the issue goes before the full Commission of Recreation and Park. McLaren came up, and was summarily dismissed as having "far more dynamics involved than need go into here."
The issue of a frisbee golf course in Golden Gate Park has been passed on to the full commission of the department of Recreation and Parks, with no recommendation either way, pending another walk-through of the proposed course with the public. At the end of the meeting the woman chairing the meeting went out of her way to tell us how impressed she is with the ways in which we've conducted ourselves, and the manner in which we're attempting to bring this sport to the city.
Weekly Shoot-A-Rounds: Thursday 6:15 PM
Weekly Shoot-A-Rounds are in effect for at least another month, and this year we've got the formula for fun for everyone! We've mapped out a nine-hole course in Golden Gate Park that starts and ends at Marx Meadow, and takes about an hour to play. Short and long tees for every hole offer a variety of challenges, and the setting is absolutely beautiful.