Q: I just heard our County Commissioner wants to fund a disc course - Cool!

But they are planning to lay it out along a walking trail that gets pretty good use. You have any "words of wisdom" I can use to persuade her that this is not the best location?

I am about to write to her relating some of my experiences (30 yrs of disc golf) and why this is not the best location. But it would really help to have documentation and not just my opinion.

A: It is indeed amazing how everyone thinks they can design a disc golf course, while the truth is very few people have the experience and the eye to do it right. It sounds like you're ready to embark on a delicate diplomatic mission, namely trying to influence where the baskets are planted, and by whom.

There are three distinct phases of creating a golf course. One, finding a suitable piece of land. Two, getting permission to use it. Three, building the course. Congratulations on reaching this critical third phase. None of us wants to see a disc golf course put in the ground by people who've never played the game, and there are certain strategies to ensure that doesn't happen. Jon, if you are serious about helping this course grow up to be fun, fair, beautiful, varied and as far as possible from civilization (i.e., walking paths), your letter is merely the first step, an introduction.

Tell her only that you're an avid disc golfer, and want to help. Volunteer your frisbee friends as well. You can plant the seed of greater disc golf understanding by mentioning your favorite courses, somehow working in the fact the many decisions that go into the making of each one. But tread lightly, so they don't feel like they're getting complaints before they've planted the first basket. Soften them up a little before presenting your treatise on proper disc golf course design.

Basically, ask to be a part of the process. Soon, once you and your cohorts have appeared at a few meetings and, we hope, a walk-through of the property, it will become apparent that you have no ulterior motives other than to create the disc golf playground of your dreams, one that residents of all ages can enjoy year round. If you're keeping anything secret, it's that you desperately want the course to be designed by disc golfers, and not a bunch of goofballs who, like 95 percent of the population, believe they can design a whole disc golf course in about 45 minutes, tops.

You may want to let them know that the top disc golf course designers get over $2000 for mapping out an 18-hole course, adding that certain local designers cost considerably less, and, quite possibly, would be willing to design the course as a service to the community. It cannot hurt to create the notion that you are saving them big bucks.

As you move deeper into the project, you may discover that your County Commissioner is only one of the people deciding where the baskets can and can't go. If you can turn even just one of these people onto the game, the project will be blessed. But only once you've made contact and won the decision-makers over, is the time ripe to expound on the do's and don'ts of proper disc golf course design.

Sincerely,

Torque Novitski, Marshall Street