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Duo tee off on plans for disc golf course

Meeting with the city is the next step for the par-66, 18-hole course at Frenchman’s Bar Regional Park

By Andy Matarrese, Columbian environment and transportation reporter
Published: January 13, 2016, 6:05am
4 Photos
Project organizers Steve Carson, left, and Steve Owen, pictured Jan. 5 at Frenchman&#039;s Bar, are working with the county in hopes to build a new public disc golf course for the in the area.
Project organizers Steve Carson, left, and Steve Owen, pictured Jan. 5 at Frenchman's Bar, are working with the county in hopes to build a new public disc golf course for the in the area. (Amanda Cowan/The Columbian) Photo Gallery

Using the help of volunteers and donors, Clark County hopes to build a new, professional-level disc golf course at Frenchman’s Bar Regional Park, and organizers say they want to have the park open by fall.

There are a handful of disc golf courses in the county — at the Washington State University Vancouver campus, Paradise Point State Park, Glenwood Community Church and Leverich Park — but the proposed course at Frenchman’s Bar would be the county’s first 18-hole loop.

Disc golf is similar to traditional golf, except instead of tapping a ball toward a hole, you toss a flying disc toward a metal basket. You’re still trying to get there in the fewest strokes — in this case, throws — possible. (Don’t call these discs Frisbees, because they’re not, and don’t try to catch one. Frisbees are great for playing catch because they’re large and have a rounded edge; disc golf discs are small, sharp and designed to fly fast and far. Catch one, and it’ll hurt.)

The par-66 course would cover about 78 acres, according to information submitted to the city of Vancouver, and would have regulation baskets and poles, concrete tee pads, benches, some course signs and markers, a practice hole and at the first tee, an information kiosk.

“By all imagination, this would be a tournament-grade, professional disc golf course that would bring people from all throughout the Northwest,” said Steve Carson, who is helping design the course.

The whole course will be about 11,000 feet long, and the longest hole, a par 5, will be 978 feet long.

“That’s a good throw. That’s a couple throws,” he said.

A few final holes would go through a wooded area and offer views of the Columbia River, ending in what Carson said he hopes will be the signature hole as the course rounds back to the park’s main parking lot.

Carson, an IT technician, is a disc golfer and has been designing or helping design courses since 1985. He has had a hand in about a dozen, he said, and himself designed about six.

Carson connected with Steve Owen, who has been donating his time to help with permitting and putting together site plans.

Owen said he got involved after a county Americorps intern, Timothy Freeburn, drew up in 2014 a basic course proposal for the county. Owen, a trail counting volunteer and disc golfer, said he saw Freeburn’s presentation that November and pulled him aside to learn how he could help.

Owen, a structural engineer, is also a volunteer with the Boy Scouts.

Building a course would likely take volunteer help, he said.

“That would make for great Eagle Scout projects.”

Although volunteers are putting together the plan, the proposal for the course will come from the county, and the park is on city-owned land.

Carson and Owen will meet with city staff Jan. 21 to determine the next steps.

The county is behind the plan, Carson said, but there’s no money set aside in the county’s capital budget to get the project going, at least for a few years.

“It’s purely a grassroots, volunteer effort,” he said.

The two said the park would cost about $12,000 to $15,000. Last summer’s Bad Monkey Open at Leverich Park raised $1,000 toward the project.

With any luck, Owen said, the project will be able to take advantage of the fact the park has already been permitted and evaluated for other park projects.

“Our hope is that even if they can’t just give us the 100 percent go-ahead, they can say, ‘Well, this one permit is about 8 or 10 years old. Can you just update this little piece of information here?’ ” he said.

Beyond clearing some underbrush in the wooded areas, changing mowing patterns in grassy areas, and some digging and concrete for tee pads and baskets, Carson said setting up the course shouldn’t take much landscaping.

Carson said he hopes the course will bring more people out to see Frenchman’s Bar park and take some of the pressure off Leverich Park, which, by his and Owen’s estimate, sees tens of thousands of users annually.

Carson and Owen said the project has raised about $3,500 so far, which will all go through the Clark County Parks Foundation. They say they hope people and business sponsors will offer their support and labor for the project.

Carson said anyone with questions about the project can reach him through his website, www.FireflyDiscGolf.com.

“I’ve had numerous people say, ‘When can I start working? When can I bring my shovel out and start working?’ ” Carson said. “We’ve got a crew of people ready to go as soon as we have a plan.”

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Columbian environment and transportation reporter