Community can get acquainted with disc golf course during open house
By Tim Barnum
News Editor | news@ogemawherald.com
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WEST BRANCH — The Ogemaw Hills Recreation Board will show off its disc golf course to sponsors and community members during an open house Saturday, Sept. 22 from 1-4 p.m.
The disc golf course, located on North Dam Road in West Branch, opened a little less than one year ago, according to Ogemaw Hills Recreation Board member Rusty Showalter. The open house will give hole sponsors and donors a chance to see what their support created.
“The main purpose of the open house is to give a tour to the sponsors and all that donated to get the course open,” Showalter said.
Cookies and refreshments will be served at the open house, which will get underway with a ceremony, Showalter said.
“We’re going to do just a very small ceremony in the beginning just to thank the sponsors and tell them a little about disc golf,” he said.
Although the course opened in October 2011, Showalter said hole signage and a board listing all of the sponsors and volunteers who helped get the course running was not installed until July of this year.
Showalter said while the course is open for play, there has not been much promotion. Despite that, Showalter said the course has attracted many people to the recreation complex, which was the purpose of the course.
“By putting the disc golf course out there and promoting it as a public course, it would let people know it’s a free park and open for use by all individuals,” he said.
Before the disc golf course was built, Showalter said the park was commonly mistaken as a park that was off limits for the public.
“What we were finding is a lot of people would not use the baseball fields because they did not realize it was a public park,” he said.
Not only has the course helped get the word out about the recreation complex’s availability for use, but it has also attracted young folks to the park, Showalter said. He said since people can play for free, the course has been welcomed with open arms.
“At this point in time, I’d say the course has been received very well,” he said.
The course is designed to fit the criteria of a professional disc golf course, Showalter said. Dylan Pfeiffer, of West Branch, led the charge in designing the course, Showalter said.
“We had the land available. We didn’t know how to promote the park and he came to us with this and we ran with it,” he said.
Showalter said upgrades are planned, including decorative benches that can be sponsored by businesses and organizations. More improvements will continue to come in the future, he added.
“In time, we would like to better groom the course and put in decorative landscaping along the way,” he said.