A brief history of disc golf at Oregon Park
The disc golf course at Oregon Park was originally installed in the late 1990's as a 9-hole course, and was probably the nicest 9-hole course in the metro Atlanta area. Realizing the property's potential, players in the area have long dreamed of a "full sized" 18-hole course on the property. The Cobb Disc Golf Club is excited to say that our dreams are finally coming true.
In the Spring of 2009, Cobb County Parks and Recreation first gave our club permission to expand the course. We've been gradually installing new holes and making improvements. In April, our Friends of the Park fundraiser tournament raised enough money to purchase baskets for the expansion. We spent most of the next weekend marking new tee pads and installing 7 new baskets on the property, to expand the course to 16 holes, and a few weeks later, after the club was able to purchase two more baskets, we brought the total to 18 holes. This was intended as a temporary layout that would be improved as we identified problems and found better options. It was not the best layout in the world, but it was the first time in Oregon Park's history that we could play 18 distinct holes. It was a major accomplishment.
The Summer of 2009 saw even more exciting developments for the park: Cobb County was able to purchase the "Bullard Stockton Property" adjacent to Oregon Park. As you can see in the map below, it is a huge tract of land that extends from the original border of Oregon Park all the way to Highway 120. Soon after, the County had the additional opportunity to purchase the Swing Time driving range property, to fill in the entire corner of Old Hamilton Road and Highway 120 as uninterrupted parkland. Cobb County held several public meetings to discuss the use of the land, and the citizens agreed that the Bullard Stockton property should be preserved as largely undeveloped "passive recreation" park space. This was great news for our club, since disc golf fits into such a plan quite well. The current version of the county's master plan has designated part of the new property for expansion of the disc golf course, and we have also been given permission to install new holes in the woods behind the large baseball field on the Southwestern end of the existing Oregon Park property. The county plans to build dearly needed parking space on the Swing Time property, which will benefit us as well as the hugely popular youth baseball teams in the park.
In July 2009, we began to put this new space to use. Our first action was to move the 18th hole, which was in a troublesome spot on the Northeast corner of Oregon Park, to a new location on the edge of the Bullard-Stockton property. It is now installed as hole #8, and is generally thought to be one of the best, and most challenging, holes on the course. Presently we are working to raise money for new baskets, which we will install in the woods behind #8, and in the open field at the North end of the Bullard-Stockton property. We believe we have room for at least a 21-hole course, but the final layout will depend on how the access roads to the new parking area are cut, as well as how the planned walking trails are laid out on the new property.
March 2010: You may have seen or heard the construction equipment in the Swingtime property to the left of hole #8, and the piles of tree trunks, roots, and concrete pipes that they've been moving. This is work being done by the local government to install a new sewer line that is needed on the property. We'll have to wait until this work is finished before we can install any baskets on the new property, but the construction road they've cut into the back woods has had a surprisingly helpful effect of clearing space, on a scale we ourselves never could have attempted. The "road" has opened up opportunities for additions to the disc golf layout that we'd hardly yet dreamed of. Be sure to stay out of the construction workers' way, and be assured that although their work is delaying ours by a few weeks, in the long run we expect it to be of great benefit to the course's potential.
April 2010: Kevin McCoy, a professional disc golfer and highly respected course designer, has agreed to help us design the layout for our course expansion in the back side of Oregon Park and on the Swing Time property. The sewer construction in the back of the park has had an extraordinarily beneficial effect on our opportunities to improve our layout. Remembering the "before" and seeing the "after" will almost make your jaw drop. We had been hoping to lay out one 27-hole course, but at this point we're fairly certain we will have plenty of room to install two full-sized, side-by-side 18-hole disc golf courses at Oregon Park. The existing 18-hole course will probably see a few holes on the back 9 moved into more spacious areas, and we've got more newly useable acreage to work with on the new property than we previously had in total acreage. That's right: our available parkland has more than doubled in less than a year! We believe that our "Friends of the Park" Fundraiser Tournament, which has been rescheduled for May 15, along with some unique sponsorship opportunities we're pursuing, will help us reach our lofty goals.
June 2010: Kevin McCoy is planning to complete his redesign for our existing course, as well as his totally new design for a course beside it, in July. You will begin to see progress towards Kevin's plans early in July, since several local Boy Scouts have decided to help improve the Oregon Park disc golf course for their Eagle Scout projects. Our Fundraising Director, George Grindley, is making progress towards our course sponsorship goals, and our TDs are working with Kevin to identify the best solutions for baskets and tee signs.
July 2010: Local Boy Scout Trey Grindley, son of club member George Grindley, decided to devote his Eagle Scout project to improving our course infrastructure. With help from his troop and several members of our club, Trey installed 6 new concrete tee pads on the course (two each on two holes, and one each for two other holes), as well as 6 brand new benches that his troop built, and three new bag holders. Probably the best showcase of these new features is at hole #5, which got the full treatment. For those who are curious, these pads were installed on holes that our designer is planning to preserve in his design of the "silver" course.
Spring 2011: The county officially approved a new course layout as designed by Kevin McCoy after the layout installed in the Summer of 2010 was deemed not workable by the county. This new design incorporates 36 baskets on an 18-hole course that occupes about 26 acres of land at Oregon Park.
Summer 2011: Members of the club and disc golfers from the surrounding area worked through several weekends to install Kevin McCoy's layout as designed. There is still a lot of cleanup work to do, but this represents the culmination of several years' worth of dreaming, planning, fundraising, blood, sweat, and tears. We hope you enjoy the course!