Team effort leads to new ‘golf’ course

A disc golf organizer designed the course at the campus.

By ED RUNYAN

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

CHAMPION — A desire for the Young’s Run Disc Golf Course on Educational Highway to have 18 permanent “golf” holes has led to a new nine-hole course at the adjacent Kent State University Trumbull Campus.

Bill Flynn of Howland, a former longtime MetroParks board member and the organizer of Saturday’s NEO Open, a professional disc golf tournament, organized a meeting with campus officials in June to see if he could arrange a permanent expansion of Young’s Run.

The disc course has 15 holes and has traditionally set up three temporary holes on Kent State property across Educational Highway from Young’s Run whenever it held tournaments there over the past five to six years. Now, Flynn hoped to establish three permanent holes at KSU.

But Dr. Wanda E. Thomas, dean of the campus, saw it another way.

Why not create a nine-hole course on campus that could be used in conjunction with Young’s Run but also as a free-of-charge attraction for students and the public?

Flynn and the MetroParks board agreed.

Working together

Flynn designed the course, and Kent State provided the land on the east side of the campus between the university’s main classroom building and Lake Anne. It agreed to pay the $8,000 for the metal baskets, called Pole Holes, that are used in the game.

At the university’s request, the first hole begins just outside the door to the Student Center. The course proceeds west toward the university’s main entrance on Mahoning Avenue, passes in front of Lake Anne and finishes in a northerly direction toward Young’s Run. The distance between Young’s Run and the campus course is about 200 yards, Flynn said.

Flynn said disc golf has a lot of similarities to “ball golf,” and the traditional 18-hole layout is one of them. Other similarities are the terminology used, such as birdie for scoring one shot under par, and most of the rules. The main difference is that a disc or Frisbee disc is used instead of clubs and a golf ball.

The new course is more open and flat than the Young’s Run layout, Flynn said, so it is a complement to Young’s Run, which is in a hilly, wooded area.

Flynn said disc golf started in California in the 1970s, but Michigan and New York are also strong states for the sport, as well as Iowa, South Carolina and Texas.

Ohio is catching up to other states.

“Disc golf is becoming very popular within the past three years,” Flynn said. “It’s starting to take off.” Of the 80 courses in Ohio, the new one at Kent State Trumbull is the 10th one at a college campus, he said.

Dr. Thomas said the new course adds another recreational opportunity to the campus community. It has a 2,000-member fitness center that is open six days a week and has applied for grants that would allow it to build a wellness center.

That facility could include an indoor track, swimming pool, classrooms and restaurant, she said. Such a facility might be an important economic development tool to help attract the “best and the brightest” to the community, she said.

Students interviewed as the course was being installed last week said they had never heard of disc golf, but most were open to trying it.

“I’ll try anything with athletics,” said David McCormick of Niles as he left a class on campus. McCormick said he never played disc golf before, but it sounds similar to “Frennis,” a sport he played in Stevens Park in Niles in recent years. Frennis is played on a tennis court with rules similar to tennis but using a disc or Frisbee instead of tennis ball and racquet.

“It’s different. It sounds fun,” said Trisha Hall of Farmdale.

Natalie Stacy of Austintown, however, said she preferred more active sports, like volleyball and softball and hoped the campus would provide more of those types of activities.

runyan@vindy.com