As plans for this years edition of the SC Doubles are being made, please let me know my responding to this post or emailing what you think should be added to the player’s pack. Each players pack will include a disc and a t-shirt. In past years we’ve added an extra disc, a catch disc and stash minis.
I’m considering clip boards, sharpie markers, reusable score cards or bottle openers.
Zanfel, a product that helps fight and prevent poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac, will be a product sponsor of the SC Doubles Championship this year. They will provide information on their product to all players and will be giving products to be included in CTPs during the tournament.
They’re the first product sponsor this year. We normally have several product sponsors. Plans are already underway to have product sponsors for CTPs from Innova Discs and Discraft. Discraft will be part of the tournament for the first time this year.
Our three main cash sponsors have already agreed to be part of the event again this year. All three have agreed to do a minimum of what they did last year. There is a chance one or two of those sponsors may step up this year and play a larger role in the tournament.
A date still hasn’t been set. We have been looking at a September date and we are also considering a date in Late July or mid August.
The town of Central will be one of the first towns/cities in South Carolina to add a new Disc Golf course in 2011. Central officials had a public meeting in October of 2008 where they sought input from citizens on what they would like to see as part of a new park planned for 35 acres of land that was being deeded to the town. Several players attended that meeting and spoke on behave of Disc Golf.
Bryan Schaupp is overseeing the design of the course. The town is putting up the funds for the first nine holes and players will be picking up the tab for the second 9 holes.
The property includes long term plans for multipurpose fields, ball fields and a dog park…along with the Disc Golf course. The plans for all but the Disc Golf is long term…10 or more years away. Bryan said on Sunday his hope is to utilize the entire property for the course and have a great course with a potential redesign in the future versus only using the land that is set aside for the course once all phases are complete.
With Seneca’s Shaver Recreation Center adding an additional 18 holes in 2011 (6 are in now) and Central’s new 18 hole course, that’s a growth of 7 courses since January 2010.
New courses in the upstate in 2010 include…
Chattooga Belle Farm in Long Creek (18 holes)
The Civic Center Course in Anderson (18 holes)
Furman University (9 holes)
Mountain View Park in Clemson (9 holes)
River Chase in Union (18 holes)
More details to come on the Central course as it gets close to installation time.
Right now we’re considering a date in Mid September for this years SC Doubles Championship. We were hoping to use the 3rd week in August again but the PDGA has scheduled their Global Tournament and I didn’t want to compete for players against a world-wide event. If the September date doesn’t work, the next choice is mid-July.
Right now the hope is to use Sertoma Field in Walhalla and Shaver Recreation in Seneca. With Shaver Recreation having already added 6 additional holes and possibly having 36 total holes, both days and all four rounds could end up being in Seneca. The SC Doubles has been committed to Oconee County and we will continue to try to include all the courses in rotation over the years. Hopefully one day the course at Clemson’s Y-Beach can be used.
Plans for the 2011 version of the SC Doubles is underway. No date has been selected yet but we are well on our way to lining up a great event. As of this morning, we’ve got commitments of about half the sponsorship dollars for the event that we had last year.
We’re working extra-hard this off season with plans of stepping up the 2011 version of the doubles to be able to include additional divisions. Plans are to include an Advanced Master Division and maybe a Rec division. If we’re successful in raising sponsorship dollars to afford more divisions the next step will be to have divisions split between courses. If we get the sponsorship needed, we’ll expand the amount of players and the number of courses.
If you’re a business owner, manager or know of a business owner or manager that might have an interest in sponsoring the event, please let me know.
More details to follow…
Q-Can you provide any additional details on the course?
A-Course is an older course with asphalt cart paths that will take you around the entire course. For the beginning of the course, all Disc Golf tees will be placed on the cart paths. Fly18 Tee pads will be installed at a future date for the long tees. Baskets will be Fly18 white baskets. Those might change in the future to either Disc Catchers or Mach V baskets.
Q-Layout?
A-The layout or flow of the course will follow the ball gold design. It gives an opportunity for a Disc Golf player to play along side a ball golf player. The course will put more of the trees and water into play than the ball golf course does.
Q-Amount of water in play?
A-There’s a lot of water to find on the course. A small creek flows along holes 1, 10 and 11. You’d have to have a pretty bad throw to end up in the creek, which is guarded by large trees. Discs will be easily retrieved from the creek.
Holes 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 have ponds that will come into play. On some of the holes, the ponds will not be in play for most while on other holes you’ll have to decide on whether you want to play around or over the ponds. I would not recommend going in after discs on the ponds.
If you mark your disc properly, as the golf course staff pull discs out of the ponds, you will be called and given the opportunity to get you disc back.
Q-Opportunities to lose discs?
A-Yes, there are chances you’ll lose a disc but no more of a chance here than at other courses. If you keep it in the fairway and play it safe around the water holes, you’ll do just fine.
Q-Availability of carts?
A-Carts are available on a first come, first serve basis. The course has 30 carts available at any given time. There is a chance that with a large turnout on Sunday that all carts could be out at any given time. With that being said, carts become available as players come off of 18.
Q-Will disc folders and ball folders share the course?
A-Yes. There’s an expectation of a decent amount of Disc Golf players this Sunday. You should plan to come on Sunday as the course is extending a special rate for Disc Golf and will have food specials for lunch and will be showing the most interesting NFL games on the TVs in the bar.
Q-Are any adult beverages available on site or even allowed?
A-Yes. They have a beer and wine license. This is South Carolina so there will be no beer being sold Sunday but you are welcome to bring your own, as I will do on Sunday.
Q-What will the cost be after this weekend.
A-I met with Matt & Greg (the two owners) Thursday afternoon and that had not been determined. The cost will be less than ball golf, which is $24 for green fees and cart fees on a weekend. Disc Golf offers another line of revenue while not increasing any added expense as far as up keep is concerned.
Q-Are there other courses in the area?
A-No other courses in the area. The closest area courses are Boiling Springs, Greer, Rock Hill and Stoney Hill in Newberry. Union, SC, is about 45 minutes from Greer, an hour from Greenville, Newberry and Rock Hill. An hour and 15 minutes from Charlotte.
I visited with the owners of the course the Thursday of the USDGC, when we first discusses adding Disc Golf to River Chase, it took me 55 minutes to drive from River Chase to the USDGC.
Q-Will it be worth the drive, time and expense?
A-It will be. There are only about 20-24 courses in the world that offer Disc Golf along side traditional golf. This is the first course of its kind in the Carolinas or Georgia. It offers elevation change, sloping (disc golf) greens, enough trees to add touch to the game and plenty of water to make you think twice on some shots. It also offers three sets of tees so beginners to top pros will fill challenged.
The Grand Opening of a Fly-18’s Disc Golf course in Union, SC is set for Sunday at 12-noon at River Chase Golf Club. All players that want to be one of the first to play a true Par 71 course need to arrive between 11:30 and 12:00 and be ready to rock.
From Greenville take Highway 385 toward Columbia. Take the Highway 49 exit toward Union. The course is 20 miles from 385 on Fairwood BLVD. If you live in Greenville, it should take about an hour to get to the course.
The design is being finalized on Thursday (yes, during the holiday) and being installed on Friday and Saturday. A special grand opening price of $10 per player will get you green fees and cart fees. All groups teeing off will need to play in groups of four with two people to a cart.
The long tees will play somewhere between 12,700′ and 13,200 feet in total length. The short tees will be closer to 7,000 feet.
Heres the address for your GPS
459 Fairwood Boulevard, Union, SC 29379-7944
This is in my wife’s hometown and I’ve known the owers of the course for 15 years…in fact they both were in my wedding party when I got married. This course will feature several elevation changes, several water hazards, plenty of trees and some really nice long, open, grass covered fairways that make for great roller-holes.
This is a going to be a very nice course that includes elevation changes, lots of water hazards, and just enough trees to make for some interesting choices. The pro show will fully stocked with disc golf gear.
The Golden Corner CHAINSAW Classic registration is now 40 players. We only have Vouchers and T-shirts left for players packs. All Discs have been taken. The t-shirts are a two color design…black with a red pool of blood on a sand color shirt. The vouchers are $10 toward merchandise ar Strange Disc Sports.
A reminder…the Golden Corner CHAINSAW Classic is coming two weeks from today on Saturday, November 20that Sertoma Field in Walhalla. This is a SCDGO Point Series and PDGA C tier tournament.
This is the first ever regular singles tournament in Walhalla. All divisions including Novice and Recreational are offered. So if you’re new to Disc Golf or new to tournaments there’s a division for you.
Details on GODGC.com.
Two disc golf holes that have been part of the SC Doubles tournaments in the past will be featured as part of the Innova Disc Golf 2011 Calendar.
Hole 18 from Chattooga Belle Farm (Day 1 course 2010) in Long Creek will be the calendar cover and hole one from Sertoma Field (Day 1 course in 2009) in Walhalla is the featured picture for April 2011 in the calendar.
Calendar’s should be available by mid November at local Disc Golf retailers.