Skagit Aces Disc Golf Club

[Ranger Rick]

Howdy folks, just want to introduce myself, and tell you a little more about the new club being formed in Mount Vernon.

My name is Rick, and I have lived just a few blocks from the Bakerview Park DGC in Mount Vernon since it was installed in the mid 90's. I have played "frisbee golf" at Bakerview several times over the years but was not formally introduced to the game until last summer by my son-in-law who grew up with it in SoCal. Since then I have grown to love the game, and my wife thinks it may be obsessive, but she goes along with it because I am getting out of the house and getting some exercise out of it!

I have played most of the courses north of Everett, and a few in Portland and Montana as well now, which leads me to the understanding of why people don't like to play at Bakerview - there are no baskets and no teepads. This will change soon as we will be upgrading the course, or building a different one in Mount Vernon as fundraising ramps up.

I have met with the Mount Vernon Parks Director - Larry Otos, and he fully supports a greater disc golf presence in Mount Vernon. He has agreed to allow us to install baskets at Bakerview, and if there is enough traffic, he has agreed to look at concrete tee pads as well. The only problem with Bakerview is that even with baskets and tee pads, it would still be soggy for half the year, so we are looking at other parks to put in a 9 hole course. In our discussion, we looked at the long term growth of disc golf, and he was agreeable that a championship level 18 hole course was a possibility if there was enough demand. He was impressed that such a course could be build for $20k-$30k if the City had the right piece of property (which I think they do).

To that extent, we have started a new club in Mount Vernon - The Skagit Aces Disc Golf Club! Our immediate goal is to raise enough funds to purchase 9 Instep baskets, and spend the summer trying out different parks in Mount Vernon, so that by fall we will have raised enough money and found the right place for a 9 hole, short course. The long term goal is to show the parks department that there is demand for a larger course, and present a plan to the City for possible funding.

We are currently running a membership drive that will hopefully get us close to what we need for the 9 baskets. A 2013 Membership will run $25 (which may seem steep but will pay for itself by year's end) which includes a custom-printed Gateway Soft Wizard and custom-printed Mini Disc. It will also include either a price break, or added incentives at all club tournaments (I will get to those in a moment).

Our goal is to grow disc golf in Mount Vernon by bringing new players into the sport. To do this we will be holding monthly free clinics and non-competitive play, along with a quarterly ace-run type tourney. What's in the planning stage now is a Legacy Ace Run this spring; Dynamic Disc - 2 Disc Tourney in the summer; Discraft Ace Race in the fall; and Vibram Birdie Bash early next year. This will give new players some experience with different manufacturers and help them add to their collection of discs. Club members will get a price break on the DD tournament, but the other three have set prices, so members will get an added bonus such as extra raffle tickets or something.

I look forward to working with the Northwest Disc Golf Community to bring more disc golf opportunities to our neck of the woods!

[LakeStevensBA]

Hey Rick! Great job and I hope to see a course in Mount Vernon some day. The Mount Vernon-Burlington area is home to some of the best ultimate frisbee tournaments in the NW, so a quality DG course would be awesome.

Let us know how to join the club and I am in.

[Ranger Rick]

forgot to add a link to our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/groups/481711188518567/

[Cornwall, Esq.]

Does you and the club consider Sedro Wolley (NSRA) to be a home course? Did ya'll have any hand in getting the new targets/baskets (so I've heard) installed there? As a person who is always up and down I-5, it would be awesome to see some more courses or revived courses here.

[WestsoundBT]

Rick,
Have you considered having your new club/group facebook page maybe not being under the "groups" type page?

I am not well versed in facebook operating to a level of being a resource for you, but I do understand that how you set up the page will make a difference in viewability and reach. (and ultimately in usefulness) Fredericksen Wilderness Park in Poulsbo (Private church course) learned this through their experience. They had an initial page, then went to a group page (only logged in account holders could view, and for a while required "friending" or invites), then ultimately made the wise move to a page like an organization or small business would make. (no restrictions on viewing, but requires login for posting or feedback)

Others such as WSDGA Facebook (west sound), or Mason County have started this way and easily allows people to view the page without FB account or login.

This may not seem important at first, but over time a more restrictive environment will hamper your efforts at making it a valuable resource for spreading information. You likely want to the easiest, widest reaching megaphone you can get.

But wayyy better than a phone tree or only posting notes on a pole at the course!

[drkstr]

Alrighty Rick!!

WestboundBT has some good advice in the last post ^

"Legacy Ace Run this spring; Dynamic Disc - 2 Disc Tourney in the summer; Discraft Ace Race in the fall; and Vibram Birdie Bash early next year. "
I would be up for all of these events.
I'll be looking into joining the club.

I've also heard some good rumors about Arlington Twin Rivers recently ~~ looks like good Disc Golf times ahead for us discers north of Seattle.

[Rideout]

Originally Posted by Ranger Rick

forgot to add a link to our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/groups/481711188518567/

I am unable to view your page because I'm not a face book member.


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[Rideout]

Originally Posted by WestsoundBT

Rick,
Have you considered having your new club/group facebook page maybe not being under the "groups" type page?

I am not well versed in facebook operating to a level of being a resource for you, but I do understand that how you set up the page will make a difference in viewability and reach. (and ultimately in usefulness) Fredericksen Wilderness Park in Poulsbo (Private church course) learned this through their experience. They had an initial page, then went to a group page (only logged in account holders could view, and for a while required "friending" or invites), then ultimately made the wise move to a page like an organization or small business would make. (no restrictions on viewing, but requires login for posting or feedback)

Others such as WSDGA Facebook (west sound), or Mason County have started this way and easily allows people to view the page without FB account or login.

This may not seem important at first, but over time a more restrictive environment will hamper your efforts at making it a valuable resource for spreading information. You likely want to the easiest, widest reaching megaphone you can get.

But wayyy better than a phone tree or only posting notes on a pole at the course!

Yeah, what he said.


... Should have kept reading before my first post.


.

[Ranger Rick]

Great advice everybody!
Cornwall - no, NSRA is not our home course, and we did not have anything to do with the new baskets (even though I love them to death!)

Westsound - this is all kind of new to us, so things will be changing in the future, but great suggestions!

Rideout - we are discussing having our own web page, but that takes time, but it is in the works.

Thanks again everybody for the warm welcome and suggestions, especially the West Sound group, you guys really having going on over there!

[Cinque]

Oh man! This is some great news. Count me in.

[Ranger Rick]

Our first Meet & Greet/Membership Drive will be Saturday, April 27th, at Noon, at Bakerview Park in Mount Vernon. We will also be demonstrating some different putting techniques and discussing our groups plans for the summer.

Tournament plans are on hold until I can meet with the Parks Department to discuss insurance and usage fees. I have a meeting set up for next week, so we should be able to move forward on planning those soon.

[sk8architecture]

Team GRIPPT here. Awesome Ranger Rick. Thanks for doing this. I live up the road from the park on division, although I never play there only practice since its not much. I and a fellow golfer talked to Larry a few years ago and he was open to it then as well. But I got busy and lazy and never followed up but I am so glad that someone is. You have my support plus all I my support golfers from NSRA for any help. Too bad I can't make this Saturday. Taking the Vanagon to Shelton Springs!!! PM me your contact info. I can give some initial info layouts that we looked at for lions park and edgewater park. Come up to Sedro Dubs tonight, I am sure you will get some more interest there too.

[drkstr]

Hey Now Ranger Rick ~
I can't make it to your membership drive this Sat. but would like to join -- Can I send you money via Paypal? Also, is the Dynamic 2 Disc Challenge still on for May 18th?

[Ranger Rick]

Drkstr, paypal is fine - rngrrck@yahoo.com , as for the 2 disc challenge, it is on hold for the moment. I need to work out some details with the parks department about usage fees and insurance. I meet with them today, so hopefully we will have a plan to move forward from there. Most likely it will be moved out to June.

[Ranger Rick]

sk8, I have known Larry for some time now, so we have a good relationship, and he is quite receptive to the idea of adding more disc golf opportunities to the city. The one thing I will be discussing with him today, is long range plans for a championship course. I think that Bonney Rae Park will probably be our best option, since it already has "frisbee fields" built into it's master plan. You can contact me at rngrrck@yahoo.com with any ideas and suggestions.

[sk8architecture]

Ranger, I sent you a E-mail with some thoughts. Glad to see your front running this. Bonnie could be interesting. Might need to find a spot on little mountain to huck down to Bonnie for the ultimate top of the world shop! Well almost Crystal Mountain is hard to beat.

[Ranger Rick]

My meeting with Larry went really well! The parks department is on board to support us for two tournaments this year, all we have to cover is event insurance. We are in the process of putting together a Dynamic Disc - Two Disc Challenge for June, and a Discraft Ace Race in September.

The fund raising for the nine Costco portable baskets is well underway, and I hope to have the purchased by the time our June event happens. This will allow us to start fund raising for the permanent baskets and tee pads at Bakerview. We discussed stretching Bakerview out to move away from some of the wetter areas, and make it less of a pitch-and-putt. It will still have muddy spots in the rainy season, but the tee pads, and baskets will be should be ok.

We discussed options for a championship level course, and it looks like our options are Bonney Rae Park, which is kinda small for 18 long holes, and much of it is open, but there is some elevation change, and a creek canyon, which could yield some interesting shots, and Little Mountain Park, which has great acreage, and elevation, but would be a little more remote.

I have to do some research on how disc golf can add to tourism, and we may be able to qualify for some hotel/motel tax money.

[sk8architecture]

Awesome! That's goods news. I have a handful of portables if more temporary ones are needed. Just looked on google earth and that canyon looks pretty big. Excellent feature. Not sure how you/ we can justify it but I guarantee that 76 station will see more action if a course came in at Bonnie Rae!

[sk8architecture]

Oh yeah good to know the pitch and putt will stretch out a bit. Besides what course isn't wet and soggy in the beautiful Northwest!