Local disc golf hit with a bogey?

Thu, Jul 10, 2008    to del.icio.us

SPRING LAKE TOWNSHIP — There's enough activities at Rycenga Park to keep area residents like Spring Lake's Frank Rytlewski coming back to the 80-acre facility almost every day.

But one of Rytlewski and his group of friend's favorite summer pastimes at the park may soon be taken away by Township officials.

Citing a consistent problem of littering, vandalism and other problems, Spring Lake Township supervisor John Nash said the popular disc golf course at the park may soon be removed.

"Whoever uses it has been causing problems and it hasn't stopped," Nash said. "We've seen them break down posts and markers, we've found a lot of beer cans lying around when we agreed that we weren't going to allow (alcohol) on the course.

"We've tried to put signs up, but it's like we're not the police, so they don't have to listen to us. I guess the only way we can get their attention is by taking it down."

Rytlewski, who was joined on the course Tuesday by Grand Haven residents Courtney Arnold and Chuck Schmidt, said he's heard rumors of the course's demise, and was discouraged that its 18 baskets would likely be gone before the end of summer.

"Basically, it's a bunch of (punk) kids out here and that trash everything and don't respect nothing," Rytlewski said. "I know a lot of people who love to play, but it's the ones that are hardly ever out here that are doing it. It pisses me off.

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"They say littering is a problem, but you don't notice any garbage cans (on the course)," he added.

Rycenga Park is the only location in the Tri-Cities that offers disc golf, with the next closest being Ross Park in Norton Shores, McGraft Park in Muskegon, or several courses in Hudsonville and the Grand Rapids area.

Several rules of the game are similar to the regular sport of golf, except that clubs are replaced by various sizes of Frisbee discs, and players aren't aiming for a small hole in the ground, but rather a large 3-foot tall steel basket.

"The same basic scoring applies and your goal is the same — to get the disc into the basket in as few throws as possible," said Tim Gostovic, who provides reviews on hundreds of courses on his Web site, DGCourseReview.com. "Depending on the course, you could find yourself in an open field, a park setting or in a forest, so different areas or even the same city can be vastly different from one another. Often times, a piece of land that may not be suitable for other activities will work well for a disc golf course."

Most players carry three basic types of discs — a driver (for long throws), a mid-range, and a putter. Each disc has its own properties — "some may tend to go to the right, some straight, some to left," Gostovic said.

"A lot of the time you'll see 3-disc starter packs in the sporting goods stories for around $20," he added. "It's a pretty economic sport to get into considering you can play a lot of courses for free."

Nash said Rycenga Park's free-to-play course was established in 2005, when Chuck Rycenga, the founder of Grand Haven's Rycenga Lumber, worked with the Township to establish the activity.

"We found ways to privately raise funds for it, and made a very nice disc golf course," Nash said. "At the time, we even got a group of young guys who knew a thing or two about (the game) and helped design the course."

The course features 18 hole markers with the distance and heavy-duty baskets with chains — one object that vandals haven't bothered, Nash said.

Most holes on Rycenga's course are less than a 300-yard throw from the tee signs to the basket, but dense woods and dog-legs push up the difficulty significantly. That was true to form Tuesday, when at times, Rytlewski and his playing partners had to walk through thick foilage to locate their discs, while swatting away at mosquitoes. Every ensuing throw must occurr at where the disc lands, regardless of the obstacles that may be in the way.

"We need some bug spray in the worst way," Schmidt said.

Aside from that hazard, the sport seems to be taking off across America, Gostovic said.

"Since I started my site a little over a year ago, I think at least 150 new courses have been added with plenty more in the works," he said. "At the moment there are over 2,300 courses in the U.S. with new ones being put in the ground regularly. The casual player count is more than likely in the millions and there are tournaments and competitions happening every week around the country for the more serious/competitive players."

If officials do go through with their plan to remove the game, Rytlewski said he'd unfortunately give up the activity instead of traveling to play.

"It's just something out here that's fun to do, and once you play, it's addicting," he said. "I know a lot of people that come out here and play. That's where I've met a lot of my friends."

He even had a solution to make sure the course would be sparkling clean.

"If that's the only problem, I'll volunteer to come out here and pick up trash. I'd happily do that."