Bridgeton Course *Update*

[irwinje]

I saw on the St. Louis Open flyer that there will be a pre-tournament round played at the NEW Bridgeton course. I've also heard mention of this course going into the ground within the next month. Since the STL Open is less than 8 weeks away, and there isn't 1 basket in the ground out there, I thought I'd start a thread to get more information from our board on the situation.

Inquiring minds want to know...
1) Has the RCF been granted permission to install a (permanent) course in Bridgeton?
2) If so, when is installation set to start?
3) Where are the baskets coming from?
4) Will this course be installed and playable by the first week of May?

And, on a side note, let me know when/if an auger (or other equipment) is needed for installation as I can get one from work for free.

[kwhit]

does the club need help with installation of this course?

[schimmy]

There is a club meeting tomorrow at the Schlafly Bottleworks and I would venture a guess that this will be a major topic of discussion.

I will not be able to attend the meeting but if someone reading this is going to the meeting, they should mention that the Arroyo Vortex baskets should be looked at as a possibility for baskets. These baskets look AWESOME!!

http://www.arroyodiscsports.com/baskets.php

[irwinje]

There is a club meeting tomorrow at the Schlafly Bottleworks and I would venture a guess that this will be a major topic of discussion.

Hopefully someone that was at the meeting will post updates on this. I'd love to see it go in the ground sooner rather than later.

Those baskets are cool, but my guess is we're probably looking at Titans for Bridgeton, depending on what they did with the ones they took out of Unger.

[dtwest57]

Bridgeton is moving along at a slower pace than we had hoped - but we are making progress. They did not want to talk with us for the last few months because they still have a lot of debris on that property from the tornado and from the rebuilding of city hall.

The good news is Tim Wiegard, Dave McCormack, and I met with Bridgeton at 1pm today. We met with Joe Campbell, who has worked for Bridgeton for 32 years. Joe had maps of the area ready for us and showed us the areas that are allowed for a course – the allowed area is smaller than last year as Bridgeton has decided to allow a large area for a dog park. Dave M. looked at the map and said it still allows for about 1 acre per hole (18 holes). Joe really emphasized that he wants us to listen to what they say. He said they will not be moving fast on this (they still have the debris to clear from tornado and city hall rebuilding), and he prefers we take one step at a time. The ‘disc’ is in our court right now as the first step is to come back to Bridgeton with a new design.

Next Steps:

· Dave M. will redesign, and then run it by us. Dave will have front and back 9’s circle back into a single spot. The course will have multiple tee placements to allow for differing skill levels (beginner and up)

· Once the design is ready, we will send it to Joe and setup a time to walk the design.

· Once Bridgeton okays it, Joe will try to give us a better idea of when the debris might be cleared

· After the okay, we will work with Joe to get a temp course put in for a day to pressure test the design. Dave suggested it be on a weekday so that Joe and other Bridgeton people could try it out – along with some club members. The idea here is to make sure the design works.

· After this, once we get the green light from Bridgeton (and the debris is cleared), we can start installing the course.

My ‘guess’ is we are a few months away – maybe June/July. Joe will let us know as we move along, and I will post periodic updates.

With this new update, we will do the Friday 'day' event before the STL Open at Endicott, and we also hope to have a cave event for Friday night.

Dave West

[dtwest57]

Progress update on Bridgeton - Good news!:

* The new design of the course has been presented to Bridgeton and has been approved. Dave McCormack has been enhancing the markings of the layout and we are preparing to schedule a day or two of temp baskets put on the course for people to try out the new design.
* Dave West has been working with Bridgeton on the 'Letter of Agreement'. Changes from last year's agreement were proposed and accepted by Bridgeton so we are just down to the formaliities of meeting to sign the agreement. I am trying to get this scheduled soon.
* From the RCF point of view, the only complicating factor right now is all of the prep the volunteers are doing to get ready for the STL Open. I will meet Bridgeton anytime they are ready to sign the letter of agreement - however, we will likely delay the tryout of the new course design until after the Open so we can coordinate it correctly.
* We are looking for people who would be like to be course captains at Bridgeton - considering it will be new with a lot of work needed in 2012, it would be ideal to have a couple of course captains to help shoulder the load. Let me or the board members know if you are interested.

Dave West

[discthrower]

So are the baskets still up at bridgeton or were the taken down after the Friday event for the Open?

[Stubborn Puppet]

There wasn't much in the way of reported or notable interest in playing it on Friday before the open, so the Friday event was cancelled to make sure that club resources and personel were focused on The Open itself. With the Open concluded, focus can now return to Bridgeton and getting that done very quickly. I believe the last time estimate for the public opening was somewhere in early June. I'm sure someone else will pop in here with a more accurate timeline.

[dtwest57]

We had the doubles event before the STL Open at Endicott Park. Latest status on Bridgeton:

* The 2-year Letter of agreement is now in front of the mayor of Bridgeton to be signed. I have already signed it on behalf of the club. Dave M. has sent in the proposed layout. We expect it to be signed within a week.
* We meet with Joe Campbell of Bridgeton the week of the 21st - and probably on the 23rd. We expect the agreement to be signed at that time, and will ask for the freedom to start installing baskets.

Dave West

[irwinje]

Just wondering if there is a more recent update? I drove through the park over the weekend realized how huge the whole thing was. We could probably get 4 courses in there. Although, lets just start with 1.
The grass was also freshly cut...