The voice in the back of our heads to get outside and get more active is louder than ever and soon there could be a new way to listen to that voice.
Disk golf, or as many unofficially would know it as Frisbee golf, isn't exactly a new idea, but something new to the Battlefords. For as long as there have been disks to play catch with there have been those throwing the disk and aiming at a target. Now with the help of a proposal to the City of North Battleford there could be an official disk golf course in the works as early as the fall.
The idea is simple and very much like golf. Start from a tee box and count how many throws it takes to get the disk into a basket, which is raised above the ground. The new course will have 16 holes.
Not only is it a sport young and old alike could enjoy, the cost of participating is minimal. There would be the possibility of open tournaments, but for most it would be a recreational sport with friends, family or co-workers, says Heather O'Neill, who proposed the idea to the Parks and Rec department.
O'Neill is now working with the City to get a disk golf course in Centennial Park in North Battleford. She started fundraising for the project Friday and says already things have gone really well.
The course would be relatively inexpensive as far as maintenance goes, as all that is required is grass cutting and, unlike golf, you should rarely lose a disk in the grass across the varied terrain. The course would follow the walking trail in Centennial Park and O'Neill says will not interrupt those at the playground or on the track.
With the course in the planning stage, O'Neill with Parks and Rec are trying to raise $9,000 to get the course built as soon as possible since disk golf can be played year round. The fundraising plan is through hole sponsorships, which would give local businesses the chance to sponsor a hole and be visibly advertised at the tee box on the designated hole.
Once the funds are in hand and the installation, which should take only a day or two, is complete, O'Neill hopes to hold a grand opening. Although the main purpose of the course is for recreational use, she says there is a circuit of tournaments the Battlefords could eventually get involved in.
Nearly 20 people have been playing a version of disk golf at Kinsmen Park for years, but now with the available space and a simple proposal, Centennial Park is not far away from housing the first ever disk golf course in the Battlefords.
