Field Of Dreams: Peterborough Man Building Epic 18 Hole Disc Golf Course Near Keene
/Peterborough's Darrell Bankes is a huge fan of disc golf—aka frisbee golf. So much so that this landscape architect is constructing an 18-hole pay to play course southeast of town near Keene on 38 acres of land he purchased.
Fields being plowed for the course
When the course is ready, Bankes hopes that disc golf players young and old—and new—will not only come from Peterborough and the Kawarthas but from all over to play, including day trips from the GTA area.
Disc golf, for the uninitiated, is a flying disc game—a precision and accuracy sport, where individual players throw a flying disc at a target. The object of the game is to traverse a course from beginning to end in the fewest number of throws of the disc.
This once counter-culture sport has grown up and is becoming more mainstream cool.
Darrell Bankes has a dream and is making it happen
Bankes hard at work
Construction on the 18 hole course, TinLid Disc Golf, started earlier in July. "It's a private pay to play course near, with similar offerings of a ball golf course," Bankes tells PTBOCanada. "The course is still being built—it's not accessible full time yet—but the plan is to have open access in the fall."
The course design—a schematic layout plan made from aerial photos and topographical maps—is evolving daily as Bankes gets used to the property and its nuances, but looks like this..
Like a golf course, there is even a driving range to practise on...
TinLid Golf Disc Driving Range
Rather than holes, baskets are used in disc golf...
So if you build it, will they come? Time will tell. But this is a burgeoning sport: there is "massive growth Stateside," Bankes says, not to mention an existing local Peterborough disc golf club to mine from.
Also, it's affordable, accessible, good casual exercise, easy to learn and much faster to play than golf, he says.
And no tee times.
Bankes has a pro shop being operated out of 302 Park Street north in Peterborough until a shop on the course is built this fall.
Learn more about Darrell's venture on his Facebook page or email him here for more info.
