Mr. Peabody

[Bill Stewart]

Blue Horseshoe hears of a course coming in Peabody, MA.

For everybody west of 128, it's pronounced PEA-bud-y, not pea-BOD-y.

[Chris Querengasser]

no way! where?

[Bill Stewart]

A slice of land the city bought from Eastman Gelatine. It's just off 128 between Summit St, Washington St and the Higgins Middle School. Will post when there is a walk through--perhaps next week? 9 holes initially, with plans to expand to 18.

[Jaxon Sheehy]

A slice of land the city bought from Eastman Gelatine. It's just off 128 between Summit St, Washington St and the Higgins Middle School. Will post when there is a walk through--perhaps next week? 9 holes initially, with plans to expand to 18.

That's a decent location... since i drive past it all the time! I've always wanted a 9 holer in Salem, but the parks are so well used and maintained i never felt like it'd have a chance. Peabody is just as good! Can't wait for the walk-through-

[Bill Stewart]

Wednesday 5:30 pm. Meeting the member of the City of Peabody Development & Planning Board who's behind the course on site. PM me for directions.

[Jaxon Sheehy]

Great walk through!
These are legit folks with an actual plan- we're talking civil engineering maps, contracts, the works... as part of a bigger plan to take care of some of Peabody's water/flooding issues...

and to top it off the land really does have character- i see good things here for sure.

it will definitely grow the sport too- with some massive neighborhoods just a stone's throw (or a disc's throw) away, who've never been exposed to a disc golf course.

can't wait!

[Bill Stewart]

Absolutely Jaxon. These guys have basically sold the DG concept to their various bureaucratic committees and have big backing and money set aside for the project. When the city of Peabody bought this land from the new corporate owner (for a song since the land is wet enough to be unbuildable) one requirement was for it to be used for recreational purposes. The cost-effectiveness of DG and it's ability to adapt to odd-shaped parcels made it a no-brainer.

The technical aspect of the project is to build a drainage retention pond to better control flood issues affecting the adjacent residential neighborhood. It seemed to me that the planners behind this were equally enthused about a DG course as they were flood remediation. So the funny thing is that they had a 9-hole layout based on a newbie DGer who's plays Pye and just two other courses a couple times, and the engineer (who's never played) behind the wetland side of the project.

We straightened out a couple design quirks, but what was really an eye-opener for these two was the process of building a course. They assumed when the big contractors come in and clear out the trees and dig the retention pond, they'd just clear out the nine fairways at the same time. We shared the concept of slowly visualizing the layout and tweaking the tee and pin placements based on challenge, flow, safety, diversity etc. It will end up being a money-saver for them to bring in local contractors for the brush and tree-clearing. Concepts like wood-chipping the the brush and trees to line the fairways never occured to them.

So how great is it when a new course on public land has no worries about money, labor and cutting down trees?

I think this course will be very successful--taking a completely wasted space (reminds me of Page Park in Bristol) and turning it into a beautiful DG course. As far as the nine holes, the selling corporation has indicated they are interested in selling more land, so I'd imagine the 9-hole situation will be temporary, should everything go as planned.

The next phase for them is to take the tweaked course design and get out there with some very visible markers and plot it out. We will assist them as we all realized they need some experienced input. I'll post the next time we get together.

The coolest part is not having to allocate time (as a volunteer) to the grunt work. I can see this thing becoming reality very quickly once the work starts.

P.S. Stroika you will be psyched. This course is the anti-Pye. 100% wooded, and we'll make sure the fairways provide the tight challenges we lack up at Lady Pye.

[Chris Querengasser]

any news on this yet?

[Jaxon Sheehy]

nothing new since the walk through but it's still being worked on- on the larger scale.
the realistic time frame seemed more like a few months before they start doing basic fairways- it'll definitely be a multi-step process
and all I know for sure is that they havent got to the point where they're tweaking pin or tee-pad placement.

we'll post updates when we get 'em!

[Mike Davis]

i just saw this in the paper....


http://www.salemnews.com/local/x1828356677/Frisbee-course-may-buoy-flood-relief-project

[Jaxon Sheehy]

i just saw this in the paper....


http://www.salemnews.com/local/x1828356677/Frisbee-course-may-buoy-flood-relief-project

excellent! it makes me feel like we're not crazy here! it's in print so it MUST be true! i drove by the other day to see if they broke ground yet on that area... nope. but the trees are marked with neon tape for possible basket locations still, so it's in the works. it's so thick right now it's not even worth looking at until they actually start the process- but it's going to be a good 9 holer with possibilities for future expansion.

[Mike Davis]

any news?

[Bill Stewart]

Brendan contacted me last week. Doing a walk through Thursday--hopefully with the handful of neighbors who "expressed concern" about DG. People generally fear the unknown, and I will put on my salesman hat and allay those fears to the best of my ability.

[Mike Cormier]

Just came across this and have to ask.... Isn't Mr. Peabody "Prince Albert" of Pro Wrestling fame?

In any case, good luck with the walk through... If things go well there in Peabody it wouldn't surprise me if you were able to find more people and places further up 128.... Lots of woods up there on Cape Ann

[Chris Querengasser]

any news?

[Karl Molitoris]

Just came across this and have to ask.... Isn't Mr. Peabody "Prince Albert" of Pro Wrestling fame?

Nope. Mr. Peabody was a professor dog that had a lab assistant named Sherman (Saturday morning cartoons in the early '60s) .

Karl

[Chris Querengasser]

well?

[Brian Giggey]

any news?

It's progressing well. Excavation on the retention basin (5 acres of the 13 acre parcel) will begin in mid June, with the disc golf course to follow. Not sure when it will be playable, but the retention basin is the primary concern for now.

[Chris Querengasser]

Awesome! is there somewhere better to find news on this? such as what's progressing or if there's a work day or something.

[Brian Giggey]

Awesome! is there somewhere better to find news on this? such as what's progressing or if there's a work day or something.

Right now there is no work day anywhere in sight. The excavation for the retention basin should take quite some time, so I'd think late summer at the earliest for disc golf site work.

[Matt DeAngelis]

Blue Horseshoe hears of a course coming in Peabody, MA.

For everybody west of 128, it's pronounced PEA-bud-y, not pea-BOD-y.

Just saw this thread pop up on my unread posts. When I read the first line, I wondered why it was so damn familiar. Good reference Stew!

[Chris Querengasser]

we still in that painful phase of silence? or has there been any developments whether big or small?

[Brian Giggey]

we still in that painful phase of silence? or has there been any developments whether big or small?

The city put the project out to bid to contractors at the end of May. After the notice of award, a pre-construction meeting will be held in late June, with excavation beginning in July. The priority is the detention basin. Rough flagging of the course has already begun, and once the final constraints of the detention basin are apparent, we will get down to tee/basket scale.

It's my understanding that there won't be any work days. The contractors have tee, fairway and basket construction details, and will be overseen by our firm when hole clearing begins.

More info about the course can be seen here:
http://www.explorediscgolf.com/discgolf ... of-peabody

[Jaxon Sheehy]

we should have a work day anyway
where we all come and hang out while they work!

[Brian Giggey]

Rough cutting and site clearing has begun on the 9-hole course. The 5 acre detention basin adjacent to the course still has a couple days of clearing left.

This is a look from the tee box of the 181' 4th hole after the first pass with the cutter and skid steer. All 9 holes are now rough cut, ready for grubbing and eventually followed by a continuous layer of bark mulch along the fairway.

Many more pictures can be found on Explore Disc Golf's Facebook page in the next day or two.

[Jaxon Sheehy]

YEAH!!!

[Brian Giggey]

Things are progressing well. The course has been rough cut and grubbing of the fairways should start in the upcoming weeks. Final flagging of the 9 holes has been finished.

The focus is on the detention basin right now. Once the contractors get it down to rough grade, they will switch over to final clearing of fairways/rough lines and covering them with mulch.

Bi-weekly construction meetings are being held with the city, architects, planners and contractors of this project. Everything is still on schedule for fall 2013 completion.

[Andy Gallerani]

Great news!
Can't wait to check it out after work in the fall

[Brian Giggey]

Baskets have arrived and wood chips are being spread on the fairways. "Fair fairway" clearing will happen next week, while the detention basin is roughly 70% done. We continue bi-weekly construction meetings with all parties involved, and things are on schedule for a late October completion date for the entire build.

The course is short, measuring a total of 1,984' --- a tight, technical walk on a rather narrow parcel of land, resulting in few "shot shaping" opportunities and doglegs, but still putting a premium on accuracy. This will be a great course to introduce newcomers to the sport, while giving advanced players a wonderful round to practice precision mid ranges with the occasional fairway driver opportunity.

All told, it's what the city wants and they are very happy. They are hoping the success of this 9-hole loop will justify the purchase of more land for the back 9.

[Bill Stewart]

Checked it out yesterday morning. Looks great especially compared to the last time I was there when it was nothing more then an overgrown lot. Giggity, I walked the 6 or 7 fairway's on the hillside, I'm assuming they go out low and come back high after that uphill pop at the end of the property? Also wondering how many holes there are before the retention pond and whether any holes will go over the pond.

Great work. I also played the 9-holer up at Gordon Conwell Theology School in Hamilton yesterday. Fun little track that's long and wide open. Very easy to come up with extra tees and make it a 18 hole pirate course.

Like to see the options grow on the North Shore!