Devens - The Hill: Devens, MA

John Borelli · Post by **John Borelli** » Mon May 23, 2005 4:01 pm

Some of you may have heard that we are trying to get a disc golf course put in Devens, MA (off route 2, between 190 and 495). Brian McNulty is leading this inititative and has already met with several town and state officials. Support and awareness is growing.

Next Wed., June 1, Brian will be presenting at the Devens Open Space Planning meeting. This is a big-time meeting and we need your support.

We are trying to show the people running Devens (Mass Development Council, town residents, and officials from the surrounding communities) that there is a wealth of support for a disc golf course on Devens.

Please email Brian a note of support describing why dg is a good thing, its benefits (physically, economically, mentally,...), why it is good for the community, etc., and anything else you can think of that'll help show them that disc golf in Devens should happen.

I think this meeting is open to the public, and if so, I'll post the info later.

Thanks for your help!

John Borelli · Post by **John Borelli** » Tue May 24, 2005 10:43 am

The meeting is open to the public. Here's the info:

Public Forum
2005 Devens Open Space and Recreation Plan.
Wednesday June 1st from 7 to 9 pm.

Location:
Devens Community Center
100 Sherman St.
Devens, MA

This is the building located across from Rogers Field.

Please come and show your support.

Arty Graustein · Post by **Arty Graustein** » Tue May 24, 2005 1:26 pm

John I would love to see this course becomes a reality. Living in Fitchburg and having to travel a half hour plus (with the exception of the 9 hole course in Princeton) to play leaves me with a stong desire to see this idea come to fruiton. Back in March I wrote a letter of support for Maple Hill that I modified a bit to suit your needs (I hope!!!). Good luck and let me know if there is anything else I can do.

John Borelli · Post by **John Borelli** » Wed May 25, 2005 1:54 pm

The letters of support are starting to come in. Thanks Arty G. and Doug B.

5/31: Add Peter T. to the list. Thx!

John Borelli · Post by **John Borelli** » Sun May 29, 2005 9:48 am

Another rainy weekend? How about shooting us an email in support of disc golf in Devens?

Hey, it's a 3-day weekend, so you've got the time, right? :wink:

Meeting is Wed.

John Borelli · Post by **John Borelli** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 11:31 am

Not much happened at the meeting, except that we explained what DG was to about 20 new people. After listening to a review of the Open Space Plan, Brian made his pitch and we passed out some info packets, including four letters of support and a video of the public access tv show Disc Golf Live.

After the meeting, a reporter from the Lowel Sun asked Brian a few questions, as did one from Nashoba Valley Publishing (a group of local papers). He seemed pretty pumped about the idea and said maybe he'd write a separate article on our efforts. So far, no mention in either paper.

Next up is a walk of the proposed land sometime in July and a presentation to the Devens Resident Committee.

John Borelli · Post by **John Borelli** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 2:10 pm

Just a quick update: The reporter from Nashoba Publishing has started writing his article. He interviewed a few of us today over the phone and may set up a photo shoot next week. He said the article would probably get published next week.

Our walk of the proposed land is still scheduled for sometime in July.

John Borelli · Post by **John Borelli** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 11:11 am

Nut and I are feeling pretty popular these days. Last Sat. we met with a photographer from the Nashoba Publishing papers and this past Wed. we met with a reporter and photographer from the Lowell Sun. I must say that Nut is doing a great job talking up the course!

Not too sure when the NP article will print (either a Wed and Fri issue), but the Lowell Sun reporter just emailed me and said that unless "half of the city burns down", her article will run on the front page Monday morning. Very cool.

Walk thru has been pushed back to Sept due to many Devens activities.

Rick Williams · Post by **Rick Williams** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 3:13 pm

Thanks for the update John. I was interviewed over the phone for the article. My impression is that disc golf will be presented in a very positive light. Is there anyone in Lowell who could pick up the paper that day?

John Borelli · Post by **John Borelli** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 1:59 pm

Argh, no newspaper articles yet....

John Borelli · Post by **John Borelli** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 3:04 pm

We finally got some coverage in the Lowell Sun!

I haven't seen the actual paper yet, but hopefully we got some pix in there too. Here is the online version. http://www.lowellsun.com/local/ci_2888905

Devens Disc Golf, baby!

Bill Stewart · Post by **Bill Stewart** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 11:35 pm

Nice job JOBO!!

Upon reflecting on the world's problems, I particularly liked this quote:

"Disc golf is the perfect solution"

When you boil it all down, it really is.

John Borelli · Post by **John Borelli** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 9:48 am

Thanks Stew! I think we're going to trademark that slogan...

We did get a nice big color photo on the first page of the Local news section (top of the fold even). Nut and I are putting and the proposed area is in the background. And, as an added bonus, we are exhibiting perfect form of course!

Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the photo to work this morning, so I'll post it here later tonight.

John Borelli · Post by **John Borelli** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 6:17 pm

And here it is:

John Borelli · Post by **John Borelli** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 1:40 pm

Here's another positive article on our efforts, published last week. Rumor has it there's a picture in the print version which I'll post when I get back to MA. Looks like they left out a paragraph that introduces me because I am suddenly mentioned as "Borelli"!!

http://www.pepperellfreepress.com/Stori ... 85,00.html

Rob Walker · Post by **Rob Walker** » Sun Aug 07, 2005 11:42 pm

Now that my help is no longer needed at the Flatrock Disc Golf Course in Athol (because it is closing), I will be able to help somewhere else. I have a variety of tools, experience and occasionally, time. The more notice you can give for work days etc, the better.

John Borelli · Post by **John Borelli** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 9:51 am

Is two or three months enough notice? :wink:

Thanks for the offer, Rob. We'll be sure to let everyone know once things get cookin'.

John Borelli · Post by **John Borelli** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 10:15 am

Here's the picture from the Nashoba Publishing Group papers. What a tool!

John Borelli · Post by **John Borelli** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 11:57 am

A few people have asked me where Shepley's Hill is, so here are a few maps. It's near the Ayer entrance of Devens (I think the official name is Verbeck entrance) and parallels W. Main St which leads into downtown Ayer (Rt 2A/111). Rt 2 runs past Devens a mile or so to the south.

For you Ultimate players out there, we are about a 5-minute walk from Rogers Field.

The area to the right is a closed military landfill which as of now is off-limits. As you can see, this is going to be quite the tight and tree-lovin' course!

John Borelli · Post by **John Borelli** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 3:50 pm

The walk-through has been scheduled for next week. Things are looking good! I'll let you know how it goes.

John Borelli · Post by **John Borelli** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 10:42 am

The first disc has flown at Devens! :cheers:

Last night, Rick Williams flung a light blue Whippet down an old trail and quickly found wood! Yahoo! Another great moment in NEFA history, no doubt.

Brian, Rick, and I walked the land yesterday with Cathy W. (Devens official). I was relieved that it was not as dense with trees as I had imagined, but don't get me wrong, there are a lot of trees and scrub brush and we will need to put in a lot of work. This will definately be a tight, technical, wooded course. A Rindge II, perhaps? Depending on where the property line falls, there may be room for some big open holes next to the closed land fill.

Rick said the area reminded him of Pyramids back in the early days. There are several trails that the Army used to use as training runs that have potential as fairways. It you catch a tree tho, you may get into a heap of trouble. Rick was thinking most holes would have to be short due to the tight fairways.

It's not called Shepley's Hill for nothing. There's some elevation change, both sharp and gradual, with many huge rock outcroppings. You'll definately get a good workout walking the course.

So now that we have walked it, I am pretty excited about figuring out where the holes will go. Rick suggested that we experiment with a few layouts by tying strings to trees and using them as targets/tees. I plan on doing this in the upcoming weeks just so I can get a better feel for what is out there. I let you know when and where if anyone wants to join me.

Devens is definately on board and that is great.

I'll let Rick give his non-biased impressions in a separate post!

Rick Williams · Post by **Rick Williams** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 11:48 am

Thanks for the update, John. Yes, a lot of work will be needed to get a nice course into this piece of land, but there is a lot of potential here. Some of the property reminded me of holes 3 and 4 at Borderland. Elevation changes and big boulders.

But John, I remember my throw went low and into the brush. My throws never hit trees....

John Borelli · Post by **John Borelli** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 5:54 pm

We got the topo map of the land this week showing all the boundaries and it looks like the one open area (to the right near the landfill) is off limits, so we will officially be a tree lover's course.

I am thinking about heading over there Sat morning to do some exploring and preliminary fairway-finding if anyone wants to join me. I'll let you know for sure Friday night or early Sat. morning. PM me if you are interested.

John Borelli · Post by **John Borelli** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 8:44 am

We will be over there this morning around 10, 10:15. Park in the parking lot across the street next to the soccer field. I have a blue GMC pickup with a truck rack. If we've already gone over, enter the woods along the school boundary (there's a faint path) and start looking for us. Or call 978-three-eight-seven-3664.

Rob Walker · Post by **Rob Walker** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 9:41 pm

How did Saturday go?

John Borelli · Post by **John Borelli** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 11:03 am

I got there early and quickly layed out Hole 1a and 1b, and Hole 2. Holes 1a and 1b were great, teeing off near the road, down a hill and into a grove of pine trees. Hole 2 was even better, straight down a fire road lined with trees. I was feeling great about my course-designing skills and was thinking, "Damn this is going to be easy!" Then Brian showed up and reminded me that the nice wide open road was off-limits because they were thinking about using it for a proposed rail trail.

Oops!

But, no big deal. We continued on and layed out 8 potential holes. Each time I walk the land, the less dense with trees it is becomes and the more fairways I see. Hole 1 and 2 are kind of short and go up a steep hill (these may become one hole), 3 goes back down to the bottom, 4 goes back up. Hole 5 is my favorite hole so far. It goes down a long fire road and then bangs a left up a small hill to a couple of big boulders. I see the basket on the edge of the rocks, making putting a bit scary. Hole 6 is back up the hill, Hole 7 tee is near Hole 5 tee and goes down the other side of the hill on the road in a nice long S-fairway. Hole 8 goes down the hill some more into this pretty cool valley surrounded by huge rocks.

Because of the shape of the land and the fact that we have a narrow access path to it, I think the biggest challenge I see right now will be to make Hole 9 end near Hole 1. I hope I am overlooking something really obvious. Maybe you guys can offer me some hints? I also think we may have packed the holes in too close, but after 30 minutes in the woods, we kinda got disoriented.

In general, I think it was a good first try. I am also happy to announce that after two holes, I hold the course record of 5 (-1).

A few pix are here: http://devensdiscgolf.blogspot.com/

Rick Hobbs · Post by **Rick Hobbs** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 10:27 am

Hello, all! A week ago Thursday I decided to stop in at Barre Falls (to use the privy) and saw the course there. I decided to give it a whirl, but all I had was a freestyle-type Frisbee. Fortunately, another golfer gave me an old disc to use. So now I've caught the bug, bought a couple more discs, and played a few more rounds at Buffumville and Barre.
Almost right away, I started to think about possible course locations. I live in Lunenburg, and there may be some possibilities here, but I also came up with the idea on my own that Devens would be a good location, owing to it's proximity to Rt.2. I just now stumbled onto this forum, so you stole my thunder- sort of. I was thinking that the woods north of Mirror Lake would be a good spot, but your location is probably better.
The reason I'm posting this is, because I'm between jobs, and Barre Falls and Tully Lake are partly submerged owing to all the rain, I've got loads of time on my hands, and I'd like to join in the effort to make the Devens course happen. I'm about twenty minutes up the road from Devens, so I can be there on short notice. I don't own a chainsaw, but I've had some experince cutting "bootleg" glades for skiing and snowboarding with my bowsaw.
I've already developed a knack for hitting trees dead center on my tee shots....

John Borelli · Post by **John Borelli** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 6:54 pm

Sounds great Rick, thanks for the offer! We will add you to the list of volunteers. Plz PM your email address to me.

Rick Hobbs · Post by **Rick Hobbs** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 5:41 pm

Hey John, did you get my PM OK? I didn't see it in my outbox just now.
Rick

John Borelli · Post by **John Borelli** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 5:26 pm

I'm thinking about heading over on Sunday morning, maybe 10:00-10:30, for some layout fun if anyone is interested. Weather is looking sunny. Maybe a little lunch and football at the Devens Grill after?

The Patriots have the late-late game, so no conflict there. Lemme know if you're interested and I'll keep an eye out for you. Wurd.

NEFA DISCussion

Devens - The Hill: Devens, MA

Devens - The Hill: Devens, MA

Meeting update

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Where is Shepley's Hill

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