HCC UPDATES

[Michael Morin]

Course clean-up is under way! A site walk and course clean-up review took place on April 28 between Tom Stewart (Recreation Director), Jay Ducharme (HCC DG club & a course originator) and myself. Permission has been given for me to act as lead volunteer for all DGC work that has been outlined, submitted to Tom and approved/agreed upon. Unfortunately, and this is by request of the Rec Director, only myself and one other person have been approved to perform any other the agreed upon work at this point. Over time, as the course begins to get a return following, this might change but for now I want to honor the request of the school – please do the same. Maintaining the DGC has been a goal of mine for close to 2 years now as it is essentially my home course - the other being Page Park in Bristol, CT. True, the course may never be a favorite among the DG majority but it is a fantastic resource for many and I am happy to be a part of getting it back on the radar of local players once again.

There will be no work days planned as the school does not want this to happen. I have been putting in hours on the weekends for the past month+, attending to individual holes. It is really imperative that no one take it upon themselves to cut anything in the fairways or anywhere along the course. Should this happen it could jeopardize any further work being done. The work is being done with hand tools as no power tools can be utilized (again, per request of the school) – so it is a slow process. At this point holes 1, 2, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,15 & 16 have been cleaned up. Holes 17 & 18 have been started and are essentially complete except for some removal of dead branches in the fairways. Hole 3 needs the most attention at this point and, with Bernie's assistance, I plan to get this cleaned up over the weekend. By months end, holes 4, 8 & 9 will be attended to. Holes 5 & 6 need the least attention at this point except for some low hanging branches - this needs further review/approval by Tom & Jay before I can attend to those issues. Once everything has been completed, it should be much easier to maintain, cutting regrowth as it appears.

I have access to the wood chips along the parking lot to #11 and will try to distribute them at the baskets to some of the more rooted/rock strewn baskets. Hole 10 was done as an example for Jay & Tom but none of the other holes in need have been attended to as of yet. If this does happen it will be later this month or early July.

What will help is people playing the course. If you come across a fallen branch, move it off to the edge of the fairway. Just cleaning up the fairways of all the trash and sticks is a huge improvement. Foot traffic will help keep some of the re-growth in check. Any feedback can be directed to me. If there is some clean-up that has been missed, please let me know and I can approach Tom & Jay and see if it can be approved/performed – again, please do not cut anything on your own.

Thanks to HCC for allowing this long needed work to be done. With your help & support, I hope to get a tourney back to the course before 2015.

[Michael Morin]

Hole 3 got trimmed up over the weekend. With all the wet & warm weather this spring, things are growing back rapidly. Please get out to the course and play a couple rounds. The more of us playing the course the more worn in it will get which will hinder some of the regrowth.

Comments on what you think are welcome. HCC is not a favorite of some but it is 1 of the few courses in MA west of the CT river. Let's get it back on the radar....

thanks!!

[Michael Morin]

hole 8 has been cleaned up as of this past Tuesday - you can now see the basket from the tee. Holes 4 & 18 and part of 17 remain for initial cleanup, then I'll run through the back nine again and trim the regrowth from the past couple months.

get out there and throw!!

- m

[James Lane]

Sounds like great progress Mike. I played there quite a bit when it first went in, but I have not seen any of the changes, looking forward to playing up there.

[Michael Morin]

thanks for the interest James - looking forward to getting a bunch of you guys up for a round soon - peace

[Michael Morin]

get out to play some DG @ HCC! Course is playing pretty sweet right now. Small amount of work left on 4, 9 and 6 - will revisit 12 also as it grew back pretty fast.

From the recent winds and heavy rains there are some sticks scattered in some fairways - please toss a few off to the side if you think of it during a round.

Thanks much -

- m

[Michael Morin]

holes 4, 6 and 9 have been attended to! will be doing some minor clean-up work on a few holes on the back 9 that have grown in since the spring - 12 & 16 mostly. a couple rusty chains on a few baskets - going to talk with the school about getting these replaced since innova supposedly guarantees them.

get out and play HCC - it needs to get burned in

feedback is welcome

- m

[Karl Molitoris]

Hi Mike,

In full foliage (as it is now), the course plays different than I'm used to...but it IS playing nicely! Played it a couple of weeks ago and had fun. Still some roll-a-ways (that's HCC) but the woodsier holes were playing decently (could tell some 'cleaning' had been done) and there WERE fair fairways to try to hit. Too bad that a BIG cheater route had to be cut on 7 to alleviate (or at least lessen) the grumpy neighbor situation but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. Hope to get back there again soon. Keep it going!

Karl

[Michael Morin]

hey karl -

glad to hear you have been out to HCC in recent weeks and I really appreciate the feedback.

As for Hole 7 - it is what it is at this point and what was done in the past is done. At the very least it does lessen the chance of discs trailing off to the adjacent yard and with reason the land owner is not a fan of this happening. Totally understandable and I want to accommodate the issue as best possible.

Gonna run it by Jay and HCC but there could be an OB line put in that area just to keep players from actually throwing a disc from that person's yard. At a minimum players can quickly run into the yard, pick up the disc and play from the spot of OB. OR the tee pad gets moved and the hole goes back to a par 3. Either way, i am working on a solution.

Look for a low-key, non NEFA/PDGA event later this fall. Working out some details in the next couple months and hope to get the OK during that time.

hit chains -
- michael

[Steve Marcil]

Played the course this past weekend. Skipped over Hole 7 due to the neighbor. Hole 11, took the long way to the basket on the walk down. VERY swampy! Course played well, need some clean up.

[Michael Morin]

hey Steve!! glad you got over to HCC. We're in CT now and I will no longer be working on the course. I have spoken to Pure Flight and Pete may look into getting permission to do occasional cleanup. However, with his schedule he is a very busy person these days. I have mentioned this to Todd as well. I hope someone can work something out with the Recreation Director so at least some of the course work can be maintained.

Call me if you care to chat about it. If I can assist in any way I will do so. Page Park, Panthorn & Lufbery are my local courses now so pretty busy helping out where I can with these courses. I must admit to feeling spoiled now with so many sweet courses to choose from.

Hope to see you sometime soon. Throw well and enjoy the game.....

- michael

[Steve Marcil]

Played the course on Friday, course was in decent shape needs some grooming and clean up of some downed branches. Walking path for hole 12 starting to get over grown, I am guessing due to the lack of play. What can bee done to improve the tee box for hole 3?