Unfortunately as of today, the parks people have not done anything further with the course. All I seem to get out of them is excuses as to why they couldn't get out there. I was hoping that all of our hard work, money and time, would pay off. Apparently this tactic isn't working.
All we can do is hope for the best. I will continue my emails to them in hopes that they will get sick of hearing from me and get the work done.
Keep the faith.
At what point can we just bomb in there, and start doin alot of the major work ourselves? I'm sure lots of people would be down, and we have guys like Mark L., who's an arborist and has alot of the equipment we would need. Just askin.
The park now says that it will be in there next week. I sent kind of a disparaging email to them in the hopes they would get the picture and start some work. It may have helped.
As I indicated earlier, feel free to go down there and do some work. There are enough people with knowledge of the course to show you around and get things done. Trees that are tagged need to be removed. All of the area between the flagged fairways need to be cleaned of debris, deadwood, etc. Feel free to go do it. Call me if you need instruction.
(w) 727-2487.
Les
Just to update you. The crew is onsite working and have been there all morning. They should be finished with tree removal tomorrow at the latest.
The location precludes getting a chipper to most of the holes so they are just dragging the majority of them to the side. I assume the next step will be you and your design team double checking the layout then we can start on the tee and net installation and placement.
Let me know.
Tom
I hope to go out there tomorrow after work to check on the progress. Next step is basket placement and tee pad design and install.
I went out to the course Thursday afternoon/evening and met up with David Wollner and Bill Stapleton. We walked the course and observed the work that was done by the Tolland parks crew. They removed trees that we had specifically tagged and cleaned up some of the brush and debris. My small crew did a little more pruning and stick/log/debris removal.
The good news is that the course is ready to have the baskets installed.
Much praise for the Tolland Parks crew for their efforts. Additional praise for all those that sacrificed their time to help out with the design, mapping, tree and brush removal, cleanup, etc.
I exchanged emails with Tom Ainsworth of the parks dept today. here is what he said:
Hi Les,
Glad to get that part finally done. Your narrative map helped a lot. I plan on trying to get started with the basket installation within the next week or two.
Again it depends on the availability of my help and the weather (which actually seems to be improving). I assume the sleeves are placed in concrete to keep them stable.
I will keep you informed.
Tom
I indicated to him that, yes the sleeves go into concrete and some direction as to basket height, etc.
Looking forward to having a full Summer of DG at Cross Farms. I'll let you know when we need more helpers.
Congrats on getting things moving so quickly! I hope we have such luck at Devens. I am meeting with their DPW crew next week, so hopefully we'll be done soon too (although we have no real baskets yet!)
Bill filled me in on Thursday. Just one Q. What became of hole #10. What seemed to be a perfect pin placement to the right in a grassy clearing turned into swamp land. Did you have to move it?
I'll try and help out - it depends on my schedule, but there's a chance I can do some solo work in mornings to...
Looking forward to this course finally becoming a reality!
Hole # 10 won't be in the clearing to the right at the end of the drive due to inherent swampiness although we may keep it as a tournement location if it dries out. Current thinking is to place the pin just prior to the swampy area on the right side of the fairway. The hole is still sufficiently long and has an "S" turn to it. This should play just fine. If it turns out that people are birding it easily, we will find a new location for the pin.
Keep the faith. Disc golf is coming soon to Tolland.
I'd like to come up with a name to go with the course other than "Cross Farms Recreational center" or just "Cross Farms". I would still like to include "Cross Farms" in the name. Something like "Cross farms Crush" or maybe "Cross Farms Crease" (kinda like this one). Please post your suggestions here.
I would like to vote on a new name by the end of June. Naming and voting is open to the public. Please post up soon. Thanks
i dont have any good suggestions for ya, but i think i prefer "crush" to "crease". 8)
honestly i think the place will likely be referred to as "tolland" or "cross farms" anyway no matter what the official name is, esp if you're going 3 words. "hunt's mean 18" is a good example of people just calling it "rindge" all the time - at least with anyone i ever talk to about the course. places like pyramids, maple hill, hyzer creek - they're all names pulled from nowhere because they're not in an established complex. buff is buff because of it's location. wick is wick. shoehorning a name onto the tolland course may not really "work" for some people. but that's just me
Les,
Ya'll can name it anything that fits, but I kind of agree with Dave on this one. Until either Tolland, CT gets another course or Tolland, MA gets one course (they being the only Tollands within the NEFA earshot range, I'll go for simplicity and just call it "Tolland" (not that Cross Farms xxxxx is bad...). Heck, even now I sometimes call certain courses - just for the heck of it - "Wet Lesta" and "Dry Lesta" (yes, I've been lucky never to have found Pyramid's pond...and no, not lucky enough not to have escaped while across the road).
Karl
Cross Farms is the name of the overall complex, but it's a bit oxymoronic considering it's a mostly wooded course. Though the stone walls reflect days of yore when farming was a strong component of the community, it certainly doesn't have the feel of farmland.
Of course I don't have any great productive suggestions either...
On that note. If a name is added such as "Crush", "Crease" or others, it may be that the "Cross farms" part is dropped in casual conversation. This is why I think it may be valuable to go through this exercise.
So go ahead and beat the idea up just for the banter of it. I still think it may be worthwhile to try this anyway.
How about "Cross Farms Crust" or maybe "Cross farms Fling".
Ideas please.
Criss Cross Farms.
Plastic Heaven...Plastic Haven. Plastic Cove.
Landing Zone @ the Farm
Cross Fling Farms... OK this one sucks.
Anhyzer Farms...or Hyzer Farms.
How about the sound a disc makes when it hits a tree??? Sure someone out there knows that sound!! SaxMike, Smolin, Zach, Eric.....?????
This one is personal....The Janice Pocket Memorial Disc Golf Field....as she disappeared (and lived) right around the corner. I grew up 2 streets down and went to school with her.
BURIED UNDER COMICS "Where The Walls Are Made Of AWESOME!!!"
How about THE B.B.D.G.C. ?Seriosly that ones hot.
Mid-State Fairway's
Toll Crush[pronounced like booth not the town]
Cross Crush[or vise versa]
Erics new spot to suck[heheheheheheheheheheheheheh]
Blue Crush[potential sponsership from titty bar with that one]
Both Cheeks Farms
Grunt Complex
Woods hole[taken but not dgcwise]
The true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love. Nice Grunt.
word has it that the baskets will go in on friday. I hope to give it a test run this weekend. Thanks for the info Brian. I will voice my concern over hole 18 to the park peeps.
If we can get a confirmation from Les or ID that the baskets are installed by then, we're on. I hope that this crummy weather hasn't created any unanticipated delay.
