Wompatuck State Park-Hingham Course Development

[Mark Goldstein]

Were creating a thread to track efforts to get a new disc golf course installed in Wompatuck State Park in Hingham. That part of the state is barren for disc golf courses and this is a very exciting prospect. We will pitch a proposal to the very recptive Friends of Wompatuck State Park in October, 2014. Thanks to Greenleaf Garrison for bringing this discussion to life and Drew McManus for his input. Much more to come!

[Matt Morris]

Really looking forward to all of this.

[Matt DeAngelis]

October has come and gone. How did the discussion go?

[Sean McCabe]

Hi Matt,

Since everything is so preliminary I guess we don't want to get everyone all jazzed up just yet. But for the curious here is my best recap.

We attended the Friends of Wampatuck meeting in October with several representatives. We discussed the talks of installing a disc golf course that happened in the past. At some point several years ago a group approached them, the FoW were enthused and approached the DCR about it. We are told that the DCR was up for the course. Once the greenlight was given the group never got back in contact with them and thus the course was never built. I'm not sure who these people were or why they decided not to pursue the course after being given the ok.

The good news. The FoW are equally enthused about the idea still and will be strongly suggesting(once again) on our behalf that the course be greenlit by the DCR. Our group consisting of Mike Rogan, Mark Goldstein, Matt Morris, Eric Wilson and myself are planning on attending the November meeting to discuss some of the areas we are intending to use. Several of us have already walked in some of the areas and have already identified serious potential. The most encouraging part is that they expect we would have a representative at their meetings as the Disc Golf liaison so that they can keep up with maintanence such as downed trees and the like. This tells me that they want us to be active in the park and expect that we will become part of the FoW, which is really cool.

Next steps are discussing the areas we want to use to identify if there is any issue with protected species and such. Then we need to discuss what resources the park may have like tools we could potentially use to build. After the next meeting or two I would expect we will either receive the green light or not(the outcome looks good as everyone in the initial meeting was very enthusiastic). Specifically, their current trail manager will be a huge resource to us. He is young-ish and seems to be a DG enthusiast.

If/when we receive the green light our next objective is going to be money and resources. We are currently a small group but as with most new courses we will seek sponsorship and help from our DG community.

The outlook is great to potentially bring another course to the south shore. Even more exciting is the area, which is currently a complete DG dead zone.

Any and all support is welcome!

[Mike Dussault]

This is great news Sean! Way to go getting this resurrected. From what I remember there was a "group" that had approached the park and identified an area. The only discussion I remember is the area was far away from parking, so less then ideal for access. I can't wait to see the property and the plans for this. Very exciting indeed.

I wish all the best for this project, and will help wherever I can

[Matt DeAngelis]

Excellent!