UMass Amhert course in close to installation!

[Brian Giggey]

The Orchard Hill Disc Golf at UMass Amherst course is close to installation! After 16 months, all the proper departments have signed off and the course is now going in the Campus Master Plan. Currently, students are forming a Registered Student Organization (RSO) as the last step before installation. The student-run RSO will handle all finances (it's a free course), sponsorships, league information, clean up days, etc., but for now it is the last piece of the puzzle.

I'm reaching out to all of you to see if anyone is interested in volunteering to help with COURSE INSTALLATION. The more names I can give UMass, the better. Once every last approval has come in, we will schedule a couple work weekends, and we'll make it fun.

If interested in helping with COURSE INSTALLATION for Orchard Hill Disc Golf at UMass Amherst: please e-mail me at bgiggey@gmail.com. Thanks so much everyone! The course is a beauty

[Chance Strom]

I'm in and i got a gang of guys. we're all carpenters/ labor slaves and local. holla!

[Titan Bariloni]

UMass Amhert course in close to installation!

whats is the deal with this place?

[Chris Querengasser]

a buddy of mine said that this is done now, i'm actually kind of bummed out as my girlfriend went here for four years, and obviously graduated the year before this was done! i'll have her ask some of her friends that still go there see if there's anymore solid news.

[Titan Bariloni]

yeah I am a lil confused on what the real deal is....

Mr Giggey what is the status?

[Brandon Reinle]

http://www.facebook.com/umassdiscgolf

According to the course Facebook page, they are still in the approval process and have to schedule another walkthrough with University representatives. Supposedly, they might be able to begin installation as early as April.

[Chris Querengasser]

yeah my girlfriend said nobody she knows there knew what she was talking about so that probably IS the case.

[Trent Solomon]

they just got NEFA's large grant so hopefully this will help

[Brian Giggey]

yeah I am a lil confused on what the real deal is....

Mr Giggey what is the status?

Sorry, I don't get on here enough. The course is in a similar position to what it was in December of 2011 --- scheduling meetings. We use a "Doodle" to assign open time slots for all the representatives needed for a final course walk through. Once we find a time and date for all the officers, we will do a course walk and get the final approval.

The University was very excited in our meeting in December. They said we just needed to do a final course walk with everyone (including police and neighbors) and once that is done, they will make the final decision. They are very confident in the project going in --- they just want to do it right once. They don't want to put the course in too quickly, and then have to take it out for some reason. Completely understandable, yet a little frustrating, as well know how amazing it's going to be to have another course in the area and an added recreational outlet on Massachusetts' flagship campus.

[Chance Strom]

Sooo...... any recent news or updates?

[Brian Giggey]

Sooo...... any recent news or updates?

Not really. Still talking to the University and trying to schedule meetings. That hard part is to get everyone to meet at once, but that's what they want, so that's what we try and do. We are doing our very best, and have been talking to them about the potential of setting up some temporary holes for a weekend to really show EXACTLY what the course is going to look like and the users it will attract. They are a little worried no one will use it :/ We will continue to work with the University, and it will happen when the timing is right. Thanks for your interest and we do apologize for delays, but we are at the whim of schedules of some of the busiest people at UMass.

[Chance Strom]

They're concerned no one would use it? We need a discgolfer census!

[Mike Dussault]

If you build it they will come.

[Peter Bean]

If you build it they will come.

Just the thought of nobody using this course is kinda almost laughable.

The sport seems to be growing very fast in this area,
you put a course on a area with 5 colleges in a 20 mile radius what around 50 thousand or so students.

It will get used. ALOT

[Brian Giggey]

If you build it they will come.

Very true. We're talking to them about setting up a course for a weekend --- one day could be a "field day" for surrounding school and the other day will be a day for all to play.

We understand that it seems laughable that no one will use it, but we're the disc golf community and we see the growth. I've given them statistics, site-specific packets and more, but they are do still want to "gauge the student's interest" before moving forward.

[Chance Strom]

What's going on with this course? Giving up?

[Brian Giggey]

What's going on with this course? Giving up?

Nope, not giving up Patience is all we ask of the community --- we're dealing with a MASSIVE governmental organization that needs to go through a lot of approvals for this to happen. The disc golf course is in Phase 1 of the Campus Master Plan, so everything is looking good. This pup just takes a LONG time to go in.

We are currently trying to schedule a week long setup of our Mobile Disc Golf Experience at the course (the 8 holes on the Southern side of Eastman Lane) to show the University the maintenance needs for Facilities Management, the signage/education aspect of the course, in addition to how we addressed handicap accessibility and exactly what it will look like in terms of visual impact to the surrounding context. We will then use our Innovation Grant from the PDGA to buy custom stamped discs that we will give to surrounding school systems for "field days" and to entice the physical education departments to consider bringing disc golf into their curriculum in one way or another.

Explore Disc Golf has a lot of great things going on right now. We are currently working on four different courses right now, one of which that should be breaking ground in the next couple weeks. We did our initial site visit in April and baskets (which are currently en route to the location) should be in the ground by early October...so as you can see, when we work with smaller organizations, things go quickly. Our Mobile Disc Golf Experience is booked through mid-October (including a 35,000+ person music festival), and we're headed down to Charlottesville in October for an initial site consultation to start a new course design soon.

We look forward to Orchard Hill Disc Golf at UMass Amherst going in, and bringing a disc golf course to the flagship University of the state of Massachusetts. The University just physically needs to see a temporary setup of the course, it's usage and interest of the community. Once we agree on a scheduled time, we will move forward with setting up the Mobile.

Thanks for your interest,
Brian

[Derek Brazauskas]

Where is this new course that's breaking ground? Sounds exciting new courses are great for nefa.

[Chance Strom]

Updates help brian. Four courses? You seem to have alot going on.

[Derek Brazauskas]

Does anyone know anything about any of these new courses? Or what's being done with the nefa grant that was awarded?? Just curious

[Shaun LaForce]

A NEFA Grant was awarded to a course that hasn't even been approved yet??

[Derek Brazauskas]

A NEFA Grant was awarded to a course that hasn't even been approved yet??

Yes, and it's very hard to get any answers on the matter.. what answers we get are very broad and not helpful. I'm not sure how a grant could be given without a course there.. Can anyone explain? Apparently Brian is busy building 4 other courses that no one knows about. What does NEFA brass have to say about giving a grant to a course that has been in the first stages for 2 plus years..

[John Williston]

Thats pretty shady. They should have given that grant to webster fish & game at least they would have used and not procrastinated with it!

[Isaac Chaney]

Maybe they're using it to purchase illegal guns, then selling them to the mafia. by the time they actually use the money for the course they will have made copious amounts of money....

[Bobby Direnzo]

Whos cares. Guy hit the strippy up and get a lappy for me.

[Derek Brazauskas]

I think a lot of people care.. maybe not.. bottom line is we cant get answers..

[Isaac Chaney]

If I were NEFA, I would make each grant winner there own account in which they could reach the funds at (via debt card)

That way NEFA can monitor the exspenses and know with 100% certainty that the funds are either being used in the correct manner, or is still sitting there availble for course use.

[Isaac Chaney]

It would probably greatly disappoint NEFA to know how much grant money has NOT been spent on its original intentions. Just another one of those things were better off not knowing.

[Jay Ballard]

Whos cares. Guy hit the strippy up and got a lappy from me.

[Bill Bertera]

It would probably greatly disappoint NEFA to know how much grant money has NOT been spent on its original intentions. Just another one of those things were better off not knowing.

Requiring receipts would be a good start. Changing the model to reimbursement would also solve the problem (if there truly is one), but the course may not have someone who can front the money while waiting for the reimbursement check.