(Was) Brown Park, (Now) Mary Beth Doyle Park and Wetlands Preserve

It's difficult to describe this opportunity without images, but I don't have anything decent to post yet.

Brown Park was the City of Ann Arbor's only disc golf course up to two years ago. Then it was pulled, because that park is mostly owned by the Washtenaw County Drain Commission and it was about to re-do the northern half of the park to redirect the water flow of Mill Creek in order to make the area a more efficient remover of silt and increase the value of the related wetlands, while keeping its functionality as a catch-basin for 100-year and 500-year floods.

More below.

[glane]

good... let's plant baskets and grow the sport

[Scott Aikens]

Vince Firn and I played six holes in Mary Beth Doyle tonight, even though we were only firing at the temporary flags instead of at chains. Looking forward to shooting at the new baskets out there this fall!

[Pat Burke]

If I can help in anyway please let me know installing baskets, cleaning up the park, mixing/pouring concreate., anything please contact me. and a big thanks to you and everyone else involved in making this happen thanks so much!

[Gabriel -=24 CHA!NS=-]

I'll be there to help in what ever way that I can..

[Scott Aikens]

This thread contains some outdated info. Here's the status of the course as of today. The six "playable" holes are bolded.

Holes 1 through 5 will not be available until sometime next year due to some fencing remaining in place until next spring. Those holes will move clockwise around the new wetland area, following an existing path which we'll share with the other park visitors.

Hole 6 tee and pin are both staked, though the fairway has not been completely mowed. The tee is just uphill from the east basketball hoop. You drive east to a pin planted on top of a mound ~320' away.

Hole 7 will approximately follow old hole 8 fairway, but it is not mowed yet. The tee is roughly marked, with no pin flag in place. It's not playable at all until we get the fairway cleared and some of the brush trimmed back.

Holes 8, 9 and 10 will follow old holes 9, 10, 11. The plan is to lengthen all three of those holes with longer pro tees while including a shorter tee on each hole as well. No work has started here yet. Unplayable.

Hole 11 follows the fairway of old hole 12. The pro tee will be set back behind the old tee another 30', so we'll need to remove a couple of trees in the way. There's a plan for a short tee on this hole as well, though no tees are staked yet. The pin is not flagged, but the plan is to move that basket into the woods about 25' - 30' to make it a little more challenging.

Hole 12 tees are flagged, and so is the pin. The fairway is mowed and the bushes are trimmed. The tees are located on the opposite side of the path along hole 11, and you drive uphill and left to the top of the small hill. Longs are ~260', shorts are ~210'.

Hole 13 tees and pin are flagged, the fairway is mowed and a lot of trimmimg has been done here already. The tees are along old hole 7 fairway, with the basket set back into the thicker bushes to the right of old hole 7's basket. Longs are ~200', shorts are ~150'.

Hole 14 tees are staked, the pin is flagged and the fairway is mowed. This hole roughly follows the faiway of old hole 6. This hole looks like an easy birdie from either tee right now, so we might need to plant some trees later to toughen it up.

Hole 15 tees are staked, the pin is flagged and the fairway is mowed. The tees are located just uphill from the new hole 6 tee, but the hole goes in the other direction, back toward old hole 1's fairway. This hole is rather short as well, but there are a few obstacles in the fairway and a bad bounce or roll can leave your disc OB on the downhill side.

Hole 16 tee is marked, most of the fairway is mowed. There's a small flag marking the pin position. The tee starts just uphill from hole 15 basket, in the corner of the open field, and heads SE in the direction of old hole 5's basket. But this hole is close to 500' long so a good drive still leaves you with 150' - 200' to the basket, located further down old hole 5 fairway and to the right of old old 5 teepad.

Hole 17 is not yet marked at all. Unplayable.

Hole 18 is roughly staked and we haven't started clearing anything there yet. This hole is currently unplayable.

[glane]

scott, thank you for the update. in your post, when you say "next spring" do you really mean three and a half years or so from now?

[Scott Aikens]

I updated the pdga.com MBD Park thread with some updates:

http://discussion.pdga.com/msgboard/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=8...

[Scott Aikens]

http://discussion.pdga.com/msgboard/postlist.php?Cat=0&Board=Cl...

[Ben Calhoun]

a good drive would leave my dad 200' short and me 50' short ;)
Scott Aikens said:

This thread contains some outdated info. Here's the status of the course as of today. The six "playable" holes are bolded.

Holes 1 through 5 will not be available until sometime next year due to some fencing remaining in place until next spring. Those holes will move clockwise around the new wetland area, following an existing path which we'll share with the other park visitors.

Hole 6 tee and pin are both staked, though the fairway has not been completely mowed. The tee is just uphill from the east basketball hoop. You drive east to a pin planted on top of a mound ~320' away.

Hole 7 will approximately follow old hole 8 fairway, but it is not mowed yet. The tee is roughly marked, with no pin flag in place. It's not playable at all until we get the fairway cleared and some of the brush trimmed back.

Holes 8, 9 and 10 will follow old holes 9, 10, 11. The plan is to lengthen all three of those holes with longer pro tees while including a shorter tee on each hole as well. No work has started here yet. Unplayable.

Hole 11 follows the fairway of old hole 12. The pro tee will be set back behind the old tee another 30', so we'll need to remove a couple of trees in the way. There's a plan for a short tee on this hole as well, though no tees are staked yet. The pin is not flagged, but the plan is to move that basket into the woods about 25' - 30' to make it a little more challenging.

Hole 12 tees are flagged, and so is the pin. The fairway is mowed and the bushes are trimmed. The tees are located on the opposite side of the path along hole 11, and you drive uphill and left to the top of the small hill. Longs are ~260', shorts are ~210'.

Hole 13 tees and pin are flagged, the fairway is mowed and a lot of trimmimg has been done here already. The tees are along old hole 7 fairway, with the basket set back into the thicker bushes to the right of old hole 7's basket. Longs are ~200', shorts are ~150'.

Hole 14 tees are staked, the pin is flagged and the fairway is mowed. This hole roughly follows the faiway of old hole 6. This hole looks like an easy birdie from either tee right now, so we might need to plant some trees later to toughen it up.

Hole 15 tees are staked, the pin is flagged and the fairway is mowed. The tees are located just uphill from the new hole 6 tee, but the hole goes in the other direction, back toward old hole 1's fairway. This hole is rather short as well, but there are a few obstacles in the fairway and a bad bounce or roll can leave your disc OB on the downhill side.

Hole 16 tee is marked, most of the fairway is mowed. There's a small flag marking the pin position. The tee starts just uphill from hole 15 basket, in the corner of the open field, and heads SE in the direction of old hole 5's basket. But this hole is close to 500' long so a good drive still leaves you with 150' - 200' to the basket, located further down old hole 5 fairway and to the right of old old 5 teepad.

Hole 17 is not yet marked at all. Unplayable.

Hole 18 is roughly staked and we haven't started clearing anything there yet. This hole is currently unplayable.