NEED ADVICE going to build a course

I'm from Bradford, Pa and the closest place to play is 1:25 away.  This is a crazy idea but I'm in the process of purchasing vacant land, buying the baskets, Pouring the pads, paying for the signs and doing all the work (with some friendly help). I'm hoping at the very least the land turns out to be worth a lot more than I paid...   I have been planning on putting a course in the area for 2 years and have enough money now to do it.  Anyone know how much land I'll NEED in order to have a championship level course?  I have 27 acres and it is all or mainly dry. I kinda figured it is enough.  Also, is there a place that sells 18 baskets at a discounted rate?  I'd like to install top of the line everything from signs and pads to baskets...  I have a the wood to frame my pads, the wood posts for the signs, the poles and locks for the baskets, a tractor, and a sweet hookup on the signs at cost...  Questions  are: What is a good price on 18 baskets?  How do I become a dealer of discs, like Innova? Do I need to insure the course against someone pressing charges if they were to get hurt?  Is there any way around that if I do?  Any Tax breaks to be had? More questions coming thanks!

[Chuck Kennedy]

I would ask J. Gary to recommend some pro up your way if he can't help you.

[Jamie 'gr8rocshot' Ruane]

One of the people you should talk with is Morgan Wright...he was on this site...but anyways he's done this...buy a rural piece and developed it into a real nice private course near Saratoga Springs NY....he recently tried to sell it on eBay....not sure of the outcome of that...but anyways he's been there...done that. So he may offer insight into this endeavor.

[Corndawg13]

Come on down to GA and play Flyboy Aviation! then go put yours in!

[Daniel T Neilly]

Mainly, I would need a great price on baskets in order to make this happen this spring/summer... Anybody ever buy baskets? I have 3 but they are crappy, great for my yard. I recieved them for free from a juvenile detention center that shut down in the area... Plastic chains

[Disc Player Sports]

Call Innova, DGA & Discraft, Gateway makes a nice basket but very expensive.
The best basket for the price is the Chainstar (Discraft)....

[Chuck Kennedy]

In fact only some of the DGCD members on the list are experienced course designers and that is pointed out in this document: http://www.pdga.com/documents/choosing-a-course-designer Follow this document for selecting your designer, even if they aren't on any list, and you likely won't be disappointed in the results.

[Daniel T Neilly]

Let me ask all of you a question:
Do you feel like you could design your own course? I kinda doubt I will be hiring anyone to do it. That being said, I admit there may be (OK DEFINATELY ARE)better suited people. I've only played on about 10 courses. It is safe to say they all had their good holes and bad holes. I know one specific persons advice was started by saying to put my ego aside... I don't feel like I have an ego problem. But it is a good point.

Mainly, I want to have a course that you could use every possible shot on. I want tight fairways, rollers, thumbers, hyzers, anhyzers, elevation changes in every direction, I'd like 4 par 3 and 4 par 5, and I'd like people to think of the course as long and tough... I plan on taking my time in designing it and building it slowly out of pocket.

Mainly, I'm saying I feel confident that I can design a great course. What I'd like to do is lay it all out and then have some players check it out. The neat thing about doing it slowly is that I can change the teepads 4 times on each hole since I plan on having 4 sets of concrete teepads. I will only be doing one set this year, who knows maybe my original tees end up being the reds on one hole and the blues on another... I'm so pumped! I'm going to walk the land at noon in a foot of snow!

[Chuck Kennedy]

With great terrain, even a rookie can do a design that players will like because most of the time, that's what most players react to. For successful retail it's - location, location, location. For successful courses - it's terrain, terrain, terrain and it sounds like you've got that.

From a marketing standpoint, the longest tees should be the last ones to go in. If you want the traffic, one of the middle length sets should be first. The longest courses are the least played when players are given the choice. Attempting the classic ball golf format with 4 par 3s and 4 par 5s is also misguided and doesn't repect the differences between the elements of ball golf versus disc golf. The best mix for the longest gold level disc golf courses has been shown to be more like 6-7 par 3s, 2-3 par 5s and the rest par 4s. As a private course owner, you are free to do your own thing and put your stamp on it. Your success will be measured by the players who play it and want to come back, and they are what matters. The average player is way less picky than tournament players on design aspects of a course. Terrain and amenities like cement pads, tee signs, pro shop, good course brush clearing and ongoing maintenance are much more important for your success. Catering specifically to tournament players doesn't make sense economically since they are such a small percentage of all players.

But if you want the best course by all standards, not just those of rec players, then an experienced designer will see and do subtle things, like shaping the routes thru the woods the way discs actually can fly and setting the tee positions in the best way to challenge that player skill level, that may not even be directly noticed by most players. Players will just sense they enjoyed the course better and not really know why. But tournament players will notice the difference and see the things the experienced designer did to make the course better.

[Jamie 'gr8rocshot' Ruane]

How many acres is your land????? You said 27 acres originally...Well 2500x650= 1,625,000 sqft (1.6 million square feet) or 37.3 acres (1 acre equals 43,560 sqft)

That's a pretty big difference?????

[Nic777]

Good point, but im guessing his probably giving measurements of widest points, maybe not a perfect rectangle? either that or the realtor used to sale used cars.

[Marty Cook]

I've designed and installed a few courses here in Washington State. One of the importain things to remember is to utilize the area to the best of your abilities. This some times means setting up temp. placements, then playing them a few times to find out "what works best with the land available". Stay away from crossing fairways, and blind shots that may put people playing the course at risk. There are MANY helpful hints that u can get from Innova, from people who have designed courses through out the years as far as "what works and what doesn't". Good luck. Marty Cook, PDGA #5239

[Donny Olow]

http://www.innovadiscs.com/dealers/dealer_form.html

http://www.discraft.com/order.html

http://www.gdstour.com/disc_golf_course_design_installation.php

http://www.discgolfassoc.com/customer-service.php

http://www.discgolfassoc.com/course-design/course-designing-basics....