Mary Beth Doyle Park (was 'Brown Park) and Wetland Preserve Redesign

We had another walk-thru this evening and I think we have settled on at least a rough sketch of the 18 holes—long tees, anyway. It's not clear to me how well people will be able to view the image I am posting here, but my fingers are crossed.

This park was redone to change the water flow and flood control functionalities for Washtenaw County. The disc golf course was taken out two and a half years ago and may get put in this fall, probably next spring. We lost some holes to the topographical changes of the park regarding water flow, to the implementation of new wetlands, and to the natural area preservation needs of the city. So the course is pretty much redesigned. The changes will make it tougher from the long tees than before, add short tees, and bring water into play

The top of this image is East, with the middle of the bottom being the parking lot, which now holds a few more cars. For those of you familiar with the park, you can spot the basketball court, which is moved a bit. There will eventually be a small pavillion North of the basketball court, across the paved pathway.

Holes will go clockwise around the new water areas, following first the new unpaved path and then the redone paved path. The paths will come into play more than we like, but there is simply no way around that. The city hopes that the more attractive look of the park will bring more people in, and that may be true, but disc golf will likely still be the most active use of the park. We'll have to be careful when driving near the paved paths.

Another factor, not shown on the map is that although the county owns most of the park, the city does the maintenance. There are currently a bunch of orange-painted posts indicating the limits of where the city may mow—the area inside those and close to water are planted to be tall wetland plants. In a couple of areas, especially the turn of Hole 5, those may be designated out of bounds.

After those first five holes, hole six will tee from across the paved path to a pin on a small hill near the confluence of three paths coming together. There is interesting topography in that area, which used to be a playground. The playground has moved to nearer the parking lot.

Hole 7 will be similar to Brown Park's old Hole 8, with the tee moved a bit West, having a clearer line of sight down the fairway to the pin. Holes 8-10 will be similar to old Holes 9-11, but "on steroids," as they will be longer and use more of the wooded area. Hole 11 will be similar to but we hope longer that original Hole 12. (Remember, we will have two tees instead of one on most of these holes.)

Hole 12 will play through a previously unused area between the paved path and original Hole 8, uphill, to a pin on the edge of a nice, 30-foot steep drop-off, making for a very careful approach.

Hole 13 will be similar to but shorter than original Hole 7, and a quite visible (we think) ace run. Hole 14 will be similar to but more visible (we think) original Hole 6.

Hole 15 will be an ace run along the crest of the hill, very visible from the rest of the park and the parking lot.

Hole 16 will be a monster nearly 500' hole that plays from the middle of the field above the basketball court to near where the turn was for original Hole 4.

Hole 17 will be an easy, short hole using parts of original Hole 4 and 3.

Hole 18 will be a tough hole, maybe 400+ feet in length, starting out uphill and ending up with a sloping green a bit downhill and West of where the original Hole 2 pin position was.

That's where we are now, anyway! Many thanks so far to Harry Sheehan (county), Jeff Dehring (city), Steve Peck, Pad Timmons, Scott Aikens, Jim Daniels, (especially) Sheila Calhoun, Gunars Nollendorf, Joshua Romine, and quite a few others.

[Pat Burke]

I heard was rumors. next spring,fall,summer,winter, 2 months, 6 months, blah,blah,blah! I told myself it is never going back in. Anyway am glad to hear the good news. Again thanks to everybody involved! and I would like to send out a congrats to the Calhoun's are Local 2008 World Disc Golf Champions way to bring it home! Please contact me if there is anything I can do to help with the course!

[Pat Burke]

I would like to give a special thanks to everybody involved! and if I can help with anything at all please let me know. I love this park and am glad we are atleast talking about it! for quite a while all

[stevo]

sounds and looks great! pat yourself on the back too.

[Terry "the Pirate" Calhoun]

Holes 1-5 go out from the middle bottom to the left and up around in a big circle to the right.