Some of you may or may not know but i've been working on a new course project the last couple of weeks. I cannot release the location yet but it's going to be sweet! It's slated to open this fall. There is a deadline and the head park guy is a major go getter so I can gurantee it opens on time. Once I get the date and hammer down the details i'll publicize the grand opening.
Dana Vicich met me today and we hammered out some pretty cool holes. Thank you Dana! There is still quite a bit of thought and design left. Once it's finished it will be play tested, modified, and marked for installation.
There are quite a few restrictions on this property that I had to consider. I'll post those later.
I gurantee this is going to be the most unique course in Illinois. The park district has been awesome working with.
1. It's going to have 2 practice baskets for the practice area.
2. Concrete tees are in the works. About half will be 12 feet diameter circles. The others half will be 4X12 rectangles. He doesn't want regular color concrete. He's looking at having them dyed green.
3. There will be sponsor tee signs from DGA on every hole.
4. They approved the purchase of a RED set of Mach 5's & SILVER set of Mach 5's. Both sets will have number plates. Each hole will feature 2 pins per hole. The more beginner friendly set will be silver and the more difficult set will be red. The beginner set will be very easy.
5. If the park board approves the design there are several over the water shots.
6. Dana & I talked to the project leader onsite today. If all goes well hole #1 will feature 2 island greens.
7. The course will feature several hanging baskets.
8. Dana found an awesome grouping of trees. I don't want to give away the most unqiue feature on the course. I've never heard of this or ever seen this on a course. It's going to blow you away! The park district guy thinks he can make it happen. Check out my facebook for pictures.
9. There will be a big wood chip pile on one hole to block the righty hyzer route and force the tunnel shot.
10. Several berms come into play.
11. More to come!!!!!
man, talk about a big tease! ;D
Sounds Sweet!!!
talk about some blue balls
I'm really glad that its not April 1st! :D
The hype is real.
crossing my fingers for a course within 60 minutes of the city....
Sounds very good, can't wait.
Quote from: Tenny Schimo on August 14, 2011, 06:39:19 PM
Sounds very good, can't wait.
Check out my facebook. I just posted 4 pictures.
Do I need a Facebook account to view them?
Note: The park is closed and under construction. There are a ton of workers out there during the day and the main park guy is relentless. Don't piss him off! It's not even worth going out there anyway. Without a guide you won't be able to find the holes anyway.
Disclaimer: Just like any other course project that is being funded by the park and has park board involvement I cannot gurantee everything in my first post until the course is actually installed and completed.
*I do have a few pictures up on facebook* See the first post for items on the course.
The baskets and tee signs have been ordered so that is a good sign!
Location
Manhattan, IL
Round Barn Disc Golf Course
Keep in mind that this course was initially slated to go in as a typical 9 hole Chicago style course designed by someone who's never played. By the chance of luck the park guy found a number on one of the DGA baskets at Channahon and called it. I met with him and the talks of taking this project to the next level started.
There are quite a few restrictions on this course that we had to keep in mind. I feel pretty good about the course if things go as planned. I told the main park guy that this wouldn't be the best course in the area but it will be the most unique in the state of Illinois. It's super easy playing to the beginner baskets. The longer baskets will be challenging but it will be an uder par course for Adv/Pro players. It's more standard par 3 golf but has three par 4's. The land didn't offer a Par 62 layout.
Half of the course is located in a property owned by the Forest Preserve. No digging or cutting can take place in the woods. That section is very similar to Mokena. Tee pads in the woods will be laid on top of the ground to not disturb roots. They will fill around them to level the ground out so they are not dangerous. Baskets will not be installed in a typical fashion. 2 will hang from trees. Some will be installed on a mound. Others will have a concrete form above ground.
They park board was on the fence about a couple of the water holes. For now it seems like they are going to allow them. Both are signature holes.
There is some really nice land on the north side that runs to the creek. There is a lot of rough and nice slopes. This land is OFF LIMITS. That is the first thing he told me and I was totally bummed. They are planting natural flowers near an open section that I had to avoid. This took away from a really cool green area with water in play.
There are 3 pavillions, 1 gazebo, and 1 walking path that had to be considered.
Overall, i'm very excited about this project. If it gets installed the way it's laid out now it will be a great addition to the south suburb area.
Here is a picture of the 100ft Round Barn on the property. This used to be a farm that the park district purchased.
NICE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1st Water shot.
2nd water shot.
Jail House green! Visual a Mach 5 with another stacked directly on top!
Tight tunnel underneath or overhand over the top.
Lookin good! :headbang:
Place looks awesome! Looks like I will have another reason I will miss the south side in November.
(Good thing the list is short)
Map view of property.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=manhattan,+IL&ll=41.45068,-87.997785&spn=0.006104,0.009645&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&gl=us&t=h&z=17&vpsrc=6
Baskets have been ordered? When do you think the course will be playable?
It'd be nice to get this on the J Town winter schedule
Quote from: dana on September 13, 2011, 07:09:43 AM
Baskets have been ordered? When do you think the course will be playable?
It'd be nice to get this on the J Town winter schedule
Baskets have been ordered. DGA e-mailed and said they just completed powder coating for the Classic Barn Red baskets. They should be in sometime next week. Manhattan PD called this morning and i'm calling them back in a bit. I'll post a date once I find out.
they had a wine tasting event last weekend
seems an annual thing
so grab the wife send here to the wine tasting while you play , next year
I just got off the phone with the park district. They are going to start working on the course next week. They are going to start the prep work for concrete tees. When the DGA order arrives they will start prepping the sleeves. I'll let you guys know the official opening of the park. Baskets will not go in the ground until the park is officially open. Hopefully that will be soon!!!!
Nice job Brett. I am looking forward to playing this course.
If possible I would like to put this course on next year's J-Town Doubles League schedule. For scheduling purposes do you think this course will play quick like Shorewood or New Lenox or will we need some time to finish it?
This is a great place. Fishing used to be pretty good here too. Do they still have a big pumpkin patch?
Quote from: Disc71 on September 14, 2011, 06:01:34 AM
If possible I would like to put this course on next year's J-Town Doubles League schedule. For scheduling purposes do you think this course will play quick like Shorewood or New Lenox or will we need some time to finish it?
This is a great place. Fishing used to be pretty good here too. Do they still have a big pumpkin patch?
To the red baskets (long) I'd think it would play similar to Channahon. The one difference is there are very few places where you will have to look for a disc.
No pumpkin patch that I saw. There is a field of grass that they've been using for hay.
I have some good news and some bad news.
Let's start with the good news. The DGA baskets and tee signs have arrived. The classic barn red baskets are sweet! Concrete work has also begun. The circle tee pads are going to look and play awesome. ;D
There are a couple of items on the bad side. There was some miscommunication between myself and the park district. There is an area that is going to be off limits due to the planting of wild grass/plants . It was my understanding it was a fairly small area near the creek. I found out it runs the entire length of the creek and comes out 100ft. That area really takes away a sweet par 4 and a creek that was in play. I'm going to have to redesign 3 of the final holes. It's not going to be easy and takes away a really awesome hole. The last is a kick to the nuts. The disc golf course is going to be mostly completed by the end of October like initally planned. The park will not reopen until October of 2012. It could possibly open sooner if the rest of the work (other projects in the park) is completed by then. This means the baskets will not go in the ground until the park is open. It looks like we have some time to wait. :(
#9 double stack!
I got out to play the course for the first time last night. It's not 100% complete but they did a really good job installing the baskets. All the number plates are facing the tee pads. The red baskets look sick! The course flows really good. Once the tee signs are added navigation should be a breeze.
Once they fill around the tee pads they will be very good. The circle tees worked out great. The only tee that is not correct is #18. Hopefully that will get fixed. It's facing the wrong direction.
Hole #11 did not come out as planned. Somehow the placement got placed way to far to the right. There is a safety issued with players throwing to the right side and over #12's tee. I have an e-mail out to get that fixed.
Some adjustments were made to the finish of the course. I'm trying to get #16's red baskets changed. If it's moved it will be a solid hole with water coming into play.
I'm very pleased with the course. Once the finishing touches are done it will be a quality addition to the Joliet Area. I didn't even notice the wind at Highland Park yesterday. Out at the Round Barn the wind was howling.
The wind picked up as the day went on yesterday. We were out at Lemon Lake all day and the wind really started blowing strong around 6PM.
Can't wait to play this new course. It's quite a drive from here, so it will probably be a while.
Is the course open to play?
Or was this more of a walkthrough?
Quote from: countchunkula on March 26, 2012, 08:59:32 PM
Is the course open to play?
Or was this more of a walkthrough?
The park is not open yet. They have many projects left to complete before it's open. The park is slated to open this fall.
I just got an e-mail from Patrick at Aces and Chains indicating that this course is now open. He wrote- The Round Barn Farm opened on Monday, June 25th, and will be open from dawn to dusk everyday. There is an 18 hole disc golf course nestled nicely in the wooded area of the park. The course features two baskets on each hole (Silver=short, Red=long), cement tee pads (some rectangular, and some round), mature oak trees, and several shots over the water. Signs are not in yet, but will be soon.
Thanks to Brett Comincioli and Dana Vicich for designing the course. And of course thanks to the Manhattan Park District for putting in an awesome course. Go give it a try, your going to love it!
Directions: Take I-80 to Briggs street south. Take Briggs almost all the way to Manhattan, and as you round a corner, you'll see a huge round white barn on the left. Seriously, it's so big you can't possibly miss it. Take a left into the driveway, and follow it around to the parking in back. The course is on the left side (north side) of the park.
http://www.dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=5508&mode=ci
Scott met me today. He's going to design the tee signs. Hoping to have those up in a few weeks.
What are his thoughts on the course so far?
I really enjoyed it out there. I look forward to seeing the island in place on hole 1. The number of circle tees is impressive. I'm so glad the water wasn't any higher for the pond shots that I made! I definitely would have lost one on hole 5. Wish I had some floating discs in my bag, would have loved to try going at least partially over on hole 4!
I agreed with all of the stuff Brett was hoping to still get them to change (like moving 17 red back more). Great use of the land available and I'm so glad that nothing was put out in the wide open junk area where they have the hay and stuff. No need!
I had to drive by Channahon and West Park in order to get to Manhattan. If I had to choose between Manhattan and West Park I'd pick Manhattan. I'd probably play half and half between Channahon and Manhattan. Good times!
Hope the tee signs turn out great for everyone :)