New course rumored in McHenry?!?!

[CEValkyrie]

The Person designing the Course is the son of the owner of the Trend Cellar, I have been told he has been to numerous courses and has a great passion for the sport.  If I know anything about the family it's that when they set out to do things they do it with profesionalism and with goal for it being the best possible.  I truly believe the course will be in great hands.

I just hope he's been to courses outside this area because they are not a good model of how courses should be. The most experienced course designers would have their hands full designing this course.

I'm not positive he is just the only one designing the course, I'm sure he has incoporated the help of other experiecned course designers.  And yes he has been to other courses outside this area, I have friends who are close friends with the family and know the kid well.  Also I believe there will also be volunteers from locals while putting the course up and there are quite a few dedicated to this sport and I'm sure they will make sure the course will be well done.

I am excited and keeping my fingers crossed someone will get it right and get a quality course installed in the area. I am not confident this kid is capable of making it happen.

[stangoo]

i have been playing the mchenry high school course and must say it is a fairly decent nine hole.  i hope this 18 hole course is here soon. been try to find out info but the city website hasnt updated in a while on park meeting minutes. but i did find this from last november -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Professional
consultant Terry Miller of Lifetime Disc Sports submitted his impressive resume and has
offered to assist in the design phase of the course at no cost to the City. Mr. Miller has
walked the site and has shared some of his thoughts on how best to utilize the park for this
project.  so hopefully this guy is still on board. i hope we get a great park out of the deal.
here is the link for the city of mchenry-----
http://www.ci.mchenry.il.us/clerksoffice%20-%20parks%20&%20recreation.shtm


and there is a myspace page----
http://www.myspace.com/tomasspcf

[stangoo]

the only problem with the myspace page is that you have to be friends with it to view it.  i put in a friend request last week and still havent been accepted so good luck if u try.

[CEValkyrie]

Terry is a great guy and understands what it takes to install a quality disc golf course. Hopefully he is utilized.

[toto]

has any body heard or seen any progress on this course if so please post

[stangoo]

New disc golf course planned
By CRYSTAL LINDELL - clindell@nwherald.com
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ShareMcHENRY – Area residents could be playing disc golf at a new 18-hole course in McHenry by late winter or early spring.

The McHenry Kiwanis Club is working to partner with the city and various fundraisers to build an $87,900 course at Cold Springs Park, in the Park Ridge Estates neighborhood near McHenry West High School.

The school is home to the only existing course in the city, which will work out well, Kiwanis Club member Dan Jannotta said.

That's because the course at West is more for beginners, while the planned course at the park would be more advanced.

"Cold Springs was most ideal in terms of the terrain and the space available," he added. "We've got the course laid out to go over the wetland areas, and it's going to be really pretty."

The Kiwanis Club has had the idea for the course in the works for about two years.

"It crosses all ages groups and sexes, and it's kind of the new thing going on," Jannotta said.

If all goes well, 18 holes could open officially by June, but Jannotta said he was hoping they might be ready in time for late winter play. The club also eventually plans to add nine more holes to the course, but a time line for that has yet to be set.

Aside from casual play, tournaments also are planned for the site, which is at 319 DePaul Court.

"That's kind of the goal," Jannotta said. "It's just going to be a very professionally laid-out course."

Funding for the project is slated to be split three ways. The Kiwanis Club would fund $15,000 of the project, developer donations funneled through the city would fund $62,900, and the remaining $10,000 would come from fundraising, hole sponsors and community donations.

The single biggest cost would be $50,000 for a parking lot off Lillian Street, according to city documents. Other costs include $10,000 for brush removal and landscape work, $7,000 for fencing and $6,000 for targets, among other things.

[CEValkyrie]

Thank you for the post of the article. That is good news. Hopefully the design is worthwhile.

[Kaypee09]

that article is recent I presume?  It's funny because the owner of the Trendcellar had made it seem like the course would be done for fall, oh well.  Still can't wait for it in either Winter or June.  I have been hearing they are going to do a couple different things with holes to make it different from most other courses.   They wanted to make a hole where you throw off a platform over cattails or something.

[stangoo]

yes the article was from today august 10 th in the norhtwes therald.  cant wait either

[Kaypee09]

what makes it even better is that I have a few friends who will be living right by the Course, and i will be about 5 minutes away.  It will be great.  Plus I'm going to MCC for atleast a year so plenty of time to play

[Kaypee09]

one thing I fear is that this new Course is going to anger a lot of the older McHenry residents,  a lot of them likely won't see the point in a $88,000 course.  But really in the last couple years the sport has really grown in popularity in McHenry and the course at the school gets a fairshare of play.  I know me and my friends have been waiting for this course for a while now and I'm just stoked that it appears to be coming finally.  I just hope the course will be done the right way, which I believe it will.  I know I want to volunteer to help with the course.

[CEValkyrie]

To me that $88,000 is misleading. The parking lot cost will allow other users to access the park as well. No matter what activity planned at that park they were going to need to build a parking lot.


For $38,000 there are not many park activities that can be constructed that cost less. I can gurantee a single baseball field, soccer field, basketball court, and tennis court would cost more.

How often do you see these at parks? Just look how much they cost.
http://www.qiteleplaygrounds.com/product_view.php?typeid=52&pid=263

[CEValkyrie]

yes the article was from today august 10 th in the norhtwes therald.  cant wait either

Here is a link to the article.
http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2009/08/07/r_0wwietcxtiaw0ywsh_dtw/index.xml

[Kaypee09]

Disc golf course opposed
By LEE ANN GILL – editorial@nwherald.com
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ShareMcHENRY – Saying they want to preserve the wildlife and wetlands at Cold Springs Park, residents of the Park Ridge Estates subdivision packed the City Council meeting Monday night to oppose a disc golf course being planned for the park.

Residents spoke during the public input portion of the meeting, but Mayor Susan Low said the council would not make comments about the presentation. Instead, it would discuss the issue at a future meeting.

The McHenry Kiwanis Club is working with the city to build the $87,900 course at the park, which is in the Park Ridge Estates neighborhood near McHenry West High School, which is where a beginners disc golf course is located. The new course would be for more seasoned players.

"It was told to us it would be a passive park," Park Ridge Estates resident Brenda Mehlieg said of the plans at Cold Springs. "Disc golf is not a passive sport."

Concerns are for disturbing the wildlife and wetlands, John Mehlieg said.

"When you play disc golf, it goes off course," he said. "It's going to ruin the wildlife and nature preserve."

The majority of the project would be paid for through the city's developer donations, with the remainder paid for by the Kiwanis Club and through fundraisers and other donations.

The largest chunk of the expense – $50,000 – would pay for a parking lot off Lillian Street, according to city documents.

"We are disc golf players," resident Maddie Pepe said. "We enjoy the game."

But the area being eyed for development of the course is "very muddy, boggy and very wet," she said.

The game also is played mostly by young males, she said, adding that it could bother other people in the park.

"It's very intimidating," Pepe said.

Curt Pepe presented a detailed argument to the council, handing out copies of the speech titled "Documentary Presentation by Park Ridge Residents for the Preservation of Cold Springs Park."

Curt Pepe said residents were completely unaware of the plans until reading about the proposed course in a recent newspaper article.

"A better option for a disc course would be Miller Riverfront Park," he told the council. "There is no need to travel through any subdivision to access the park."

Curt Pepe also talked about damage to surrounding trees caused when hit with the discs.

"Trees and shrubs are struck by hard plastic discs thrown by golfers" he said, passing one of the discs around for council members to feel it. "Golfers continuously cut paths through the thicket and bushes when retrieving discs that fly away from the goal or off the fairway

[Kaypee09]

Here's the link

http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2009/08/18/r_c_bcjcmwrvylxcny5rcoka/index.xml


so yeah, my gut feeling tells me this isn't going to be built, in this exact location, and will likely be built somewhere else.  What I don't understand is I thought the parking lot was going to be off of Lillian and not actually in the neighborhood.  And if the parking lot is  off of Lillian how would that cause traffic in the neighborhood?  Also I have never seen a disc do damage to a tree and that is what opposers are saying in this article.  Really if someone from discontinumm could possibly get involved and send their opinions to the city I think it would help.  But  again I'm not sure if that is possible. 

[Dan Michler]

As far as the damage to the 'thicket and bushes', that is obviously true as one would see at any other course with alot of rough.  I don't know if you'd call that ruining the wildlife and nature preserve. 

The comments from this female stating that "the participants of the game are young males and it is very intimidating" seem ridiculous.  How is that a real argument that anybody would listen to?  You are frightened of young males and don't want to attract them to this park?  But then she says she actually enjoys disc golf (where is she playing to avoid the young males?), but does not think this land is suitable as its very muddy.  They really could have left her statements out of the article as they don't seem like the kind of well thought-out arguments that should matter when making decisions that impact thousands of people.

I'm curious as to how much usage this wildlife and nature preserve area currently gets.

[Kaypee09]

there isn't much usage at all at this location, there has been talks of some sort of recreational park going there for years, but as always, McHenry doesn't seem to get it done.  Really McHenry wants to become a Crystal Lake Like City, but it seems like city officials have now idea what they are doing.  There are dozens of empty stores in a new shopping area that have remained empty because the City of McHenry appears to be so unorganized.

Really I would just like to see McHenry hold true to their word for once and get something done.

[Kaypee09]

another thing is that a lot of people are saying why build a new course when there is already one at the highschool.  Well that course at the highschool is closed while Activities at the school are in session,  so really those courses will not be in usage most of the time during the week and will only be capable of use on weekends.  If the course does get put in where it is planned to be, I forsee a lot of protests by McHenry Citizens, I can see this whole project getting messy, and it will be a shame because for once McHenry is trying to get something done but it's citizens get in the way

[stangoo]

i thought this course was green lighted to go in. maybe all these people should have been invloved from the begining. this course has been discussesd in the parks and recreation meetings for over a year if not longer.  shows how much they pay attention to their comunity by finding out in the paper.  dont get me wrong there are some people who dont care about keeping parks clean, i understand but most of the parks around this area are kept up fairly well.  i love the sport and think its great that we get more courses.  iv also walked cold springs and there is never ever any body there.  you can tell that that park does not get used by anyone and defenitly not by those people who live next to it.  someone always has to get on thier high horse and bitch.  well i hope this course sticks it to them and gets buil . i know ill be there.

[butt1995]

seems like someone is way cooler than anyone in mchenry could ever be. why do you need to diss the community. let it be if it happens it will happen.