This time next year, Will Bach hopes to be strolling through Manchester's Christmas Tree Park, challenging friends and neighbors in a game of disc golf.

Thanks to a recent state grant of $27,500 from Project Open Space -- and the efforts of Bach, himself -- the Town of Manchester will soon be home to Carroll County's first disc golf course.

"This is something I have been high on doing in the area for quite a long time," said Bach, a former Manchester resident who now lives in Lutherville, but is still volunteering his time and expertise to help the town design and install the new course.

"Manchester is a perfect area," said Bach, 25, who got hooked on disc golf several years ago while he was a student at University of Maryland, College Park.

He's now a member and rated tournament player with the Appling, Ga.-based Professional Disc Golf Association.

Bach said Manchester is well situated to draw disc golf fans who currently use courses in Columbia, Baltimore's Druid Hill Park or Codorus State Park in Hanover, Pa.

"Manchester's not far from Baltimore, and a lot of people from there and from Harford, Howard and Baltimore counties will be willing to drive up here and play, along with all the folks who now play at the course at Codorus State Park.

"Hopefully, (our new course) will be a course with world championship length, so we could eventually bring some high-profile ... tournaments to the area, like they do in Hanover," said Bach. "That would even be helpful for the local economy."

The town hopes to have the course up and running by late spring or early summer 2011.

Manchester town manager Steve Miller said Hanover's Codorus State Park is where he first discovered the appeal and popularity of disc golf.

"I happened to be up at Codorus one day and I was amazed at the number of people using their disc golf course," Miller said.

"We've wanted to incorporate some new form of recreation into Christmas Tree Park for a long time, but we didn't want it to be something that would disturb the people who come to the park and rent the pavilions for picnics, family reunions and things like that," Miller said.

"That's why disc golf seems like a perfect fit." he said. "There's no noise associated with it ... and if you're having a picnic, all you might see or hear is just two or three guys walking by to the next tee. Plus, a disc golf course is very low maintenance, and will bring more people to the park."

Bach said that in addition to being environmentally friendly, disc golf is a relatively cheap sport for entry-level players. Seasoned competitors might wield a full arsenal of various sized and shaped discs, but all a new player really needs is one relatively cheap, Frisbee-style disc, he said.

Disc courses also require no trees to be cut or fields to be graded and paved. Instead, natural features, such as woods and fields and ponds, are incorporated into the course as hazards.

"The property itself is awesome," said Bach, who along with Miller has worked to map out potential design plans. The plan calls for a full, 18-hole course that would traverse the park's 50 or so acres.

"The park has some elevation changes, some open areas, some wooded areas and some ponds that will make nice water hazards," Bach said.

"It's a pretty cool piece of property."

The town will use the Program Open Space money to pay for the course. Last month the Board of County Commissioners approved the $27,500 grant. The county received $333,000 from the state, and 25 percent was made available for towns.

Along with Manchester, Mount Airy got $22,084 to install water spigots and lighting at various parks; and Sykesville got $33,666 for an asphalt trail at Warfield Commerce and Cultural Center.

For Manchester's disc golf project, Miller and Bach came together through the connection of John Carver, vice president of the North Carroll Rec Council, and other mutual friends.

Despite the fact that he now lives in Baltimore County and works in Columbia, Bach said he happily volunteered to design the course and will help the town get a good price on equipment and installation.

"It's my way of giving back to the community where I grew up, but it's a selfish endeavor as well," Bach said. "I really want to grow the sport of disc golf, because I think it doesn't get the amount of attention it deserves, and I kind of want to promote it in the Manchester area and get our own disc golf club up and running."

More information about disc golf can be found on the Professional Disc Golf Association's website, www.pdga.com.

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user comments (1)

user flippyputt says...

Congratulations, Mr. Bach! As a longitime player and organizer, I have seen disc golf courses turn sketchy city parks into safe areas (Druid Hill Park), woodland park with little apparent municipal value into highly-used recreation areas (Scarboro Hills DGC, Harford County Rec), and leftover school grounds into a challenging layout (Pine Grove MS, North Parkville Rec). There have been courses in the Baltimore area since 1981, with many area courses built since then (with an ever-increasing volume of users). Check the link in the article and navigate to "courses" to see what demand has wrought!

Posted 9:11 AM, 08.31.10

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