Disc Golf Course Installed at Pittsfield's Kirvin Park
Parks and Open Space Manager Jim McGrath updated the Parks Commission on Tuesday about the installation.
The nine-hole course is now established and the metal and chain baskets have been set up. In the next week or so a sign with a course map will be installed.
"With the sign, there will be a small trifold brochure box with a pull-out brochure which explains the rules of disc golf. It has a map on it," Parks and Open Space Manager James McGrath told the Parks Commission on Tuesday.
The course will be the first free one in the city and only the second course created. Bousquet Ski Resort has a course currently operating in the county and one is being planned for Windsor Lake in North Adams. Outside of that, an 18-hole course in Wilbraham is likely the closest.
Kirvin Park's course was first conceived in 2013 and received approval from both the Parks Commission and the Conservation Commission. McGrath worked with consultants from Explore Disc Golf to identify and create the site.
The course at Kirvin is laid out in areas of the park which aren't routinely mowed or maintained, so it is unlikely the course will disrupt much at the park and McGrath has previously said the operation will "co-exist" with other activities there.
"I think for a minimal amount of effort and maintenance, we can make this a wonderful destination within the park," McGrath said.
The sport evolved from recreational Frisbee throwing, to a golf game, and, in 1975, the first disc golf course was built. Now, there are thousands of courses all over the world. The sport has exploded with popularity in the last decade or so and from 2000 until 2008 the number of courses nationally doubled.
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