Local disc golfers fundraise and get course back up
Severe flooding in October damaged sections of the disc golf course at Enchanted Lands Park. However, a group of players were able to raise money to repair the areas affected within the 25-acre park site with an array of features that was established in 1984.
This city park’s 18-hole course dates back to 2001.
“They did it on their own,” said Jim Burress, the city’s special services director. “It’s nice to see the young people doing that.”
The Roswell Spicy Roadrunners disc golf club created a GoFundMe page to help raise money to install new baskets. Kaden Dunlap, a recreation supervisor for the city who has been playing with Lucas Wright long-term and considers him a friend, was open to Wright’s suggestion that they try what’s known as crowdfunding.
“Several baskets were destroyed beyond repair, including baskets being uplifted out of the ground, which were then stolen,” Wright wrote on the website as the organizer of this effort.
“We were able to use the money to do everything we needed to do. We were able to get all the bases and concrete in with that money,” Dunlap said.
The site had garnered $7,765 in donations as of early this month. Two of the 29 donor entries simply called themselves “anonymous” and donated $4,000 and $1,000.
Dunlap said Wright, whom he describes as “kind of our local pro” had returned recently from competing in some East Coast tournaments.
Wright has also played at the world championship tournament level, Dunlap noted.
Dunlap spent his young years playing baseball and found that the type of forearm throwing motion used in the pursuit of America’s pastime also helps with disc golf.
He explained that the discs used to play this outdoor sport are smaller and more dense than the lighter and larger Frisbees. The discs “provide players with more control.”
And the 18 new baskets they installed don’t damage the discs like the metal baskets used throughout the course at Enchanted Lands. The flooding at the park took out many of those, but those remaining offer more variety for players, Dunlap noted.
They have also been preparing for this year’s Alien City Open. ACO XIII is scheduled to be held March 15-16 at Enchanted Lands Park course and at the New Mexico Military Institute Golf Course, where a second course will be set up for additional tournament play.
It’s one of the biggest disc golf tournaments in the state, Dunlap said.
There was a separate fundraising event for this year’s ACO tournament earlier this month at the Enchanted Lands course.
“It’s super easy and super cheap to get into,” he said about the sport.
The rules for disc golf and frisbee golf are similar to club-and-ball golf, but use baskets or targets. The person requiring the fewest throws is the winner of the round.
But unlike golf, you can often play disc golf for free.
“The people in our group are a great community. We try to make people starting out feel welcome and try to provide tips,” Dunlap emphasized. “And once you get out there, you get that one good throw and it hooks you.”
There is also a nine-hole disc golf course at the Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell.
