“David McCormick, who owns Gateway Disc Sports in St Louis, has been in operation since the early ’90s up there in St Louis. He’s already come down and put together several layouts, which have been approved through the city. He’s actually spearheading the design on this project. We’ve paid for him to be the lead consultant,” Bourland said. “He’s installed hundreds of courses. He knows what he’s doing, so things will go really smoothly, as opposed to just having a couple of hobbyists or enthusiasts out there trying to figure it out. He’s got 40-plus years of experience doing this stuff, so we need to make use of that.”
Another big development is the new disc golf club at Cape Central Middle School beginning in January. The club is going to focus on teaching kids the game and giving those kids who may not be interested in traditional sports a way to learn the same lessons one may learn in basketball or football.
Bourland said he has already applied for the club to be sanctioned and for grants through the Professional Disc Golf Association, which can help pay for equipment and other items the club may need.
“The fifth and sixth graders are going to have access to the club, boys and girls. I’m really going to push for, if there are any kind of kids with limitations, it’s perfect for them. We can accommodate that, because it’s not a team sport or a structured thing where you have to do it like this, or else you can’t compete,” Bourland said. “There are all different divisions of the game, and there are ways that we can make disc golf for pretty much everybody. That’s what we always say, that’s why we try to keep growing the sport in the area, and just think of it as such a good way to keep kids active.”
There are courses at the Cape County Park and Capaha Park in Cape Girardeau, Litz Park in Jackson, Perryville City Park and Scott City Park.
If anyone wants to become involved in disc golf, Bourland encourages them to look at SEMO Disc Golf on Facebook.
