Problems @ Ferry

Happy "Good" Friday to all!!!

Evidently we have some SERIOUS issues going on at Ferry that need to be addressed. The more and more popular that Disc Golf gets in our area, the more problems are arising. If we could all ban together and help to point out the problem areas, and quickly, as I have been told the park is in danger of being closed to disc golf by the park director!!!

1) If you see ANYONE jumping fences to get their discs out of people's yards, tell them not to and if you don't feel comfortable confronting them, ask any one else out there. The residents around Ferry are going to start having trespass warnings issued, which means that person will not be allowed ANYWHERE in the park.

2) WALKERS HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY ON THE COURSE!!! The parks director is getting NUMEROUS calls about disc golfers throwing at the walkers and he states WE ARE TO WAIT FOR THEM TO CLEAR, not the other way around. I know how inconvenient that is, however not having a course will be MUCH MORE inconvenient i think.

3) If there are people utilizing the "workout stations" throughout the park, either make them aware AHEAD of time that you are throwing or skip that hole and come back to it. A call was placed yesterday to the parks director after a family in a workout station complained they had to confront a disc golfer after the disc was thrown @ them. Even an accidental hit is going to get it shut down.

4) #1 pro and am tees are OFF LIMITS if the preschool is in session, i.e. the little playgournd in the back of the gym!! I know that should be a no brainer to realize, however it appears that people are disregarding this and continuing to throw no matter what.

5) The baseball fields that run parallel with hole 17...if your disc goes inside the field, they ask that you take those extra few steps and walk through the dug outs, DON'T jump over the fence or pull the fence away to climb through. Again common sense, however if you see it happen, try and stop it. I am guilty of this myself and will walk around from now on.

I feel confident that the people of this forum are not the problem, however it is going to take ALL OF US to either confront or report anything of this nature, so we don't lose the park!!!

Too many more complaints to the director, too many more "accidental" hits by a disc or jumping into peoples "PRIVATE PROPERTY" will be more than he will deal with. Heaven forbid there be any type of lawsuit against the city due to disc golfers misbehaving, would just be the end!!!

So, PLEASE HELP and I welcome any suggestions or comments that anyone has. Sorry if I sound bitchy, however, the closure of the park would not only effect my business, it will effect our community of new and old disc golfers as well, not to mention the perception others have of "negative disc golfers".

Thanks for your time!!

~Teresa~

the park closing would be horrible. i am also guilty of jumping the fence I'll walk around now.

Petition is going great. Over 100 signatures with around 8 hours of exposure time.

Petition got 171 signatures. if you know anyone who still wants to sign it please ask them to get ahold of me

You did a great job Drake!! Thanks

A big thanks for the Playground Disc Golf Club Board getting involved to represent the interest of all of our disc golfers that play at Ferry Park. They had a great idea about educating everyone about the Park rules.
Remember that Ferry is not a disc golf park, we are just one of the many users of the park and everyone has rights to be there and we need to be mindful of this. All the other sports (baseball, football, soccer) pay to use the park - just the tennis and disc golfers do not.

I think that the educating needs to continue on a daily basis and all players need to be on the look out for others that are not abiding by the rules. I also believe that we need to let everyone know about the web site and forum - the more of us that are on the forum the easier it will be to get the word out about anything we need to. May be we could have a forum drive with a prize to the person that gets the most people to join and make a post during a specific amount of time. ( 1 week, 2 weeks, a month??)

Hope that the Club makes a copy for their records of the petition and that they get the signatures to Jeff Peters today! Might want to ask about posting more signs on the problem hjoles that can not be ignored with the specific rules for those holes...

Thanks again -- good job!
Parker

thank you also Steve for approaching me with the idea! I'm glad that everyone was able to pull this off! It was a huge help to me on sunday when others took over the petition, I can only handle so much stress and all of you who helped take over let me cool off some and keep my head on my shoulders. I will be taking the petition to the city today after scanning copies of each page.

as far as letting people know about the website, this week we will be painting the club website on the disc golf benches, Playgrounddiscgolfclub.com
I am working on the stencil now but it may be a day or so until I can really get to it, I have many things to help with around the house and with the club and the painting is lower on the priority list than this petition, the food drive, and reforming Sunday doubles.

We plan on posting more signs around the park also, some for disc golfers, and some for walkers so that they keep a little more of a heads-up when they walk through.

Thank You for everyone that helped make all this happen!!!

~Drake

I'm heading out soon. I'll let everyone know on here what happened when I get back

Didn't meet him today, he was in a meeting. I'm going to go tomorrow and schedule an appointment though. I don't think this threat is as severe as it came off though, It's starting to sound like he's more than willing to work with us, but I'm still gonna meet him and get a final direct answer to it all

I am sure that Jeff is willing to work with us. The city park director is always looking to increase the usage by the public in their parks, and we all know that Ferry Park usage has gone through the roof since the disc course opened.

I have been told that I and some others blew this way out of proportion. I guess that we could have done nothing and at some point in the future the park would be sure to be closed. Sometimes getting a scare into others to get a point across is the only way to make a huge change quickly - I believe that most all reading this post would agree that if nothing was done and with the huge number of new players playing the course that at some point something horrible would happen and the city and/or the player would be sued and that would be that. Even with our attempt at educating player something will eventually happen and we all risk losing the course. Showing the city that we are making an effort to help and correct or possibly stopping a dangerous situation from occuring is sure to be a feather in our cap.

Most of you know that I am working hard to find new locations to put in disc golf courses and if we were to have this one closed it would be harder than it already is to have someone agree to help us. Let's face it - there is not alot of interest in disc golf other that of the actual players. I do not apologize for how I/we acted to bring this matter to all of you - I have a huge passion for the game, the sport and will continue to support, teach, bring big name players, and do what I think is right to preserve our courses.

See you around the course!
Steve H
Putting last and driving first!

I'm kind of glad this got a little out of proportion if that's the case, we needed to get players aware of this and while it was a very stressful time, it was a necessary time. I am still going to talk with the city myself and hear exactly what he has to say and let him know exactly what's going on and what we plan to do beyond what we have done now. The biggest point of this is that the park will be safer for walkers from now on! and that is a huge bonus

Happy Tuesday!

Ronda just spoke with Mr. Peters from the city and got the go ahead for the disc golf caution signs and he is going to get started on the rules and regulation signs..YAY !!

The only immediate issue he is having is the homeowner's yard that is beside hole 10. Any ideas for the "PRO" tee box? Going back to using the lamp post possibly to try to avoid any discs flying into her yard or on her roof? Any suggestions?

I will order those signs ASAP! How many should we get ??

Thanks and have a great day!!! ~T.K.~

Use the lamp post or maybe make a man-hole on the same side of the house instead of throwing from the other side of the water...
How would you mandate that no one throw from the current man-hole? Maybe after this next tournament we would have some money left over and we could buy some pizza cupons or restaurant coupons (Olive Garden - TGIF - something) and give to these affected home owners from all golfes for their inconvience...

how many signs. main holes we need these are 7 11 and 18. I think it would be nice to also have one on 17 near the bench and workout station. anyone think of any other places?

the only thing i can think of for hole 10 is to just use the lamp post. i think it would cause more problems moving to the other side of the water.

Steve C also mentioned maybe moving the basket to the U-turn in the open and then putting the teepad across the water from where it is now. input?

I say move the #10 basket to where the old #11 pro tee pad was. Makes for a longer hole from light post and AM tee pad.

Also signs on 6, bridge and other end.

Hey John , I like that idea... it might be a problem if we do not see the walker that comes around the bush from the other direction. (from 11)
Could also bend it arround to behind where the pads with the water just behing the basket - 6 -10 ft!

you sure we need the signs on 6? the bigest reason to get the signs is because golfers can't see walkers til the last second. I think unfortunately hole 6 will just be a waiting game for golfers no matter what, even with the signs I don't think walkers would stop

I was just thinking on both sides of the bridge just in case. Sometimes a long throw from 5 makes it that far and it would just make walkers more aware. Better safe than sorry. Same with the fence at the other end of 6

the sign for seven should cover the ones walking by the fence of six. i can see putting one in near the bridge for the people walking from near one's tee to six's fairway

So, how many do I need to order? ~T.K.~

are you looking at two different signs?

1- For the walkers - This is your park and we want to keep you safe. This area may have Disc Golfers throwing in your direction. The golfers know that you
have the right of way... but please keep your eyes open. To report a problem call Key Chains @ 000-0000 or the City Park @ 000-0000.


2- For the Golfers. This is not a disc golf park - we are fortunate to have our course here. We are guest here and others in the park may have the right of way.
This hole crosses a walk-way of playground - if occupied, wait to throw, skip the hole, use a different tee box, or politely ask them if you can throw.
Don't make it you that hits someone and have the park closed. We need your help - Thank you!

Sure that you might already have the signs lingo already spelled out but here is just a sample of what I am thinking. Maybe someone could write it better....

5 TK. if you don't mind. thanks, that would be awesome. holes 7 11 17 18 and 5/6

steve - these are "caution flying discs" signs to have the walkers get their heads out of their asses and their eyes off their shoes, and maybe with any possible luck, their earbuds out of their ears. but probably no dice on the last one. damn walkers.

the city guy is making the sign for the disc golfers, saying we're lucky to be here yada yada and so on. TK if yall want complaints of disc golf directed to you maybe take that up with the city, see what they think about that. they may love it and they may not.

Ronda had already spoke with Jeff Peters about having our # or any # other than the city on a sign for the walkers, riders, etc. to call with issues, so that the city is taken out of the loop unless ABSOLUTELY necessary. I will get with her on what the outcome was. Thx again for all that you are doing! GREAT JOB ~T.K.~

GREAT JOB!! Thanks fom all park users.

the new hole one tee pad location is horrible that was my favorite hole