Spinning into summer

Disc golf course opens in Bluff Park

There’s a new disc golf course in Hoover, nestled into the scenery at the Children’s Fresh Air Farm in Bluff Park, and it’s open to the public.

Independent Presbyterian Church, which owns and operates the 35-acre farm as a summer camp and event center, came up with the idea to add a disc golf course as another way to serve children and families and expose more people to the property, said Catherine Goudreau, who serves as the program director at the farm.

They thought it would be a nice addition for the children who come from Birmingham to experience summer camp and academic enrichment activities but also thought it would be a nice way to give back and share the love of God with the community around the farm, Goudreau said.

Farm officials contacted the Disc Golf Birmingham club this past winter to see what the club thought of the idea, and club members really liked the idea.

Gray Lloyd, a Bluff Park resident, said he and other disc golf club members who live in Bluff Park jumped at the opportunity to help. They drew up an outline for a course and got it approved by farm officials after making a few tweaks.

The farm provided the money to buy the disc golf baskets and materials for tee boxes, and the Disc Golf Birmingham club and other community volunteers did a little bit of land clearing and installation of the baskets and tee boxes.

They finished the work and had the course open for public use in early May.

“It came together very easily to be honest,” Goudreau said. “The main goal was to get the course completed in time for the start of summer camp on June 14. It’s a nine-hole course, but it may be expanded to 18 holes in the future,” Goudreau said.

“It’s a really beginner-friendly course — not a lot of obstacles, very short holes,” Lloyd said. “This one is specifically designed for children. That’s why we kept the distances pretty short.”

Most of the holes are less than 200 feet, while a typical disc golf course hole is 250 to 450 feet. While it’s designed for children, anyone can use the course.

It’s open to the public just about anytime the farm is open and not being used for a private event, Goudreau said. The exception is that the course will be closed on weekdays in June and July between 8 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. because that is when summer camps take place.

“Other than that, the farm is open to the public as long as there is daylight and not a private event happening, she said. “All we ask is people honor our space and not leave trash or tear anything up.”

Farm officials didn’t have to make many changes to the property to accommodate the disc golf course. It was designed to weave around other parts of the farm, which includes a playground, hiking trails, vegetable and flower gardens, a pool, chapel, academic buildings, a pavilion and a cafeteria, Goudreau said.

Farm officials did keep the course off the ball field that is used by the Bluff Park Women’s Wiffle Ball League.

Visitors will have to bring their own discs to play.

Lloyd, who has been playing disc golf since he was a student at the University of Alabama in 2002, said he and his friends in the Disc Golf Birmingham club see the new course as a way to help grow interest in the sport, which has been increasing in recent years.

There are several other courses in the area. The oldest is at George Ward Park in Birmingham, but there are two in Trussville and others in Inverness, Gardendale, Alabaster, Clay and Argo (the newest course other than Bluff Park). There is also a disc golf store in Homewood called Dynamic Discs Iron City, Lloyd said.

He’s also excited to see one in his own community. “Never in a million years did I think this would happen up here,” he said.

He grew up in Bluff Park but wasn’t very familiar with the Children’s Fresh Air Farm, even though it has been there for 98 years, he said. The people there have been extremely welcoming and open, and he’s thankful for their generosity, he said.

He has two young children, ages 2 and 4, who are a little too young for disc golf right now, but “I’m looking forward to the day I can get them to come with me and teach them the sport,” he said.

He was hoping to start a small summer league in June for people to play together on Thursday nights, he said.

The Children’s Fresh Air Farm is at 501 Park Ave. For more information, go to ipc-usa.org/serve/missions/childrens-fresh-air-farm-cfaf.html.

For more information about Disc Golf Birmingham, go to discgolfbirmingham.com.