The City of Jackson celebrated the completion of a disc golf course at Litz Park with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Oct. 10. The project, which cost $26,357 in total, was four years in the making.
In 2014, the Jackson Park System put together a master plan which mentioned adding a disc golf course to redevelop the park. At that time, the Play for Parker Foundation stepped forward and said they wanted to help make it happen. The foundation, which supports youth recreational sports in memory of Parker King, provided 50 percent of the funding necessary to install the course.
Shane Anderson, parks and recreation director, said Litz Park was chosen for Jackson’s first disc golf course to lead more people to the park.
“This is the park that doesn’t get a lot of attention unless you know about it or you’re close by,” Anderson said. “It’s an underutilized park in some ways and this is one step in helping it become utilized.”
Mayor Dwain Hahs said at the ribbon cutting that the course should attract players of all levels, and the city plans to cater to veteran disc golf players by hosting tournaments in the future.
“I hope families come out and use this, as well as those players who want to be a little bit more serious about the game,” Hahs said.
The course, which was designed in part by local player Theo Wegner, includes a few higher-level technical throws and uses the lake in the park as a hazard.
Anderson said the final touches made by the park staff were to install course signs throughout the park, as well as improve the walkability between holes. He added that their hard work seems to have already had an impact on attendance at the park.
“At Litz Park we didn’t usually see a lot of people just walking out here, maybe in the morning with their dogs but not throughout the middle of the day,” Anderson said. “We do now because of disk golf.”
The full course map is located on the side of the fenced tennis/pickleball courts, and the tee pad for the first of 18 holes is located 30 feet downhill from the map.
