Shawnee Mission Course OPEN !!

[Dirk]

Fellow Disc Golfers,
 
Saturday morning Nov 10th 2007 the baskets were  put into place and the course is open for play!!

The official course map and rules can be viewed/printed from Johnson County PRD link

http://jcprd.com/parks_facilities/map_smp_disc_golf.cfm


A variety of other parks to be enjoyed can be found at http://jcprd.com/parks_facilities/maps.cfm.

NOTICE: Hole 4 has been removed. Previous hole 5 is now hole 4. A new hole 6 has been added across path from Hole 5, shooting towards the Administration building.



Please remember:
No Alcohol - will be enforced
Yield to all Pedestrians
Dogs on Leashes
On or across all roads or paths is OB
In or over creek on hole 2 is OB
Most fun wins!

We will be using flags for the tee boxes until we have a solid idea where the permanent pads will go. Soon we will install paver stones to define the tee boxes.
ENJOY!

Dirk

[RCrook]

I thought prohibtion was in the thirties. Why the no alcohol policy?

[Dirk]

No alcohol is a County wide policy in all distict parks.

 Section 2.1.6 - Alcoholic Liquor
and Cereal Malt Beverages
Except as provided in subsection (a) below, no person shall possess, consume or drink any alcoholic
liquor or cereal malt beverage within the boundaries of any District Facility.
(a) Upon approval of the District Board (and when required by law, also approved by resolution of the
Board of County Commissioners) and then only in compliance with Kansas laws, certain properly
licensed facilities and/or establishments may be authorized to serve and to allow the consumption of
alcoholic liquor and/or cereal malt beverage within the boundaries of District Facilities.
(b) Notwithstanding subsection (a) above, no person shall consume or drink any alcoholic liquor or
cereal malt beverage in any designated parking lot or parking area within the boundaries of District
Facilities.
 

Full policy here:

http://www.jcprd.com/park_admin/pdf/jcprd_park_police_code-regulations.pdf

There are plenty of other parks in the city where you can drink and play golf.  This is going to be a great park for families to come to without having to tolerate the other end of the spectrum. This will be wonderful for the image and promotion of the sport.

[Schoen-hopper]

Thanks to everyone for making this happen!!!  You guys in KC have worked hard for some great courses.  Can't wait to play it.

[Timko]

Sweet!  I plan on checking this out later today.

[Timko]

So I got a chance to play Shawnee today.  I was impressed with the selection of shots, and the use of elevation on the course.  It seemed like I was driving into headwinds (either direct or with a crosswind element) a LOT, and when I wasn't driving into the wind, I was throwing uphill .  I can see this course developing into a bunch of nice par 4's in the future. 

The 59 I shot wasn't too great, but I did get 2 birdies, and look forward to playing next weekend to cut out all those bogies.

[Guth]

I got to play on Saturday as Dirk was placing all the tee markers. It was a little windy which I think will probably be the norm since it sits at a higher elevation. We started with three and ended with six in our group. The group grew because Dirk was in our group and they had to play with us or behind us to know were the tee markers were going to be. There were a lot of bogeys and double bogeys, but I got through with only one bogey and four birdies to set the new course record of 51.

[Timko]

51 is pretty good.  Nice shooting.  I've got something to gun for now .

[dananarama]

I got to play this course Sunday with the Flying Palmers, and I enjoyed it tremendously.  I really like the surrounding terrain here.  Lots of Osage Orage and buckbrush out there to make me feel like I was in the woods after deer, which I should have been this weekend.  From my point of view, the beauty of the surroundings are a big slice of what makes a course enjoyable.  I enjoy WW and BVP because of the breathtaking scenery, and Cliff Drive is my favorite because you get put in the woods.  Shawnee Mission has a different feel than the rest.  It's a bit like going bird hunting, as you are close to woods the whole time, but you are walking the field.  And the the fields have nice hedgerows and brushy islands here and there to make you feel less like you are just walking across a ball golf course.

I'm not sure how many folks would agree with me, but I'd like to see this park keep its rough edges, and make it a bit unique among KC courses.  Instead of struggling with the Parks people to get all the fairways mowed flat like WyCO, you could just take a queue from courses like Sioux Passage in STL and have narrow, defined fairways between tall-grass OB.  I am not one who likes losing discs in tall grass, nor picking up socks full of chiggers, but I think the personality it would lend the course to keep it as wild as possible would more than make up for it.

Everyone involved did a fantastic job working with the terrain to pick out the shots, and walking the course is a really pleasant interaction with nature.  I hope we are able to balance preserving as much of the natural landscape as possible while satisfying the masses as the course goes forward.

Thanks to everyone for putting in another great course in KC, and for doing it five minutes from my workplace!

[Chainsaw]

I played the course on Saturday. My opinion is as follows:

Holes 1 - 9: Pretty good design. Hole 2 may have been my favorite.

Holes 10 - 18: Challenging shots of the tee-pad on several holes, but every hole looks about the same. I felt like I was throwing the same tee shot on most of them. The back nine was a completely different course that was not near as good as the front.

Overall, good potential. It really leaves a lot of room for expansion and tweaking in the future. I did enjoy the front nine (with exception to hole 4, but those kind of holes cannot be avoided sometimes I suppose).

One question I have - Are all the trees on the back nine dead? Honestly, I kind of thought that the back nine was too open and repetitive. The shots were failry challenging, but, well, it is just more of the same. If the trees are not dead, then those shots will be more interesting with leaves. How about a mowed out mandatory island green on a hole or two on the back...

[Chainsaw]

Oh yeah,

Still a good job Dirk (and anyone else involved). I will likely play there instead of the rosedale top course or PC, not that any course we have is not a good one.

Also, I completely agree with the statement regarding families getting to experience the game without having to put up with or expose kids to the other spectrum of the culture. The fact of the matter is, not all activities common to players belong wherever the game is. I have had fun in my lifetime, but will bring my son out where that kind of stuff is going on? ABSOLUTELY NOT. Children deserve their innocence, and certain things are illegal and do offend a lot of people.

I do not mean to sound hypocritical. I just want to emphasize that people should respect the laws pertaining to drinking and what not at SMP, considering that we are lucky to have a course there, and there are others who have different lifestyles that still deserve to enjoy the game.

[The Can tankerous A.N.G]

I really enjoyed the course, as well, when I played it on Monday. That park is massive and very beautiful; I bet during the spring and summer, it will be even moreso.

I was glad I went with someone who was familiar with the the layout, and I really appreciated the online map. I agree that there will be a lot of room for development (longer tee pads and numerous placements) simply because of the room allotted.

It was a fun course, even though I hadn't thrown a frisbee in awhile, and I didn't do the course justice. It's not far from my work, either, and it seems safe and really accessible in the winter.

Great job to everyone who designed and worked so hard for us disc golfers. Thanks so much!

[The Bird Father]

Another great course for the KC community.

Althought I do agree that holes 9-16 get very repetative feeling.

[Timko]

Another great course for the KC community.

Althought I do agree that holes 9-16 get very repetative feeling.

I wasn't really in on the development of this course, but would it be possible after hole 9 to go across the street into those woods?

[dclabe]

Wow, this course just opened and we're picking it apart? 

I know we've all been impatiently waiting for this course to be in....lets enjoy it!  The course will evolve over time.  I haven't got to play it except with the portable baskets, I thought there were some interesting and challenging shots.

We shouldn't lose sight that we have a new course in one of the best parks in the Kansas City area.  Shawnee Mission park is huge, so there is lots of room for future expansion.