complete side step: Maybe the church found out what a great job the club has been doing reclaiming Cliff over the years and wanted to contribute. was was their story?
I'm curious about this too. I still want to send them a thank you email and I think it would be cool if others would as well. That sort of appreciation isn't what they're after, I know, but it would certainly let them know that we liked the area they chose to work in and might even lead to a cool partnership.
Why? Why would you a non-member of their church that wasn't there that isn't a person on the BoD send a note or need to? There is a proper place and time to do things, and I am confused as to why YOU would feel the need to do so on behalf of a course that you play on? Should we have you send notes to all the organizations that have helped within the parks over the past year? I can think of at least 5 in Blue Valley alone. I can think of 7 for Cliff Drive. Why should we single this group out, and more importantly why should you do this?
I am not meaning to pick on you Cooper (a little mind you, because it is of course in my nature) but I would not want someone that professed in a comment earlier in the day that they "didn't know" the point of the club would be sending a thank you letter about an area that you may visit a total of (generous here) 10 times in a year. I don't think that shows good taste at all, and sends a conflicting message.
As for courses, you aren't going to get me to think that all the courses in town are beginner friendly, they aren't. Cliff Drive isn't, SMP isn't, Swope, and Rosedale in short placements is....Olathe used to be, but isn't as much. Theiss has done a good job on working that in at his course so far, but clearly it isn't a course for the "big players" based on the Wide Open feedback from many, so that would consitute a friendly "tweaner" course in my mind, which lends itself to beginner friendly certainly. I haven't played the Birdland, no idea...WyCo-C'mon, not even close to beginner friendly. You aren't thinking about a new player that if lucky can throw it 100', which is what a new player is.
As for Charlotte, many of their courses wouldn't be there in today's age due to safety concerns.....so it's not a fair comparison. We work and always have worked with local P&R at ensuring things made sense for the future. We will continue to do so, at least those of us that work with the P&R at making things happen. Not everyone that does that is even a member of the club.
As for the Club's mission, more clinics, more events, those are again time away issues, if we plan it who will show up? I did that for years, was part of the WIN Camp, and you know what it was tough to get people to come and help. A few people did, but not enough.
As for % of players in the club with courses....Really dude? What other analogy makes sense. We had at the start of the millennium 30 Club members/Course, now we have 10? How is that not a direct correlation?
As far as it goes, Loomis I do see the work that others do not in the blood/sweat/equity as well. I get that people do things on the fringes that help the club, and I am not bashing them. I am simply calling out people that do nothing but give advice and pointers and then walk on by or ignore it and go to another course.
Tracy is right, it is a labor of love, and I think that comes with Pride. I like to think of the disc golf courses as our own backyards, and how we present them is important to me. This is why I feel confident in my comments about my stance. I have worked in the fields, behind the scenes, and in the grass to help over the years. I just think that when I read/hear:
I'm not trying to be snarky, funny, or whatever else, but what is the point of the club then? I am a member and I have no idea what the point is. If you had asked me I would have said leagues, KCWO, and club championships, probably in that order. I know course maintenance is in there on a lot of courses but I thought that was an ancillary goal to the others.
It ticks me off that you think you have a strong grasp of what this really is about and are able to speak about it in the right context.
Now Coop, realize of course that I am pointing this out because you put it out there. I am CONFIDENT, that you are not alone in this line of thinking, so I am not trying to bash you specifically, but all the folks that think that they know best, but don't get it.
There is more work done than most imagine and realize. That is a failure on part of the club, but the club is this:
A loosely organized group of volunteers with the notion of making our sport legitimate in the eyes of the nonplaying casual person/golfer. People in here aren't the problem, the people in here have the bug, they get it.
So I try to chide them into a gut wrenching fiasco of guilt!
I know that this comes out harder than I imagine it to be, and suffice it to say it appears that I am bashing Coop. Reality, only bashing him for the thought that he needs to send a letter, the other information is that he put himself out here, and he isn't alone, so it's not just at Cooper on this, it is at you reading this if you aren't part of the solution and working towards the betterment of the sport actually.
Coop again I know you have good thoughts and desires about this sport, and I appreciate you putting it out there, this is just my stance and of course subject to ridicule and extremism as much as I give. Collectively we all agree something has to give.
Tracy, they did make some banners that I put up on my marquee, I think that Mike Petrin should have some that indicate the role that the KCFDC plays within the parks as well!
