Slippery Rock Area Parks & Recreation opens new disc golf course
With the help of local residents, Slippery Rock Area Parks & Recreation recently opened a nine-hole disc golf course at 320 N. Main St. in the borough.
"This was mostly funded by a private donation from community residents who have been a huge staple in their constant support of the park,“ said Denton Zeronas, borough council vice president and Slippery Rock Area Parks & Recreation director. ”It’s up and ready to go. The design process was coordinated by myself and a volunteer who is a professor at the university. He's a big disc golf enthusiast.“
Zeronas said the donation was in the $10,000 range which helped with the baskets and their instillation.
According to UDisc, a disc golf app and website for score-keeping, statistics and discovery, the course offers two lengths of play — one totaling 2,087 feet and a longer one at 2,492 feet.
This is done through different tee boxes on each hole, one being farther from the hole than the other.
"I think for a half-course setup I think you will find it's accurate to what the pars are,“ Zeronas said. ”There are some opportunities to move the holes down the line if we need to. The directions of play and the course itself can change slightly."
Zeronas said the course opened a few weeks ago and leading up to its debut, many local residents already were expressing interest.
"I basically did a Facebook post, and after it I saw someone walking through the course every single day,“ he said. ”They also stop in and ask about it or call in."
Community members did get to test out the course before anything was set in stone. They then offered feedback on how they thought the course should be played.
"Before we installed the holes, we got a couple test flags that we put out, and we invited the community to come out and play it,“ Zeronas said. "I think the addition of the disc golf course is a good reflection on a small-town community working together to go ahead and get some things established that they want to see in town. It's a community-funded project with community help and community-inspired feedback."
The course sits on public land with grass tee boxes and is open anytime.
The course and park are dog friendly with restrooms and water stations available. The addition of the nine-hole course only adds to the area’s disc golf passion. Slippery Rock University already has an 18-hole course on its campus.
Slippery Rock Mayor Jondavid Longo said it has been an ongoing desire to create and expand on a disc golf course at Slippery Rock Area Parks & Recreation due to demand he sees in the area, with all things recreation.
"The Slippery Rock community has a very robust passion for disc golf,“ Longo said. ”Even a lot of people outside the Slippery Rock area like to come here to participate in disc golf. We are glad to finally be able to offer that to our guests at the park."
