YMCA seeks spot for disc golf course in Orleans County
Photo from Lakeside Beach State Park: This photo shows someone throwing a frisbee at one of the baskets on the disc golf course at Lakeside in Carlton.
MEDINA – The YMCA in Orleans County is looking for a partner in developing an 18-hole disc golf course.
The Y received a grant for $20,000 to $24,000 for the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation to develop a course with tee boxes, signs and baskets that are mounted in small concrete foundations – 8 inches wide by 20 inches deep.
Each hole is about an acre so 18 acres would be ideal for the course, said Greg Reed, YMCA director.
He would like the course to be in either the Albion area or Medina and has reached to local officials and hasn’t been able to finalize an agreement.
Reed thought Bullard Park in Albion would ideal for the course, but village officials declined, saying it wasn’t part of the plan for the space. A Bullard Park committee already developed a long-range plan for the park with other uses, Reed said village officials told him.
Reed also is talking with Barre town officials about using part of that park on Route 98. He has approached Medina village officials about Gulf Street Park but that space has neighbors close by and doesn’t have enough room for an 18-hole course. It would be big enough for a 9-hole course, Reed said.
He also said the park area by Glenwood Lake in Ridgeway could be utilized for disc golf. Another possibility for Medina would be to use vacant land in the Medina Business Park with the understanding if a business was ready to build on the acres the disc golf course would have to be removed.
Reed said the courses are “transient” and could easily be taken out and put somewhere else.
The grant from the Wilson Foundation includes utilizing the WNY Disc Golf Association as a design consultant on the course.
The courses tend to be on a mix of open land and paths in wooded areas.
“You want obstacles,” Reed said. “That’s what makes it more fun.”
Reed applied for the Wilson Foundation grant during a time of indoor Covid restrictions on gyms and fitness centers. He was looking for a way to get people outside and active.
He would like to form leagues to have regular players on the course, which would also be open to others who just want to give it a try.
“It’s an inexpensive, anyone-can-do-it-type thing,” Reed said.
He envisions utilized the course for YMCA summer youth programming and day camps.
Reed said there are disc golf courses at Lakeside Beach State Park in Carlton, Golden Hill State Park just across the county line in Barker, and in the Town Sweden, near the Holley community in eastern Orleans. He considers the Medina and Albion areas to be “disc golf deserts.”
A stipulation of the grant says the project needs to be in place by June 2022.
