YMCA looks to bring disc golf course to 3 spots in Orleans County

Photo by Tom Rivers: This shows one of the holes for a disc golf course at Lakeside Beach State Park in Carlton, which currently has the only certified disc golf course in Orleans County.

MEDINA – Orleans County could soon have three more locations for disc golf.

Greg Reed, the YMCA director in Orleans County, has been reaching out to local municipal leaders for an 18-hole course. Reed wasn’t able to reach an agreement for an 18-hole course, but is instead has preliminary approvals for a 9-hole course at Gulf Street Park in medinas, a 9-hole course at Bullard Park in Albion and a smaller pop-up course in Holley.

Reed shared the news with Medina village officials on Monday. The board supports the course at Gulf Street Park. The projects are funded with a grant.

The Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation gave the Y $20,000 to $24,000 to develop the projects with tee boxes, signs and baskets that are mounted in small concrete foundations – 8 inches wide by 20 inches deep.

Median village officials on Monday told Reed to work out the concrete foundations and some tree clearing at the park with Jason Watts, the DPW superintendent.

Each hole is about an acre in size. Reed said the courses are “transient” and can easily be taken out and put somewhere else if needed.

The grant from the Wilson Foundation includes utilizing the WNY Disc Golf Association as a design consultant on the courses.

The courses tend to be on a mix of open land and paths in wooded areas.

“You want obstacles,” Reed said during a previous meeting. “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 courses, which would also be open to others who just want to give it a try.

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.”

Reed also asked the Medina Village Board to allow Rotary Park to be used for a bike share program, where already volunteers from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday after Memorial Day.

The bikes would be rented out through an app. The volunteers would unlock the bikes and have bike helmets available.

Village officials want to check with the volunteers to see if they would want that responsibility and also want to research any potential liability for the village by  having the bikes on village property.

Reed said there would likely be three to five bikes available through the program.

Village officials said they would make a decision at their next meeting on April 25.