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Utah County disc golf enthusiasts push for second Lehi course

By Connor Richards daily Herald - | May 25, 2021
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Discs sit at the registration table at the Trilogy Challenge Disc Golf Tournament in Highland on Monday, August 1, 2016.

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Bryan Brough, from Orem, throws a disc at the Art Dye Disc Golf Park on Friday, April 27, 2018, in American Fork. The pile of debris is located alongside the first hole at the disc golf course. 

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Alex Mateus, of Cottonwood Heights, retrieves his lost disc from an area of discarded concrete during a game of disc golf with friends Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017, at Art Dye Park in American Fork.

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Bryan Brough, left, from Orem, and Kurt Fisher, right, from Fountain Green, walk to their discs at the Art Dye Disc Golf Park on Friday, April 27, 2018, in American Fork.

Utah County disc golf enthusiasts are pushing for a second disc golf course to be built in Lehi, which they say would decrease crowding at other courses and provide meaningful recreational opportunities for residents.

The Spring Creek Disc Golf Course would be an 18-hole park — built and maintained by volunteers — located on city-owned property in southern Lehi near Utah Lake. The city currently operates the Dry Creek Disc Golf Park in northern Lehi.

During a Lehi City Council pre-council meeting on Tuesday, Lehi resident and disc golf enthusiast Curtis Clements said north county courses like Dry Creek and the Art Dye Disc Golf Park in American Fork are getting overcrowded as the sport continues to grow in popularity.

“COVID just kind of really blew it up, and it’s just amazingly hard to play right now,” Clements told the city council, adding that a new park would “alleviate” that overcrowding.

Clements, who described disc golf as “something that’s in-demand” and “would be loved by pretty much anyone in the community that would play it,” said the park would cost about $10,000 and noted that design, construction and maintenance would all be completed by volunteers.

Of 131 disc golf players and enthusiasts who responded to a survey launched by Clements, 76 said they would be willing to help install disc golf baskets, while 40 said they would be willing to help clean and maintain the course.

“We’ve got plenty of people that are willing to come out and install it,” he said.

Clements asked that the city consider a one-to-one match on funding the park and be responsible for building a parking lot for the course.

Parks and Facilities Manager Steve Marchbanks advised against the city funding the park but said he otherwise supported the idea.

“We need funding for other projects,” he told the city council. “I would suggest that we put funding toward the things that we already have open before we start another one.”

Marchbanks did acknowledge that the city has received complaints about overcrowding at the Dry Creek Disc Golf Park, which is located near a neighborhood.

Councilmember Paul Hancock said he thought a one-to-one match, which would cost the city about $5,000, would be reasonable “to make this piece of land usable and to serve the community in the way that it would.”

Councilmember Chris Condie said he was concerned about the condition of the terrain that the course would be built on, which he called “pretty rough” and “uneven,” while Councilmember Paige Albrecht asked about the environmental impact of the course.

Clements responded that the terrain was “surprisingly flat” and said that “as far as impact … you’re kind of getting just baskets installed and little concrete tee pads.”

“And it’s just something really in-demand that people want to install themselves,” he said. “I don’t know how many parks you get like that.”

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