Warner Park - Manhattan - PLANNING TOPICS

[disclizard]

Huh? lol on a work weekend . could go to manhatten and do some work on the course when they are out working . put in a full day of labor and sleep and play the course the next day before going home. Did that clear it up some? lol

[PETRIE]

rlangton,
Glad you enjoyed our revised course layout. It has taken some serious politicking to even get a glimpse of the wooded area for #1 & #2.

You no doubt still have some connections out here in Manhattan, right? Do you know of any potential donors? Pulling a few strings of the right people could actually go a long way on funding this project.

To All,
Regarding trimming trees and other "work day" type of efforts, we have NOT worked out exactly who will be doing what. From the sounds of things so far, the City Forestry guys will be doing almost all of the tree work. We will keep everyone posted of that sort of stuff as it develops.

One thing is for sure, everyone needs to make sure that no trees, branches, etc. get pruned without specific permission from the Parks & Rec. Staff . There are neighbors and other park users that are watching this disc golf project very closely. With that in mind, we need to make sure to follow proper procedure with everything going on out there.


Rick

[PETRIE]

By the way, we are 58% finished with our fund raising efforts.

With that in mind, there's still some spots available if you want to get your name or someone else's name (or company name) on the course signage.

[durtydoggy]

How about hosting a fund raising tournament there? Even doing some league nights and throw some money into the pot. It might not be alot, but any amount would help. If you need a basket I can bring my M-14.

[PETRIE]

Durty Doggy,
I can appreciate the idea of everybody pulling together to take portable baskets to Warner Park for a tourney. As you might have already heard, for a month last summer, a bunch of us took baskets to Fairmont on Wednesday nights for league. I was glad to hear about it in time help and participate, it really came together to be a blast each week.

However, I don't think we're going to need to have a tourney to raise money. That is because the fund raising has been going pretty well lately. I've been meaning to post an update but time flies by so fast...

Anyway, after counting up the money that has been donated (already deposited with the City) + the money that has been pledged (specific $ amounts promised to the project by other donors), we currently only need funding for two "full" fairways ($400) and one "half" fairway ($200).

I know of a couple other "hot" leads that I am working on, plus I think a couple other people have a few leads they are chasing too. With that in mind, it should not be very much longer before we have raised the money that's required. We're in the home stretch and you should start to see some signs of construction out there before spring weather completely hits.


Sincerely,
Rick

[PETRIE]

BREAKING NEWS (since last night's post):

Around mid-day today, yet another interested party contacted me and made a pledge to sponsor a "Full Fairway"!
They went on to say the check was going in the mail today to the City. That's great news!

So, after adding up the funding we've already deposited plus the pledges we received,
we now only need funding for one "full" fairway ($400) and one "half" fairway ($200).

We're getting so close I can almost smell it

[PETRIE]

I don't know how many of you are familiar with Twitter, but as this project rolls on, you can keep up to date with it by going to the following: http://twitter.com/WarnerParkDG No, you don't even need a Twitter account to read it.

[PETRIE]

I can confirm that yesterday (friday) the City of Manhattan received the another contribution for our disc golf course project .

With that in mind, between the checks we've received and the pledges that have been made,
WE ONLY NEED TO FIND SPONSORS FOR ONE FULL FAIRWAY ($400), AND ONE HALF FAIRWAY ($200)!


(p.s. Feel free to keep up to speed with our project by reading my messages at http://www.twitter.com/warnerparkdg)

[smitty]

Sweet!

You guys should have 3 courses by the end of summer. Sounds like you need to have 3 KDGA events this summer. Maybe get some of you to be KDGA members, and help grow the KDGA to the east.

[PETRIE]

Smitty,
We're doing what we can to get the sport going strong in Manhattan. DG could grow very rapidly now that we'll have two free courses "in town", rather than just one out of town course that you have to "pay to play" (@ the State Park). It doesn't sound like a big deal, but it's hard to predict how many of the 21,000+ K-State students and 50,000+ Manhattan residents might take up the sport because it's now so much more accessible.

I have a couple other sports that take up my time (and money) in the late fall and winter. However as far as spring and summer sports go, this is the sport for me now. I used to like playing softball and other sports in the summer, but not anymore.

Yes, I plan to join the KDGA this year. Especially now that it's becoming more clear how much of my own money I will, and will not, have to spend on the Warner Park project to get it built. I don't know how much of the annual KDGA membership goes towards paying for this site, but having KDGA.com is priceless. I love this site and I can't wait until I have time again to delve into posts other than the ones for our Warner project.

Does a 2010 membership come with KDGA bag tag? KDGA stamped disc? T-Shirt?

[PETRIE]

Smitty,
Your question/statement about tourney's got me thinking... but I don't have time to put it into text. I'll try to jump back in later tonight or tomorrow to lay out my thoughts on tourneys at Manhattan area courses.

[smitty]

Rick-

KDGA fee will get you: 2010 custom disc, 2010 shirt, 2010 bag tag, BBQ in Beloit, food at the banquet, pionts race.

[PETRIE]

Smitty,
Regarding Manhattan getting three KDGA events: Right now I'm hyper focused on getting Warner built, I'm not to concerned about tourneys (at least not yet). But if I were in tourney mode, here's what I would pursue / start looking into.

FAIRMONT PARK: I think it would be easy right now to use the permanent 9 holes at Fairmont, then set up nine more temporary fairways to have an 18 hole tourney course. There's tons of space to do that and I doubt Riley County would mind. I suspect you'd need to contact the Riley County Parks department at (785) 539-2981. I haven't been very involved with Fairmont Park however Manhattan players Jake and/or ToJo are probably in the know of who to contact. I can get you their phone numbers if you're really considering it, that is if you don't already know them.

WARNER PARK: Considering we've not yet done anything out there but trim a few trees, it's going to be a while before it's ready for a tourney. I suspect it wouldn't be "tourney ready" until late summer, after we've played it a while. Besides you'd want to wait until the the K-State students return for the fall semester in order to get the most participants possible. Regarding setting up a second temporary 9 holes to make it a full 18 on a tourney weekend, we're going to have to talk to the City of Manhattan Parks & Rec. Director. He's thrilled we got this 9 hole course approved and are building it, plus he's interested in eventually expanding it to 18. However, he wants to be sure to take baby steps to make sure DG players treat the park and neighboring residents with respect. With that in mind, I'm not sure if he's be interested in letting us set up a second 9 temporary baskets for a tourney. But I sure could talk to him about it if needed.

FORT RILEY: They've put in 18 nice baskets around the Riley Conference Center on base. The course has some long semi-open fairways that appeals to people with big arms. But yet there's just enough trees to keep in interesting. It is a nice facility complete with a large parking lot, a convention center (if needed), restrooms, etc. It is an easy drive from the center of Manhattan, the drive feels like 10 to 15 minutes. I have no idea what it would take, or who to even talk to at Ft. Riley but it would be a great place for a tourney too. I suspect KDGA guy DurtyDoggy might know who to contact.

With that in mind,
(1) Someone could put on a tourney at Fairmont Park, this May, the Sunday after the Little Apple Open at Tuttle Creek.
(2) Then in the fall, after the K-State students are back in town, someone could put on a Saturday tourney at Warner Park, then a Sunday tourney at Ft. Riley the very next day. Dates that would be good for that would be October 2 & 3, because that is a bye week for the K-State Football team. Or October 9 & 10, because K-State will have just played Neb. on a rare Thursday night game on that week. Both of these weekends look to be still avaialble on the 2010 Oz Tour.

Of course there's a bunch of other combination's that could work. Combining Fairmont & Warner in the fall for a tourney could be pretty cool too.

While talking to people about Warner Park fund raising, I've had a couple conversations with the Manhattan Convention and Visitors Bureau about potential tourneys in town. They are really excited about the growth of the sport in town and have specifically told me they would love to help bring more tournaments (and hotel customers) into Manhattan. Not sure how helpful that tidbit is, but I thought I should toss that out there.

Catch you later.

[durtydoggy]

If we done a Saturday and Sunday tournament, How about doing all 4 courses. I will call around tuesday and talk to somebody about putting tee pads and also hosting a tournament here on Ft. Riley. ( what would need to be done) I am sure that the people in charge of the base wouldnt mind, and my be able to get some donations for prizes.

[kewley]

What?

KDGA fee will get you: 2010 custom disc, 2010 shirt, 2010 bag tag, BBQ in Beloit, food at the banquet, pionts race.

And Bangerrr Bob for a regional rep?

I'm thinking about signing up.