The west side of Pocatello will soon get to experience a nine-hole disc golf course located within Sacajawea Park, with the potential for an additional course that could be added at a later date.
The first nine holes have been designed and installed and over the next few weeks the final touches will be completed and the course will be ready for public enjoyment.
The creation of the new disc golf course was a collaborative effort between NeighborWorks, the IFFT Foundation, Neighborhoods of Historic Downtown and the Portneuf Valley Disc Golf Association, all of which helped raise $10,000 for the project.
“We were trying to build a course mainly for beginners and seniors and to accommodate the west side,” said Roger Frey, a NeighborWorks board of director member. “All the other courses in town were on the east side or south of town and we didn’t have anything on the west side for people to do over there. We decided that’d be a good spot, went to the foundation, received a grant and started building about a year and a half ago.”
Interested disc golfers have been playing the course for around nine months, but it is currently in an incomplete state. A ribbon cutting has been set for noon on Sept. 10 at which point the course will be fully operational and ready for disc golfers and outdoor enthusiasts alike.
According to Frey, area residents initially raised concerns about how construction of the course could damage the environment and local ecosystems, but everyone involved has taken great care in ensuring a cohesion between the local nature and the new course.
“There was another grant established for a monarch butterfly habitat area that’s being put in right next to the golf course,” Frey said. “We’re incorporating everything down there and they’re saving the nature area and saving the milkweed plants that are for the butterflies. We worked along with the (Idaho Native Plant Society and iNaturalist group) to design the course so that we wouldn’t interrupt too much of the wildlife out there in nature.”
In keeping with the naturalist theme, the design incorporates a five-minute walk along the edge of the river between holes four and five so that disc golfers can enjoy the beauty of the Portneuf River and its vibrant wildlife. The course is also fully modernized and compatible with the popular disc golf application UDisc.
Most of the labor that went into the construction of the course, including removing unsightly deadfall and the beautification of the surrounding area, was done by dedicated volunteers.
“My twin brother Ron and I were born and raised on the west side, over on South Johnson Avenue, so we have an affinity for that neighborhood, we grew up over there,” Frey said. “We just felt like we needed to give back and it was a good place to do it. That neighborhood is actually growing at a higher density the last couple years, but there’s not much for the youth to do over there. So, we decided it was a good spot.”
If all goes to plan and the course is a hit with Gate City residents, there is a possibility of adding another nine holes in the sagebrush area between Sacajawea Park and Foothill Boulevard down the road.
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