Hey guys yes this is a change, but the whole reason the redesign is happening is because of this change we knew it was coming. I have read some reviews and hear it everyday how lame it is to walk all the way back from the upper lot to the lower lot. truth be told thats not the final configuration, they were temp placeholders,I wanted those last three holes to be played for as long as possible. Most people were bummed about loosing them more than any,so my thinking was lets just play them up until they put a fence up,which hopefully you did,and you enjoyed them up until Thursday the 22nd 2011. In response to allot of concerns let me say first and foremost that I am and have been doing everything humanly possible to keep lakewood an 18 hole course. A few years ago when the TAF thing was becoming more of a reality,I investigated the best route to take. While getting to know some great folks along the way who have been involved with Lakewood like Eric,Brian,Tuffi and even Ralph before he passed. Just to name a few. When finding out about the CPG program I knew this would be a good fit. This is the grant we (DOS) received to do the redesign at Lakewood because ultimately King County Parks appreciates the fact that we have made this a great park, and want to keep us here,as well as help us get more courses going(which I am also working on). So yes it sucks that the fence is up, but if you really didn't want this to happen you should have spoke up years ago about it. The good news is once the building goes in they are going to have 24 security on site in the park. So maybe we can convince them to extend there perimeter to the rest of the park. Also if they have lights it will only help light up the baskets at night. Who knows maybe this whole concept will fail ,and then the parks will have a 14 million dollar building onsite. I could think of quite a few things we could use that building for. Like say um...... one pretty sick CLUBHOUSE/PROSHOP... just a thought? And if we the disc golf community play our cards right,keep doing what we are doing at Lakewood it will only strengthen this relationship and these possibilities.
So as of today Friday the 23rd I went out there and re routed those last three holes so that there is still 18 holes in play.
On Tuesday I will be doing a walk through with parks staff to figure out an even better temp solution while the construction happens all around us. So in the meantime I hope you keep enjoying the course as it evolves. It will keep evolving as time passes. Please understand the scope of things happening. If it was up to me this whole redesign would have been done a year ago. But as much as you and I oppose it, until our political structure is dismantled and rebuilt,its all about taking out the bad for the good. Seeing the positive and holding your course.
So this is something I don't do much(typing)(in this forum) since It actually took me awhile to find this spot in the forum,and the fact that I seem to always be crazy busy,but I encourage you all to periodically check our websites that I try to update quite frequently and post about most of this rant as well as new maps and layouts, which I gotta go print some up so they are ready for tomorrow,before staples closes. Thanks for reading,thanks for support and look here for latest map update:
www.chainbangerz.com and here for other stuff
www.discoveringopenspaces.com cheers, and pass the good word along.