Disc Golf Coming To Crystal Springs

An 18-hole disc golf course will be coming to Crystal Springs Park in Fairbury. The Fairbury City Council voted to go forward with the project at a meeting on Tuesday, December 20, 2022.Fairbury currently has a nine-hole disc golf course in McNish Park.The Elpison Foundation, a disc golf club based in Beatrice, is proposing to partner with the City of Fairbury. Their proposal states, “Our goal is to create an elite-level disc golf course that can host the Nebraska State Championships and/or other highly competitive tournaments annually. We expect these tournaments to bring in nearly 90 or more people from 4-5 states each year. In addition to these tournaments, we anticipate this course engaging many members of the Fairbury community and offering another excellent form of exercise in the area. McNish Disc Golf Course has proved to be a great addition to our community, and we are excited to see how we can continue to push Fairbury forward. The project will be funded primarily through community donations. As an incentive, the course will be offering sponsorships of baskets, tee signs, and course naming rights.”The ProposalProfessional disc golf player Jonathan Fletcher spoke at the meeting, as well as a meeting of the Public Works Committee that same night, to discuss the proposal. Fletcher is also Fairbury Public School’s assistant girls wrestling coach.“So I know you’ve played the big name courses, and you’ve been around, “ said Councilperson Phil Rogge. “Will it be a draw for people?”Fletcher said, “There’s a lot of potential to have both an open style course and a wooded course out there, based on the couple of acres of land that we’re able to use, and not a lot of course have both options.”Rogge said, “I know we’ve got McNich, and we have a lot of players that come down there.”Fletcher said the course had the potential to bring players to town, but he also said advertising would be key, “A lot of the local Facebook pages, like LinkedIn, Omaha, the Tri City area, advertising the course on those pages will be a lot more of your guys that like to travel and play, they would come down and play it.”Fletcher added, “Disc Golf Scene is a website, and on that website is a log of all the courses across the country. And then when you run a tournament, you make a page on that website.”Regarding tournaments Fletcher noted, “So the bigger ones like your pro tour level tournaments are going to be three days or four days. And then your more local ones, like the ones you’ll see in Nebraska, are going to be one day tournaments, two rounds.”FundingWith the approval of the City Council, the Elpison Foundation will begin the fundraising process.Estimated Court Costs:18 Baskets: $7,00018 Tee pads: $3,00018 Tee signs: $2,000Total Cost: $12,000Projected Sponsorship Structure:$150: Tee sign sponsor or Tee pad sponsor$250: Tee sign and tee pad sponsor on a single hole$400: Basket sponsor for a hole$600: Tee sign, tee pad, and basket sponsor for a hole$1,500: Course naming rights (“Name of your business” Disc Golf Course)TimelineThe foundation hopes to have fundraising completed before the end of July 2023. The City of Fairbury will begin the removal of trees and the creation of fairways upon approval of the course. This may be completed as soon as Spring 2023 but may roll into early 2024.The city and the Elpison Foundation will collaborate to make final changes to the course after the removal of the trees have been completed. The Elpison Foundation will install the baskets and teepads after the finalizing of the layout.Fletcher presented three possible layouts to the council.According to the proposal, “The plan is to have a completely finished and playable course in the Spring 2024. The Course timeline is relatively flexible depending on complications and the pace of tree removal. The Elpison Foundation will lengthen or shorten the timeline in order to accommodate the removal and trees and building of the course as needed.”

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