Help Support the Fort Devens Historical Museum

The Fort Devens Historical Museum is raffling off a handmade quilt with a patriotic theme, made and donated by a Devens resident. $5 a ticket. Anyone interested in viewing the quilt or purchasing a ticket can contact Ian Meisner at the museum at 94 Jackson Road, Suite 305, or call 978-772-1286. Good luck!

When we get our signs made, the kind folks at the museum will be supplying us with historical Devens tidbits to put on each sign, so please show your support!

Click the picture for more details.

Today's Devens Treasure

We came across this old-school Snoopy and Woodstock Thermos a few Saturdays ago on Hole 9. Thanks to whoever left it by the tee with the growing collection of "antique" soda and beer cans.

This looks to be a late 1960s-, early 1970s-era Thermos that goes in a lunchbox. Back in the day, I had a much cooler lunchbox -- Speed Buggy. Which one did you have?

And They're Here!

Or at least most of them are. The chain assemblies are due in a few weeks. Aren't they beautiful? ;-)

It's a Boy!

Congratulations to Devens DG Board member Steve Berthiaume and his wife Kimberly on the birth of their second son, Owen! Owen joined us Friday, Nov. 24 at 8:11AM weighing in at 7 lb, 8 oz.

Early reports are that he has more hair than his Dad! Look for Owen and his big brother Miles out on the course soon!

Dunkin' Donuts Gets a Birdie

We are happy to announce that Dunkin' Donuts has signed up as a Birdie Sponsor! Dunkins is located minutes from the course up by the gas station and the Devens Grill. Be sure to stop by before each round for your caffeine fix. Thanks, Dunkins!

Hole lengths, chains, litter, and a snake

I went over to the course this morning because I've been wanting to measure the length of each hole for a few weeks now. I was hoping to record tee and basket elevation too, but the satellites just weren't cooperating today and my GPS gave me some wacky readings. As I look at these measurements now, I think some must be wrong because a couple seem way to short, especially 14. I may have to do it the old-fashioned way next time.

While measuring hole 8, I heard the beautiful ching of chains on 14, the only hole with a real basket. It was great to hear, but when I got to 14, I found a fresh Budweiser bottle empty about halfway up. That bummed me out, but I'd like to think that the bottle just fell out of someone's bag. It did, didn't it?

Later on 17, I came across this snake catching some rare late November sun. I took a bunch of pictures of him, but he didn't move a muscle -- just stuck his tongue out at me a few times.

Almost Here

There should be 9 boxes and poles sitting on my porch when I get home tonight. If not, then Friday. Shoot, I should just stop by and pick them up directly from UPS on my lunch break since I work about 10 miles away!

No, I'm not too excited about this..... ha!

They're On the Way!

And There's One In

Bill the Neighbor and I installed the Innova basket Sunday afternoon on Monster hole 14. It sure does look purty. Dave James also spent some time earlier in the day tidying up some tee boxes. Thanks guys.





During our round later, Bill became the first disc golfer in history to putt on a real metal basket at Devens. It was a magical moment. He also won the "Most Ticks" award with 4 I think. I had my usual three but still feel like there's a few crawling around on me this morning. When will I remember to put some Off on, even in this colder weather?

My boy Rob Curtis and his buddy came out from Dorchester to check on our progress. We caught up with them for a few holes before they had to take off to go watch the Pats-Packers massacre. Thanks for making the trip out to the country, boys! We also bumped into two new faces from Ayer who had heard about the course from our blurb on the local access channel. It's nice to see that the local contingent is growing.

Here's Monster 14, looking down down down to the tee:

Thank You Buyers

Thank you to whoever is using the Marshall Street pro shop link on our blog to buy stuff. Five percent of your purchase is coming back to Devens Disc Golf Club so you should feel good about that. It all adds up, so keep on clicking and buying! Thanks again! :)

> Learn how to make this snazzy dollar bill shirt.

The First 9 Baskets Are On Their Way (sort of)

We ordered our first nine baskets! After hours of debate and field testing, we decided to go with Discraft Chainstars. Kudos to Brian for kicking butt on fundraising these past few months.

There are only a few more sponsorships left until we can get our next nine. (Our baskets will not have the base or wheel as shown in the photo.)

Unfortunately, there is a part shortage for the chain assembly so that piece won't arrive until mid-to-late December. However, the pole and basket will ship tomorrow. What a tease. Once everything arrives, we'll have 14 genuine metal baskets to install.

Phew! What a Week!

Wow! What a week for Devens Disc Golf! After getting the order to temporarily close the course last Friday, things still went full-speed ahead as we broke out the big saws and cleared Hole 18 and thinned out Hole 7 and Hole 8.

Brian definately earned his Executive Director title this week as he got the 503c process going (making us a charitable organization) and landed three more sponsors. Good job, Nut!

Ace level hole sponsorships are getting scarce and that's a good thing. We've got 10 holes sponsored and plan on purchasing our first 9 baskets next week once we get a final quote in.

So, we are pretty excited over on the Hill as things are coming together. I just can't believe we are almost there ... it's been a long time coming. There's still a lot of work to be done, but I just can't wait til I hear the sweet sound of chains in the woods!

Here are our current sponsors:

Ace Level ($500)

1. NEFA
2. Hanscom Credit Union
3. Innova
4. Pre Season Speed
   
5. Devens Recreation Department
6. Devens Grill
7. Gemini Dogs
8. MicroVision Laboratories
9. Image Software Services
10. Data Intensity
    

Birdie Level ($300)

1. Family Fun Spot (pending)
2. N. B. Kenney Company

Par Level (any other amount)

1. Nobody yet!
   

Data Intensity Sponsors a Hole!

After months and months of talking about nothing but disc golf to his boss Kevin Kennefick at Data Intensity, Brian finally persuaded him to sponsor a hole. Yahoo! "I just wanted him to get back to work!" Kevin said, "And I figured this was the best way to do it." Thank you Data Intensity!

Data Intensity provides a full range of managed IT services to corporations in every major industry group, non-profit organizations, and local, state, and federal government agencies.

Image Software Services Sponsors a Hole!

The good news keeps on coming -- Image Software Services is our latest Ace Level sponsor! Jeff worked with Brian to create our fundraising info packs that are definately working! Image Software Services provides CD and DVD creation and duplication, on-demand digital printing, packaging, and other media services. Thank you Jeff!

MicroVision Laboratories Sponsors a Hole!

It's been a great week for sponsorships! After a tour of the course with Brian over the weekend, disc golf newbie and Devens resident John Knowles agreed to become our next Ace Level sponsor! John is the President and owner of Microvision Labs in Burlington, MA. Thank you John!

MicroVision Laboratories, Inc. is an analytical microscopy service lab providing high quality scanning electron microscopy, quantitative elemental analysis, and optical microscopy services to a wide variety of industries in and around Boston. Founded in 2003, MicroVision Labs has helped solve numerous manufacturing, quality control and R&D problems for hundreds of companies in areas such as membrane technology, semi-conductors, pharmaceuticals, environmental engineering, biomedical technology, and micro-electronics.

Check out more cool (and icky) photos like these on their website. Click each photo for an extreme closeup. Caution: view well after lunch! :-)

Spider Mite

Moth's tongue

Scorecard Added, New Stats Page

Since we have 18 playable holes now, I figured I'd post the scorecard and create a new stats page too. The scorecard is quite basic, but has our snazzy logo on it. A true collector's item I'm sure.

Par is 54; all holes are par 3. I plan on adding length info eventually.

• A PDF of the scorecard is here, or find it in the Links section later.
• Stats page is here, or find it in the Links section later.

Be sure to email me your scores so that I can add them to the stats page. Thanks.

TM Delivers Again

Great day yesterday. TM, Bill the Neighbor, and I finished cutting 18. TM did the cutting and Bill and I dragged most into piles, but we still left some for the rest of you.

The first half of the fairway looks awesome. You tee off from behind an impressive-looking row of boulders looking out over the fairway. About 150+ ft out the hill crests and it's down you go through an alley of trees to the basket which is about 2/3 the way down. Miss the putt and chances are you'll roll to the bottom.

Go here for an interesting study on the stone walls and boulders of New England.

Haven't quite decided the best way to play this hole yet (either go for it over the hill or layup to where it starts to go down). None-the-less, it's going to be a fun one. Plus, at the crest of the hill looking SW you can see an American flag flying in the distance as well as the distant Worcester hills. Beautiful.

We moved on to Hole 7 (with the old antenna concrete tee pad) and removed a number of trees in the lower fairway making it more playable and fair. We also widened the right side where the fairway starts to curve right and go down so that it is a little more obvious where you should throw from the tee. On hole 8 we removed a few trees on the left so now there is a defined left or right path to take up the valley.

With about an hour left of sunlight (damn those 4:30 sunsets!) we played a quick round and finished the last four holes in the dark. That was interesting.

Major huge mega thanks to TM for coming up to help. I love your Implements of Destruction!

The Course Is Temporarily Closed

As of 7:30AM, Devens Disc Golf Course is temporarily closed.

The two main reasons center around insurance and handicap accessibility.

I'll try to explain it as best as I can remember from our meeting this morning:

1. Because Devens is not yet a town and is instead run by MassDevelopment (a state agency), it does not (or cannot) offer general insurance to cover the course. If someone falls and wants to sue, they could sue MassDev as well as Brian and me and anyone involved in building the course. Because MassDev, Brian, and I do not want to get sued, we have decided to close the course. If Devens were a town, this would not be an issue because the course would be covered by the town's insurance policy.

2. Since Devens is technically a State entity, it has to follow laws concerning the ADA (American Disabilities Act). Everything that Devens installs on Devens has to be ADA-compliant, be it walking paths, observation towers, playgrounds, and disc golf courses. Obviously, making a disc golf course in New England handicap accessible is nearly impossible, especially on the Hill. Again, if Devens were a town, they would not have to follow these requirements, I believe.

So, what can we do? They suggested that we (Devens Disc Golf Club) form an LLC or non-profit organization and then rent the Hill from MassDev for $1/year. We would have to get our own insurance, just like any group that rents a soccer field does now, for example.

They said we can continue to work on the course, raise money, etc., but must post a "The Course Is Closed" sign on tee 1. This should protect everyone from anyone who decides to ignore the sign, play anyway, and fall.

Once we form our group and get insurance, the course will officially re-open. Until then, stay tuned.

If you were planning on helping Sat. thanks, but I won't be going over until later to put up the sign.

N. B. Kenney Signs Up as Birdie Sponsor!

More good news from the Hill. Local plumbing and HVAC contractor, N. B. Kenney Company, has signed up as a Birdie sponsor for $300! Yahoo and thank you, Steve!

Specializing in challenging and complex projects, the work of N.B. Kenney Company, Inc. can be found some the leading schools, universities, government and municipal buildings, hospitals, laboratories, and housing projects in the Northeast region. Our dedication and meticulous attention to quality and safety is unmatched in the industry.

Here are our current sponsors. Would anyone else care to join this exclusive list? Only 11 Ace sponsorships left!

Ace Sponsors

1. NEFA
2. Hanscom Credit Union
3. Innova
4. James family
5. Devens Recreation Department
6. Devens Grill
7. Gemini Dogs

Birdie Sponsors
1. Family Fun Spot
2. N. B. Kenney Company

Also: Borderland Disc Golf has loaned us four baskets.