Fireworks tonight!

Come to Devens tonight for some of the best fireworks in the State. The 6th Annual Devens Independence Day Celebration with be taking place Friday, June 29, on Rogers Field. Food and music too. Starts at 6PM.

And while you are there, stop by our course sponsors for some food, drink, gas, or money!

Kind words from California

Yesterday I posted a question on the NEFA boards about the best way to measure hole length. Among the many excellent ideas and suggestions, Rob Mullen from Santa Cruz, CA left behind this great comment. Thanks Rob, I appreciate it.

John, you've created a kickass course! There are many thankful discgolfers from all round the country who appreciate you for your effort and your love. Deven's is beautiful, fun and righteous in design.....you should be very, very proud!

Check out Rob's blog, Just Baskets for photos of handmade baskets around the world. There sure are some very inventive people out there!

Thank you, but no

I appreciate that people want to help make the course better, but please don't work on it unless you check with me first.

This weekend I noticed that someone decided that the teebox on hole 8 wasn't level enough for them and dug out a portion of it. While your intentions are well-meaning, I don't appreciate you messing with our course without permission and doing a half-assed job too! If you want to improve something, let me know and together we will decide how to do it right and how to finish the job completely.

Unfortunately, your fix is only temporary and once it rains all the dirt will wash away and the front of the tee will collapse and we will be back where we started. Plus, putting the rocks you dug out in the middle of the teebox is not safe. This is not a good reflection on the course and increases our liability if someone twists an ankle on one of those half-buried rocks. Since I and others have a huge stake in the safety and success of the course, I'd appreciate it if you would contact us first the next time you have an urge to help.

We do have a masterplan for the course. Please be respectful of it and everyone else who has worked hard to get us where we are today. Thank you!

Play Sunday, 12:30

I am meeting a few people this afternoon at 12:30. We will be doing some light cleanup and some heavy playing. Meet in the soccer field parking lot; look for my blue pickup with rack.

Devens Recycling Center Becomes Official Trash-Talking Sponsor

Devens Recycling Center has become the official trash-talking sponsor of Devens Disc Golf and is our latest Ace level hole sponsor! Thank you Kurt!

The DRC is a new business on Devens. Kurt quickly saw the course's potential after bumping into Nut in town and learning about the course. Not sure if they are open yet, so keep an eye out.

Check this out

I found a great Dreamweaver extension for photo galleries. Check out what I've done so far. I'm still learning how to use it, but I love it so far. I need to figure out how to make it start at the Gallery page, tho.

Let me know what you think.

A Record Day at the Hill

This morning I found myself at the Hill bright early and decided to work on Hole 1. I got rid of some junk to the left of the tee pad and climbed the pine tree on the edge of the woods and cut off several low-lying branches. I also got rid of a few smaller saplings closer to the basket. All this opens up the left side of the fairway and after I trim a few more bushes on the left, Hole 1 will be looking good.

As I headed back to the parking lot, I bumped into a crew from CT that I met last week at the ACT. I joined them for a round and showed them around the course. I guess Mother Nature was annoyed with me for cutting those trees since everything I threw hit wood. Not one of my better rounds! Ack!

We bumped into Katrina and two others (her article about us should be out soon), as well as Andy and Glen, two locals I also met at the ACT.

The place was "packed" today with at least 13 people playing this morning! Back in the parking lot, there were also 3 other cars unaccounted for. Wow! It's great to see people playing the course. Thanks for coming out everybody!

The CT crew clockwise from left: Bobby D (64), Jon D (72), Johnny N (71), Lindsey T (78), Paul R (74)

Paul between a rock and a hard place on Hole 3




Bobby does the Heisman on Hole 4




Jon sends one down Hole 3




A frog takes in the action on Hole 5

She Said He Said

I grabbed a little newspaper ink this Sunday at the Friendship Tournament at Beauty Hill. A reporter was covering the event and chatted me up before the round:

"We thought we would just come up for the charity aspect of it and we wanted to play here," said John Borelli of Pepperell, Mass., who opened his own course in Devens, Mass.

Thankfully she didn't add that I blew my chance at winning my division due to a scorecard error. I was stroked 2 and ended up losing by 1. Ack! I learned my lesson though. Double-check your math, fool.

• Full article here

Marshall Street Delivers an Ace!

A huge thank you goes out to the kings of New England disc golf, Jason Southwick and Steve Dodge, for sponsoring one of our last holes! Jason and Steve run two of the best courses in the land (Pyramids and Maple Hill), as well as the disc golf mecca known as Marshall Street Disc Golf pro shop. These guys have done tons to help grow the sport and put on one of the richest and most fun tournaments in the country, the MSDGC, held each August.

Please support them and us by using this link to shop at their store. They'll donate 5% of your purchase to our course! Thank you Marshall Street!

The beautiful Hole 1 on Maple Hill

Off to the ACT and the Woods

Since it's going to rain Saturday, I'm not going to work on the course but have decided instead to play in the Amateur Challenge Tournament down at Wickham Park in Manchester, CT. Dave McHale does a great job with this tourney by keeping entry fees super low and by really trying to reach out to new players. Plus he gives a fantastic players pack that more than makes up for your entry fee.

Although Wickham usually treats me like a little beeyatch, I'm up for a day of fun and seeing some faces I haven't seen in a while. I haven't played a tournament since the NEFA Finals in Oct. 07, so this should be interesting!

Sunday I am headed up to Barnstead, NH to play in the Woods at Beauty Hill Friendship Tournament, a fundraiser for one of the locals. This one is far from sold out, so go on up and play some golf for a good cause!

And a big happy birthday to our Man About Devens, the Fundraising King, Mr. Brian "Nut" McNulty! The Nut Man turns 40-something this weekend. Enjoy it, bud!

Yes! We are officially open!

Devens Disc Golf course is officially open to the public! I signed our lease this afternoon and now it's finally time to play!

It's been an exciting 2.5 years to get to this point and there is still lots to do, but that's okay, we are good to go for at least a year.

So if you haven't checked out the Hill, then please do. We have 16 Chainstars and two bucket targets, good paths that are getting beaten down, and several ace runs waiting for you. General signs, tee markers, tee signs, and more trimming and clearing are planned for the summer. Hey, why don't you help out?

Thank you to MADev and Devens Park and Rec, all of our sponsors, and to the handful of guys that have helped put our beautiful course on the map. And thank you to the steadily-growing number of players that have checked us out! Keep 'em coming.

Stay tuned for our first mini tourney this summer too.

Phew...