18-hole disc golf course now open at Coleman Memorial Park
Dozens gathered at the Coleman Memorial Park early Saturday morning for a ceremony officially opening the park's new 18-hole disc golf course.
The course was built over 10 months, through the works of many volunteers, and was funded through individual hole sponsorships and a course sponsorship from Lebanon Federal Credit Union.
"Basically 10-months of no days off," said Charlie Greco, who designed the course alongside Mike Dunkle. "Because we work a day job, and every weekend we were here. We were lucky, the weather treated us good. It snowed one day when I was working on hole three back in February and that was it."
Coleman Memorial Park board of trustees and City Council member Joseph Morales, who kicked off the ceremony, said that plans for a disc golf course came from a master site plan that was crafted 12 to 13 years ago.
He explained that David Funk, another board of trustees member, knew someone who was a disc golf player, who knew Dunkle, who was already ready to go with designing a course for the park.
The opening marks the 15th course designed by Dunkle and Greco, who were early adopters of the sport and spent much of the '80s and '90s traveling, playing courses across the East Coast. They believe that the Coleman Memorial Park course is so far their best work.
"I think Charlie and I would like to thank our wives first off, 'cause for the last 10 months we've lost a lot of time here at the course," Dunkle said. "It's a labor of love, it takes a lot of blood, sweat and tears. Stick by stick, brick by brick. that was our motto when we were cleaning up the course."
Despite working so hard on the course, they had only been able to play all the way through it once, and planned to play after the ceremony.
Dunkle said that they removed over 25 full bags of trash from the park.
As recent as the day before its grand opening, Dunkle said that over 1,038 rounds logged on the course through disc golfer app UDisc.
Mike Snyder, who organizes disc golf tournaments and competitions and was formerly the Lebanon Valley Disc Golf Club chair, said that he already has about five events planned for the 2024 that utilize the new course.
State Sen. Chris Gebhard, Reps. John Schlegel and Russ Diamond presented the trustees with certificates honoring the opening day, Lori Brandt of the Lebanon Valley Chamber of Commerce presented the trustees with a certificate and Lebanon City Sherry Capello presented a proclamation before the sheets were officially pulled from sign noting the sponsors, and a map of the course.
In designing and constructing the course, they pointed out that they try to make the course look as if it has always been there by not removing all the foliage and keeping leaf coverage. They also made use of the brick foundations of buildings that used to stand on the property, which they call the ruins.
The 100-acre park, nearing its 88th anniversary, has been going through somewhat of a renaissance in recent years, described Morales.
Along with the new course, the last few years have brought a pump track, a bronze sculpture, multipurpose mountain biking and hiking trail and a total renovation of the park's basketball courts.
Still planned for the park is a trail connecting Coleman Memorial Park to the nearby Union Canal Tunnel park. This trail would not only connect the two parks but, by proxy, connect Coleman Memorial Park to the Lebanon Valley Rail Trail.
Morales also announced that a grant has been awarded to the City of Lebanon to put in the first dog park in the county at the Coleman Memorial Park, planned to be at the former location of the swimming pool. He also said that they're waiting to hear back on a grant to remodel on of the tennis courts into a pickle ball court.
Daniel Larlham Jr. is a reporter for the Lebanon Daily News. Reach him at DLarlham@LDNews.com or on X @djlarlham.
This article originally appeared on Lebanon Daily News: Coleman Memorial Park officially opens new disc golf course
