Park spaces to expand disc golf, add pickleball

Jun. 17—Underutilized park spaces are booming in a lot of communities as parks are starting to see more disc golf courses and pickleball courts as usage and demand grows.

Danville is adding a pickleball court at Liberty Park on Liberty Lane. One of the three tennis courts will be removed for a pickleball court. There could be two pickleball courts, depending on what is sized. The work should be completed soon.

The city has had requests for a pickleball court.

Pickleball is played with a paddle and a plastic ball with holes.

"It's a big sport now," said Eric Kinser, parks and public property lead worker for the city.

The Danville Family YMCA and Danville Tennis Center have been locations in the city to play pickleball.

"We do have (pickleball) capabilities at the Y and it gets pulled out for use upon request. A group from the VA was using it weekly for a while. We think if it were more available, it might be used. We have looked into redoing our outdoor basketball court to have pickleball lines as well. I can't say it's grown, but it has the potential to. In visiting other Ys in Illinois and Indiana, it does seem popular where it is set up for use and tournaments," according to Joyce Bruett, associate executive director at the Danville Family YMCA.

The city also is expanding the 9-hole disc golf course at Ellsworth Park and another disc golf course is a possibility with trail work near Harrison Park Golf Course.

In Vermilion County, Kickapoo State Park is looking to expand its disc golf course. Kennekuk County Park doesn't have plans for a course at this time.

In Indiana, Covington also has a disc golf group and its city park has a 9-hole disc golf course and a pickleball court which both see a lot of usage.

"Both sports seem to be growing very quickly. I believe it is because the equipment to play is relatively inexpensive to purchase, and free to play at most parks. Not to mention it's just a lot of fun with friends and family," said Covington, Ind. resident Brad Lewsader.

Covington's disc golf course was completed in 2017.

Danville's was completed in 2020 with a grant.

There are local groups on Facebook, including Vermilion County Disc Golf and Covington Disc Golf, to find others to play with.

There's also a UDisc disc golf app to keep score and find other disc golf courses and leagues.

Ellsworth Park in Danville can see vehicles with license plates from all over, with people playing disc golf, Kinser said.

One recent morning player was Justin Miller of Napa, Calif. who was in the area for the week visiting his wife's family in Bismarck.

He plays disc golf four times a week and has been playing for years.

"It started as something I did to trick my kids into going on a hike. They were like most teenagers, into video games and that sort of thing, and so I was trying to get them outside. We started playing disc golf as a family. It was just casual, every once in a while," Miller said.

Then a buddy moved back to Napa, and he got fired up about the sport. When the pandemic happened, there was extra time all of a sudden, Miller said. They kept meeting up to play disc golf.

"He all of a sudden was beating me (with his disc golf score) and I didn't like that, so I started working on my game," Miller said.

Miller added he too he didn't initially understand how other disc golf players could have hundreds of discs.

"Now I'm one of those guys," he said. "The more you understand the game, the more you understand you need different tools for different situations. It's a lot of fun."

He's part of a club at home that has weekly tournaments.

Miller said the Ellsworth Park course is fun and beautiful. He said it's open and has some nice technical shots too.

He got a bogey on the first hole, and was going to do the course a second time to see if he could do better.

"It's a good, fun course," he said, adding that he's excited to hear there will be another 9 holes added.

Wilbur Wallis of Rantoul worked with former city employee Steve Lane on the first 9 holes at Ellsworth Park. Now he's working with Kinser on the additional 9.

"We are in the process of expanding the disc golf by another 9 holes. It will be on the south side of (Route) 150," Kinser said.

The holes will run along the river. They will go from where the boat ramp is, up the hill, where the city has already started to clear the fairways, and back down and continue toward the first 9 holes.

This area of Ellsworth Park, where the fall festival is annually, had been used for football, but that field was moved.

The state also is clearing trees and brush on the hill that leads down from Route 150 to the park. It offers for better visibility of the park.

Construction on the new holes could start within the next month and be completed by mid-to-late summer.

The pads will be poured, nine new "tee boxes" installed and baskets laid out to have a little bit more difficulty involved, Kinser said.

He said it depends on the day on how busy the current disc golf course can be. The UDisc app shows where people come from.

Once the 18 holes are completed, Ellsworth Park could host disc golf tournaments.

"It's a good thing to have families out here with the kids," Kinser said.

The current disc golf course could get renumbered to make it flow better with the new 9 holes and make sure players end up at their starting point.

It's a good park activity, Kinser said.

"It's somewhere you can go and not have to spend money," Kinser said.

Wallis said the city could see regular leagues and tournaments.

Wallis, 59, got hooked on disc golf when growing up in Peoria.

"I started throwing frisbees at 6, 7, 8 years old," he said.

He and his brothers would invent games such as throwing a frisbee around a light pole and hitting a garbage can.

This crazy game of disc golf started when parks started adding the baskets for holes, courses.

Wallis said when he played his first round of disc golf in 1986, he knew he'd be doing it the rest of his life. He loved it. The sport is going strong too.

Wallis, president of the Champaign County Disc Golf Club, and with the Professional Disc Golf Association Global Board of Directors, has encouraged the startup of other local clubs.

He's also designed disc golf courses, more than 30, throughout Illinois.

He's helping design an expansion at Kickapoo State Park.

"It's one of the best courses," Wallis said of the park. It could be completed next spring or summer.

He said Danville and Vermilion County have a lot of park space for courses.

He said the Vermilion County area could become a disc golf mecca and explode the sport even more.

He said people will travel to hosted tournaments. The courses will bring people from all over the country.

"That's our goal," Wallis said.

Danville could bring some big tournaments to the area, he added.

There's a lot to like about the sport, he said. Disc golf gets people in nature and fulfills sporting, competition aspects for people.

As people get older, there's not as many competitive sports to play, he said.

"It's a sport that pretty much anybody can play," Wallis said.

Just like with golf clubs, each disc does something a little different in each situation. There are putters, mid-range discs and fairway and distance drivers.

The discs can be affected by wind in turning, and when going up or down hill.

A person can have multiple discs to play a round or just one disc the entire time.

"It can be a very cheap sport to play," Wallis too said.