photo by: Contributed

Volunteers and Friends of Clinton State Park make concrete tee pads for the new disc golf course at Clinton State Park.

A new 18-hole championship-caliber disc golf course is coming to Clinton State Park to expand disc golf opportunities in Lawrence.

The new disc golf course is part of an effort by Friends of Clinton State Park – a volunteer organization dedicated to supporting, improving, and promoting Clinton State Park – and Ryan Cecil, a member of the organization, said the goal is for it to open in late October or early November.

Cecil said the disc-golf course project has been discussed over the years, and this year, it has been the organization’s highest priority to get it up and running.

To access the new disc golf course, visitors will head west into Clinton State Park. Before reaching the existing 9-hole Archer’s Disc Golf Course, turn south off North 1415 Road at the entrance marked “Day Use Area Only.” The horseshoe-shaped road leads to a shelter near the kids’ pond, where the second shelter will serve as the starting point for Hole 1.

photo by: Contributed

The location of Hole 1 on the new disc golf course at Clinton State Park before the site was cleaned up.

A majority of the new course will be located in that area, with the layout eventually crossing North 1415 Road and connecting to additional land separated from Bob Mowry Meadows by a creek, Cecil said.

In addition to the new disc golf course being built this year, there are two other 18-hole courses in Clinton State Park.

The first is Bob Mowery’s Meadows – an 18-hole permanent course on the north side of the lake near the intersection of East 700 Road and North 1415 Road. The other is the Bloomington Disc Golf Course, which is an 18-hole professional course near Bloomington Beach on the south side of Clinton Lake.

“The thought was that we have a really great opportunity to host a significant (disc golf) tournament,” Cecil said. ” … meaning that we would have access to three really great courses at the lake.”

“And we could promote it as you could play Bloomington and Bob Mowery, and then the new future course, which means that we could have three different rounds going throughout the weekend, which would host up to potentially 180 to 250 players coming in.”

Cecil added that the potential tournaments could also be an opportunity to encourage camping in the state park and offer food trucks and live music.

“This new course, the idea is just to kind of compliment what we have out here and build on that,” Cecil said. ” … So that would hopefully draw folks in, the differences in the courses that we’re going to be able to offer.”

To fund the project, the organization secured a $32,000-tourism grant earlier this year to build a new 18-hole championship-caliber disc golf course at the park. However, the bulk of the funding in the grant has to be matched by Friends of Clinton State Park to acquire the full grant amount.

photo by: Contributed

The location of Hole 1 at the new disc golf course at Clinton State Park.

Friends of Clinton State Park has relied on its own group members to help bring the course from concept to reality, with members spending time clearing and preparing the wooded area where the new course will be located.

“We’ve got some real go-getters that are part of the board that really like to get out and play in the woods,” Cecil said. “So we were able to carve out most of the course in a pretty short time, considering how much effort it does take.”

While much of the work has already been completed, Cecil said there are still several steps remaining before the course is ready to open to the public.

“Right now, we have 11 of the 18 tee pads poured and finished,” Cecil said. ” … We still have a little bit of work to do on a couple holes that we’re not sure what it’ll look like, but we just got to get out there and spend a little bit of time and see the vision.”

Cecil said he’s looking forward to seeing people get out and play on the course.

“What we hope to notice is that more people from the surrounding communities will be traveling out to the Lawrence area now to make a day of disc golf out here,” Cecil said. “We’re going to have very unique baskets that no other course in the area has.”