Attractions / Activities
Disc Golf Course, Developed by Gatlinburg Recreation Department in Mills Park
Mills Park - Directions – From JMH office turn right (East) on Hwy 321 and travel approx. .3 miles to Mills Park Road. Turn left and follow to park on left just past the jogging track. Facilities include a pavilion with bar-b-que pit, "state-of-the-art" playground, softball field, horseshoe pits, jogging trail, playground, tennis courts, football field, basketball court and 400-meter track
Up for a new challenge in the great outdoors? Then perhaps Disc Golf could become your game of choice.
The City Recreation Department has a nine-hole Disc Golf course up and ready to go at Mills Park, with tee-pads and baskets installed in various areas.
“You have to walk quite a distance,” stated Director of Recreation Marty Nicely.. “The course encompasses all of Mills Park, beginning with a couple of holes down next to the pavilion then continues up the hill around the tennis courts, winding up next to Bud Parton Football Field.
“Several of the holes are very challenging with the woods, sharp angles and doglegs coming into play. There are also elevation changes, which make the course tougher. ”Disc golf is a game based on the rules of golf, referred to by disc golfers as “ball golf.” It uses flying discs which are similar to the frisbee, but usually smaller and heavier. The discs are thrown towards an elevated target, which serves as the “hole.”
The initial “drive” is taken from a designated tee area. Each subsequent throw is taken from just behind the spot where the disc came to rest. Each throw is added to your tally.As with ball golf, each hole is given a par rating. Your hole is scored when the disc hascome to rest in the basket of the target. The target in Disc Golf is usually a metal basket that is suspended parallel to the ground about two feet above the ground, and attached to a vertical pole that is a few feet tall. To better allow discs to come to rest in this basket, chains are suspended from another circular section near the top of the pole and allowed to hang limply to a point where they are connected to the pole in or near the receiving basket.
At Mills Park, kiosks near each tee-pad include a diagram of the hole and the name of the sponsor of that tee-pad and hole. Gatlinburg’s course was designed by H.B. Clark, who is considered among the leading professionals in the field in the United States. Clark has designed many of the 20-plus courses in the State of Tennessee in a sport which is essentially a descendant of Ultimate Frisbee. Disc Golf courses have been constructed in all 50 states and in countries around the world.
The course is available to the public, especially for youngsters in the City’s After School For Kids program and physical education classes at Gatlinburg-Pittman High School.
“We are aware this is becoming a popular sport and this allows the City to provide a new and different activity for users to enjoy in one of our existing parks,” said Nicely, adding that a grand opening event including recognition of sponsors and a demonstration of the sport is being planned.
- Courtesy of: Gatlinburg Recreation Department
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