A proposed plan to build a disc golf course at Makarenko Park in Cosmopolis is moving forward after city officials met with local disc golf enthusiasts in July.

Members of the newly formed Grays Harbor Disc Golf Club met with Cosmopolis Mayor Kyle Pauley and City Administrator Darrin Raines to discuss plans for an 18-hole course located at the city’s 39-acre park.

“(GHDGC) came to us and asked if (the disc golf course) was an option,” Pauley said. “So we did a whole walk-through of their plan. They were very diligent and went through the park and planned out where they felt the course would go best and it all worked.”

The club presented the proposal at a City Council meeting on July 20, and was approved to move forward with its plans.

“We’ve been looking for property for a long time to expand disc golf in the Grays Harbor community,” GHDGC member Riley Thurman said, adding he had previously made similar proposals to local golf courses to no avail. “I tried two years ago to get it on golf courses … but it didn’t work out. So we’ve been looking for other property since.”

Thurman said once the group toured Makarenko, it knew they found a perfect fit.

“I didn’t even know Makarenko Park was there until somebody mentioned it. All five of us went and looked at it and we all fell in love with it,” he said. “We got a hold of Kyle and he said it was a really good idea and we kind of went heavy on the idea and tried to make it happen as fast as possible.”

The proposed course is for 18-holes sprawled across the expanse of the park and will be the second disc golf course in addition to the course located at Sam Benn Park in Aberdeen.

According to Thurman, the Makarenko course will be more of a challenge than the course at Sam Benn.

“I’m guessing this course will be a C- to B-tier course. It’s kind of short because it’s not a huge park for a disc golf course. But I think it will be a great B/C-tier tournament course,” he said, adding a representative from the Professional Disc Golf Association will provide a rating for the course upon completion.”

Thurman also said the course will impact the aesthetics of the park as little as possible and the club plans to use volunteer groups to help with improving the look of the park once plans are approved to move forward by the city’s parks department.

“Obviously, we won’t be cutting down trees, but (Raines) loved our design and the respect we gave the parks. It’s a park first and a disc golf course second. We’d respect everybody else there because we are coming into their territory,” he said.

“There will be a lot of clearing of underbrush — that’s all to the side of the trails — in a lot of spots it will make it look very good. Deep in the woods we will trim up the trees. We will not cut down any live trees, but maybe some dead ones for hazard purposes so nothing falls down on anybody. We will do a little bit of trimming to some bushes, but we’re definitely going to respect the park as much as possible.”

If and when the parks department approves the plans to move forward, GHDGC plans to hold tournaments to raise the approximate $6,000 needed to build the course, which includes costs for permanent baskets, tee boxes and turf.

“There is quite a bit of clearing (of underbrush), but I’m thinking we’re going to get a fundraising tournament here in the next few months,” Thurman said.

“We’ll have a few fundraiser tournaments to help build the course. … We just need to get the OK and the clearing done. Once we have that, we’ll have no problem raising the money. The disc golf community is amazing like that. They love to put up a new course and everybody from out of town will come to support it, and it will be a great time.”

Thurman said the course will benefit the community by providing an athletic activity for both youth and adults, as well as building a disc golf community in the area through potential future tournaments and leagues.

“There are so many tournaments we can have throughout the year that we can throw at this park and have different leagues too. It’s just a matter of who wants to run it and do they have the time, but we’ll figure all that out in future meetings with the (GH disc golf) club,” he said.

“I know in Shelton Springs (Disc Golf Course), there (are) always 70-100 people that attend for those tournaments. So I will say that once things get up and going and people know about it, I would say anywhere from 50-100 attendees for any event that we throw.”

Thus far, the city is on board with the plans to turn Makarenko Park into the future home of disc golf on the Harbor.

“I think it would be a great addition. … We’re going to test it out and take it to the parks committee and it seems like everybody is fairly open to it so it could be a very good addition,” Pauley said.

“Nothing is set in stone right now, but it is definitely in the movement phase.”

The proposed plan for an 18-hole disc golf course at Makarenko Park is moving forward after city officials meet with members of the Grays Harbor Disc Golf Club earlier this month.

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD The soccer fields on the west side of Makarenko Park will come into play for four holes of a proposed disc golf course at the Cosmopolis recreational area.

Hole No. 6 of a proposed disc golf course at Makarenko Park in Cosmopolis is tentatively located near mile marker seven. RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD