My youngest son and I last month headed to the Olin College of Engineering campus in Needham just over the Wellesley line for some Father’s Day flinging on the disc golf course there. It was a perfect day: Nice weather, school was out, and we didn’t have to worry about conking campers with our frisbees.
Though we were kind of bummed that the 9-hole course, designed by students, had fallen into disrepair after about 15 years in service. Almost all of the posts and maps at the tees were gone, though at least all the baskets that you toss the discs into were still there. So we managed easily enough to go through the course and have fun, in part because we were familiar with it from playing over the years. A handful of others were playing the course as well.
(Disc golf, if you’re not familiar, involves tossing discs into metal baskets set up within a course, like traditional golf. You can play it year round, and it’s inexpensive, requiring only a set of discs.)
We wondered whether the course was the victim of vandals, a school decision, or just plain deterioration, so I reached out to Olin to learn more.
New Director of Campus Operations Chris Hayden replied that the college currently has no plans to restore or upgrade the course, but that “this is not a dead issue.” Once he gets a better look at capital and operating budgets, and the value of the course to the campus, things could change. His impression is that the course is more of interest to campus visitors than students, but again, he’s new to campus, so was going to investigate further.
Hayden said there has been interest from people outside of campus to host a town tournament at Olin, and to perhaps reach out to student groups in the fall to see if there’s an appetite among for revitalizing the course. Ideas for an updated course would likely involve moving it away from buildings, road crossings, etc., to make it less intrusive to other campus activities.
I learned in the course of looking into this issue that a separate movement is afoot in Needham to establish a new disc golf course in town, too, as reported by local news site Needham Observer.
The Observer reported that a designer was being hired to review the Needham Town Forest and Ridge Hill Reservation as possible course sites. A GoFundMe campaign was launched to fund the work.
I reached out to campaign organizer Howard Samuels through the crowdfunding site, and the Newton resident said “Part of our pitch [to Olin] is that an updated course would add to the attraction for potential incoming students, and foster a disc golf club at the school. And when the students have some time, an 18-hole course in Needham is only a short bike or scooter ride, or rideshare, away. So we are trying to work the synergy angle as well.”
As a member of the Wellesley Trails Committee myself, I can recall very basic discussions among members years ago about whether Wellesley could fit a disc golf course somewhere within its open space. That certainly could be an idea to revisit whenever North 40 usage discussions start in earnest.
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