2022 Garden City Flyers All-Member Meeting Recap
Thanks to everyone who joined, supported, or donated to the club in 2021. We had over 100 members again and we’re thankful for all of you!
Financial information:
We have $20,519.70 in the Garden City Flyers bank account as of the club meeting.
Earmarked sums of money are as follows:
- Approximately $8,000 to baskets at Blue Mountain
- Approximately $3,000 reserved for this year’s tournaments
- Approximately $2,500 for projects this year (Tee signs, tee pads, general maintenance, etc)
That leaves us with approximately $7,500 of non-earmarked money, putting us in pretty good shape moving forward.
2022 GCF Board Member Election Results
- Brian Bjortmont unopposed as President
- Tyler Pike unopposed as Vice President
- Jacob Marsh unopposed as Secretary
- Elder Shane Anderson unopposed as Treasurer
- Tyler Callsen unopposed as At-Large member
Thanks to everyone who came to vote, even though you ended up not needing to!
Pattee Canyon Projects
The Forest Service has begun a thinning project that will affect holes 3-18. They are working with us closely to make sure the course stays fun and challenging. The next phase of this thinning project will continue later in the summer and will take place in the area around holes 1 and 2.
We’ve been approved for some simple tee signs at Pattee that will display hole number and distance.
The Forest service installed disc golf-related signage last year using Great American Outdoors Act money.
A course map has been approved and will tentatively be installed near the opening day of the course.
Pattee will again open on July 1st and be pulled on October 31st. The gate will remain open for an extra month again this year, after positive feedback on that change last year! If you’re interested in having Pattee open earlier in the year in the future, respectfully contact the forest service to let them know! It will go a long way!
We will host a work party to do more tee pad leveling around the course, and Brian will be in talks with the Forest Service about replacing the tee pads altogether.
Blue Mountain Projects
Brand new orange Discatcher 28 baskets have been purchased and are in hand! We are waiting on the rest of the locks to be shipped and we will be planning an install soon!
We’ve been approved for turf teepads on the long teepads! This will have an estimated cost of $5,000. Stay tuned for fundraising efforts. Ink Realty has already donated $1,500 to the cause!
We’ve also been approved for new tee signs at Blue Mountain. These will be the same style and with the same information as the new Pattee Canyon signs.
Due to massive increases in material costs, the parking lot project we talked about last year has been suspended. However, the paving of FS365 all the way up to the gate is still set to happen, but has been moved back to a Spring 2023 start time.
The re-alignment of Blue Mountain, which would include a number of hole changes to create a more sustainable and more challenging layout, is still waiting on approval from the Forest Service.
Wildfire Action Missoula will be working in the Blue Mountain area this year. Should any of these efforts impact the course, they will be working with us to make sure they leave the course the same lovable Blue Mountain we know. Part of these efforts may allow us to mark some trees for removal on hole 3!
We’ve been approved to introduce a white tee pad for hole 13, which would play from part way down the hill and to the left.
To help mitigate erosion issues, players should avoid walking in steeper areas and areas where trees have exposed roots (Hole 1 and Hole 4 in particular). Take switchbacks and shallower paths whenever possible!
Some members posed the idea of putting trash cans around the course, but this will not be possible due to the wildlife in the area.
Some members posed the idea of adding a lost and found box on the course. However, the ongoing management, maintenance, and risk was decided to be too cumbersome and players are encouraged to turn lost discs into Albatross discs, who will return lost discs to players at no cost.
New Course Projects
Marshall Mountain: Disc golf was not a top survey result. GCF still has a seat at the table for future course potential. The “master plan” should be in place by fall, but there will be no course this Summer.
Echo Valley (Frenchtown): We are in extremely preliminary talks for realigning and revamping the Frenchtown course. The old baskets and teepads from Blue Mountain would move out there, and form an 18 hole course.
Snowbowl: The Forest Service has contacted us about re-invigorating and re-aligning the Snow Bowl course as a Summer option for disc golf. These talks are also in the preliminary stages.
Sky Ranch: The new owners have not returned our attempts to contact them about the future of the course or the potential for the club to buy back the baskets. For now, it is still not open to the public and no events will be held there. The club will continue to attempt contact.
GCF Events
Montana Memorial Cup: This will be a PDGA sanctioned, Montana Point Series event held at Blue Mountain on August 6th. It will also double as a Women’s Global Event!
GCF Club Championships: This will be 2 round non-sanctioned tag event on October 9th playing both Blue Mountain and Pattee Canyon and will be capped off with the GCF Awards ceremony
Spiritwood Scramble: This is a non-sanctioned team event that will take place July 2nd at Spiritwood. Proceeds will be donated to the Blue Mountain teepad efforts.
Lolo Open: This will be a 2 round event at Lolo Hotsprings tentatively to be held on July 23rd.
ZooTown Open
All information regarding the ZooTown Open can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/zootownopen/
We are looking for volunteers! Reach out to Jacob Marsh for opportunities. All volunteers will receive a players’ pack!
Community Involvement and Volunteer Opps
Folf in the parks will continue this year, but will be run by a paid employee!
We are working on ways outreach in a fun and engaging way at events in Missoula. (Farmer’s Market, County Fair, etc)
Once upon a time, there was a Disc Golf course at the university. We are looking at ways to reintroduce that.
Anyone with leads on a space that would be interested in allowing us to hold a winter putting league can contact any board member with information!
We are looking into introducing single baskets into some of the smaller in town parks to generate public interest.
Tag Play and Ace Pot
On the basis of our All-Member survey over the fall, what we heard from the club in general is that pace of play of tag rounds is a definite pain point for us! We are making efforts to improve that via pre and post-round organization.
We voted on changes to how we handle the Ace Pot as a club moving forward. It will now operate as follows:
The pot will cap at $400. Ace pot buy-ins will still be collected each round, but anything in excess of the $400 cap will go into a separate pot. When a player hits an ace they will receive the ace pot, and the club will take 25% just as always. ($300 to the player, $100 to the club for a maxed out ace pot). After a pot is hit, the separate accumulating pot will be in play.
For example, if the total collected ace pot money is $630 and a player hits an ace, they will receive $300 and the club will receive $100. The following week, the ace pot will be started at $230. This helps to prevent a 600 dollar ace and then a 20 dollar ace in back to back weeks!
$2 buy in per round (unchanged)
25% of the pot goes back into the club and 75% goes to the player who hit the ace (unchanged)
Several people have shown interest in another sanctioned series like Greg and Neal have run the past few years. This does not have to be related to the Garden City Flyers or a board member. If you’re interested in setting one of these up, reach out and we will help you get it going!