Spinning into operation

Disc golf enthusiasts in Blaine may have a chance to play the game in their hometown yet this year.

A nine-hole course is being developed in Lochness Park and will be ready for play as soon as Monday, even if a few finishing touches are still to come, said Park and Recreation Director James Kappelhoff.

The course has been in the works for a couple of years, following the lead of parks in East Bethel and Ham Lake, but the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) scuttled earlier plans for an 18-hole operation that climbed the Lochness Park hill, a capped landfill.

Under the turf and trees of the hill is a pile of asphalt, concrete and other debris from a 30-year-old Interstate 35W project. The MPCA had indicated concerns about disturbing the landfill. "So we had to go back to the drawing board and write up a nine-hole course," Kappelhoff said, adding that the new version also had to skirt a few MPCA groundwater monitoring wells.

The completed course probably will cost less than $6,000, which will come from the city's park dedication fund, a pot of designated money paid mostly by developers that have already built in Blaine.

The course -- built to three skill levels -- follows a mile-long trail around the base of the hill. Players -- recreational, intermediate and pro -- will toss a disc into a raised basket from 120 yards to 400 yards away. Each level will have its own tee box, but they will share baskets. The throw distance for the recreational level is about one-third that of the pro level; the intermediate is about two-thirds. Each ascending level of play also includes more obstacles and turns than the last.

Kappelhoff said he hopes the course will require only minimal disruption to the natural environment of the 90-acre park, at 11121 Lexington Av. N. The fairway, which will range from 10 to 16 yards wide, and a parallel path between tee boxes will be cleared of underbrush and dead vegetation and mowed to a couple of inches. Most of the area's poplar and ash trees will remain. Since the fairway will remain natural, it also will require no irrigation or fertilization.

There will be no fee to use the course; however, players will be expected to provide their own discs, for now. Kappelhoff said he expects there to be a dedication celebration in the spring.

For now, though, players will be able to enjoy the course during the peak of fall colors.

"It adds another dimension," Kappelhoff said. "It is a workout. To walk a mile around that course while at the same time throwing a disc gives the person great exercise."

Maria Elena Baca • 612-673-4409