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Since the development of FGCU's 18 hole course, I have played a couple
of the other local courses.   I have seen other disc golf courses in
the area, in a rebuilding / growing state. This gives me enthusiasm for
the future of disc golf courses in the area, considering that disc golf
has been around for several years in this area. You can often see in
park facilities, little to no maintenance funds allotted over the years.
Eventually the facilities get so degraded, they are simply taken out
instead of updated.   Recently however, I have heard about plans for the
continued improvements on each of these courses to ensure they stay up
to date. I view this as a good sign for the longevity of disc golf
courses in southern Florida.

Leisure theorist's often debate development vs. resources when building
parks. By this I mean, "what is considered a reasonable amount of
development, compared to what they feel they can maintain with their budget
and man power allotted on an annual basis." This question is also
debated by each local park before installing any type of amenity in their
area. I feel that here in southern Florida they have done a great job
installing disc golf courses and planning for future updates.   Future
development plans could all be gone from the minds of our park
superintendents, if their courses become too much work for them to maintain. I
would suggest a couple of small things to ensure disc golf's future in
southern Florida. 1. Pick up left behind trash as you play. (This
minimizes the mundane tasks that park employees must complete. This leaves
more time for them to complete worth while improvements.) 2. Thank park
employees for there past course work completed, when you see them.
(Obviously, a little job praise can go along way.) 3. Get more youth
involved in the sport. (This gives an extra perceived worth to park
employees efforts.)

Finally, everyone loves to play on a clean new course. However, once
that course looses its luster, so does the marketability of that course?
I think that we all are responsible for the development and upkeep of
the parks that we utilize. If we as patrons of a park do our part to
ensure that amenities are kept to a high standard the marketability of
courses will remain high and the sport will thrive. If we only notify
park staff of maintenance issues and pick up trash on the course we will
be helping to diminish the work load of park staff doing mundane daily
tasks.

I like to use the "leave no trace" policy in regards to trash and
ensure that safety is first in my mind at all courses.   I look forward to
seeing you all on the local courses. And remember be proud of what we
have!

Cheers

Matthew Purdy

FGCU Course Manager