The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USECE), Baltimore District and Huntingdon County Visitors Bureau hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the debut of two disc golf courses located at the Seven Points Campground at Raystown Lake Friday.
The brand-new disc golf courses feature a total of 43 tee pads and 27 baskets. They are known as the “Pine 9” and “Ravine 18.”
Bringing the sport to Raystown Lake was the result of 600 volunteer service hours and $25,000 in Handshake Partnership funding, providing seed money for USACE facilities that engages local partners for improvements on federal lands. Those grant dollars are for projects like the disc golf courses that improve recreational opportunities for the public and benefit environmental stewardship.
Baltimore District Commander Col. Estee Pinchasin was joined by Raystown staff and regional partners for the ribbon cutting.
“From the start this course was and will continue to be a team effort,” Pinchasin said. “None of this would have been possible without the strong support from our local and regional partners who contributed and share our passion for upkeep and improvement within the Raystown Lake Region.”
Partners include Raystown Area Disc Golf, Kids in Parks, Standing Stone Disc Golf Club, Let’s Go Throw and Friends of Raystown Lake.
Ryan Bennett of Huntingdon is with Raystown Area Disc Golf and one of those who helped with the project.
“Disc golf is really growing,” Bennett said, “and it has grown rapidly locally and across the nation since COVID-19.”
Bennett said the reason for that is disc golf was one of the few activities that many people could participate in during the pandemic. Bennet joined Ranger Scott Graham and others on the team, spending over two years planning and developing the two courses.
What is disc golf? The sport was formally known as “frisbee golf.”
Bennett explains players throw a disc at a target. “It is an individual game, and each player keeps his or her own score.
Players start in a tee area and play towards the basket and in turn each player throws their disc towards the basket. The goal is to reach the basket with the fewest throws, just like in regular golf.
And similar to regular golf, disc golf courses are rated on how many tosses it should take for a player to put a disc in the basket. For example, the “Pine 9”…
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