Credit: Dan Brennan
Nestled in the bucolic hills of Milan, Wilcox Memorial Park is not just any park — it boasts one of the highest-rated disc golf courses in the world, drawing enthusiasts from across the globe. The course is more than a backdrop for leisurely or highly competitive play. It’s also the proud home turf of the Wilcox Widowmakers, a formidable 20-person team that just finished an undefeated championship season.
What exactly is disc golf? It’s like traditional golf but with a flying disc replacing the ball, arms in place of clubs and uniquely designed metal targets instead of holes.
Traditional golf has been described, in a quotation attributed to Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde and Winston Churchill, as “a good walk spoiled.” Savanna Burke, a member of the Wilcox Widowmakers, said that playing disc golf at Wilcox Park is “a hike with a purpose.”
Credit: Dutchess County Parks Department
On April 6, the Widowmakers traveled to Christ the King Disc Golf Course in Greenwich, N.Y., and defeated teams from Saratoga Spa State Park and Mine Kill State Park, in the Schoharie Valley, to win the seven-team New York Team Challenge winter title. The Widowmakers, the southernmost team in the league, went 9-0 in a season that began last October.
In addition to serving as the 4-H Coordinator for Dutchess County at the Cornell Cooperative Extension, in Millbrook, Burke is also involved with the recently formed Wilcox Disc Golf League (WGDL). The league is dedicated to promoting the sport and improving the Wilcox Park course.
According to the app UDisc, disc golfers played 5,037 rounds at Wilcox in 2023. Of those, 114 were from players who came from over 150 miles away and 71 from over 300 miles — as far away as California, Canada, Denmark, Latvia and Lithuania.
UDisc rates more than 225 disc courses in the state. It ranks the Wilcox Park course best in New York and in the top 50 in the United States. Of the over 15,000 rated courses across the globe it ranks 69th.
“We have everything here,” said Burke. “There is distance, elevation, water carries and technical shots.”
Credit: R. A. Hermans
Established in 2016, the course was designed by Dan Doyle who owns a disc golf center in Warwick, N.Y. Wilcox Park has 27 par-3 and par-4 holes between 250 and 300 feet long. Nine of the holes are near the beach area and not used when the beach is open.
WGDL plans to add nine holes in the southern portion of the park, known as “Southhachet,” the name given to that area on maps of the farm that occupied the 614-acre parcel before it became a Dutchess County Park.
Jason Novak, of Saugerties, was getting ready for a round in early March and said this was the best place in the area for disc golf. “It has a lot of diversity and the staff here keeps the course up beautifully,” he said, removing a large number of discs from the trunk of his car.
Traditional golfers use a variety of clubs to go from tee to green. Similarly, disc golfers have a range of discs to cover different distances, navigate the terrain and avoid hazards, which, at Wilcox, include some heavily wooded areas. The thickness, rigidity, and surface features of a disc allow it to act in a variety of ways in flight. There are firm, flatter discs for long tosses; discs designed to help players cope with wind conditions; and a softer-edged “putting” discs designed not to bounce off the target.
WGDL will host a meet-up for players of all skill levels on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. from April 21 through May 19. Burke and Eric Mergendahl, both members of the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA), will host the Sunday events and players’ scores will be applied to their PDGA rating, if desired.
Credit: R. A. Hermans
Disc golf was invented by Ed Headrick, who was an employee at the American toy company Wham-O in 1966, when he received Patent #3359678 for the soon-to-be ubiquitous Frisbee. In 1975, he received a patent for his disc golf target. Following the success of the World Frisbee Championships of the mid-1970s, Headrick quit Wham-O and, convinced that the sport would take off, formed the Professional Disc Golf Association in 1976. He was member number 1. Savanna Burke became a member in 2020 and is number 147,531.
The PDGA is an organization that clearly leads the sport. It approves disc models and target designs that can be used in tournaments worldwide and it tracks sanctioned events and posts individual player ratings, including their earnings. Their listing of tournaments just for April 10 to 16 had over 225 entries.
Each Sunday disc golf session is $5. At other times, the course is freely available to all users when the park is open. To register for the Sunday morning meetups, or for more information, email burkesavanna@gmail.com.
The disc golf course at Wilcox Memorial Park is open year-round , except for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. The park, which also features swimming, camping, hiking and other amenities, opens at 8 a.m. daily. Closing time varies throughout the year. Until May 5 it is open until 6 p.m. and from then until Sept. 1, it closes at 7 (8 on weekends). There are no fees to enter. The park entrance is at 1737 Rte. 199, a quarter mile east of Lafayetteville.
I grew up a mile from there. It was the town dump in one area but I’d ride my horse in the other fields. Miss those days. I have to check this disc golf out.