Going out for a spin
Coal Creek Disc Golf Course opens in Erie
The wait is finally over. Erie’s Coal Creek Disc Golf Course, the first and only in town, opened to residents and visitors Friday. Located in the Coal Creek Open Space area, the 18-hole course provides opportunities for people to have fun while staying safe.
Erie Parks and Recreation Director, Patrick Hammer, said the new course is a great addition to the town and can be played year round regardless of skill levels or previous experience.
“The Parks and Recreation department is really excited to offer another amenity that allows residents and visitors the opportunity to get outside and enjoy some much needed fresh air,” said Hammer in an email. “Disc golf is an easy activity to pick up and can be played solo or with a group. The design of the course provides enough of a fun challenge for experienced players, but it isn’t so difficult that newcomers won’t have a great time as well.”
The idea for a disc golf course in Erie was kicked around in mid-2018, according to Luke
Bolinger, Erie Community Partnership and Special Projects Manager. After recruiting some volunteer community stakeholders who were disc golfers themselves, the town hired a landscape architect firm to help with site selection and design.
“Pretty much all of 2019 was course design and community engagement to make sure we brought what the community wanted in a disc golf course,” said Bolinger in an email. “We presented a master plan in Feb. 2020 and worked on construction documents over the next few months.”
Construction for the course took place throughout the late spring and summer earlier this year after the project was approved in February by the Board of Trustees. Bolinger wrote that while the pandemic has slowed down a lot of things, they were able to hit their fall 2020 goal of having the course be playable.
“With the ever increasing desire for an outdoor activity where social distancing could be easily obser ved, we wanted the course open so that people could enjoy one more activity, especially one that was new to Erie,” said Bolinger in an email.
Bolinger said both seasoned and novice players were excited to get a disc golf course in Erie and players from other Colorado communities have been interested in visiting as well.
Coal Creek Open Space, the site of the course, is centrally located in Erie with trail access and is within walking distance to Old Town and several areas of new residential development, Hammer wrote in an email. They wanted the course to be accessible to as many people as possible and encourage disc golfers to visit the local restaurants and shops found nearby on
Briggs Street.
Currently, the course’s amenities include the disc golf holes and some signage, said Hammer. As time goes on, they will begin to add public seating in the area such as benches.
There are no admission fees or costs to play but people are required to bring their own discs.
“It’s going to be well used by the community,” said Bolinger in an email. “Erie has been a ‘disc golf desert’ for some time and players in this community have been wanting a course for years. I can’t wait until spring when the native grass is green again and players can enjoy an evening sunset with the mountain views as they finish their rounds.”
While the course officially opened Friday, the formal grand opening has been postponed to next spring. There are plans to host a community tournament at a later date when people can gather safely, according to Hammer.
The Coal Creek Disc Golf Course is located on the Northwest corner of Erie Parkway and Montgomer y Drive with parking available at the trailhead north of Erie Parkway, or at Serene or Coal Creek Park.