CHILLICOTHE — Despite a rainy Sunday morning, veteran and novice disc golf players gathered in Yoctangee Park to celebrate the grand opening of the city's new disc golf course.
Project Bad Apple, the youth division of local nonprofit Project Badass, has been working to complete the course since last October. The local disc golf course is completely sponsored by local businesses and the disc golf tournament — the Bad Apple Classic — was a way to give back to its sponsors while promoting the new course in Yoctangee Park.
"We were skeptical about what the response would be due to COVID-19," said Project Badass Founder Micah Shanks. "But we wanted to say thank you to our sponsors and have this tournament. We filled up the week before."
The idea for the disc golf course came about at the end of 2018 when the organization was brainstorming ways to get area youth involved in the outdoors. Since Shanks, a Chillicothe native and sergeant at the Chillicothe Police Department, founded the organization to support local outdoor spaces through cleanups or trail maintenance a disc golf course just made sense.
And since Project Bad Apple works to encourage younger generations to spend more time outside, the course was created through that entity.
Although the first basket was installed last October, the organization recently bolstered efforts to finish the course by installing the remaining holes, creating signage and placing tee pads. Once completed, Shanks says the next step was to host the grand opening.
More than 50 people, split into teams of two, gathered to attend the event. Many players ranged in their skill with some veterans having years of experience and numerous tournaments under their belt while others had only been playing the sport for a few short months.
Teams separated into groups of four, often with people they knew to help limit any potential spreading of COVID-19, and began playing at different baskets throughout the course. Project Bad Apple's course is 18 holes and spans much of Yoctangee Park — moving from the pond to the swimming pool and eventually towards the floodwall.
Each hole on the course was sponsored by a local business or organization. Shops like the Fort Collective and Rost Coffee, Steiner's Speakeasy, High Five Cakes, Apollo Records, 50 West Brewery, the Chillicothe-Ross Chamber of Commerce and more made the course possible.
Kevin Norman, a local financial advisor, donated close to $2,000 to help facilitate the creation of the disc golf course. Norman says that as he was born and raised in Chillicothe, he spent a lot of time in Yoctangee Park growing up. He felt it was important to find new ways to bring families back into the park.
When he learned that the park was big enough to house a disc golf course, Norman fell in love with the idea. Project Bad Apple's mission of encouraging area youth to get involved with the doors fell in line with Norman's own goals. And although he's a novice disc golf player, Normal often plays with his son and was happy to watch the tournament.
Similar to Norman, Rost coffee shop owner and Fort Collective co-founder Trent Fannin was inspired by the organization's mission which led him to become involved in the project. Fannin says he sponsored two holes — one for each business — because he thought the course was a good way to continue creative active lifestyles for community members. Additionally, Fannin believes that Project Bad Apple's youth-driven mission is essential to the area.
Fannin, unlike Norman, began playing disc golf in college. Although he never played competitively, he found the sport to be a great way to socialize.
"We've got a good course here and I want to support a good cause," Fannin said. "Disc golf gets you into the park and anyone can do it."
The tournament was a charity event that Project Bad Apple took no profit from. All players who registered and paid for the event were given a T-shirt and two disc golf with the organization's logo. Lunch was provided by Carl's Townhouse after players completed the first round and before beginning the second.
Additionally, players had the opportunity to win more than $500 in prizes. Items such as disc golf backpacks, discs, apparel, merchandise and other gift cards were awarded to players either for how they ranked or if they were the closest player to the basket on a given hole.
In the future, Project Bad Apple plans to increase community interest in the organization by hosting more events and tournaments. In the meantime, community members are invited to utilize the disc golf course in Yoctangee Park.
"We have a lot of calls for our youth program which services kids 17 and under," said Deke Deacon, Project Badass member. "We hope to teach community pride and show them that no matter who has labeled them as good or bad they have a place with us.
For more information on Project Badass or to stay up to date with the organization's events, follow the group's Facebook page.
Have a story tip or comment? Contact Toria at tbarnhart@gannett.com or 740-349-1106. Follow her on Twitter @ToriaBarnhart.
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Chillicothe nonprofit hosts grand opening of the new disc golf course in the city park - Chillicothe Gazette
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