BANGOR TOWNSHIP, MI — Rodney Pafford said it was time to sell off his family-owned driving range near the Bay City State Park Recreation Area, but that doesn't necessarily mean golf is going away from the intersection of Beaver Road and North Euclid Avenue.

In September, Bay County spent $190,000 in grant money from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to purchase the 17-acre property at 3499 Beaver Road, which has served as a driving range, and for a period of time, a par three golf course, since the late 1950s.

The county's top idea for the property? An 18-hole disc golf course.

"Disc golf is something that has become really popular and I think it would be a great asset for the county," said Cristen Gignac, director of the county's recreation and facilities department. "This is just an idea at this point, but I think everybody is interested in making it happen."

Disc golf history and interest

Disc golf is a game in which individual players throw a flying disc into a basket or at a target. According to the Professional Disc Golf Association, "the object of the game is to traverse a course from beginning to end in the fewest number of throws of the disc," just like the game of golf.

This isn't the first time that the idea of a course has come up near the state park, 3582 State Park Drive in Bay County's Bangor Township.

In 2011, the Friends of the Bay City State Recreation Area nonprofit group secured a $7,800 grant from the Bay Area Community Foundation to build an 18-hole disc golf course on the north end of the park. State park officials, however, recommended a 9-hole course be built instead, saying that the land wasn't big enough to accommodate 18 holes, said Craig Prime, a Bangor Township resident and advocate of the sport who was assisting in getting the course built.

"I actually had a 27-hole course planned there," Prime said. "It was going to be a nice, small technical course. For some reason, the (state) didn't think it could work."

The group gave the money back to the community foundation, Prime said, because the grant was written for an 18-hole course.

George Lauinger, manager of the Bay City state park, said he hoped to have the course inside the park's boundaries, but that it was too difficult.

"A course located right by the park would be the perfect location and it would get rid of those issues on how to get a course inside the park," Lauinger said.

There was some momentum in 2013 to build a course on Bay City's Middlegrounds Island, but those plans fizzled as officials were unable to secure funds to develop the site into a recreational area.

There are more than 3,000 established disc courses in the country, according to the PDGA, including a handful in Saginaw, Midland and Arenac counties.

"For the past several years, interest in disc golf in this area has grown significantly," Prime said. "Disc golf, bike trails, cross-country skiing, tennis courts, playscapes, skate parks and welcoming green spaces are all places where activities that groups and families can participate in a very inexpensive, pleasurable outdoor experience."

Craig Prime putts a 30 footer into the chains at Tittabawassee Park's 18 hole public golf course in Freeland.

Making it happen

Prime estimates an 18-hole course to cost between $15,000 and $30,000, depending on how much of the labor could be done by the community at no cost. Materials include a large metal basket for each hole and a cement slab called a tee-pad where players throw their first disc.

The city of Au Gres, for instance, opened the "Old Airport Disc Golf Course" last year for about $10,000, using volunteer labor. Funds for materials were solicited in the community for the 20-hole course, located near an industrial park in the rural Arenac County town.

Maintenance would also factor into future costs of the course.

Bart Heil, parks supervisor for the city of Midland, said the city maintains its 18-hole course, which was established in 1996, but that disc players also contribute.

"We get a tremendous amount of help from the players, which is great," Heil said.

Heil said the course is a big draw for the community. There are now local leagues that play throughout the year, he said, and tournaments have brought in players from outside the state.

"We have some dedicated players," he said. "We have cement tee pads and there will be players who go out with a snow blower and clean off the pads. You'd be surprised at all of the tracks on the course there are in the dead of winter."

Lauinger said officials from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources meet in the coming weeks to discuss a proposal that could help get the state park involved in seeing the project through.

"Obviously, this is all very early, but its success depends on the stakeholders involved," Lauinger said. "We'd potentially look to members of the local disc golf community, and the friends of the state park group."

Wendell Pafford overlooks his family's old driving range, which he bought into in the late 1950s. His son Rodney Pafford sold the property to Bay County in September. County officials say an 18-hole disc golf course could possibly be built on the 17-acre property.

The old driving range

Pafford, owner of the old State Park Driving Range, said he would love to see a disc golf course sprout up for the plot of land near the state park, which is kitty corner to Mussell Beach Drive In, known for its ice cream, coney dogs and other tasty food, as well as Dutch Village Adventure Park, which features miniature golf, go-karts and batting cages, among other activities.

"It's a great location and I think it would be very successful," he said.

The driving range, which has several trees scattered about 100 yards out from the intersection, opened in the late 1950s when Pafford's father Wendell Pafford lent some money to his friend Alvin Engel to get it up and started. Engel, however, fell ill and his wife said the only way Wendell Pafford would get his money back is by running the business.

"Thirty years went by and he did a great job of running the range," Rodney Pafford said.

There was originally a par three course at the range that closed in the mid-1970s, before Rodney Pafford re-opened the par 3 course in the early 1990s only to have it later close again.

When Rodney Pafford learned he had the opportunity to sell the property, he jumped on it.

"It's a very tough business to run, especially in this area," he said. "There just aren't enough recreational dollars out there today for a stand-alone driving range. And most golf courses today have their own driving range."

Bay County is home to two other stand-alone driving ranges — the Wheeler Road Golf Range at 354 Wheeler Road near Auburn. The range closed for the season on Nov. 1, but is to re-open in the spring. Another driving range, the Fairway Golf Center at 668 N. Pine Road, across from the Meijer store in Hampton Township, is up for sale through Lockey Real Estate & Leasing Co., but was open for business this past season.

At its peak, Pafford said, golfers would drive to the State Park Driving Range before their tee times at area courses to warm up.

"That just doesn't happen anymore," he said. "I really think these types of businesses are a thing of the past."

But perhaps disc golf could revitalize that property.

"There's no course in Bay County and that's really too bad," Prime said. "We have the land, we have a great area, let's get it done."