NORTHFIELD — City officials have invited the public out to Birch Grove Park for the grand opening of The Brickyard Disc Golf Course on Aug. 14.
The event, scheduled for 4 to 8 p.m., will include a ribbon-cutting ceremony, clinic, demonstrations and lessons in the sport, which is played with discs of differing weights and scored like golf as players move toward the basket.
Councilman Brian Smith said the project is several years in the making. Following the closing of the campground in 2019, city officials have been looking for ways to use more of the 271-acre wooded park off Burton Avenue.
It long has been a popular spot for its stocked fishing lakes and numerous walking and biking trails, as well as several boardwalks, a gazebo, a children’s playground, benches, picnic tables, a historical museum and plenty of parking.
“We’re trying to utilize the park a little more and bring in some attractions,” Smith said, noting the city held a food truck festival July 4 to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
The park got a new playground in 2023, as well as bike trails in 2021. There also are bocci ball courts and a new parking lot, as well as discussion about adding pickleball and basketball courts.
“It’s such a valuable location for the city and we hope to attract more people to get some benefits, recreationally or just swinging on the swings with the kids,” Smith said.
The project has been a collaboration among the city and several members of the Smith family — a round dozen of them grew up in Northfield and some of them and their offspring still live in the city.
“We’ve been involved in frisbee sports for decades,” Smith said, noting his brother Sean Smith, 65, picked up freestyle frisbee and his brother Brendan, 62, another Northfield resident, is one of the top players in his age group in the country.
Sean Smith, who now lives in Ambler, Pa., has experience designing courses and donated his time to laying out the course at Birch Grove, where there is an 18-hole permanent course and six-hole temporary beginners course.
Two years ago, City Council approved spending about $9,000 to purchase the baskets, which have been installed by the Department of Public Works. Public Works also has been helping clear brush and shrubs from the paths but has left the trees, which are popular obstacles in the growing sport.
Sean Smith provided the tee boxes, where players stand for their first throw.
The president of the Birch Grove Park Disc Golf Club said the site is the perfect location for The Brickyard Disc Golf Course. The name is a reference to the history of the park, which was the site of the Somers Brick Co.
The lakes were pits dug for the purpose of manufacturing bricks, according to Councilman Smith, a history teacher at Mainland Regional High School. He said random bricks and fragments can still be found around the grounds.
Sean Smith said the family is very familiar with the park, having spent their youth there biking, fishing and playing baseball.
“When Brian mentioned about doing something at Birch Grove Park because the campground shut down, I took a look and said it would be a nice location. There are a lot of trees — disc golfers surprisingly like trees. It’s more fun to play through obstacles — ponds, mounds in there. It’s an interesting place to put a disc golf course,” he said. “After spending time to evaluate whether it was viable, I came up with a design that would be fun to play.”
He said the sport can be played year-round and that it fits in well with the natural aspect of the park, noting almost anyone can play.
“It’s a lifetime sport,” he said.
He has been playing since he stumbled upon a course in Philadelphia when he was 18.
“It’s so accessible. All you need is a few discs to play. Once you get the disc in the basket, you kind of get hooked on it,” he said.
Sean Smith said he formed the club to advance the sport in the local communities.
“We hope to provide lessons through the club in the coming months. If people are interested, it’s a place they can go to learn to play,” he said, noting that the club would be providing discs during the grand opening to let people try them out.
The club has a Facebook page, Birch Grove Park Disc Golf Club, where people can join. There’s also an App called Udisc, which is the primary phone app players use to find courses, that has a map.
“It’s going to be a challenge, but once it gets broken in, it’s going to be a fun course,” Sean Smith said.
– By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff