While going around and playing courses across your local town, state, and country is fun and all, just imagine.....
How cool would it be to have your own personal par 3 disc golf course?!
Your very own course to come home to and play at anytime you want, and anytime you get the chance.
Endless opportunities for practice rounds either by yourself or with friends, and friendly competitions to see who can throw the lowest score at your homemade course!
What's even more cool is that you can make this happen for, get this.....
Less than $500!
That's right, for the cost of a few quality, portable baskets, you could have a sweet little 9 hole course all to yourself, right in your backyard.
Let's see how this is possible!
Starting with the biggest barrier to making this happen and working towards the smallest, we start with the first thing needed to create a personal disc golf course:
Land.
Obviously, if you don't have a physical location to build the course, then it doesn't matter what baskets or tee materials you have because you won't have a place to put them.
But how much land do you need for a disc golf course?
Naturally, the more the merrier, but I truly believe that just 1-2 acres of free space is more than adequate for a backyard disc golf playground.
Now it's quite possible that you yourself don't have a deed to your own acre or 2+ lot, which makes things a little more difficult.
But there's still hope!
You just gotta use those resources!
Disc Golf has a huge community and hopefully one of your close disc golf buddies would have access or ownership of some land and would be more than willing to give up a slice of it to have their share of a personal course.
Especially if you're willing to pay for the materials needed.
If this isn't the case, I would next start talking to family members who have some property and would possibly be willing to lease out some land to you for a semi permanent disc golf course.
This is an easier sell to landowners, even if they're friends and family, if the baskets aren't permanent and you don't create permanent tee pads.
But bottom line:
If you don't have land, you can't have a disc golf course.
Clear this hurdle and it's on to item 2. Baskets.
How many baskets do you need?
Well, to keep things under our goal of $500, then the simplest answer is that you will need to get about 3 baskets, and more specifically 3 portable baskets, to save on cost.
Based on the layout we will show, 3 baskets and some strategic planning is plenty to give you a pseudo 9 Hole course.
Frankly, if the amount of land you have allows it and you had the funds to do so, you could purchase any amount of baskets and still get creative to have different shot angles on those baskets, making for more than a 9 hole course.
But for the sake of this article and to keep things budget friendly, 3 baskets is all that is needed.
High end portable baskets, such as the the Black Hole Lite by MVP, are an excellent cost saving option for a personal disc golf course. Click on the picture to check it out at InfiniteDiscs.com!
The convenient part of using portable baskets is not only are they generally cheaper, but they also give you the flexibility to change your course if desired and thirdly, you would have a basket to fold up and grab to go whenever you needed.
You could still opt to use a permanent basket, such as THIS ONE, from the beginning or once you have your course well established. But as stated, it will require more cash upfront and more planning than its portable counterpart.
You can easily find quality portable baskets for between $100-$200 each, so finding 3 for less than $500 is completely possible!
In this guide, we take a look at the 13 Best Portable Baskets for the money and they would all work for your own personal course!
So you have the land, and you have the baskets, what else do you need?
If we're being honest, you probably don't need anything else besides some good planning and hard work.
Now, planning out a course and then making it happen can be a bit of work depending on the type of terrain and foliage you're dealing with.
Clearing brush and mowing down grass isn't too challenging, as well as clearing out areas for baskets and tee pads. But the removal of trees is more involved and will require access to a chainsaw.
Tee pads are another area that needs addressed but not a topic I'm going to spend a lot of time on here.
You could opt to pour concrete slabs for a more professional look on your personal disc golf course, but for what it is, it's 100% not needed. Especially in a course's infancy.
Similar to permanent baskets, concrete tee pads and even other types of improved tee pads also allow for less changes later. This isn't always a bad thing if you design a great course, but it's also nice to have the flexibility to change things up.
All in all, we suggest starting off with just some simple grassy or mulched areas dedicated as a tee off spot and upgrade later to outdoor rubber mats, such as THIS ONE from Amazon, in the future if desired.
Putting it all together
So how do you plan a 9 hole course, with just 3 baskets, and 1 acre of land? Well, let's show you!
Here is a simple plan that I drew up in a matter of 15 minutes on Microsoft Paint and is representative of a square, 1 acre lot.
For simplicity, it does not include any trees, foliage, or terrain features that would make this course more challenging and fun.
As you can see, the course flows nicely from "hole" to hole in a nice even manner and as you can see on Hole 7, there is a lot of flexibility to choose where your next shot goes at any given time.
For a 1 acre course, here are the estimated hole lengths measured from a mapping service:
260'
150'
261'
219'
219'
247'
120' or alternative is 270'
171'
170'
This course would be a fun little course and all, but check out how much more challenging it gets by just going from a 1 acre square, to a 2 acre square:
363'
210'
342'
300'
300'
341'
180'/360'
225'
288'
Not bad for a little back yard par 3 course eh?!
So as you can see, pulling this off for $500 is completely possible and within most player's capabilities if they have the urge to go do so.
Obviously, it's easier with more available land and money, but building a DIY back yard course is something you should seriously consider if you think you can secure the land and have the funds. Heck, go in with 2 other disc golf players and each chip in $100-$150!
When it's all said and done, be sure to involve your disc golf buddies, invite new players, grow the sport, and have fun!
If you're interested in shopping portable baskets whether it be for back yard practice or you're considering building your own course, click on the banner below to shop all available options at Infinitediscs.com!
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