Do any DFW golfers know what's currently going on with Crawford Memorial Park?

I used to live near the course, and got a chance to play the full original 18-hole layout several times before some of the holes were pulled due to vandalism and construction on the bridge. Although it was pretty rough around the edges, I firmly believe that it was one of the most unique and challenging courses in the DFW and had potential to be a premier course in the area with a little work.

I heard last year that the back 9 were going to be completely redesigned after a new bridge was installed (near what used to be hole 12), but I haven't heard anything about it since then. Anybody hear anything about the course recently?

Gary Duke should be able to shed some more light on this course. If I remember right he was telling me that most of what was on top of the hill was going to be redone after all the construction was done.

Well, I was in Dallas this past weekend, and I stopped by Crawford Park and walked the course area to see what it's looking like...I think "bleak" would probably be the most fitting adjective.

First, the entire DG area is very overgrown and completely trashed. Trash on the ground was always a problem at the course, but you can really tell that nobody has been out there regularly for a LONG time. I walked most of the front 9, holes 10-12, and 17-18....I'm not really sure if you could call it a course anymore, as most of the baskets are missing, and the ones that are still in the ground have been disassembled with bolt cutters. Whoever decided to destroy the baskets really took their time and made sure that each one was cut apart in a different way (one with the basket on the ground, one with chains cut to pieces, another with the whole chain assembly laying inside the basket, etc). I only saw 1 basket that was still in the ground and intact (#11), but the line from the tee to the fairway was completely covered by tree limbs, so it was unplayable.

Walking through the park and being reminded of the awesome landscape was nice, though it was pretty sad to see a course with so much potential go to waste because there are more people interested in vandalizing / destroying the course than there were players interested in improving the course. I'm just glad that I got the chance to play the full 18-hole layout several times before it went down the crapper.

build a course in that part of town, and the vandals will come. Just drive around the area a bit to get an idea of how active vandalism is in that section of Dallas, then couple it with the fact that lots of the folks there (reportedly) didn't want the course to be put in. I'm saddened but not surprised.

Bummer , I really liked that course......

The biker guys did not like the fact we got that park from them.

when the city saw all the ramps and stuff they had built, they (the city) came in a tore it all down. We got the blame and now paid the price.

I grew up about 10 minutes away from Crawford, in the not-quite-so-bad town of Balch Springs. The first time I went to the course I remember thinking that it was too good to be true, considering the neighborhood, but I honestly thought it would last a little longer than it did. There were some truly awesome holes at that course that were unlike anything else in the DFW...it'll be missed. I always wondered if the lack of locals was a result of the sometimes overbearing difficulty of the layout or the bad surroundings...probably the latter.

There was a brief period when repairs were being made to baskets as the vandals tried to destroy them, but I guess that was an uphill battle that we (disc golfers) ended up losing in the long-run.

There were some truly awesome holes at that course that were unlike anything else in the DFW...it'll be missed.



Hole 18 was awesome , Sixteen was sweet too..
I dont remember which one it was , but there was a basket on top of a cliff- killer stuff.. Heck of a climb up.

There were some truly awesome holes at that course that were unlike anything else in the DFW...it'll be missed.



Hole 18 was awesome , Sixteen was sweet too..
I dont remember which one it was , but there was a basket on top of a cliff- killer stuff.. Heck of a climb up.



You're thinking of #12...if I remember right, that was one of the first to be pulled because of vandalism. 16 was SICK from the Pro pad, which is part of the reason I never played it :) You had to throw across water, through a small gap in the trees on an island, across more water, then through more trees (uphill) just to make it to the "green"...awesome stuff!

My favorites were 2, 8-10, 13 and 18. 13 was the one after the big uphill shot...there was a narrow gap about 150' from the tee that opened up to a GIANT dried-up creekbed with the basket perched on a series of small hills on the other side of the creek wall. From the box it just looked like a flat shot, but then once you're at the gap you see this giant gorge!

I helped Steve Wallace do some clearing at the course one day, and he said he already had plans for several other courses in that same park...hopefully one of these days things will change and he can realize that vision.

The relocation to the area at the corner of Elam and Prairie Creek has been turned down. Steve is in the process of reworking the area around the new bridge . He plans to drop 3-7 and add more holes on the high side of the bridge.

We no longer have the parts to make 18 baskets, so I would expect it to be 9-14 holes long.