The Campgaw Reservation Disc Golf Course in Northern New Jersey will soon come to life!!! The first course in Bergen County in Northern New Jersey just 20 miles from Manhattan is about to enter into design phase. Campgaw Reservation is a 3000-acre county park located in Mahwah, NJ just 5 minutes from the intersection of Rts 287, 87, and 17, and 33 miles and 45 minutes from the warwick course, approximately 20 minutes west of the tappan zee bridge. The county has already purchased and received 9 innova discatchers, and i can hopefully convince them that they really need to purchase another 9. They wanted to wait and see how the course is received, but I am working on trying to convince them it will be better received if they put in 18 holes. (i'm fairly certain i can make that happen). The course will be located at a small ski area that has a lodge, pro shop, snack bar, etc. It will be a seasonal course, not available from december thru february. Craig Cutler and I walked the ski area this morning after meeting with the head of the bergen County Recreation dept. They will handle all maintenance, grunt work, signage, putting sleeves in the ground, etc. All we need to do is design. They are ready to begin work on the course on Monday, so the ball is in my court to get the course designed. Craig Cutler and I walked the ski slope this morning and the terrain offers all sorts of possibilities. Obviously elevation will be the significant factor, but there are some beautiful natural fairways we discovered already in existence in the woods just off the ski runs. From the top of the chair lift at the top of the hill, one will have a view of the entire county and most likely the nyc skyline (it was too grey this morning to have any views at all). No time frame has been determined yet, but i would imagine we'll have the course playable by the Spring of 2005. The County seems really into it and should be able to come up huge for us. At a minimum we'll have 2 sets of tees (recreational and pro) and will hopefully try and bargain for a 3rd set as well. For now tee pads will be natural (railroad tie borders with gravel dust or wood chips) until the county is satsified this is a good thing. I'll keep you posted as we proceed. WOO-HOO!!!!

Dan Doyle
PDGA #310
Warwick, NY

stop it dan...if you keep putting in courses in that area i will have to visit the in-laws more often :D
so far i keep avoiding the in-laws by going to tournaments the same weekend my wife is visiting her parents...but sooner or later they're going to catch on.... :eek:

sounds great and i look forward to seeing it and wolfe woods next time i'm up there...

keith

I've found a couple of different measurements on various websites, but the vertical drop of the area seems to be around 250-270 feet.

Here's a picture I found on their website:

http://www.skicampgaw.com/images/gallery/pict11.jpg

That would make one heck of an 18th hole!

There are only about 5 ski trails at this little hill. But they will form the basis for most of the course. The woods that surround the ski trails are super for disc fairways, as there is relatively little ground cover that has to be removed. We discovered a few natural fairways that can become holes with almost no work at all back in the woods. The wooded areas between ski trails will also allow us to design fairways that aren't just open or uphill or downhill. We will be able to have holes, for example, that start in the woods go across a ski trail, go back in the woods and come out into the open again. We'll have so many cool options....Hopefully we'll come up with an 18th hole that is downhill and 1000+ feet.

if anyone wants to chime in with design tips for a course at a ski hill that would be great. I've played Sipapu in New Mexico and Wrightwood near L.A. and have designed other courses. i need to be especially aware of situations unique to ski hill courses. For example, when baskets get pulled for ski season, what have others done to cover the sleeves to prevent damage to the sleeves and damage to skiiers??

Dan,

I don't think sleeves are an issue with those courses out west since they receive hundreds of inches of snowfall per year. You've probably seen in the summertime that the slopes can sometimes be littered with large rocks and boulders popping out of the ground. If those aren't an issue, a disc golf sleeve shouldn't be.

On the East Coast, it may be a different story. We may want to strategically place the sleeves closest to the towers containing snow making guns. If we are really worried about it, I would not think it to be a huge chore to dig up one or two sleeves in the fall and cement a new one into the ground come spring.

WOW!!!!!!.....After 3 hours at the Campgaw ski hill this morning, I realize I have a dilemna: which of the many amazing options for holes will we use? I "designed" the front 9 today. Of course, this "design" will undoubtedly change numerous times, but at least we have a start. I'm fairly certain that between 3 and 5 of the 9 holes I came up with will ultimately be part of the course. Among the fun holes will be what currently seems to be #8: an 800-foot Par 3 that brinster will overthrow with a Roc. This ski hill and the surrounding woods offers more design options than any other course i've seen. Warwick's got competition!!

I am ridiculously pleased to announce that the Bergen County Parks Dept has accepted my proposal for an 18-hole course at Campgaw Reservation in Mahwah, NJ. They are preparing the necessary paperwork and will be purchasing the other 9 baskets quickly. Because it will be a seasonal course not available for play during ski season (at this point) there isn't a need to rush to get the course done before the Winter. The rough plan at this point is to have the course designed by the end of October and most of the fairways ready for play by late November so we can at least perform some "test flights" before ski season. This will reduce the amount of work the county will have to do in the Spring. We are planning an a course opening, with a 2-day weekend event, for sometime in late April.

the back nine has now been "designed". i use that word loosely because it'll probably change a number of times. you'll need your hiking shoes and being in good aerobic condition will be of significant value, although the course will use a somewhat zig-zag approach on the way up so that those that are aerobically-challenged can still make it to the top without popping a lung. i'm guessing the pro layout will be a pro Par of 70.

Still on schedule for the design phase to be completed by the end of October. Then the parks dept can start with the "grunt work". The course as presently designed will feature 9 ski hill holes using the ski trails, and 9 holes that utilize the perimeter of the ski hill. My current thinking is that we'll see how things go in 2005, and if we prove to the county that the course and the sport are successful, we could design another 9 holes with sleeves that would be used during the winter months when the ski hill 9 holes are yanked. That way we'd be able to have an 18-hole course year-round, not just available for play when the ski operation is shut down.

It appears that the Campgaw course will probably be a Par 72 with a course length of around 11,000 feet. This is a bit misleading because of the elevation factor. For example, one of the holes will be about a 600-foot Par 3 and one hole is a "short" 765-foot Par 4. Both downhill.

Watch for an announcement in a day or two about our 2005 organizational meeting that will take place in the next few weeks. Prior to the meeting we will gather at Campgaw so everyone can get a little preview of what Campgaw will be.

Dan it sounds like a job for fly pads.I have these at 4 ski resorts and they work great.They can either stay down for winter or you can pull them up.They will not crack and grip the best in wet conditions.Call if I can help great job on another course...... ;)

Reese.....I haven't worked out all the details yet with the Parks Dept. The initial plan is/was that the Parks Dept will be doing all the construction and supplying all of the materials for tee pads and signage. They apparently have a pretty advanced fabrication dept and they have $$$ and labor at their disposal so they were going to build their own tee boxes and fill them with some sort of "natural" substance like bark chips. I am certainly aware of the downside of such a plan, as regular play will require a lot of mainetnance to re-distribute or re-fill the boxes once they tee box fill gets scattererd all over the place. I'll address this within the next several weeks with them. Flypads would be sensible for the 9 holes we have planned for the ski hill. I'll keep you posted....

The latest from Dan Doyle:


The Campgaw course is a monster. That term will be used to describe Campgaw many times - sometimes as a compliment and sometimes as a criticism. This course is not an easy course to play because of the elevation that is present. Most of the uphill elevation "comes into play" during the walks from some pins to next tees. We've managed to eliminate brutal uphills from all holes except #4 and #16 from the Blue (Pro) tee. We decided on a trade-off. In order to have 3 awesome downhill holes (#8, #13, #17) it meant we had to go up the hill 3 times as well.

The Par 59 layout from the White tees is a very fair course for recreational players, with 13 Par 3's and 5 Par 4's. The holes are not crazy difficult but it is a true Pro Par 59. We had 4 players with ratings between 935 and 950 play an 18-hole round y'day from the white tees and i believe we had 2 59's and 2 61's. We had a 6-some and did debris removal while we played, and our round took 2:45.

The plan going forward is that eventually we'll add an additional 9 holes that will be at the base of the ski hill, so they'll be without major elevation. This will allow players who don't want to have to deal with the upslopes an opportunity to play 9 holes. Playing the front 9 requires only 1 uphill to negotiate (#4 - which we shall call "Widowmaker").

Early comments are that this course will instantly be among the best. But again, it is on a ski hill and being in good aerobic shape is a huge advantage.

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