Alumni gift new frisbee golf course to BC

Teed off at your golf performance? If so, say bye-bye to the traditional birdie and join Bridgewater College on July 30 when it completes its new 9-basket course for disc golf – also known as frisbee golf.

The first basket (or hole) of the course is in the college’s intramural field on the north side of Dinkel Avenue at Wakeman Hall. The course progresses west for about three-tenths of a mile and then loops back to the east, eventually ending at the ninth hole behind the Wampler Towers student apartments.

In the morning hours of July 30, Bridgewater students and faculty will assemble the disc baskets at each hole. The course should be open for play in the afternoon.

The course was donated to Bridgewater College by members of the class of 2010. Class president Zack Guida of Bristol, R.I., said the idea to create a disc golf course at the college grew out of a pastime in which he and other students would throw frisbees at random objects, which substituted for baskets.

“Picking out the class gift was something I struggled with for a while,” Guida said. “I brainstormed ideas with classmates and faculty but none of them jumped out at me. Having a particularly active and athletic class, I really wanted it to be sports related, but picking something that would last long term proved difficult.”

Guida said he and 2010 student body president Drew Kirkner of Dublin, Va., recalled their days tossing frisbees on a makeshift course, and thought a real disc golf course would be “the best class gift in the history of Bridgewater College.”

The class of 2010 supported the idea with donations, and Bridgewater College faculty and staff helped push the project through the administrative process with the town of Bridgewater. Guida noted that the course is open to the public as well as the campus community.

“I think this is the perfect gift for the college because, when I asked myself what I loved most about Bridgewater, the answer was: campus involvement, community relationships and the high quality of life on campus,” Guida said. “The disc golf course enhances each of these principals. It’s perfect.”

Bridgewater College is a private, four-year liberal arts college located in the Central Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Founded in 1880, it was the state’s first private, coeducational college. Today, Bridgewater College is home to approximately 1,700 undergraduate students.