It’s hard to know exactly what Josiah Littlefield had in mind back in 1927 when he donated 40 acres of clear-cut land to his local school district for the creation of a
school forest.
Was he hoping for a spot to teach students the concepts of reforestation that he pioneered?
Decades later, the once barren property has grown into the Farwell School Forest and has been used to teach students forestry for years. Recently, the Clare County school district found another – perhaps unexpected – additional use for the site: a four-star disc golf course.
In his wildest dreams, Littlefield, a visionary civil engineer, probably could not have imagined the creation of an 18-hole disc golf course on the now-wooded property, one that has enthusiasts flocking to the forest to play the popular sport.
“The gentleman who donated the property, his goal was to get people to interact with the forest and the woods,” Farwell Area Schools Superintendent Steve Scoville says. “I feel like we knocked that one out of the park.”
For the unfamiliar, disc golf involves flinging
discs toward a
basket— a vertical pole topped with chains and a basket. Like traditional golf, players walk a course of nine or 18 holes; the object of the game is to complete each hole in the fewest number of throws.
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Courtesy of Steve Scoville, Farwell Area Schools superintendentOne of the basket's on the school district's new disc golf course. Farwell’s disc golf course is among the newest in the Great Lakes State. Ranked as the
2nd best disc golf state in the United States, Michigan boasts 526 courses. Among these are 292 courses with 18 or more holes.
No one is aware of another disc golf course on school-owned grounds. At least one school district, Beal City Schools in Mt. Pleasant, is talking about a course where the students run cross country.
Michigan is also home to 367 leagues and 116 stores that sell disc golf gear.
Since its opening in May, Farwell’s public Pipeline course has attracted about 400 players, Scoville says. It is free to play.
The course layout is somewhat unique, with the front nine more "family friendly" — with all the holes at or under 300 feet — weaving through rows of pines. A few holes are spread out into the mature forest.
“People can start on hole one and end up back to the parking lot after playing the front nine,” explains Craig Clingan, the course designer who has designed other courses and helps run the Mount Pleasant Disc Golf Club. “The back nine also starts at the parking lot and ends up back there, but these holes are not for the faint of heart,”
Players, he notes, have to contend with “a bit of elevation to throw up and down, and the holes are much longer, ranging from the 400's to over 600 feet.”
Clingan is no stranger to course design, with a hand in the Wildwood Course at Deerfield Park in Mount Pleasant, Kenneth J. Lehman Nature Trails at Montcalm Community College in Sidney, and the Heron's Nest Course at MMC in Harrison.
The Farwell site “certainly brought its own challenges,” including lots of branches and brush to clear. “Farwell schools put many hours into helping to clear some of the fairways of branches and logs,” he says.
Clingan, an avid disc golf player himself, says he believes there is a growing trend for schools to build such courses.
“I know disc golf is one of the fastest growing sports around,” Clingan says, “and it has certainly reached the schools. There are high school leagues and tournaments around and I believe Farwell hopes to join that in the future.”
Forest programming
It’s not really such a stretch for the popular sport to overlap with forest land programming.
In Farwell, what started with Littlefield’s land donation has grown over the years to a total of 97 acres – in three parcels adjacent to and near the school district campus.
Trees planted on the clear-cut land in the 1920s have matured, and various forest studies were built into the school curriculum; by 2019, a formal management plan was developed by an award-winning forester, a plan that directs management of the land through 2038.
That plan, funded by a Michigan Department of Natural Resources grant, led the district to enroll in the nonprofit American Tree Farm System, a certified tree farming organization that focuses on sustainability, Scoville says.
“So the summer before last, when we had our three properties harvested,” Scoville says, “they were only thinned. We didn't clear cut.”
With guidance from professionals, including an Audubon Society member, students learned how to preserve trees that promote raptor habitat and replanted trees such a white oak as a food source for turkey and deer.
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Courtesy of Steve Scoville, Farwell Area Schools superintendentStudents helped clear fairways and continue to make improvements.“They're not the fastest growing trees,” Scoville says, “but they certainly had more nutritional value than what was there.”
Students have helped mark the trees for harvest, have helped replant new species (a project funded by another DNR grant), and for the past two years, have harvested white oak acorns to grow into seedlings. They recently made $130,000 from that harvest.
“The donation of this land not only adds to the income of the district but is incorporated in the general science programs in a lot of ways — sustainability, agriculture, ecosystems and such, and also introduces logging and forestry and agriscience as possible career paths,” Scoville says.
“It checks all the boxes,” he adds. “We want our kids to understand the sustainability piece of it. You know, they may not go into logging or forestry, but even if they become property owners, being able to identify trees and knowing the value of them and how to improve or sustain them is a certain skill set.”
A different skill set
With the harvest funds in hand to help pay for a new project, the school district and forestry students brainstormed and came up with ideas, including a cross-country course. They opted for the disc golf course.
After hearing the superintendent talk about the project on a local radio station, Clingan volunteered his services for the project. For free.
“Being a really good disc golfer, he recognized the value of the property,” Scoville says.
The result? “He’s designed an amazing course.” Scoville says.
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Courtesy of Steve Scoville, Farwell Area Schools superintendentStudents also helped pour cement.Building the course involved students at all levels. The career technical education program building trades class at the Clare Intermediate School District helped build the wood forms for the course’s concrete pads. Students helped pour the concrete, clear the fairways and are continuing work to improve the course.
The Pipeline
scores about a four out of five according to grading reviews done by disc golf players, Scoville says. “And we still aren't done with it.”
Still to come are new signs, seeded fairways, and a vault toilet — all with student participation.
“I can't wait to see what it looks like in the spring,” he says.
What’s next
Both students and the public have enthusiastically embraced the forest programs, from watering seedlings to playing on the disc golf course, Scoville says.
And the school district continues to weave its forestry assets into the curriculum. For the last three years, the district’s third graders have studied the forest and logging as part of their Michigan history curriculum, visiting nearby Hartwood Pines State Park, and then on Earth Day, they've gone out to the school property.
“In the last two years, they've helped us plant trees and do different things of that nature,” Scoville says. “Anything that we can to keep moving the ball forward.”
“Our hope is this spring to start a disc golf club,” Scoville says. Toward that end, three portable baskets were set up on the playground and last year’s summer school kids played. At the end of summer school, they went on a field trip to the course to play a round. “So, we're slowly building the program,” Scoville says, “and I'm pretty excited for how it's coming together. “
Rosemary Parker has worked as a writer and editor for more than 40 years. She is a regular contributor to Rural Innovation Exchange and other Issue Media Group publications.