Disc golf gives you all the joy of real golf, just without the price and time commitment. And now, Voorhees residents can enjoy disc golf in their own backyards, with an 18-hole course at Stafford Woods on Evesham Road.
The idea for the course came about in 2011, when Adam Harris and Christian Exley sought out a space to create a course.
“I moved here from Delaware,” Harris said. “As soon as I got here, I asked my wife where we could play disc golf and she told me we would have to go back to Delaware. I knew that wasn’t going to work.”
After creating a temporary course at Connolly Park, Harris knew a permanent course needed to be created.
“Connolly Park just wasn’t the right place for a disc golf course,” Harris said. “There was too much wetlands. As soon as I saw Stafford Woods, though, I knew that was the place.”
Stafford Woods was preserved with municipal open space and state Green Acres funds to be used for passive recreation, which allowed Harris and Exley to begin preliminary designs for the course.
There were problems with the location, though. Because the land was once farmland, there was a lot of debris that needed to be removed.
“There were thousands of feet of barbed wire, as well as old barns that we needed to remove before we could even begin the work on the course,” Harris said.
Volunteers helped with the process, and after some hard work, a nine-hole course was finished in July 2012.
“I am the most proud of the volunteers and committee members of Voorhees for all the help they gave us,” Harris said. “Without them, none of this could have gotten done.”
The full 18-hole course opened this January, and Harris has seen a huge increase in people playing since then.
“There have been three times the amount of people out here this year as opposed to last year,” he said. “There were over 100 people here in one day, and they came from all over Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and even as far away as Michigan.”
With more people coming out to play, Harris has begun organizing tournaments and leagues. The first annual Stafford Open took place on June 14. People had to be put on a waiting list after registration maxed out a week before the event.
Harris has also created a recreation league that takes place on Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings.
“The turnouts for all the events has been amazing,” he said. “People of all ages and from all walks of life have been coming out to play and enjoy themselves.”
The Stafford Woods disc golf course is free and open to the public.
“I really hope people keep coming out this summer,” Harris said. “It’s a great way to spend a day with your family or come out to compete in a friendly atmosphere. And it’s right here for people to get to now.”
