News

Membership • Divisions • League Standings • Doubles • Tournaments

I hope everyone is having a good offseason (if there is such a thing). Just wanted to give a heads up to upcoming changes and events happening for the 2024 calendar year. Have a look at the information below and if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to any of the admin members for answers.

Membership:

Membership is now open for the 2024 calendar year. Membership is still just $10. New this year will be Junior Memberships for members age 15 and under. Junior Memberships will be just $5.

Please visit http://www.717fdc.com/membership to either join or renew your club membership for the 2024 season. 

**I have not ordered tags yet, but will do so soon and start to distribute them as soon as I get them in. Tags will only be available to the 1st 100 members to join for the 2024 year. 

Divisons:

With ever increasing club size, it has become necessary to increase the number of divisions we offer to encourage a fun and competitive environment. We are replacing the previous year’s division codes with new ones that align more closely with PDGA guidelines. We are adding an addition recreational division and we are also introducing a junior division to encourage members to invite their kids to join them in their weekly league rounds.

This years division codes will be MJ15, MA4, MA3, MA2, MA1OPN

MJ15 (Mixed Junior <15): is for junior members age 15 and under.

MA4 (Mixed Amateur 4): is for brand new players or players that regularly found themselves in the bottom half of our REC division in previous years.

MA3 (Mixed Amateur 3): is for recreational players. If you regularly placed in the top half of our REC division in previous years.

MA2 (Mixed Amateur 2): is for intermediate players. If you finished in the top 3-5 of our REC division, or competed in the INT division in previous years.

MA1OPN (Mixed Amateur 1 / Open): is for our Advanced/Open players. If you finished in the top 3-5 of our INT division, or competed in the ADV division in previous years.

It is the players choice as to which division they choose to play. Feel free to reach out for advice if you’re unsure which division you belong in.

League Standings:

In 2023 we averaged over 50 players getting their league rounds in each weekend. It has become very time consuming to enter each players score in to the DGScene site to calculate points and standings. In an effort to mitigate this, we will be using UDisc Standings for our 2024 Singles season. Points will automatically be calculated based upon your week’s performance. Unfortunately UDisc does not support bonus points at this time, so there will be no added points for division winners or aces.

For a better understanding of how points are calculated, please visit this page: UDisc Support – League Standings

Doubles:

We are excited to announce the return of Ditto Dubs for the 2024 season. Joey Pierce has offered up his services to run doubles for us this year and we are excited to get this format back into our weekly events.

Dubs will be run through UDisc and held on Thursday evenings staring in Mid-March and running through early October. It will be open to both members and non-members of the 717FDC. Cost to play will be $5 ($4 to payout, $1 to club) with an additional $1 Ace Pot. Payout will be 50% of the field. Aces will payout 75% of the Ace Pot with the remainder staying as seed money.

For more information and schedule, visit https://udisc.com/leagues/717-fdc-doubles

Tournaments:

717FDC will be hosting 8 Tournament events in 2024 (5 Sanctioned, 3 Un-Sanctioned). More details to come as we get closer to the tournament dates.

2/3/24 – 17th Annual Whispering Falls Freeze (unsanctioned). A doubles, fundraiser tournament to benefit local hunger relief. 1 round of 36 holes combining Grist Mill and Saw Mill layouts played in succession.

4/13/24 – 17th Annual Whispering Fall Harvest presented by Innova, i81DGS, C-Tier. 2 rounds of the Martin’s Mill Layout

5/18/24 – 2024 Rhodes Grove Rambler, C-Tier. 2 rounds of the 18 Main Layout.

7/27/24 – 2024 Ditto Duo, i81DGS, C-Tier. 1 Round of Long to Yellow, 1 round of Long to Red.

9/21/24 – 2024 Ditto Shorts, C-Tier. A new tournament format for us playing Short to Yellow and Short to Red layouts.

10/5/24 – 2024 M5 (Martin’s Mill Monster Mini Mash) presented by Innova, C-Tier. 72 Holes, 2 rounds of combined Grist Mill and Saw Mill layouts played in succession.

11/2/24 – 2024 717FDC League Finale (unsanctioned). Open to all club members who have competed in at least 5 weekly singles league events. 1 round of Grist Mill, 1 round of Saw Mill.

11/30/24 – 2024 Rhodes Grove Gobbler (unsanctioned). 1 round singles fundraiser event to benefit local hunger relief.

Happy New Year to everyone in the 717FDC. I hope you’ve had a good holiday season and have been getting some rounds in with the mild winter we’ve had so far.

MEMERSHIP INFO:

Membership is now open for 2023. If you’re a new member wishing to join or an old timer looking to renew your membership with the club, please head over to the clubs website and fill out the membership form. http://www.717fdc.com/membership As in past years, being a member is required to participate in the weekly points league. You will also be invited to participate in a year end finale event. Since we are a PDGA affiliate club, club membership can also get you $5 off your PDGA membership (contact me for the discount code). All the other benefits are laid out on the membership page linked above. Tags have been ordered and are on their way. Rest assured, we will get one to you as soon as we can.

LEAGUE INFO:

For the 2023 season, we will be sticking with UDisc Leagues and the “Flex Start” format. We feel this was the main reason we saw the high participation numbers in past years and want to continue this trend. Rounds may be played anytime from Friday thru Monday as long as your card contains 3 club members. The exception to this will be the scheduled rounds at Cove Valley. Rounds at CV will be a fixed 1:00PM start time on the Sunday they are schedule.

We will continue with the same divisions as last year. This worked well to tighten up the points races going in to the end of the season. When you check in for your league round, you’ll be asked to select a division. To keep things simple we are using the same divisions as we used for the 2022 season. Recreational/Novice (REC), Intermediate (INT), and Advanced/Open (ADV). Please choose the division you feel best suits your playing stye and competitive needs. If you’re not sure what division you should play in, just ask. We’ll try and guide your decision. And please, no sand bagging! This is supposed to be fun for everyone.

This years we’ve done away with our monthly mini’s. While turnout was good, we clearly have higher numbers with the flex start format.

One other change we’ve made is that players will be required to participate in at least 5 weekly league events to be qualified for the year end finale. We feel is in the best interest of fairness that members who regularly participate be eligible for finale prizes.

The full league schedule is currently published under the events page on this website. It is also available to see in UDisc.

TOURNAMENT INFO:

This year the club will be hosting 3 sanctioned C-Tier Tournaments and 1 non-sanctioned tournaments. Mark your calendar’s now with the following dates.

2/18/23 – Annual Whispering Falls Freeze (Ice Bowl). BYOP doubles tournament benefitting a local food bank and children’s backpack programs.

4/29/23 – 16th Annual Whispering Falls Harvest. 2 round tournament at Whispering Falls.

5/20/23 – 3rd Annual Rhodes Grove Rambler. The camp really appreciated the success of last years event and has invited us back for more.

7/29/23 – Ditto Duo. 2 round tournament at Ditto Farms.

Tournament pages are preliminarily published now on this site as well as on Disc Golf Scene.

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for taking the time to read. We look forward to an exciting year with the club. See you all out there soon. All club events can be viewed on their respective DGScene pages as well. https://www.discgolfscene.com/clubs/717FDC/events

717FDC members and Whispering Falls Patrons,

It is with a great deal of excitement that we officially announce plans for a redesign of the Whispering Falls Disc Golf Course.  

The SHORT STORY:  WE NEED YOU!!  This will be a tremendous undertaking that we are calling on the 717 crew to rally and help us get holes ready for the redesign.  This includes everything from cutting and whacking to simply clearing or piling things.  0 experience necessary….we will find something for everyone.  A kickoff meeting and walkthrough will be held APRIL 3^rd STARTING @ 9:00AM.  We will be showing the layout and going over general concepts for fairway clearing.  Future meetings/walkthroughs will be held.  We would like everyone involved to be on the same page.  NO CUTTING ON YOUR OWN WITHOUT APPROVAL PLEASE.  We want to enable you to work when you can but within the agreements we have with the park committee.  All questions on this please direct to Russell Johnston.

The LONG STORY:  15 years of exponential growth and success at the Falls has not gone unnoticed by the park community.  It has also brought a lot of lessons learned that we have worked with the park committee to address while designing a disc golf facility representative of the disc golf community that has been built around it.  We use the term disc golf “facility” purposefully.  Within the redesign of the current Whispering Falls course will be two shorter, more technical 18 hole courses that combine to a longer, tournament caliber 18 hole course.  

But that is not all…….for those that are unaware, Antrim Township recently purchased a very large parcel of land adjacent to the park that we have been approved to install a championship length and caliber course.  2 distinct courses, 7 different layouts, 72 baskets, 126 disc golf holes….boom!!  

We have an approved 3 phase approach that will begin with the redesign of the existing course (phase 1) starting right away.  Phase 2 will include a 9 hole loop to be installed using the new space that will connect to the current holes 19-27 for a 2nd course that will be used until we can get to phase 3.  Phase 3 will be removal holes 19-27 and baskets reused to complete the 18 holes in the new space.  Also included in Phase 3 are concrete tee pads for all holes and a 2nd set of baskets for the new course.  Phase 3 has park approval but is dependent on a number of other park conditions/renovations that have yet to solidify, as well as, getting funding approval in next year’s cycle.  It is a lot and more details will be forthcoming.  

Many of you have been aware that plans were in the works and have already begun asking questions.  Please direct your questions to Russell Johnston in a PM and he will be happy to answer them.  We do not want to engage in an online discussion which can lead to confusion and problems.

The first workday/meetup will be APRIL 3 starting at 9:00am.  Depending on the response, we will do a full walkthrough and go over the “ground rules” and “concepts of fairway clearing” so that folks can potentially work in a coordinated manner but piecemeal. 

Please comment here if you are able to make at least a walkthrough on the 3rd.  If there is enough interest, we could do a 2nd walkthrough later in the day.  If you are unable to make the 3rd but are interested in helping with the project, please let us know.  We would like to compile a list of folks to include in specific communications.  Many hands make light work.  An hour or two here and there makes a huge difference so please consider helping.

As a reminder, please send questions and concerns in a PM to Russell Johnston and not an open forum debate.  Thanks in advance for your support.

Happy New Year to everyone in the 717FDC. I hope you’ve had a good holiday season and have been getting some rounds in with the mild winter we’ve had so far.

Hard to believe but 2022 marks the 15th anniversary for the club. The growth we’ve seen over the past couple of years is astounding and we’re excited to see where this year takes us.

MEMERSHIP INFO:

Membership is now open for 2022. If you’re a new member wishing to join or an old timer looking to renew your membership with the club, please head over to the clubs website and fill out the membership form. http://www.717fdc.com/membership As in past years, being a member is required to participate in the weekly points league. You will also be invited to participate in a year end finale event. Since we are a PDGA affiliate club, club membership can also get you $5 off your PDGA membership (contact me for the discount code). All the other benefits are laid out on the membership page linked above. Tags have been ordered and are on their way. Rest assured, we will get one to you as soon as we can.

LEAGUE INFO:

2021 was a hugely successful year for the club. We saw more than double the participation from the previous year. We try our best to accommodate everyone and make leagues as enjoyable and competitive as we can. Our format is ever evolving and 2022 is no different.

For the 2022 season, we will be sticking with UDisc Leagues and the “Flex Start” format. We feel this was the main reason we saw the high participation numbers last year and want to continue this trend. Rounds may be played anytime from Friday thru Monday as long as your card contains 3 club members. In an effort to tighten up the points race and make things more competitive, this year we will be competing in divisions. When you check in for your league round, you’ll be asked to select a division. To keep things simple we are using the same divisions as we used for the 2021 finale. Recreational/Novice (REC), Intermediate (INT), and Advanced/Open (ADV). Please choose the division you feel best suits your playing stye and competitive needs. If you’re not sure what division you should play in, just ask. We’ll try and guide your decision. And please, no sand bagging! This is supposed to be fun for everyone.

We’ve heard your voices! “We miss getting together as a larger group!!!”. Well, we miss that too. So for 2022 we are introducing our “Monthly Mini”. One weekend a month we will abandon the flex start format and hold a mini tournament at 1:00 on the Sunday of that weekend. The cost will be $5 ($1 to club, $4 to payout) with an optional $1 CTP. Payout will be by division and the number of payout spots will be determined by the number of participants in that division.

The full league schedule including the monthly Mini’s will be published on the club’s website on Mon. Jan. 17th.

TOURNAMENT INFO:

This year the club will be hosting 4 sanctioned C-Tier Tournaments and 2 non-sanctioned tournaments. Mark your calendar’s now with the following dates.

2/5/22 – Annual Whispering Falls Freeze (Ice Bowl). BYOP doubles tournament benefitting a local food bank and children’s backpack programs.

4/2-3/22 – 15th Annual Whispering Falls Harvest. 2 round tournament at Whispering Falls. Sat. will be Pro/Adv/Int division. Sun. will be Rec divisions.

5/21/22 – 2nd Annual Rhodes Grove Rambler. The camp really appreciated the success of last years event and has invited us back for more.

6/18/22 – MDX8. The crosstown is back again this year in the 1 day format we tried last year. 1 AM round and either Ditto or the Falls. Travel to the other course for the afternoon round. Starting course will be determined by division anounced later.

8/27-28/22 – Ditto Duo. 2 round tournament at Ditto Farms. Sat. will be Pro/Adv/Int divisions, Sun. will be Rec divisions.

11/24/22 – Gobbler at the Grove. 1 round fundraiser tournament at Rhodes Grove. Proceeds will be split between the camp and another local charity.

Tournament pages are preliminarily published now on this site as well as on Disc Golf Scene.

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for taking the time to read. We look forward to an exciting year with the club. See you all out there soon. All club events can be viewed on their respective DGScene pages as well. https://www.discgolfscene.com/clubs/717FDC/events