The Story of "FOD"

"FOD" is the nickname for the Fields of Dreams disc golf course in Great Meadows, NJ (click here for directions). The story of the course begins with its head designer, Rico Escobar, failing to get the green light in neighboring Hackettstown; he was turned down on a technicality: only residents can present projects to the Rec Department. To make things worse, he lives literally a stone's throw from the Hackettstown boundary line. So he was pushed away and told to go down the street to Great Meadows, a part of the township where he pays taxes, Independence.

Fields of Dreams Park was the most obvious location to put a course, but he didn't have much hope when he first walked the grounds. It was just too open and busy with a ton of other activities (soccer,baseball, etc) to properly design in an effective course. On the brink of giving up and never even saying anything to their Rec Department, he stumbled across a small deer path that led into the woods. Much like Land of the Lost (minus the Sleestaks), he stumbled on an area of the park that time had forgotten.

Its tumultuous undulating landscape was perfect, but he couldn't do this alone. So he summoned a super FROLF design team:

Jeff "Spoon" Lykes: Seasoned disc golf player
Rick "Neckbeard" LaPointe: Landscape Architect
Marc "Sleeves" Rura: Public Relations
Craig "Nati" Weisfeld: Season "stick" golf player

They designed it then and carved it out of the landscape, little by little during the summer of 2008. In the end, they had a fine 9-hole layout which covered much of the wooded area of the municipal sports complex. The existing, but dilapidated paths, which at points border the lovely Pequest River, were used to craft a course with challenging, tight shots for the advanced and forgiving distances for beginners. With dual tee locations on every hole, excellent signage and a tight, intricate design with a plethora of elevation changes, FOD offers an enjoyable outing for players of all skill levels.

The course was built with a 100% joint volunteer effort of individuals from the community and a host of outside disc golf enthusiasts. The Independence Rec Department took care of the baskets and all other costs and manpower were generated by fund-raising efforts, sponsorships and volunteer manual labor. THANK YOU to all the people that came out to help, and who continue to do so...

In the fall of 2008, work began on nine more holes. Stay tuned for info on FOD's transition to one of New Jersey's best 18-hole disc golf courses.

MORE INFORMATION:
What is disc golf?
Where can I get discs?
What discs should I get?

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