Sharpshooters Making Impact on Jefferson County Disc Golf

Convenient for the Jefferson County Sharpshooters, their plastic won’t melt in the sun.

The newly formed disc golf club, official in January 2011, has begun seeing fruit from its efforts around the area’s three disc golf courses – both on the links and off. Along with general maintenance, the Sharpshooters have steadily added course improvements such as concrete tee pads at Arnold City Park in Arnold, as well as at Fenton’s Jokerst Memorial Park, which also received several bridges.

The enhancements to the nine-hole courses help strengthen local disc golf offerings, which include 18 holes at West City Park in Festus, a designed course established in 2009.

“The general concept was to run a league, run some tournaments, build up funds and then use those funds for course improvements,” said Joe McKee, president of the club. “We wanted to be friendly with the (St. Louis club) River City Flyers, and sort of discussed it as a sister club, and they were very much open to the idea.”

The relationship simultaneously relieves pressure off the Flyers and brings focus to Jefferson County courses. Strengthened communication between the clubs has increased awareness on local Sharpshooter offerings, such as June’s JCS Putter Challenge event and a weekly summer league at Jokerst Park, but also brought involvement with area-wide Flyers events.

West City Park was one of the four St. Louis courses featured in the 2011 Ice Bowl, an annual wintertime fundraiser that has run for over 20 years. The course was also the fourth stop in the 2011 Bluebird Championship Series, a summer-long competition around six state courses sponsored by the Missouri Parks and Recreation Association.

The increased exposure and involvement readies the club for larger Sharpshooter events. The club is focused on its August 27 event, the Big Guns Showdown at West City Park. The day-long event will feature four divisions, with $400 added to the Open division, and is expected to draw St. Louis’ talent well.

The Sharpshooters club has found support through the Arnold and Festus park departments, as well as the Jefferson County branch. Potential projects such as new courses in Hillsboro, DeSoto or Mastadon State Park has the Sharpshooters looking ahead to expand the disc golf impact.

“Everyone has ideas," McKee said. "I hate to say (the club) is something new – this has just always been an ongoing thing. Even if we weren’t a club, there would still be some guys getting together to work when we got the chance. Now that we’re a club, we just have to add some politics and document everything.”