A Beginner Course Finds Its Home in Seward, Nebraska
A Beginner Course Finds Its Home in Seward, Nebraska
Every disc golf town eventually runs into the same problem: the course that got the sport started gets harder to start on.
That's what happened in Seward, Nebraska. The town already has an 18-hole course, built and maintained by a small, dedicated club. It's a good course. It's also, by the club's own admission, not a good place to learn. As Tony put it while applying for Pitch for Pins, even as an intermediate player himself, the layout felt intimidating for anyone brand new to the game.
So the Seward Disc Golf Club did what a lot of clubs do when they spot a gap, they went looking for a second course, one built specifically for people who've never thrown a disc before.
Centennial Park to Blue Bend Beginner Course
The site they landed on is Centennial Park, a small, wooded park tucked into a bend of the Blue River, right behind the county fairgrounds. It's the kind of park disc golf tends to overlook: shelters, a playground, some shade, and no obvious reason anyone would build a championship layout there. That's exactly what made it right for a 9-hole beginner course.
The club didn't just sketch the idea and submit it. Before applying, they tested it. During a fundraising week, they walked the park with a portable basket, played the layout themselves, and adjusted it based on real shots and real feedback, both from the community and from the local disc golf players who came out to try it. By the time they applied to Pitch for Pins, the course already had a name (Centennial Park to Blue Bend Beginner Course), a tested layout, full approval from the City of Seward's Parks and Recreation board, and the manpower to build the tee pads themselves.
What they didn't have was the equipment. Like a lot of young clubs, they'd run fundraisers and made progress, but baskets, tee signs, and the hardware to install them were still out of reach.
Why This One Stood Out
Pitch for Pins exists for exactly this gap. The projects that have already done the hard part, the planning, the approvals, the community buy-in, and just need the physical course to close the distance. Seward's application didn't ask us to imagine whether the idea would work. They'd already shown it would.
What Winning Meant
When Phil and Kip came to pick up their baskets Bobby was able to talk with them about their plans for the new course.
"When we won the Pitch for Pins, it felt like a validation of all the volunteer hours we've been putting in to make our existing big course in good shape, and to try out this short course, and to reach out to the community to tell more people about this golf."
What's Next
The baskets, ground sleeves, and tee signs are now in Seward. Installation is next, and the club expects the course to become the on-ramp their 18-hole layout never could be. A place for families, first-timers, and anyone curious enough to show up with a single disc and no idea what they're doing.
Stay tuned as we follow their journey of building the Blue Bend Beginner Course.