Aces Lend Their Support to Cal State San Marcos’ Disc Golf Course

Aces President Jeff Nichols presents check to Monica Watkins, representing CSUSM Associated Students

The San Diego Aces recently followed the old adage to “put their money where thier mouth is” as they made a significant donation to the fundraising drive for a new disc golf course at California State University San Marcos.  Aces President Jeff Nichols presented a check for $2,500 to Monica Watkins, representing the Associated Students Inc. at Cal State San Marcos (CSUSM).  The check presentation was made during the awards ceremony of the Labor Day of Disc Golf at Montiel Park in San Marcos.  The mission statement of the San Diego Aces describes the club’s top priority as being “to build additional permanent disc golf courses in the San Diego area.”  This donation is the most significant action of the club to date towards carrying out that mission.

The 18-hole course, championed by CSUSM Campus Recreation Director Hugo Lecomte and San Diego Aces Board Member Allen Risley, will be built once the necessary funds have been raised, possibly as early as Spring 2010.  The course will provide additional greatly-needed recreational activities for the 9,500-student campus, which is working to shed it’s “commuter campus” feel as it heads towards it’s 20th anniversary.  Half of the course will be located on the campus’ lower athletic field area, which is currently mostly undeveloped and under-utilized.  This area will be the site of  baseball and softball fields in the future, in addition to the now-present Mangrum Track.  The disc golf holes have been planned to coexist amongst these facilities.  The other half of the course will be located on the upper campus plateau, adjacent to the Kellogg Library and other campus buildings.  Being on-campus will make the disc golf course a convenient way for students to relax between or after classes and will provide a useful resource for classes in the College of Education and Kineisiology Program, which could then incorporate disc golf into their curriculum.  The holes on the upper portion of the course will be relatively shorter in length, both for safety purposes and to accomodate access by the disabled.  Use of the course will be free for casual play by students, faculty, staff and members of the community.

Fundraising for the disc golf course is being conducted the Campus Recreation office of Associated Students Inc., the student government organization at Cal State San Marcos.  Due to recent budget cuts to the CSU system, no new recreational facilities will be built in the near future without funding from private donors.  The $20,000 price tag of the disc golf course is seen to be a relative bargain to add a significant recreational resource, especially when compared to the millions of dollars needed to pay for ballfields, gyms, tennis courts and pools.  Monica Watkins, a local non-profit fundraising professional, has headed up the development effort and was instrumental in ushering the course through the design and approval process.  Her goal is to raise the funds to build the course with an eye towards installation in early 2010.  For more information on how you can help sponsor the CSUSM Disc Golf Course, contact Monica at mwatkins@csusm.edu or760-310-9468.