Oldsmar is already home to a world-class BMX supercross track at the soon-to-be-renamed Oldsmar Sports Complex as well as the only zipline adventure park in the Tampa Bay area.
Now, the city is about to add an elite-level disc golf course to its collection of high-quality sports facilities, as the Sheffield Park course is scheduled to have its grand opening on Saturday, June 24 at 9:00 a.m.
According to Leisure Services Director Felicia Donnelly the course, which will feature three sets of tees and is already being touted as one of the best in the state, will fit in nicely with the city’s extensive park system and burgeoning eco-sports scene.
“The disc golf course is a really great example of how you can have active recreation coexist in an open space area and preserve the ecology of the site,” Donnelly told the City Council during a status update on the project Tuesday night.
“It has a relatively low impact to the environment. So that’s important to know.”
Donnelly went on to explain how the course is so unique.
“It’s called a gold-level championship disc golf course,” she said.
“It’s very unique in Tampa Bay and Florida in general.”
Donnelly said the course will have three sets of tees—one for expert level, or champion play, one for intermediate use and one for recreational use—and she explained how it will vary from the one nearby in Clearwater when asked by Mayor Doug Bevis.
“This one way exceeds the level of service provided,” said Donnelly, who left the same position in Clearwater to replace longtime Oldsmar leisure services director Lynn Rives in February.
“The disc golfers refer to the one at Cliff Stevens (Park) and Old Coachman (Road) as a small par three,” she continued. “So, it doesn’t have different tees, it doesn’t have the breaks into nature that this one has, along the water and through the mangroves. It’s short and it’s small and it’s kind of crunched in. This one has wide open fairways. It’s just gonna be beautiful.”
Recently, members of the Top of the Bay Garden Club planted a tree at the park as part of their annual Arbor Day tradition, and Donnelly explained the live oak was planted in the center of an open field to provide a higher level of difficulty for the course.
She also noted the ‘holes”, or baskets, will be changed occasionally to alter the way the course plays, and she said the city is working on forming partnerships with local disc golf clubs and looking into options to provide loaner discs for newbies and recreational users.
After the presentation, which included a rough draft of the outlay of the course, the council members weighed in on the impending grand opening.
“I was out there a few months ago and grabbed one of the golf carts and drove around and checked it all out…and it’s neat, it’s gonna be great for us,” Mayor Bevis, who admitted to dabbling in disc golf in his younger days, said.
“I’m on the Tourism Development Council, and this is just another thing that couple potentially bring in people from around the country.”
“Yeah, it’s gonna be terrific,” Council member Eric Seidel added.
“When you think about the different things that you can do in Oldsmar, the list keeps growing. You can go ziplining, you can go play Frisbee golf. I mean it just continues to build out.”
One day after the meeting, Bevis elaborated on his thoughts about the course.
“Disc golf has changed a lot since I was a kid, and having a gold-level course, with the ability to change holes, right here in town is going to be great,” he said by phone. “It’s going to attract professional disc golf players from all over, and it will be accessible to the masses as well.”
“I think it’s another ecotourism amenity for Pinellas County and all of the Tampa Bay area, and it happens to be in Oldsmar. I’m really excited about it.”
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