To help kickoff this weekend’s Great Chili Cookout, I’d like to share that the Course History has been updated on the Widener Park course page.
Widener Park (Baker Farm – Chili DGC)
In an interview at the 1999 PDGA World Championship, Chili Recreation Director Ron Fodge told the abbreviated story of how the disc golf course at Baker Farm in Chili came to be. “Basically Royce Racinowski and Dave Thomas came and they asked the town if we had any spare land. They said, ‘Could we make a course here?’ And all of a sudden we found a stream, found some trees, found some obstacles, some old barns, some old silos and all of the sudden we’re cutting out fairways and greens and there’s a golf course.”
…(see link for the rest)
After 25 plus years of growth, the course as it was in 1999 pales in comparison to the one we have today with the now mature trees tightening lines and punishing stray lies. It has 18 holes with a front and back loop design. Signature holes include hole #11 measuring 911 feet and the 716 foot long hole #18 with its basket located on a tricky elevated knoll. The course is friendly to players of all skill levels, with 2 sets of tee pads on each hole, and remains a top tier course in the Rochester area.
Jason Rock Phelps, Club Historian
