Publications & Sites 
Eagle lands on disc golf course in Hinsdale
Kevin Dvorak of Hinsdale Boy Scout Troop 10 helped install a new disc golf course at KLM for his Eagle Scout project. | Steve Johnston~for Sun-Times Media
Breakout
Breakout text.
Article Extras
Updated: September 17, 2012 6:07AM
HINSDALE – Kevin Dvorak knew less about construction than he did about disc golf when he agreed to help set up a new disc golf course in Katherine Legge Memorial Park.
Dvorak, who is a member of Boy Scout Troop 10 from Union Church of Hinsdale, turned to the village’s Parks and Recreation Department for suggestions on what to do for his Eagle project.
The department director Gina Hassett had a list of projects, Dvorak said. The one that seemed most interesting to him was helping build a disc golf course in KLM park.
Dvorak, who will be a senior at Hinsdale Central High School this fall, has played disc golf, sometimes referred to as Frisbee golf, once or twice, but not frequently.
“I just tried to understand what the course layout was,” Dvorak said.
The course includes 18 baskets (instead of holes) and runs east to west at the south end of the park.
His assignment was to help put metal posts 3-feet deep in the ground for each of the 18 baskets, plus one practice “hole,” and then pour concrete around to secure them.
“I didn’t have any construction expertise,” Dvorak said. However, over three days, he and the Scouts who helped him, learned how to use an auger to make the holes in the ground, mix concrete, and set the posts so they would be level. Their instructors were members of the Professional Disc Golf Association.
“They were super kids and they listened,” said Steve Matul, an association member and the lead designer of the course. “And they got better at it as they did it.”
Dvorak and the other volunteers moved the dirt they dug out for the posts to other areas in the park where there was erosion, Matul said.
“It was a beautiful community effort,” said Cathy Kamm, owner of Midwest Disc Golf, a company that sells disc golf equipment. Kamm and her husband had input on the design of the course.
In addition to construction skills, the work gave Dvorak planning and leadership experience.
“Deciding how to execute the project,” was difficult, he said. “You have to know every detail ahead of time. You can’t just show up. You have to know what you are going to need, when you are going to need it, and a timetable for when everything is going to get done.”
The course is playable, but not quite finished yet. Signs showing the layout of each hole and the distance will be installed later this fall.
To reach the practice and first hole or basket, head to the northwest corner of the park’s main parking lot and walk west of the Zook home.
