Germantown weighs six-hole disc golf course at Station Park

A proposal to add six disc golf holes at Germantown Station Park ran into the same problem that shadows a lot of small-course plans: how to fit a new sport into a park that is already busy with other users. The Germantown Parks and Recreation Commission discussed the idea, but took no action and asked for more research before moving forward. For disc golf, the debate was not about whether the sport can attract new players. It was about whether a tiny course can share space without creating new conflicts.

That question matters in Germantown, where the city says its parks system includes 29 parks, sports complexes, special facilities and other green spaces covering more than 600 acres. The city’s stated parks goal is to provide recreational and leisure opportunities within a half mile of every home. Germantown Station Park, at 3061 Laurinburg Circle, sits inside that broader mission, but it is not open land waiting for a single new use. The six-acre park already includes an ADA-accessible playground, eight picnic tables, grills, trash receptacles, a drinking fountain and a lake fountain, along with a two-acre fishing lake and a paved trail around it.

That mix explains why the six-hole idea drew interest and caution at the same time. A resident of Germantown Station wanted to add a few baskets to encourage families to try the sport, a classic entry-level pitch in a game that often grows one neighborhood at a time. But any layout inside a multiuse park has to account for safety, traffic flow and the people already using the space. The Professional Disc Golf Association’s safety manual, updated Dec. 4, 2024, stresses planning and best practices, while ICMA warns that courses in shared parks should not be placed close to walking paths, playgrounds, ball fields or other amenities.

Germantown already has one established disc golf site to point to: Johnson Road Park, the city’s only course listed by UDisc. That 18-hole layout was established in 2001, carries a 4.2-star community rating and typically takes players one to two hours to play. The PDGA course directory lists Monday doubles there and names Byron Wood as a local contact. With the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting the fourth Thursday of each month at 5:30 p.m. at 2276 West Street, except in June, July, November and December, the next step on Station Park could take time. For now, the six-hole proposal remains what it was in the commission room: a test of whether disc golf belongs in a neighborhood park, or whether even a small course asks too much of shared space.