Ruxer to become 18-hole disc golf course

• Plans are underway to transform the closed golf course into the area’s newest disc golf course.

• The Mayor’s Youth Leadership Council has teamed up with the Parks Department to repair and renovate two bridges as part of the project. They are hosting an 80s-themed fun run/walk with food trucks on March 10 as a fundraiser for their project.

Disc golf enthusiasts will likely have a new 18-hole course to ramble over this summer in Jasper.

Designs are underway to transform the Alvin C. Ruxer Municipal Golf Course into the Alvin C. Ruxer Disc Golf Course.

The city closed the 60-acre golf course before the 2020 season. Last year, Chris Lubenow, treasurer for the Dubois County Disc Golf Club, presented a plan to turn Ruxer into a disc golf course. Subsequently, the project was included in the 2023 budget.

Last week, renowned designer and player Eric McCabe was roaming the course to begin the design process. McCabe was chosen for his pedigree — he has designed more than 70 courses in the United States and was the 2010 World Disc Golf Champion. According to Park and Recreation Director Tom Moorman, he expects McCabe to have the design done by the end of March, with work to begin soon after.

He said the Ruxer property is an ideal location for disc golf. Though flooding is an issue a couple of times a year, it will have little impact on the overall playability of the course. Moorman noted that one of McCabe’s courses is underwater at least three times a year. As soon as the water recedes, players walk back on the course.

Also, the disc golf course won’t require as much upkeep as the golf course did. According to Moorman, the parks department will likely only mow along the cart paths, in the tee boxes and on the greens. “Everything else we’ll leave wild like the Parklands,” he said.

“We did that last year and it was really beautiful out there,” he added.

Moorman is excited about what the new course will offer in regard to recreation opportunities for residents. But, he noted that these types of attractions have potential economic impacts as well. Hosting the 2022 Professional Disc Golf Association Amateur Disc Golf World Championships brought in hundreds of players in the Princeton and Evansville area last year.

Moorman said plans are underway to renovate the pro shop building to become a rentable facility that could be shared with the Jasper Volunteer Fire Department for special uses.

To support the project, the Jasper Mayor’s Youth Council plans on repairing and renovating two bridges on the course as their 2022-23 project.

The Youth Leadership Council took on the project as they discussed ideas that would be attractive to youth in the area. “We wanted to make sure our project targeted youth,” Isabella Harmon, communications chair for the Youth Council, said.

The group was looking at the city’s parks and considering ideas to either reconfigure or add to the existing facilities. During the spitballing sessions, developing a skate park was heavily considered. “We really wanted to do a skate park but I think once we got those numbers back and saw how much it would actually cost…we really began to look at what else we could do,” Izzy Gaug, fundraising chair for the group, said.

As the conversations continued with the parks department though, Moorman brought them the idea of taking on the two bridges. The bridges provide a connection over a ditch to the back nine holes of the golf course.

“By repairing the bridges, it adds another half mile to the Riverwalk,” Harmon said.

You can regularly find people walking the accessible cart paths now.

Repairs on the bridges include sandblasting the steel trusses and stringers and then repainting them. They will also replace the warped and rotted wood decking on both bridges with composite planks to prevent rotting.

The council will work with the parks department and other groups to sandblast and paint the steel frame. At this point, the group is still putting together a 3D model of their design to present to groups and businesses to fund the project. However, with early estimates on the project putting the cost between $7,000 and $10,000, they are trying to expand their marketing reach.

To do so, the Youth Leadership Council is hosting an 80s-themed fun run on the Riverwalk on March 10, 2023. The public is invited to stop by the Ruxer Golf Course parking lot after 5:30 p.m. to participate in the fun or get a bite to eat from the food trucks.

The course departs the parking lot and heads about a mile up the Riverwalk before turning around and coming back to the parking lot. Participants are encouraged to revisit their favorite 80s fashion — tracksuits, fanny packs, leg warmers, acid wash denim jackets, pegged pants, shoulder pads, curled bangs, giant sweaters, neon colors, and ripped jeans (did those ever go away?).

Registration for runners, walkers, and strollers is $15; ten and under are free to participate.

“I’m so excited about crimping my hair,” Gaug said, adding she will complete her ensemble with a tracksuit and fanny pack. “But really, I am looking forward to this being something different. It’s not like every Friday I get to go out and dress up, eat great food and see all these people having fun.”

Harmon said she was looking forward to the community supporting the project. She feels like the event will help inform the public about the Youth Leadership Council’s contributions to the community. So far, they have worked to create two murals — the Bubble Mural near the River Center and the Community Tree Mural on the side of the Dubois County Museum — and the new welcome sign installed on the north side of Jasper.

Along with the run, the council has a five-and-a-half hour 80s playlist they’ve put together that will be streamed in the Ruxer Course parking lot for participants and visitors to the food trucks — Taco El Llano, Kona Ice and Emerald Greens have committed to being there.

To support the council’s work to update and repair the bridges as part of the disc golf course project, you can contact them on Facebook here. Here is the registration/waiver form, but it can be completed on the evening of the event.