Church turns land into disc haven

About seven years ago, congregation members at Austin Ridge Bible Church were looking to-repurpose the expansive back lot behind the church at 9300 Bee Cave Rd.

The problem was the terrain including a nearly 200-foot change in elevation didnt lend itself to traditional developments.

We thought it would be awesome to use the back lot of our property, Josh Thornton, the churchs director of facilities said. An original thought was some hike and bike trails, then when looking further at it was perfect for a disc golf course.

With the guidance of John Houck, arguably the father of Central Texas disc golf scene, the Austin Ridge Bible Church Disc Golf Course was born. An 18-hole course with two bonus holes, the narrow fairways and elevation changes provided a difficult challenge that attracts many of Central Texas' top disc golfers.

And thats the churchs goal provide a valuable public service on privately run land.

We dont have a ton of disc golfers in our congregation, Thornton said. It really was just the best plan of attack for that land.

On average 20 to 30 disc golfers play the course on weekdays, with that number spiking up to easily more than 100 on the weekends. Each of those rounds more than 300 a week wouldnt be possible without the work volunteers put in to build the course.

The biggest volunteer was Houck, who designed the course and worked closely with the church for free. Now with a vision in mind, members of the church and local disc golfers helped clear the land and built the fairways.

We did community work days and everybody pitched in, Thornton said. We sent out emails, and congregation members and the disc golf community responded and showed up for community work days.

The course construction also helped some local Boy Scouts complete their Eagle Scout projects. Scouts who eventually qualified for the orders highest honor installed all the hole signs, posts, baskets, four bridges and natural steps built into a hill on the course.

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Church turns land into disc haven