LA RAZA WILL BE CLOSED FOR PLAY ON 4/17!

Hello Disc Golfers, Here’s the latest on what’s happening at Hellyer….

Course Workday on Saturday February 28th.  8am to 2pm
We will be mowing, weed whacking, cleaning up the toyons and adding rock around some of the tee pads to mitigate the mud. We need you help in keeping the course playable. Bring out your mowers, weed whackers and a friend this Saturday to lend a hand in cleaning up OUR course.
Please note that the course will be CLOSED on Saturday February 28th from 8am -2pm.

The Stairway to Hellyer is close to being a reality!
We’ve engaged Eagle Scout candidate Jon Gubler to take on the project….
We’ve designed the step layout and locations….
We’ve held tournaments and sold discs to raise the funds for the materials…
We’ve cleared the project with the County Parks team…
We’ve set the date to start the installation….
Now it’s time to go to work!

We will start the installation of steps on Holes #2, #4 and #5 on March 7th.
We are looking for more volunteers to help out with the installation. Come show your support for Disc Golf at Hellyer Park by helping to build the Stairway to Hellyer.
Please note that the course will be CLOSED on Saturday March 7th .

LaRaza Opens April 1st
We will be holding Course Workdays at LaRaza on March 21st and March 28th to get the course ready for the reopening on April 1st. Please come out with your mowers and weed whackers to help prep the course.

Silicon Valley Classic – May 30th
The SVDGC will be holding our fist PDGA Tournament on Saturday May 30th.
SVDGC Board Members Mark Serotta and Bill Sherman are the TD’s for the event and are busy getting sponsors and making plans to make this a great event. Download the flyer and register today.

I will try send out updates periodically to keep the club members up to date on what’s happening at the Hellyer and LaRaza courses.  You can also keep up to date by visiting our Google group site at http://groups.google.com/group/svdgc or the club website at http://www.svdgc.org

If you wish to be taken off the mailing list just reply to this email with the word unsubscribe in the subject line and I’ll remove you from the list.

See you on the course…
Smitty

Dear Discoids,

It’s that time of year to renew and elect.  The Annual Meeting is scheduled for Saturday, December 15th at 9AM at the world headquarters of the Club, 3880 S. Bascom Avenue #115, San Jose, CA, 95124.  Nominations for a position on the Board of Directors will be taken right up to the time of the meeting.
If you are unable to attend the Meeting, a proxy is enclosed so that your vote can be counted.  Please send in your renewal together with your proxy if you can not be there in person.

We’re introducing a new feature to your membership.  In addition to the Club mini, each year we’ll issue a Club Bag Tag that can be used for competitive “challenges” with your fellow disc golfers at Hellyer/LaRaza.  The bag tags are numbered sequentially starting at number 1 and go through number 100.
Bag tags are to be displayed and challenges are not to be denied!  Enjoy the art work of our resident artist, Jef Wind of Bad Monkey Designs.  Bag tags will be sent out to new and renewing members at the start of the year.

Speaking of the new year, we’ve scheduled the long awaited and somewhat delayed 1st Annual Coyote Creek Classic on January 5th & 6th.  There will be Singles on Saturday and Doubles on Sunday for both Open and Amateurs.  We’ll bring the LaRaza course out of storage to kick off the new year, and unfortunately, put it back in storage at the conclusion of the tournament on Sunday.  This event is Pre-Registration only!!!!  We want to beat the clock to get done before sundown, so, you must register and pay by Friday, January 4th for Singles and by Saturday, January 5th for Doubles!!!!  There will be no same day registration and the gates at LaRaza will open at 7:15 AM.

Check out the web site at svdgc.org to keep up with the latest news of the Club.  A great thanks goes to Steve Ganz for his continuing work on the site.  You can utilize PayPal for your convenience to renew memberships, enter tournaments or contribute donations!

It’s been a banner year for disc golf in the Silicon Valley with the opening of our seasonal course at Parque de LaRaza.  Thanks again to our monetary and labor sponsors for making it a reality.  Wait till you see how we’re going to lengthen the course for next year!

In the meantime, we’re having a workday on Saturday, December 1st from 10AM to 2 PM.  Help us keep Hellyer clean and beautiful and bring some work gloves and a friend.  Pizza will be served at noon!

See you at the course.

IT’S PARTY TIME!!!

Mark your calendars for our 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION, Saturday, October 6th and Sunday, October 7th. We’re recognizing 10 years of disc golf at Hellyer Park with a full agenda of disc golf activities: The Ace Race on Saturday at Hellyer and Doubles Tournament (pick your partner- worst throw) on Sunday at LaRaza. Pre-registration is a must for the Ace Race! Everybody plays with the same Discraft sponsored disc and it’s tee shots only. No upshots and no putting, just a throw for the ace and you’re on to the next basket. Everything will be in the short positions. Check our web site, svdgc.com to register! $20.00 gets you 2 discs, a hat, a mini disc and entry to the Ace Race. The Doubles event entry fee will determined at a later date.

Both days will also feature a Barbeque at LaRaza along with some fun filled group activities at LaRaza (closest to the pin, closet to the pin-roller, mini disc golf course tourney, ring of fire, etc.). We’ve got photos in the archives to show what it was like in the beginning and how we’ve progressed thru the years. We’ll have a showing of the 1978 World Frisbee Championships (there’s a segment on disc golf). We’ll have a special stamp disc and t-shirt and a whole lot of fun.

We need Your Support in making this memorable weekend a Success. A Party Planning Committee is needed and we’re asking You to help. We’re scheduling a meeting for Sunday, September 9th, 7 PM, at the world headquarters of the Silicon Valley Disc Golf Club, 3880 S. Bascom Avenue, #115, San Jose, CA 95124. If you’re unable to attend that particular night and want to take part in helping, please contact Jim Challas at 408-802-1074.

IT’S TOURNAMENT TIME!!!

Mark your calendars for the Hellyer-LaRaza Tournament, Saturday, November 3rd for Singles and Sunday, November 4th for Doubles. This is the real deal returning again to humble the best disc golfers in northern California and beyond. This will be our 6th event we’ve conducted utilizing both of our 9 hole courses. We need a Tournament Committee to help plan and execute this event. We’re scheduling a Tournament Committee meeting for Sunday, September 23rd, 7PM, at the aforementioned world headquarters.

As a reminder, we’re scheduled to close LaRaza’s nine holes for regular season play after October 15. We’re required to pull the baskets and tee signs out of LaRaza (it’s in the flood plain) because the “high flow” season starts mid-October and lasts to mid-April. We’ll always have our beloved Hellyer to play year round.

See you at the course!

IT’S OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL!!! After 10 years in existence the Club has finally been granted permission to EXPAND THE COURSE at Hellyer Park. The County Supervisors voted to approve the Master Plan for Coyote Creek and we are a small, but, significant part of that plan. With permission granted we ’re going to be able to utilize the Parque de LaRaza group picnic area from mid-April through mid-October.!!!

For those of you that don’t know where LaRaza is, it’s directly across the creek from our current location. THE MOST IMPORATANT THING TO REMEMBER IS THAT NOBODY IS TO EVER CROSS THE CREEK TO GET TO LARAZA AS IT WILL JEOPARDIZE OUR USE OF THAT AREA. If you ever see any disc golfer trying to get to LaRaza via crossing the creek, STOP THEM IN THEIR TRACKS. It’s a less than 5 minute drive to get to LaRaza and the entrance is off Coyote Road. Everybody arrives via automobile at our current location and there’s a paved parking lot at LaRaza. DO NOT CROSS THE CREEK AND DON’T LET ANY DISC GOLFER CROSS THE CREEK OR IT’S HISTORY FOR OUR USE OF LARAZA!!!

Now for the details of the expansion. We’re SEEKING DONATIONS TO PURCHASE THE NECESSARY MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT. YOUR DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE AS WE ARE A 501C3 ORGANIZATION WITH THE IRS!!

We’re projecting a need of $9,000 to establish nine baskets with 2 pin locations, tee pads and the signage that goes with the course. We’ve established three levels of major sponsorship: Platinum for $1,000, Gold for $500 and Silver for $250.00. Major sponsors will have their name on a sponsor board at LaRaza. ALL DONORS OF ANY DOLLAR AMOUNT WILL RECEIVE A SPECIAL STAMP MINI MARKER DISC.

There may be 1 or more donors comprising a single sponsorship at the major level. The Silver level sponsor will receive a special stamp mini marker and special design t-shirt or mini markers and t-shirts if there are multiple donors. The Gold level sponsor(s) will receive a mini marker(s), t-shirt(s) and special stamp disc(s). The Platinum sponsor will receive a mini marker(s), t-shirts(s), disc(s) and their name on the tee sign for the hole that they have sponsored.

The Club has established the convenience of PayPal to make your donations. There is a postage paid envelope in this mailing and you can send in your donations through the mail or go to the web site. First come, first served for the privilege of getting your name in immortality at LaRaza. Keep your eye on the web site to track our progress in reaching our goal!!!

There’s a WORKDAY for Hellyer on Saturday, March 31, 10AM to 2PM. We’ll post workday info for LaRaza as our budget develops the money to proceed. SEE YOU AT THE COURSE!!!

There’s lots of news to report and the first item is a change in the date of the Annual Meeting. The Board of Directors, in a meeting in September, moved the date of the Annual Meeting to mid-December from the first weekend of February. With that in mind, the date of the Annual Meeting will be Saturday, December 16, 2006 at 9AM at 3880 S. Bascom Avenue, #115, San Jose, CA.

There is a Proxy Statement included in this mailing. Do not name yourself in the proxy. The proxy is used when you are unable to attend the meeting and you assign your vote to another person who will attend. It’s very important to get your proxy statement in so that we can establish a quorom.

You should all have your SVDGC t-shirts by now and if you don’t, let us know. Upon renewal this year you’ll receive a limited edition SVDGC marker mini. The mini has the SVDGC basket logo and says Hellyer Park on the stamp. Just “show us” the renewal money (by sending it in) and your mini will come flying through the mail along with a 10% disc-count card from Mel Cotton’s Sporting Goods for disc related purchases. Membership has its privileges!

We’re conducting a tournament at Parque de La Raza on Saturday, December 9 and Sunday, December 10. It’ll be singles on Saturday and doubles on Sunday. Pre-registration can be done by contacting Tournament Director Bill Sherman at bill@easternfurniture.com. Come try the challenge of La Raza.

And speaking of Parque de La Raza, it appears that we’ll be able to establish a semi-permanent course at La Raza during the “low flow” season from mid-April through mid-October. That’s right, if all goes well with the environmental report and public hearings scheduled for late this year and early next year, we’ll be playing at La Raza this summer!!!!

The long range plan calls for a new 18 hole course near the Highway #101 exit at Coyote Creek Golf Club in south county. The area is known as Perry’s Hill. When Perry’s Hill comes on-line in about 7 – 10 years we’ll vacate La Raza as it is in a flood plain. We’ll always have our existing 9 holes at Hellyer and for the next 7 – 10 years we’ll have the use of La Raza during the summer!

See you at the course.

WE NEED YOU to show up for the Public Hearing of the Santa Clara County Park & Recreation Board. The time is 6:30 on WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7th. The location is 70 West Hedding Street, San Jose. The Commissioner’s of the Park & Recreation Board will be render their decision on a proposal that the Club presented at the Hearing in May. The proposal: we want to lease the LaRaza group picnic area on an annual basis to establish a nine hole disc golf course. We would lease this area until the Park & Rec Department develops a new setting for a disc golf course in south County. The new setting is off Highway #101 near the Coyote Creek Golf (ball) Course. However, this new area, called Perry’s Hill, won’t be ready for development for another 7 – 10 years. Eventually, the LaRaza group picnic area will be no more as the Department will turn it back into a natural area as it is in the flood plain of Coyote Creek. When the new area is ready we will vacate LaRaza. We’ll always have the original nine at Hellyer and that will stay when we begin developing the new course of 18 baskets.

Speaking of LARAZA, there’s a TOURNAMENT this weekend of MAY 20 &21. We’ve rented out the site and we’ll have a singles event on Saturday and a doubles event on Sunday. There’s a paved parking lot, bathrooms, running water and picnic tables for our use. The course is extremely challenging and fun to play. The LaRaza group area is off Coyote Road just east of the freeway. From the Hellyer original course it’s about 2 miles to drive to LaRaza.

ENCLOSED you’ll find a business card from Mel Cotton’s Sporting Goods. There’s a stamp on the back of the card to show that you’re a member of the Club. Present this specially stamped card and you’ll get a “DISC”-COUNT on disc golf merchandise while shopping at Mel Cottons. Thank you Gavin McClements for this membership perk.

Thanks again to TORY JAMISON for leading the charge to acquire a RIDING LAWN MOWER for the Club. Hellyer has never looked better. THANKS are also in order to STEVE GANZ for establishing and maintaining the discussion board at Google as well as maintaining the web site.

See you at the course!

Greetings! Tis the season for play at our green pastures in San Jose. With a little rain and before the “grass” turns into two feet high weeds, it’s time to enjoy the disc golf experience at Hellyer Park. And just in case you’d like to go beyond the realm of being a player-only type, we’re offering the opportunity for you to help out on our WORKDAY-SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31ST, 10AM TO 2 PM, WITH PIZZA AT NOON !!! We’re going to plant some trees and bushes, do some weed whacking, rebuild some of the rock walls, repair and rebuild some of the protective screens around the Toyon bushes, pick-up of wood debris and various other clean-up type projects on the course. Bring some work gloves and appropriate tools if you have them. Also, bring a friend!

Speaking of bringing it for a non-playing activity, how about being present at our ANNUAL MEETING, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4TH, 2006, 9 AM. The meeting place is our world headquarters at 3880 S. Bascom Avenue, #115, San Jose, CA, 95124. And just in case you can’t be physically present for the meeting, enclosed you’ll find a PROXY statement. You give your vote, via the proxy statement, to someone who will be present at the Annual Meeting.
If you give your proxy (vote) to someone else before the Meeting and then you are able to make the Meeting, then you get your vote and the proxy is cancelled. Please FILL OUT the PROXY and RETURN it with your annual MEMBERSHIP DUES.

And we’ve had some good speakers and excellent attendance by Hellyerites at various Public Hearings and Public Meetings that have been held regarding the rework of the Master Plan for Coyote Creek. The Club, via its members present at these meetings, has publicly expressed a desire for the EXPANSION of the course to the PARQUE DE LA RAZA group picnic area, which is along the Coyote Creek right of way. There will be future Public Meetings and Hearings and the best way to keep informed for this and other non-playing activities is through our discussion group at Yahoo.com.

SCOTT VAN TYLE has been the MODERATOR for the Yahoo discussion group and deserves a big thanks for his time spent in opening and keeping this communication tool available so that we’re all informed on an up to the minute basis as to disc golf locally and globally. Many thanks are also in order for the effort by JEF WIND in handling the Club T-SHIRT PROJECT from artwork conception to delivering the final product for issuance to the members. Please let us know if you have not received your official Club T-Shirt. STEVE GANZ continues his work in progress for the CLUB WEBSITE at svdgc.org and we all say thank you for your expertise in displaying our e-message on the goodness of our game.

See you at the course!

It’s been an up and down and then up again year for disc golf at the friendly confines of Hellyer Park. There was hope that we’d open the long awaited illusive front nine, but, those hopes were dashed in the spring when we were informed by the County Park & Rec staff that the City of San Jose had “taken back some land that they owned” and that land grab by the City eliminated about 3 of the baskets on the front nine. Not a good development. Furthermore, the County Park & Rec staff wants us in the near future to remove the 2 baskets on the grassy area by the lake that are numbers 1 & 2 because the County’s going to build a structure in that vicinity and they wanted to avoid a mixing of disc golf with the general public. Not a good development. So, after working for over 6 years to get to the point of being ready to finally finish out the original plan of an 18 basket course during the “dry” season, we were getting short-changed in a matter of months.

The Board of Directors this past summer decided to present a proposal to the City of San Jose as to developing a disc golf course at Kelly Park. In September, the Board visited the site at the edge of Kelly Park in the old orchard and liked what they saw. Currently, we’re in the process of assembling pictures from the early days of play at Hellyer Park through the present to tell the story of all the different kinds of people that play the game of disc golf. We’ll be able to put together a PowerPoint Presentation through the pictures and text to show the work that’s been done to improve the land and the lives in our community. We look to have a proposal ready for presentation to the City of San Jose by the first part of 2005.

Meanwhile, we just received a call from the County Park & Rec with some potentially exciting news re disc golf at Hellyer Park. The County is reviewing and renewing its Master Plan along Coyote Creek with a push to have more creek crossings. One of the crossings would link to the other side of Coyote Creek at the La Raza Group Picnic Area! The La Raza area is directly across Coyote Creek from our existing nine baskets. And for those of you that played in the special monthly disc golf tournament in November at La Raza, you’re probably drooling over the thought that our other nine baskets could be at La Raza!! La Raza has a paved parking lot, bathrooms, water fountains and picnic tables. But, most importantly, La Raza is one of the most fun and challenging courses in northern Califonia. In 2005 we’ll be having some more events at La Raza to include some monthly tournaments as well as some special Doubles Events on a Sunday following the Saturday monthly.

Check out the web site at www.svdgc.org. Steve Ganz has been doing a great job in developing the site and we’re fortunate to have his services helping the Club. We’ll be developing an extensive web site library of “official”
documents that’ll include the Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws of the Silicon Valley Disc Golf Club, the Revised Negative Declaration of the Environmental Impact Study (our guiding operating document) for disc golf at Hellyer Park, correspondence with the County Park & Rec re the development of the course at Hellyer, copies of the Annual Use Permit and much more.

There will be work days in 2005 on the last Saturday of the months of January, February and March. The Annual Meeting of the Silicon Valley Disc Golf Club will take place on Saturday, February 5th, 2005. The Meeting will start at 9 AM at 3880 South Bascom Avenue, Suite #115, San Jose, CA 95124.
If you are a CURRENT DUES PAYING MEMBER, YOUR PROXY IS INCLUDED IN THIS MAILING. PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR CURRENT DUES FOR THE UPCOMING YEAR ALONG WITH YOUR PROXY. IF YOU SHOW UP AT THE MEETING YOUR PROXY WILL BE RETURNED TO YOU.

See you at the Annual Meeting and see you at the course.

BOD SVDGC

Thanks for all your help in 2003! We’ve installed some hillside RAILINGS, planted lots of BUSHES and TREES, provided BENCHES for most of the tee areas and created something somewhat original that we’re calling “BAG TREES”. Hellyer Park Disc Golf has never looked so good.

The ANNUAL MEETING and ELECTION is scheduled for SATURDAY, JANUARY 31ST @ 9AM. The location is 3880 S. Bascom Avenue #115, San Jose, CA 95124. It’s going to be a busy day as we’re scheduled to ALSO have a WORK DAY FROM 10:30 AM TO 2 PM. See you at one or both of the venues.

BEN MEYER has put in a great year of help with his directing/conducting of the DOUBLES LEAGUE on Thursday evenings during the spring and summer. When the sun starts to shine most of the day again we’ll be back at the League, probably towards the end of April.

JASON FAUTH, BEN MEYER & JIM CHALLAS were the inspired WATERING CREW who spent a lot of their summer and fall Saturday mornings providing water to all the trees, bushes and vines that have been planted over the years. The watering-guys look forward to recruiting some additional muscle for next summer’s watering and ask that anybody with a guilt complex contact us about the beginning of May.

Thanks are also due to ERIC STACKNICK & STEVE GANZ for their continuing efforts in directing/conducting of the MONTHLY TOURNAMENT that occurs on the 2 Saturday of every month. Our financial survival depends largely on the efforts of these dedicated players/workers.

As we go forward into 2004 there is the very real possibility that we’ll be able to open the long awaited FRONT NINE. In September we had a meeting on-site at Hellyer Park with the Park & Recreation Department and plans for the expansion were discussed. We’re going to tweak the BRIDGE design and get the O.K. from the P&R Dept. and proceed to concurrently present our plans to the necessary agencies involved in the creek crossing: SANTA CLARA VALLEY WATER DISTRICT, STATE FISH & GAME & U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE. If we can gain the various agency approvals for the temporary pedestrian bridge, then we can SET-UP the bridge in MID-APRIL and REMOVE it in MID-OCTOBER. Good luck to us and get your wallets ready.

See you at the course!