brianb: Cement tee pads at the Timberbeast
- Just got off the phone with Ralph up in Troy and it looks like they have secured funding for cement tee pads. The funding is coming from a memorial fund set up for a young man from Troy who recently died in a drunk driving incident but who loved the course and the family wanted to do something to help out the course in his memory. They are going to try to "beat" Bozeman and get them in before Oct. 11th (they were really excited to be the first course in the state with them, but oh well...), but realistically they expect them to be around the end of Oct. or so. I'll post more when I know more.
What an exciting time to be a DG'er in MT!!!!!!!
Smokey: Wow
- Will the course be renamed? It is great to see such a small community believe in a growing sport so much that they would consider placing a permanent course with tee-pads in their community!
Derf1: Crete!!
- Troy and surrounding is a community of people who believe in and have wittnessed disc golf be a positive outlet for people in the area...this is what it takes for disc golf to be successful and grow...Troy will hopefully get the ball rolling on some of these other towns in MT, to put in some crete!!...Keep it up!!
brianb:
- Due to factors out of Ralph's control, the instalation of the cement tee pads will not happen until April or May of 2009. He has assured me that it will happen, but that it has been put off a little bit.
Also, the camping area behind the baseball fields will be improved next spring, too. Part of the area used to be used for a mud truck rally every year, but due to the dwindling support for that and the HUGE bluegrass festival that will be held there each year, the City of Troy has decided to improve the area by leveling it out, seeding it with good grass, and possibly adding sprinklers and more trees. Sounds like this will all be done before the Timberbeast Challenge next year so that we can enjoy it, too.
Hing Kyzer:
- I need to move to Troy, some committed disc golfers living and sticking around up there. Great news, way to go Ralph.
Got to play the new pads in Troy this weekend. They are nice!! They did a good job finishing them so that they are pretty smooth, but will still hold traction when they're wet.
I think my wife and I will be visiting the Beast this weekend to get a practice round or two in. I am looking forward to the cement tee pads and am also guessing that the water is pretty high on Callahan Creek too 
I might have to go look at, and maybe practice, the throw over the Kootenai as well.
Calahan creek is just starting to rise, but still pretty low. Ralph is expecting it to be very high for the tourney as the spring run-off is just getting started up there.
Didn't look to see how high the Kootenai was, but that is controlled by a dam, not mother nature, so hard telling what that will look like come tourney time.
My wife and I got to play the Beast this weekend, the cement teepads are super nice and very well done. A super nice touch for sure. Callahan Creek's main channel was high but the side channel near holes 1 and 2 was dammed off and had very low flow. They must have just taken some gravel to the teepads to even up the sides because most had piles that needed to be raked and many pads needed to be swept, hole 11's teebox had glass smashed all over it, I picked up what I could and put it in the garbage can the was right next to the box but it needs to be swept. Also, the bottom of the pole on hole 10 is missing so the basket is literally sitting on the ground. Other than that the course played great, unfortunately I did not 
4 down with 4 stupid bogies, oh well. I can't wat for the tourney.
Ralph says that they will be pouring the first 9 tee pads this Wednesday at the Timberbeast. If the weather holds, they will be pouring the remaining 9 the following Wednesday. Sounds like the shop class from the Troy High School has been helping out a lot.
The city of Troy has been doing alot of work around Roosevelt park near where we camp. They have been clearing out and landscaping the area near the river by the yurt and turning it into a campground. They have already seeded it, so should be nice green grass and really nice camping by tourney time.
Ralph is running an after-school program at the Troy school and is using Disc Golf as part of the curriculum. Sounds like the number of kids playing up there is growing by leaps and bounds, so much so that there will be a youth only tourney 2 weeks before the Timberbeast so the kids can have their tourney, too.