The City of Ravenna’s Parks & Recreation Department is introducing a new recreational sport for residents to participate in, holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony to launch the City’s first outdoor disc golf course at Chestnut Hills Park at 130 North Chestnut Street last Wednesday afternoon.
“It is always great to bring new opportunities for Ravenna and all the surrounding communities,” Ravenna Parks & Recreation Director Chris Bundy said. “We are always trying to find opportunities to get more people outdoors and getting more people active. Getting this new opportunity, it is big, we are excited about it.”
In attendance was Mayor Frank Seman, Ravenna Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Ryann Cline and District Outreach Representative River Kale from the office of Congressman David Joyce, who presented the Ravenna Parks & Recreation Department with an official Certificate of Recognition of Achievement for successfully renovating the property into a fully-fledged disc golf course.
Like the regular game of golf, disc golf follows the same rules, with the differences being that instead of hitting golf balls, players hurl modified discs in the direction of a basket. Bundy acknowledged that like golf, the sport of disc golf allows players to have a variety of discs at their disposal, just like the different golf clubs a golfer uses.
The new disc golf course is located on the site of an old par three golf course at Chestnut Hills Park. According to Bundy, upon his first visit to the site in September 2025 when he started at the Ravenna Parks & Recreation Department, he saw the potential to transform the property into a disc golf course.
Having overseen the development of two-disc golf courses over the course of his career in Parks & Recreation Departments and running several disc golf tournaments, Bundy knows the steps associated with building such a facility.
He noted that the property had been vacant for several years and had grown a large number of trees, so the Ravenna Parks & Recreation Department did not need to make too many modifications to the site. Bundy added that the Ravenna Parks & Recreation Department’s goal was to utilize the slopes, hills, bushes and trees and install holes around them.
The new disc golf course will consist of nine different holes, with eight of them being par threes, with the second hole a par four. There will also be a practice tee located at the beginning of the course.
Bundy said that the disc golf course presents a new outdoor activity of entertainment for all families no matter the ages.
“The older you get, the stronger you are and the more form you have, the further you can throw. It is not specific to anyone in particular. If we can get a lot of people out here to use it, the more people who try it out, the more will get hooked on it,” he added.
To develop the City’s first outdoor disc golf course, Bundy said that the Ravenna Parks & Recreation Department secured a grant from the Northeast Ohio Disc Golf Alliance which funded the purchase of signage for the course, including a sign at the beginning of the course outlining the route to each hole as well as the distance required to throw a hole in one.
Bundy said that the Ravenna Parks & Recreation Department’s goal is to introduce the younger generation to the sport and hope it catches on.
“We are trying to get more kids involved in what we are doing, especially with the sports here and disc golf. We could do a tournament here, but it is a smaller course. Normally they want to play 18 holes but we can modify that and do some fun tournaments here — a Halloween event or other things like that,” he said.
He added that the Ravenna Parks & Recreation Department could install more outdoor disc golf courses around the area, as there are other existing properties that are good fits for such a course, like the newly acquired Sunbeau Valley Farm.
“We have a lot of other locations in town that we could squeeze some holes in but for now this is a great start for us. We can see how it works and how it takes off and go from there,” he said.
