Adams Township's Temporary Disc Golf Course Is a Survey You Answer by Playing

On Tuesday, Sept. 22, Adams Township opened a three-hole disc golf course at Adams Township Community Park. Every hole is a par 3, and the course is set up for a six-week trial. The township has not published a removal date. Six weeks from Sept. 22 is Tuesday, Nov. 3, which leaves about a month of play as of early October.

The holes are small, but the way the township is measuring them is the interesting part. There is no online poll and no comment period. An information board at the course asks every visitor to scan a QR code each time they come out, and those scans are how the township gauges how often the course gets used and how much interest there is.

A survey with a parking lot

The idea came from residents first. Brian Perry, the township's parks and recreation director, told the Cranberry Eagle that residents kept coming in to ask about disc golf. He explained why the township put holes in the ground instead of sending out a form:

"We know it's been successful in some other municipalities, so we figured we'd see if it's something that our residents would like. Instead of just putting a questionnaire out there or a survey on the internet, we decided to put something tangible out there so people could come check it out and try to make their own judgments."

So an online survey would record what people say they want, and the trial records what they actually do. Someone who plays all three holes on a Saturday and skips the scan shows up nowhere in the count. Someone who tries it on the way back from the walking path and does scan shows up once. Township manager Mike Tylka tried the course himself in photos the township sent to the paper.

Here is what a visit that gets counted looks like, based on the township's instructions:

1. Park in the Splash Pad parking lot. The course sits behind it.
2. Find the information board. It explains the sport, the trial, and how to play.
3. Scan the QR code, and do it again on every later visit.
4. If you don't own a disc, borrow one of the loaner discs at the board.
5. Play the three par-3 holes during daylight, which is the only time the course is open.

If you have never thrown a disc, the township has posted a one-page How to Play guide next to the trial announcement on its disc golf page.

Three holes in a park that is less than half built

This test-first approach makes sense once you look at how much of the park is still open land. According to property records, Adams Township Community Park covers at least 266 acres. That includes 102 acres the township bought from the Wygal family estate in 2021. In a July profile in the Butler Eagle, Perry estimated the developed area at "probably less than half." He said the old Wygal dairy farm is now open land the township wants to turn into a conservation and preservation area.

The park has been built in layers. The township bought its first parcels from Karl Wirth in 1997 and opened the park in 2000. Over the next years it added playgrounds, the 1.3-mile walking path, baseball and softball fields, and pavilions built with help from the Rich-Mar Rotary. All-weather basketball and pickleball courts came later, and the Splash Pad opened in 2023. The park roads were repaved last year. This summer an octagonal gaga-ball pit opened on June 22. It was an Eagle Scout project by a local resident. There are now five pavilions and a multipurpose athletic field.

Perry described the planning approach in that same July interview:

"There's a lot of green space still out there in our park, but not every area of the park needs to be developed. I think a lot of people like the scenic and rural aspects of our park, so we don't want to build just to build. We want to plan for the future with things that people want."

The disc golf trial puts that approach into practice. A temporary course with loaner discs is a cheap way to find out whether people want something before any of the remaining acreage is committed to it. The township has not said what happens after the six weeks. Neither its page nor Perry's comments mention a permanent course, a hole count, or a budget, so for now the scan count is the only measure on record.

How the trial compares with the courses nearby

Disc golf isn't new to the area. The Cranberry Eagle lists established courses at Moraine State Park's Lakeview Beach section, North Boundary Park in Cranberry Township, Harcrest Park in Penn Township, and Alameda Park in Butler. Two of those are full-size layouts:

The table shows that full-size courses already exist in neighboring municipalities and at the state park. That means the Adams Township trial isn't testing whether people in the area like disc golf. It is testing whether there is enough demand to justify holes inside Adams Township's own park, close to the walking path, courts, and pavilions that people already use. Cranberry handles beginners with a separate six-hole Learn to Play course at North Boundary Park. With loaner discs at the board, the Adams Township course works as a beginner setup too, at least for the length of the trial.

Moraine is also hosting competitive play this month. The park held the PDGA Junior Disc Golf World Championships in July and is scheduled to host the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Championship on Oct. 10 and 11. If watching college players gets you curious about the sport, the closest place to try it, and to have that interest counted, is the three holes behind the Splash Pad lot.

The rest of the trial window

As of Oct. 4, the trial has run for 12 of its 42 days. With the Splash Pad closed for the season, a trip to that lot now is likely about the courts, the walking path, or the new holes. The basketball and pickleball courts stay open all year. Perry warned that winter play is "at your own risk," since the courts are often covered in snow. The disc golf course runs on daylight, and October days get shorter every week, so weekday evening rounds will keep getting squeezed until the trial ends around Nov. 3.

Some things are still unknown. The July profile said the park's event schedule for the rest of 2026 was undecided, though Halloween and Christmas events in October and December are usual. The township's online events list didn't show an October park event when we checked. The Butler Eagle's July park profile and the Cranberry Eagle's report on the trial are the best background if you want the full story from Perry.

What we do know is simple. There are three par-3 holes, a board with loaner discs, and a QR code the township wants scanned on every visit. Whatever gets planned for this park next will be based partly on that count.

I'm Chelsea, and I follow small decisions like this one because they shape what everyday life in the Mars area looks like a few years from now. If you have questions about how parks and amenities around Adams Township fit into your own plans, Chelsea Dolny is happy to talk it through. Let's Connect.