$660K in upgrades, 18-hole disc golf course to ‘activate’ this long-quiet Boise park

Back in the OG days of Boise, I would haul a flying-disc target made out of an old car tire, PVC pipe and chains to Veterans Memorial Park.

Meeting up with other disc golf dudes, I’d help create our own temporary Augusta. We’d transport our homemade baskets to other parks, too, but tree-packed Veterans was a uniquely fun challenge. Also, there was hardly anyone else there.

Decades later, I can chuck that Goodyear eyesore into the landfill.

A permanent, 18-hole disc golf course is part of an estimated $660,000 in upgrades coming to the 78-acre park. Concrete tee pads, signs and professional-quality baskets could be installed as soon as summer 2025.

It’s one of the major improvements in a proposed master plan update to the park, which is located at Veterans Memorial Parkway and State Street. The other new features are a nature play area, a shaded plaza, better lighting and safety enhancements.

The vision will be presented to the Boise Parks and Recreation Commission on May 15 at Boise City Hall, followed by public comment afterward, if there is any.

“We have the money to do this now,” Parks and Rec Director Doug Holloway told me. “So we’re going to get it done.”

‘It really was time’

My public comment? A grateful “Hell, yeah!” This is something that one of Boise’s best-known but quieter parks has needed for, like, ever.

“It is a park that hasn’t had any significant upgrades in the last several decades,” Holloway agreed. “It really was time.”

There’s only one other 18-hole disc golf course in Boise — at larger Ann Morrison Park. It gets slammed with recreational players. A second 18-hole course at Veterans should help relieve pressure.

At its core, Veterans Park is intended to be a relatively passive area. There are memorials there, after all. But there’s an argument to be made that it’s too serene. Boise doesn’t have the luxury of offering massive, empty parks for mostly enjoying a whole lot of nothing. Not anymore. Not in a growing city that’s essentially void of potential new park space.

“Adding (the) amenities we’re adding will create more users in the park,” Holloway said. “Which is a good thing. Which is what we want to see.

“But there’s also nothing wrong with passive spaces. People enjoy those just as much.”

Sorry, meditation fans. I don’t exactly whisper when my disc gets stuck in a tree.

Speaking of screams, the air definitely will be filled with joy at Veterans Park. An energetic play area packed with boulders and stumps to climb? That will be a blast for the kiddo crowd.

The upgrades are the result of a survey and open house conducted with area residents. That’s why a covered, brick plaza with benches is coming, too. And more security measures.

‘Monthly’ visitors

That city’s exchange of ideas with residents also revealed that most visitors to Veterans Park come monthly, Holloway said.

Not daily. Not weekly. Monthly.

Upgrades won’t cause Veterans to turn into Times Square suddenly. Without softball fields, splash pads and ragingly popular pickleball courts, there’s little danger of that.

Still, Veterans Memorial Park will feel more legit. More modern and welcoming.

More Boise.

“It’ll be activated more than what it is, currently,” Holloway said.

If things go according to plan, our new toys could start to be installed by summer or fall of 2025. (At the earliest.) Keep your fingers crossed.

And if you notice a car-tire disc golf basket in the rough? Over toward the Boise River? For a special “water throw”?

That’ll be my donation. Call it hole 19.

This story was originally published May 4, 2023 at 4:00 AM.