Creative Corner: Floating baskets

January 10, 2013 / P.J. / Leave a comment

By Darren Dolezel — Rattling Chains staff

It’s been a while since I got creative with disc golf. Finally, I found time to make something I had been wanting to do for a while.

With a lot of discussion about urban disc golf and where we could shoot, I started thinking about all the features in New York’s Central Park. I wanted to figure out where we might be able to put a basket.

Anyone up for a round of floating disc golf? (photo by Darren Dolezel)

One of the things that draws me to that magnificent park is all ponds and water. That made me wonder — how could I place a basket and get a full view of the famous boat house. Then it dawned on me — a floating basket.

After thinking about it for a week or two, I broke out some tools and went to work.

As frivolous as I can be at times, I like to create stuff out of junk as kind of a way to recycle. I took an old piece of plywood from the scrap pile and cut it to a measurement of 4 feet by 3 feet. I then drilled 16 holes around the outside edges, giving me a spot to push string through. That would give me the base and the ability to attach an inner tube.

However, I still had to find an inner tube big enough to pull this off. That turned out to be easier said than done.

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Creative Corner: Making a disc golf cart

May 30, 2012 / P.J. / Leave a comment

By Darren Dolezel — RattlingChains.com Staff

I’ve seen a few disc golf carts on the market, but spending upward of $300 on something like that is hard to justify. Especially considering I won’t use the cart all the time.

So, I set out to build an inexpensive alternative and came up with what I think is a winner.

The finished cart.

In the past, I’ve seen some local professionals using hand trucks modified as a cart, or an old fashioned red wagon as another cart. My thoughts were that they weren’t as functional as I wanted them to be.

I searched and searched for something I could convert and found a feed cart at Tractor Supply for about $60. It took me a good two months before I settled for this cart, but it turned out to be the cheapest cart with the most capacity.

The first thing I wanted on the cart was a seat, so I went to a local construction supply store and purchased a shop stool for $15. I modified that to fit the cart. After a trial run, it was nice, but I wanted a seat with a back for a little support.

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Creative Corner: Need a bag for your minis?

April 5, 2012 / P.J. / Leave a comment

Darren reverted back to his home ec classes to make a bag for mini disc golf.

As a disc golfer, I have slowly developed my skills by playing on a regular basis and learning all the discs in my bag and how they fly.

Nobody told me I’d have to do the same thing with minis.

Minis?

As if it wasn’t enough to play disc golf with regular discs, now I have to learn how to throw my mini?

These shorts made for good fabric to make a mini bag with.

I was recently invited to play some mini disc courses in Pennsylvania. After doing some YouTube research, I found some short movies on how to throw a mini. I also received some helpful advice from New Jersey-based professional Bob Graham.

Add those things together and I was able to throw the minis exceptionally far.

As a bit of a disc junkie, I have accumulated quite a few different minis. And they all seemed to do different things, so I got wondering — are there mini bags? I searched the internet and found some bags for minis, but most of them were plain and simple.

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