Ledgestone TD Nate Heinold is happy to announce that Kennel Lake will be added back to the Course Schedule mix for the 2020 Discraft Ledgestone Insurance Open. This is the second announcement in our series of announcements for the Ten Days of Ledgestone. Kennel Lake Sportsmen’s Club is located in Morton, IL and was first featured in the 2015 Ledgestone event. At that time, the course was a temporary course with rubber pads and Discraft Chainstar baskets. The course was received well but a permanent course was not pursued at that time.
After the 2019 PDGA Pro Worlds was finished, Nate approached Kennel Lake about the possibility of putting in a permanent course. The club was definitely interested, but funding was going to be challenging. With the generous support of Discraft, Ledgestone Insurance and the club itself, an agreement was made where all three of those entities would support the project and a permanent course would be installed. The course will feature brand new Discraft Chainstar Pro baskets, turf tee pads and full color signs. The course will have a member layout and then a tournament layout, which will feature two longer tee pads and approximately 4 alternate basket locations. The distance of the course will be between 6,000’ and 7,000’, which will depend on if the course is in the member or tournament layout. The lake will come into play on the last 4 holes and will be one of the best finishing stretches in the area. The tournament layout will feature 5 par 4’s. In addition, the course will include some wooded holes. The course was designed by Nate Heinold and Kip Taufer. “It’s an honor to work with Nate and Kennel Lake on this project. It’s been awesome to see the growth of the sport in Central Illinois,” said Taufer. Readers may recognize Taufer’s name, as he was one of the lead designers for Northwood Gold. Taufer also built and designed Westwood Park just down the road.
The Kennel Lake Board of Directors and President Kevin Wilson released the following statement about the course. “The Kennel Lake Sportsmen’s Club Board of Directors is excited to have a permanent 18 hole disc golf course installed on the grounds. The feedback from the players in the 2015 Ledgestone tournament gave the Board of Directors insight into how special a permanent course would be on the property. In addition to fishing, camping and swimming, this new disc golf course will give our members yet another activity to enjoy at Kennel Lake. We are excited to partner with Nate Heinold and Kip Taufer in making this course a reality and being part of the 2020 Discraft Ledgestone Insurance Open.” Anyone interested in becoming a member can visit Kennel Lake’s website.
“As we looked to the future with Ledgestone we wanted to add one additional course that was not focused solely in the woods. During heavy rains some of our wooded courses become unplayable (Wildlife and Westwood), and we felt it was important to add one more course to the mix that was less wooded,” said Heinold. Even though the course will feature some wooded holes, the elevation will be minor and the wooded holes will be shorter. Only one of the par 4’s will go into the woods, and that will only be for the last 200’ of the hole. The layout will draw on what was used for the 2015 Ledgestone layout, with adjustments based on the desire to stay out of the camping areas of the park. Kennel Lake is a private club but members can bring guests onto the property.
The course will be able to be used and open to the public for approximately two tournaments per year, including the Ledgestone event. During the event and practice times for the event, players will be able to play the course for free. Kennel Lake is 100% behind the course and is very excited to see their beautiful property add disc golf. Kennel Lake will also be grilling out and offering food during Ledgestone week. We expect the course to be fully done and playable in late spring 2020. We expect to host a “Disc Golf at Kennel Lake Day” in the spring to give people a chance to test the course out before the final pin locations are put in the ground.
The tentative course schedule for the 2020 Ledgestone will be released soon! The 10th Annual Discraft Ledgestone Insurance Open will take place August 13th through 16th.
