History of Hyzer Creek

• 2001
• Hole 9, December
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• 2002
• Hole 1, Jan-April
• Hole 2, April-May (with help from John Amo)
• Hole 3, May
• Hole 8, June-July 
• Hole 15, March-Aug (clearing trees, not graded yet) (with help from Adam Thomas, John Amo, and Greg Kurtz)
• Hole 12, July-Oct  (clearing 3 acres of woods, (thanks John Karklin and his logging company), installing tee and pin, not graded yet).  
• November, bulldoze parking lot and seed (thanks Mark Mincher and excavator)
• Hole 4, November-December
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• 2003
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• May, road bridge across Hyzer Creek at hole 9 to replace log bridge, also build road up hole 8, (thanks Mark Mincher and excavator).
• Hole 11, June (thanks for the help Greg Kurtz)
• Hole 13, July (thanks for help Greg Kurtz)
• Hole 15, Aug, pull stumps, grade and seed (thanks Mark Mincher for excavator work)
• Hole 14, summer (with more help from Kurtz)
• Hole 10, Sept-Oct  
•     First Battle of Saratoga November 2, 12 holes played 1,2,3,4, then 9-15, then 8.   Played 3 rounds of 12 = 36 holes
  • Twelve pins now installed of the "Stroke Saver" brand made by Stroke Saver Co. in Sugarland, Texas. Unfortunately, the owner of Stroke Saver died and his only employee Don Wilchek PDGA #1274 told me ChainStar pins by DisCraft were the most similar and have the sliding chain hanger at the top and extra deep baskets like Stroke Saver had. They are very similar and hard to even tell apart. So, 6 ChainStar pins by DisCraft were purchased. See below at 2006.
• 2004
• Hole 7, spring
• Hole 6, July
• Hole 5b, August (help from Bob Goodwin, Tim Ferrand and Bill Cooper)
• Hole 12, Sept, grade and seed (thanks Mark Mincher for grading 3 acres, pulling 1000 stumps and 5000 rocks. Amazing!!!)  
•     Second Battle of Saratoga October 4, with 15 holes, played 1-15 then repeat 7, 8, 9 for 18 holes, two rounds = 36 holes
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• 2005
• Hole 16, March
• Hole 17, spring
• Hole 18, summer
• Hole 5a, summer (help from Tim Jiardini and Greg Kurtz)                                         
•     Third Battle of Saratoga October 16, two rounds of 19 holes = 38 holes
• Hole 17, move tee pad behind the creek, December
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• 2006
• Hole 5, connect 5a and 5b, January (help from Kurt Waggoner, Mike Andrews, Tim Jiardini, and Greg Kurtz). Now course has only 18 holes.
• Hole 17, extend to new green on top of hill near 12 teepad, 655 feet, February. Course complete!!
  • After all was said and done, the 6 holes with ChainStar baskets wound up being 6, 7, 10, 13, 16, and 17. The other 12 holes have the original Stroke Savers.
•     April Showers 1, April 15, first PDGA sanctioned event. 18 holes two rounds, 51 players
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•     Fourth Battle of Saratoga, first PDGA sanctioned Battle. 18 holes two rounds, 44 players
• 2007
•  Make a new hole 17, 200-foot, par 3 hole (help from Greg K., Kurt W., Mike A., and Josh W.).
• Change tee pad for 14, same pin, called new 14.
•     April Showers 2, April 21, 18 holes 2 rounds, 66 players
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•     Fifth Battle of Saratoga, October 21, 61 players
• 2008
•     April Showers 3, April 19  
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•     Sixth Battle of Saratoga, October 18
• 2009
•     April Showers 4, April 25
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•     Seventh Battle of Saratoga, Oct 25
• 2010
•     April Showers 5, April 18
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•     Eighth Battle Of Saratoga, Sept 4       
• Install concrete tee pads on 1-9, 11, 14, 16 and 18 with help from Kenji Cline, Greg Kurtz, Tim Jiardini, Jeff Zipkin, Brian Drislane, Brian Lynch, and Jeff Wiechowski.
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• 2011
•     April Showers 6, April 30
• Install concrete tees on 10, 13, and old 17. See CONCRETE PADS
• Lengthen hole 15 to 544 feet and par 4
• Connect old 17 tee pad with new 17 fairway, to make new new 17, par 5 and 750 feet
•     Ninth Battle of Saratoga, October 31
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• 2012
• Change 17 again, this time shorten to a par 4, 625 feet, move pin to new location by 10 teepad, to make new new new 17.
•     April Showers 7, April
•     Tenth Battle of Saratoga, Sept. 22.
• 2013
•     April Showers 8, April 27
• Concrete tee for 15, 12 feet long
•     11th Battle of Saratoga
• 2014
•     April Showers 9
• Open a pro route on hole 9 so people can get a 2
•      12th Battle of Saratoga
•  2015--2022 many more showers and battles
•  2023 April
•      Hole 12 finally gets a concrete tee pad. 8 feet by 14 1/2 feet, With help from Jeff Wiechowski, Mike Schwartz, Brent Irving, Jim Fulmer, Karly Daly, Tyler Calzada, Liz Wright, Charles Gordon Jr., Andrew Chamberlaine,  Mike Zanchelli, and Seth Thomas.

This course was built by Morgan Wright with help from the above people. Thousands of trees had to be felled, hundreds of stumps pulled, roads built, buildings constructed, land bulldozed, etc. It was a lot of hard physical labor and I thank the people who helped.

The first aerial photograph was taken in May, 1995, long before the course was built. It was all woods then. The next photo was taken in April 2004. Note holes 12 and 15 especially, as well as 8, 10, and 2. You can see 1 also and 4. Not many of the others are visible from the air. Look closely to see 14. Holes 5, 6, 7, 16, 17, and 18 did not exist yet. Note the huge piles of trees in the fairway of 12 that still needed to be burned.

The below aerial photo was taken in 2007 when course was completed. Compare to 2004:

-Morgan Wright

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