Sedgley Woods

Sedgley Woods is a section of east Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a historical disc golf course site.

While Jim was establishing the PFC, "Steady Ed," Headrick and his son Ken were developing the Pole Hole, a disc golf target capable of catching and retaining a Frisbee.

The Regional Directors communicated with clubs and players, organized tournaments, sanctioned events and records, distributed rulebooks, and other activities.

Jim met Ed Headrick and Wham-O officials there, who indicated they were interested in establishing the first Pole Hole disc golf course on the East Coast.

Jim invited Ed and Wham-O reps to attend the first major PFC tournament, which will be held on Belmont Plateau in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia.

The area takes its name from the Sedgley Estate, one of many private holdings along the Schuylkill River that were purchased to create Fairmount Park in the 19th century.

At the new site the club leaders, including John Schalberg, Max Smith, Rick Vlam, Joe D'Annunzio, and Jim, set about creating a course.

Sedgley fit Ed's vision of how a disc golf course should be designed: a predominance of short holes each requiring a great variety of shots.

The woods at Sedgley and the areas of underbrush that line many holes are still challenging to disc golfers, leading to a reputation for excellent course design.

Club members marked the original tees with signs made of upright 2x4s with the hole number and layout carved into its surface.

Part of the confusion in the record-keeping stems from the fact that many disc golf courses existed with object targets before baskets were installed.

Once the basket positions were fixed, the club members appointed a course pro, Max Smith, and began to have tournaments at Sedgley.

The PFC, by virtue of strong club support and the Pole Hole baskets, bid for and won the right to host national golf events sanctioned by the IFA.

In addition to the NS meets OCTAD, a multi-event competition that started in New Jersey, came under the auspices of the PFC and was held at Sedgley for several years.

Various Philadelphia rock stations, including WMMR, WYSP, and WIOQ, sponsored these major tournaments, which drew many spectators and live FM radio media attention.

In the Fall of 1984 Darby Williamme, Jim Powers, and Dave Stembel created a new PDGA tournament course by designing a new set of tees.

There are now separate disc golf clubs in New Jersey, Delaware, and Bucks and Chester Counties in Pennsylvania as Pole Hole courses have spread throughout the East Coast.

In addition to fostering men's and women's tournament teams, PADA now runs a summer league serving over 800 people annually.