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Here are some thoughts on naming your disc golf course.
Purpose of the Name
The name of your disc golf course should support the original goals
that were set out before the design phase began. Ask "Why does this disc golf course exist? What name would make it better?"
Almost every course needs to attract players to fulfill its goals. So the name of the disc golf course should include enough information to get people pointed in the
right direction.
The most obvious - and usually most effective - way to name a disc golf course is to name it after its location. Usually, this is the name of the park it is in.
If
you are adding yet another course to a large area, consider adding the location to the name, especially if the park name is not unique to the area.
"Riverside Park in Lower Town", for example. This is like giving the course a first name and a last name. All the locals will call it "Riverside", but the name lets other people know which "Riverside".
Similarly, a disc golf course that is part of a business (golf course, campground, resort, bar
or amusement park) the course should usually be named after that business. That will help promote the business, and get
people to the course. For businesses that have more then one course, use the business name and a description of the course. "Boyle's Joyland Super Long Disc Golf Course" and "Boyle's Joyland Kiddie Disc Golf Course."
You may want to honor a big donor or important
volunteer. Naming the course after them
is a free way to do that. But, you risk
having everyone refer to it by the name of the park anyway, or not knowing
which course you're talking about.
However, if its the first course
in a small town? Go ahead and call it
"Billy's Eagle Project".
The bigger and more important your
disc golf course will be, the more freedom
you have to use a name that doesn't give the potential player any
information
about the location of the disc golf course. If it is going to be
actively promoted and host major tournaments, people will eventually
find out
where it is.
Try for a Unique Name
Most people will find information about your course by
looking it up in a list or a database.
If your course shares a name with other courses, players could be confused.
If your course uses a name which is not unique, consider
adding the city name (or something else local) to your course name. "Central Park in New York City" is a lot more meaningful
than just" Central Park", because a whole lot of cities have a Central
Park. Yes, the database will also have a field for the City. But
often, people will refer to a course only by its name.
If it was developed by an Eagle Scout or Kiwanis or some
organization that has done multiple courses, then add some local information. The name of the Eagle, or the branch of the
club.
Common Words
The two most common words in the names of disc
golf courses are: "Park"
and "DGC". These words account
for one-fourth of all the words in all the names of all the disc golf
courses.
The remainder of the top ten are "Lake", "Creek", "State", "School",
"College", "The", "University", "and "City".
The most popular first names (the first word in the
name of a course), are: "The", "Lake",
"Camp", "North", "West", and "University". Also, the following words are the first name
for 5 or more courses:
Bear, Beaver, Big, Black, Blue, Buffalo, Cedar, Central,
College, Colorado, Crystal, Deer, Eagle, East, Elk, Fort, Fox, George, Grand, Heritage,
Highland, Indian, Jack, Jackson, Johnson, Kiwanis, Lincoln, Lions, Little, Memorial,
Miller, Mountain, Mt., New, Oak, Ohio, Old, Pecan, Pine, Pioneer, Prairie, Rainbow,
Red, River, Riverside, Rock, Rocky, Sandy, Silver, South, Southern, Spring, St.,
Sugar, Tom, Twin, Valley, Veteran's, White, Wildcat, Willow, Woodland
Database Considerations
These days, the name of a course is defined by what you type
into the name field on a database.
If
you are naming a course after the park it is in, or the resort where it is
located, use the official or most commonly known name. Get it EXACTLY right. Look it up if you have to: "Veteran Park",
"Veterans' Park", "Veteran's Park" and "Veterans Park" are all different.
"A.
J. Smith" is not the same as "AJ Smith". Use the periods and spaces if the letters
represent someone's initials. If
everyone just calls the park "Smith
Park", then you'd probably want
to call your course "Smith
Park".
Be
careful with your typing. If you add a space character in front of the
name, your course won't show up in the right place in an alphabetical
list. Similarly, a trailing space might
confuse a search. "This Park" is not the same as " This Park"
or "This Park ". The same can
be said for capitalization and punctuation.
Use
"and" and "at" not "&", "+", or "@". The "@", while pronounced
"at" does not actually mean "located there".
Some courses add a number to their name which
indicates the number of holes; like "Local Park 18". I'm not a fan of this. What if some holes are added or removed? Does the name change? If the name changes, all those data bases and
course directories are out of date.
I would leave off the letters "DGC". Anyone who knows what they mean already knows
they are looking at a list of disc golf courses. Similarly, you don't need to add the words
"disc golf course" to the name field of a database. It's implied if you are adding a course to a
list of disc golf courses.
It's Your Course, or is it?
If you are the landowner, parks department, or sole sponsor
(in other words, if you could say "no" to the course), then you have
the right to name it whatever you want.
If you are the course designer, then your client has the
right to name the course.
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