Designer and course architect: Pat Watts (several Lubbock Windrider’s members contributed to the final design)
Year installed: 1990
The first original disc golf course in Lubbock, TX was located in Mahon Park at 29th and Chicago. When the city of Lubbock decided to install a memorial tree grove in Mahon Park the Windriders were offered the opportunity to move the disc golf course to Mackenzie Park. Mackenzie Park was in pretty rough shape, full of weeds, overgrown trees and trash, but it had a lot of potential.
The Windriders began clearing fairways and sculpting a course through the park. Mackenzie Park also had a reputation for illegal activity and was considered a very dangerous place. After many hours of volunteer work done by the Lubbock Windriders, the course was installed with nine baskets and dirt tee pads. The back nine holes were installed with 4 x 4 wooden posts as targets. When disc golfers began to play the course, much of the illegal activity subsided.
The Windriders began to run minis at the new course to raise money for more baskets. Several Windriders (Tami Pellicane Hart, Nick Hart, Matt Ryan, Patrick Kitten, James Paulk, and Ray Murray) donated to become lifetime members to help raise money for baskets. Concrete tee pads were added to the course by the city of Lubbock when Patrick Kitten met with the city and explained that the dirt tee pads were unsafe.
The signature hole on the course was the “cliff” shot, which was a 450 foot downhill shot across the Brazos river. The basket was on a peninsula, surrounded by water on three sides and an OB road behind it. It was quite a thrill to “go for it” and make it across the water. The hole was “aced” by Marcus Roberts (with witnesses). The hole is not in play currently due to safety issues (a shrinking peninsula and hundreds of discs in the water). The course was expanded to 21 holes for a few years before the installation of Big Mack.
The course was redesigned in 2021 by the Lubbock Windriders with two baskets and two tee pads on each hole, making a course that is fun and challenging for every skill level.
