The City of Austell opened the Frog Rock Disc Golf Course May 21 at LouiseSuggsMemorial Park, only the second disc golf course in CobbCounty.
“This Park preserves our history,” said former Councilwoman Beverly James Boyd. She noted that the nearby Springs, noted for their healing waters, were discovered by the Cherokee Indians and visited by wealthy society families in the early 1900s.
“This is the beginning of our new history,” she said.
The course is expected to draw some 500 to 1,000 players weekly. It was designed by John Ritger, who said. “It’s a more accessible form of golf.” The nine-hole course has both beginner and advanced tee pads and has three different post positions for each hole so that the course can be varied each day.
Disc golf players trying out the course gave it high marks.
“They’ve done a good job on this course,” said Darren Schatz of PauldingCounty. “It’s nice to have another course nearby.”
Frog Rock has been a historic landmark and tourist attraction in Austell for more than 150 years. The land was home to the Lithia Springs golf course from 1930 to 1975. Former LPGA pro Louise Suggs grew up playing this course that her father managed, beginning her championship golf career at the age of 10. In 1975 much of the land was sold off to develop a shopping center. The City of Austell purchased the remaining 54 acres in 2002 to develop a passive park with trails, picnic pavilions, a butterfly garden and the disc golf course.
From the June 2013 issue of The Bright Side, Cobb County Georgia’s Newspaper covering Smyrna, Vinings, Mableton and Austell, GA.
