Oct. 14—In the summer of 2023, “JC” Gary Mersereau Jr., of Winlock, finished work on a nine-hole disc golf course at Rotary Riverside Park in Centralia for an Eagle Scout project.
Unbeknownst to him at the same time, Jerry Guard, of Adna, got approval to start the installation of an 18-hole disc golf course at Schaefer County Park in Centralia, although he had to wait until this summer before really digging into the ground.
“I’m just a local guy who wants more courses in our area, ’cause until Rotary Park was built, there was nothing here,” Guard said.
As of last month, there are now five playable disc golf holes at Schaefer County Park along the Skookumchuck River off of state Route 507 just north of Centralia city limits, and Guard plans to continue working as long as the weather permits.
The Chronicle met with Guard at the park on Sunday, Oct. 13, while he and a group of fellow disc golfers volunteered their time.
Guard is a sheet metal worker who plays disc golf in his spare time. Before beginning to build the Schaefer County Park course, he was already in talks with the City of Chehalis to install a disc golf course at Stan Hedwall Park.
“This was two summers ago. I got everything approved until it got up to the board of directors, and they had other undone projects they needed to complete before they could take on another big project,” Guard said. “So I moved on to the county, and immediately the county was really open because they were already starting a bunch of projects here (at Schaefer). They’re really wanting to bring people into the park, so they’re full-go on the disc golf course.”
With Lewis County purchasing the disc golf course baskets and concrete for the tee pads, all Guard and his fellow volunteers have to do now is actually build it.
“Most of it is mapped out, but it’s a lot of work to clear the brush and clear the fairways,” Guard said.
Clearing the overgrown brush will be the biggest challenge they have in building the remaining 13 holes. Guard is looking for volunteers and donations to help finish the work.
“If we could get a rental company to donate a tractor for a day, or some brush hogs, it would be awesome,” Guard said. “So we could get these woods cleared with machinery instead of hatchets, machetes and chain saws. Because it’s a lot of labor.”
Some local businesses have already chipped in to sponsor, including the Kraken Board Shop and Kaleidoscope Construction. Guard added other businesses interested in sponsoring will get their business name mentioned on one of the course’s tee markers along with a QR code directing players to their websites.
The signs for both are being made by Olympia Washington Middle School students in Brian Morris’ classes using a sublimation machine. Morris was also at Schaefer County Park Sunday helping Guard clear brush.
“It’s kind of fun for the kids to see their work out in the community,” Morris said. “Any profit we make goes back into the program, and it’s for the kids to simulate running a business.”
Along with making Schaefer County Park’s disc golf course signs, the students have nine other contracts, including one for new signs at Rotary Riverside Park’s course.
When they’re finished, the layout of the course will allow for the park to remain multi-use. Additionally, once he’s finished, Guard said the City of Chehalis has contacted him about a course at Stan Hedwall Park.
And there’s more.
“The county wants me to do Rose Park in Adna, and then they want me to do the county park in Toledo,” Guard said. “But they want Schaefer to be the destination course, possibly for tournaments, and the other ones to be more for the locals.”
Although Guard initially started his work at the park alone, his efforts have attracted the attention and help from other local disc golf enthusiasts, including Kyle Rakoz, of Centralia, who is also installing new and improved course markers to the nine-hole course at Rotary Riverside Park.
Rakoz, a teacher at Tenino Middle School, is not only an avid disc golfer, but he also helped construct a number of disc golf courses while living in Oregon.
“I was part of builds for five in Portland, and we also built three courses on the Oregon coast when I moved there,” Rakoz said.
Along with the new signs at Rotary, Rakoz is also completing some minor improvements at Rotary’s course to make it safer for non-disc golfer players still using the park.
“Anytime there’s a small-park course like that, there’s going to be some safety issues, but with the new signage and established rules, it’ll hopefully help smooth things out for everyone,” Rakoz said.
He has also been in talks with City of Centralia officials about building another course on city property, including possibly on the 26-acre plot behind Centralia Christian School that is currently overgrown and unused.
“I’m also having a meeting with Tenino City Parks hopefully by the end of the year to talk about putting in a course up there, too,” Rakoz added.
Finishing the Schaefer County Park course and improvements at the Rotary Riverside Park course are the main priorities right now.
“If we finish up what we want to do at Rotary and we get 18 here at Schaefer, it’s just gonna do so much to make Centralia a place to actually stop by,” Rakoz said.
Rotary Riverside Park’s course has been getting a lot of use, Rakoz added. According to the Udisc app, which some disc golfers use to find courses and track scores, there have been thousands of players from 39 states and 14 countries.
“I forget how many thousands of different users there have been … but they only estimate about 20 to 30% of disc golfers use the app, so whatever number we have, multiply it times two or three,” Rakoz said.
Additionally, those looking to play on the five holes at Schaefer County Park can find the course map for them on the Udisc app.
For more information on volunteering to help or contacting Guard about donations or sponsorships, visit on the Lewis County Disc Golf Facebook group at https://tinyurl.com/2cj84k64.
Rakoz has also founded the Hub City Disc Golf Club, which interested disc golfers in the area are invited to join. It can be found on Facebook at https://tinyurl.com/bdcrrs9w.
