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Justin Menickelli

A faculty member's Campaign donation is more than a toss in the basket

WCU students playing disc golf are, from left to right, Dante Hill, Kevin Cooke, and Joe Davis.

From left to right, WCU students Dante Hill, Kevin Cooke, and Joe Davis enjoy a round of disc golf.

Justin Menickelli tosses a disc on the 9-hole Catamount Links course on campus.

Tee time: Back in 2005 the lawns that link nature trails and residence halls at Western Carolina University made Justin Menickelli, director of the graduate program in physical education, think golf – disc golf. As a result, he helped spearhead an effort to propose development and then design a course at Western.

Par-3 course: A Professional Disc Golf Association designer worked with WCU’s Intramural Sports and the Department of Health and Human Performance to create Catamount Links in 2006. The course’s nine holes begin at the band practice field, wind around an old golf driving range, and then cruise around trees and shrubs through fields near residence halls.

Object of the game: Golfers stand at tees to throw discs, commonly called Frisbee® discs, toward 4-foot high metal baskets in as few shots as possible.

First come, first served: Catamount Links hosts an estimated 200 rounds of play each week. The course is free to use and open any time – except the first hole, which is closed when the band practices there. “It's fairly tough for a par-3 course,” says Dante Hill, WCU business student. “I just wish we had another nine holes.”

Finding the fun in funding: Through The Campaign for Western, Menickelli launched a new fund designed to help maintain the course and safeguard green space on campus. The fund supports the 80-member, student-run Catamount Disc Golf Club.

Closing play: “I see students, faculty, staff and even families playing there all the time,” says Menickelli of the Catamount Links course. “I knew it would be popular, but I did not know it would be this popular.”