Jordan Bruursema has been waiting for this week for two years.

After developing the new disc golf course at Deerfield County Park, located at 2425 W. Remus Road, the Zeeland graduate student’s project will see its first tournament this weekend,: the J-Bird Players Series Disc Golf Tournament.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Bruursema said. “Hearing the chains ringing through the woods has been a great experience.”

The tournament recommends pre-registration at the Web site discgolfersr.us/events/mt-pleasant-jbird-open. The tournament field is limited to 72 competitors.

The 18-hole disc golf course began as an idea two years ago. With approval from the Isabella County Board of Commissioners in March, Bruursema began constructing the course.

Disc golf is similar to regular golf, except players use flying discs instead of balls and clubs. Players try to throw the discs into the “hole,” which is a basket with dangling chains.

He said a few things still need to be installed, such as signs directing players to the next hole, but the course is currently playable.

Sue Ann Kopmeyer, the director of the Isabella County Parks and Recreation commission, said the new course will make a great addition for the county park system.

She said Saturday’s tournament will be the “unofficial” kickoff for the course.

“We don’t even have a brochure yet,” Kopmeyer said.

She said the funding to create the course came from money raised by Bruursema, which totaled about $5,500. The course was completely landscaped using volunteers, she said.

“They really came through and got it done,” she said. “They’re still doing some clearing. But the baskets are in.”

The course, Bruursema said, is more difficult than the Central Michigan University course, located south of Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

The first night a doubles tournament took place at the new course last week, Bruursema said the winner won with a five-under par. That is eight strokes lower than the usual winner at the CMU course, which the winner usually wins with a 13-under par.

Regardless of the higher scores, Bruursema said the response to the new course has been positive.

“That kind of shows you the difficulty,” he said. “It’ll get you into the woods.”

Kopmeyer said while Bruursema came up with the original funding, Isabella County will look to keep the course maintenance up. She said the funding is not secured yet.

“No money has been budgeted for improvement this year,” she said. “We’ll see how the budgeting goes.”

Admission to the park is $5 a day per vehicle, and $20 for a year-round pass to all Isabella County parks for Isabella County residents and students.

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E-mail the author: David Veselenak