Roger W. Lytle Disc Golf Course at Founders Park

This course exists because of a three-year neighborhood campaign, and it carries the name of the child it was built for. Zac Lytle, a city planner living in North Oak Cliff, began pushing in 2012 for a disc golf course at Founders Park — a pretty but underused triangle of city land between Zang and Colorado boulevards that had been the site of serious crime — on the theory that more legitimate use would make the park safer. He also saw it as something to do with his infant son, Roger. Roger died in an accident at his day care in April 2014 at seven months old. Friends including Amy Cowan and the advocacy group Go Oak Cliff carried the effort forward: the Dallas Parks Foundation granted $10,000 to the Lake Cliff Neighborhood Association in 2014 and Go Oak Cliff raised another $4,000. The Park Board approved the layout in August 2015, and the Roger W. Lytle Disc Golf Course was installed that year.

The city lists it at 11 holes — an unusual count — par 3 on each, and 2,380 feet, which makes it one of the shortest courses in the city. It runs across the rolling ground of a 16.1-acre park with scattered mature trees rather than tight woods, and players note the downtown skyline stays in view for most of the round. Little walking, short holes, and a reputation for reachable baskets make it the course Dallas players tend to bring beginners to. Play is free, and the park has parking, a pavilion, picnic tables, a drinking fountain, and trails.