CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A fire at Oso park burned over 50 acres, destroying much of the disc golf course maintained by the Third Coast Disc Golf Club. Richard Ramirez, the club’s president, recounted the phone call he got.
"I pretty much got a call saying, look, there’s a fire at Oso. It looks pretty bad," Ramirez said.
Ramirez watched as crews worked to put out the fire, hoping for the best.
"Before, we had an outline. You’d be able to see where to throw, where to stand, what’s out of bounds. Now, you can’t see anything," Ramirez said.
Third Coast Disc Golf has a partnership with the city to maintain the course and its equipment, which is used by the public. Ramirez said the club had recently added new features to the park.
"We’ve been working on this course for over five years. We’ve spent thousands of man-hours on this area," Ramirez said.
The group funds the course through memberships and tournaments, with significant investments made over the years.
"We have spent thousands of dollars," Ramirez said.
Ramirez said the club had revamped the course's look, but in just a few hours, much of that work was lost.
"You’re talking about man-hours spent away from our families. Man-hours that could have been on a vacation or anything else, but we spent them out here," he said.
The group planned to assess the damage and determine what needed to be replaced. Worst case scenario, Ramirez estimated repairs could cost between $10,000 and $15,000.
"Our poles that are out there, our signs, I don’t know if anything cracked with the heat, with the cement teepads. Once this paint goes away, it starts rusting quick," Ramirez said.
Ramirez said the park is also used by families and others in the community, and with the fire damage, they would need volunteers now more than ever.
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