It was 2011 and Leah and I had been operating our two zipline courses as North Georgia Canopy Tours for less than a year. We decided that we wanted to add a new feature that would provide fun and sport for additional visitors to our 130-acre site. We hit upon the idea of creating a disc golf course but knew nothing about course layout or how to make the best use of our property for that purpose.

It was our great good fortune to happen upon Keith Johnson and John Ritger by contacting the Atlanta Disc Golf Association. Both were eager to help us bring a world-class course to North Georgia and offered their services without charge. We in turn gave them free rein to design the best course possible on the property with only one caveat – don’t interfere with the zippers.

Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine their talents would produce a top-100 course in the world and draw thousands of players from across the region, the nation, and beyond to experience a demanding hike through scenery they showcased to perfection. Keith was especially pleased that we agreed to place an entire hole inside the property’s existing chicken house, correctly predicting it would become our signature hole. He believed those who dismissed it as a “gimmick” would quickly discover the challenge of navigating a straight yet unforgiving fairway enclosed on every side and relentlessly shaped by the east-west winds for which chicken houses were originally engineered.

As masterful as Keith’s contributions to course design were, we remain in complete awe of the time, expense, and total effort he dedicated to the course over the years to make it a premier course for casual players, professional players, and all those in-between. He sponsored a yearly tournament and influenced others to visit and hold tournaments at the site. Keith personally prepared the site time after time for major tournaments often arriving a week or two before to work from dawn to dusk until he considered the course “Keith tournament ready.”

Keith had the vision of a field of trees that he brought to fruition by purchasing and planting the trees and nourishing them year after year. He has been a dear friend who can, nevertheless, be imperial on his protection of the course, insistence on proper etiquette from players, and passion for perfection. As we launch our website, which Keith has not surprisingly devoted hours to correcting and suggesting improvements, we would be remiss if we did not pay him homage for his unending generosity of spirt, time, and funds.

Thanks, Keith!