Blake Roider is on his way to becoming an Eagle Scout after deciding his project would consist of installing a disc golf course at Meadow Ridge Park.

The 15-year-old Columbia Troop 357 scout said he leaned toward the idea after a friend introduced him to the sport and he realized the park doesn’t offer a lot of activity.

“I really like to play, and I thought it might be good to find something to do with the park because half the people in Columbia don’t even know it exists,” he said.

Hoping to unveil the course during Columbia Days this Saturday, Roider is installing nine holes with baskets and rubber tee pads about 300 to 350 feet apart. A tee pad is the surface on which a player stands to throw the disc into the basket.

Blake explained that with the size limitations Meadow Ridge Park creates, the course will not present a challenge to more experienced disc golf players.

“This is just barely big enough to fit everything needed,” he said.

However, Blake added that the landscape, including the many trees the course is built around, will serve as an obstacle to players.

“It makes it challenging even though the holes aren’t far apart,” he said.

The concept of disc golf is similar to traditional golf. Each hole includes a tee off and subsequent throws until players reach the basket, while each throw counts as a stroke. As in golf, the lowest score wins.

Disc golf is said to date back to the early 1900s, but the sport in its current form began with Ed Headrick.

Headrick formed the Disc Golf Association in 1976. Additionally, he innovated the disc golf pole hole — the basket target into which players toss the disc.

A disc golf course was also built at Konarcik Park in Waterloo in 2015.

In addition to the baskets and tee pads, each hole of Blake’s course will have a sign that includes the hole’s number, how many feet to the basket, the hole’s par and the hole sponsors. Blake said co-sponsorship includes two businesses sponsoring a hole at $250 a piece.

The single sponsorship level was $500, and combining the sponsorships with a bake sale that raised more than $1,500, Blake ended up with $6,000 for a project he anticipated would cost $4,600.

Blake said the extra money will allow him to purchase better quality baskets. As a possibility, if extra cash remains, he said he would like to add a bench between holes two and three.

With much more certainty, he added the course will include a welcome sign that lists lower-level donors and will read, “Course built by Boy Scout Blake Roider.”

Troop 357 scoutmaster Kenny Fulton said Blake recently gave the Columbia City Council a well-organized presentation on the course.

“He did a very good job. It’s very well put together,” Fulton said. “If he executes it the way he planned it, it’ll be a great course that people will be able to use for many years.”

Installing the actual course is the last remaining piece of the puzzle. But to reach this point, Blake saw his way through many challenges, and even some disappointments that taught him to persevere.

“Not everyone will always support everything,” he said of his quest to bring sponsors on board. “There’s going to be some people who say ‘no.’ That’s OK. Just don’t give up too early. Keep going with it.”