Stafford Farm, before it was purchased by Bill Green. The disc golf course is behind the trees at the far end of the field.
A controversy over the future of a professional disc golf course on preserved open space in a Voorhees Township park has erupted, with a professional disc golfer circulating a petition to keep the state from shutting down the course.
Finlay Buchanan-Jacobs, a Mount Laurel resident who is the pro disc golfer, alleged in the petition that the owner of the Saddlehill winery next door wants it closed.
Although Voorhees Township announced on its website on Friday the course would be shut down, apparently no date has been set. A New Jersey state championship event on Saturday, sponsored by BRIA Disc Golf of Wall Township, has attracted 144 different players from across the nation who pay a fee to compete, according to sponsors.
The course, which was built as a nine-hole course by volunteers and opened in the town's Stafford Woods park in 2012, was expanded to 18 holes in 2014 and is rated by players as the No. 1 course in New Jersey and is host to professional golf tours produced by the Professional Golf Disc Association.
"We regret to inform you that after years of providing a space for disc golf enthusiasts to enjoy their favorite sport, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has notified Voorhees Township officials that Stafford Woods Disc Golf Course must permanently close and restored to its original purpose of a nature walking trail, open space, and passive recreation or face financial and legal consequences," according to the Township announcement.
In its announcement, the Township was quick to note that it was not a local matter: "This decision was not made by Voorhees Township or anyone affiliated with Voorhees Township and was decided solely by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection."
The online petition campaign to keep the golf course contends that Bill Green, owner of the soon-to-open Saddlehill winery next door to the park, sought to have the golf course removed from the town park.Â
Both the Voorhees park and the Saddlehill winery sit on land preserved by the state. The property was owned by the Stafford family for 231 years until 2004, when the family wanted to sell the full 140 acres to Voorhees Township, the state and a nonprofit for $20.6 million so it would remain protected from commercial development.
A year later, nearly 70 acres of the farm were sold to be used for agricultural purposes only. Green purchased the preserved farm in March 2021 and began to make plans for the Saddlehill Cellars winery, which is scheduled to open to the public next spring.
"They think I want to take control of the land," Green said in an interview on Monday morning with 70and73.com. "I just want a neighbor that doesn't vandalize my property and threaten my business."
"It was not my decision to get rid of the disc golf course," Green added.
Green said he filed a Voorhees police complaint in January when a disc golfer cut a hole in the vineyard's deer fence to retrieve a lost golf disc. Buchanan-Jacobs disputes the assertion it was a disc golfer, noting that the fence can easily be climbed to claim a disc.
The breech in the fence, which is intended to keep deer from roaming the farm and eating the crops, allowed six deer to get onto the property and it took months to remove them, Green told 70and73.com.
Green said he notified the New Jersey DEP of the police complaint and asked for a copy of the deed for the property, questioning the permitted uses.
"One of the NJDEP people who covers the area contacted me and said this golf course should never be on this property. That it is an illegal use," Green said.
The Voorhees park property was partly funded with money from the state Green Acres program and the state Environmental Infrastructure Financing Program (EIFP). Communications from the DEP indicates that disc golf would be permitted on Green Acres land, but not on EIFP land.
About 43 acres, or 60%, of the Voorhees park is limited by the 2004 EIFP deed of conservation restriction to only passive recreation. The deed defines passive as walking, hiking, horseback riding, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, birdwatching, nature observation, fishing and hunting.
In an email on Sunday to one disc golfer who objected to the closing, Green wrote that 40% of the Voorhees park could host active recreational uses such as disc golf and that the course could be moved.
"So I am not sure why whoever delivered the news to the club (from the DEP) never suggested a repositioning of the course," Green wrote in the email.
Golf pro Buchanan-Jacobs told 70and73.com in an interview that leadership of the organization has changed over the years and there is no evidence of any written permission from Voorhees to use the park.
"Voorhees basically gave us the go-ahead," Buchanan-Jacobs said in the interview. "We're now finding out that Voorhees was supposed to have gotten written permission from the DEP (in 2012) and evidently they did not."
He estimated that between three and five holes on the course are on restricted land.
Stephen J. Steglik, the Voorhees township administrator, on Monday confirmed there was nothing in writing.
"No, there was never a written agreement at the time of the construction of the course, only a verbal agreement and working relationship between the township and disc golf group," he said in an email response to 70and73.com's questions. "Unfortunately, even if there were an agreement the DEP's decision would have made the agreement null and void."
Steglik said the Township was complying with the DEP's decision and soon will begin dismantling the course.
He emphasized the area is preserved and "will not be sold to anyone for private or commercial use."
Buchanan-Jacobs, 23, who makes his living as a professional disc golfer, said he started playing at 10 years old and grew up practicing at Stafford Woods. As his skills developed, he has traveled to nearly every state to compete professionally.
He said the petition drive, which had received more than 14,000 digital signatures by noon on Monday, is aimed at the NJ DEP, asking that the course be kept open.
Although the volunteers from South Jersey Disc Golf maintain the course, it remains open to any member of the public who wants to play, Buchanan-Jacobs said.
"We can't officially close the course" to the public, said Buchanan-Jacobs, who estimated 150,000 rounds were played on the course in 2022. When the group holds tournaments a few weekends a year, the public is asked to stay off the course, he added. The events help to raise money for its maintenance.
The golfer said moving several of the holes to the non-restricted part of the park probably would be impossible. He said there are no plans presently to reduce the course to nine holes, its size when it was originally built.
Green and his Saddlehill winery, which has vineyards, a new barn and wine production facility and a tasting room, have been the target of social media ire over the weekend.
"They should never have been allowed to be there to begin with, because it's a violation of the deed," Green told 70and73.com. "The mistake was made in 2012."
