Chino Valley Is Getting a Second Disc Golf Course, Not a Replacement for the First

Ten years ago, a stretch of grass behind Chino Valley's Community Center sat empty long enough that nobody quite remembers what it was for. Then, in 2022, the town cleared it, planted a handful of baskets and tee pads, and opened a 9-hole disc golf course at the southeast corner of Perkinsville Road and Road 1 East, according to the Daily Courier's coverage of the opening. It became one of only two courses in the quad-city area, the other located at Watson Lake in Prescott. No architects, no grading contractors, just a field that had been ready for a decade and a town willing to put baskets in it.

Now Chino Valley has landed a T-Mobile Hometown Grant to build a second course, this one with 18 holes, at a site called Old Home Manor. If you're picturing a bigger, better version of the same course you already know, that's not what's happening. This is a second course, in a different part of town, and the original 9-hole loop off Perkinsville isn't going anywhere. That distinction matters more than it sounds like it should, because it changes which end of town you're driving to depending on which course you mean.

The Course You Already Know

The existing course, listed by the town as Chino Valley DGC at 1527 North Road 1 East, is the kind of low-key amenity locals treat as a given. It's free to play, nine holes, mostly flat with rocks and trees supplying what obstacle course there is. On UDisc, where regular players log their rounds, it carries a 4.1-star average across 121 community reviews, the sort of quiet, well-used rating a course gets when it's good enough that nobody feels the need to make a fuss about it. A typical round covers under a mile and takes well under an hour, which is part of why it works as a before-dinner or after-work loop rather than a planned outing.

What the Grant Actually Funds

The T-Mobile Hometown Grants announcement, made public in late March 2026, funds an 18-hole course at Old Home Manor, a separate parcel reached by heading east on Perkinsville Road, turning onto Jerome Junction, and then onto Rodeo Drive, landing in the field just east of the town's Utilities Building. Mayor Tom Armstrong called the selection an opportunity the town is "incredibly grateful" for. The grant's stated purpose, per the town's release, is youth wellness and community placemaking rather than simply expanding recreation inventory. No construction timeline has been set. The town has said updates will come as planning moves forward, which for now means the course exists on paper and on a satellite map, not on the ground.

Here's how the two compare as of this writing:

The two sites sit on opposite ends of the same Perkinsville Road corridor, separated by the detour through Jerome Junction. Once the new course opens, Chino Valley will be running two disc golf courses at the same time, not sunsetting one for the other.

The Detour That's Already in Effect

None of this happens in a town where getting from one side to the other is always straightforward this year. Meridian Parkway East and Unity Road, between Orion Street and East Road 2 North, have been closed since December 10, 2025, and the town's road closure notice puts the reopening at some point in summer 2026, tied to construction on the next phase of the Bright Star subdivision. A bypass is in place, but it's the kind of closure that adds a few minutes to a cross-town trip you didn't think twice about last year. If you're building a Saturday that includes a round at Community Center Park, a stop by whatever's happening near Old Home Manor, and dinner somewhere on Highway 89, it's worth checking the detour before you leave rather than discovering it mid-drive.

Monsoon Season Doesn't Care Which Course You're On

Disc golf is an open-field sport, which makes it exactly the kind of activity Chino Valley's monsoon guidance is aimed at. The town launched a dedicated Monsoon and Storm Safety page on June 15, 2026, consolidating flood safety tips, sandbag resources, and emergency contacts in one place. The standing advice against open fields and hilltops during lightning applies directly to a course with no tree cover to speak of. The town's guidance also points residents toward the Chino Valley Connected app for reporting flooded roads, debris, or blocked culverts, and toward a self-service sandbag fill station at CAFMA Station 61 on West Road 3 North if you need to protect a garage or low entry point before a storm rolls through. None of this is disc-golf-specific advice, but if your outdoor routine includes standing in an open field on summer evenings, it's the same advice that applies to you.

What Else Fills a Chino Valley Weekend

Disc golf isn't the only thing pulling people outside right now. The Chino Valley Canine Training Club runs the Territorial K9 Stroll, a community-wide, dog-friendly 5K walk, with proceeds going entirely to the town's Police K9 Unit. It's the kind of event that fits naturally into the same weekend as a disc golf round, especially for anyone whose dog already tags along to the course.

And after a round, or a walk, the town's food scene has grown past the point where "not much to eat in Chino Valley" is still an accurate complaint. A few names worth knowing if you haven't already found them:

• Skillets Cafe, open since 2016, for the kind of breakfast-and-lunch counter service that doesn't need a second act.
• Essence Kitchen + Bar on Highway 89, running a New American menu with dishes like seared ahi tuna and branzino.
• El Paraiso, also on Highway 89, serving a Mexican and Italian menu under one roof.
• Up in Smoke BBQ, Thai Spot, and Aroma Pizza, three different directions to take dinner depending on what the day called for.

None of these are new discoveries if you've lived here a while. What's changed is less about any single restaurant and more about the fact that there are now enough of them that "where should we eat" has become a real question in Chino Valley, rather than a short list.

The Point Worth Remembering

The headline version of this story is simple: Chino Valley got a grant, a new disc golf course is coming. The version that actually matters if you live here is that the town is about to run two separate courses in two separate corners of town, connected by a road corridor that's partly under construction and fully subject to monsoon rules that apply to any open field. Knowing that the Community Center Park course stays exactly where it's always been, while the new one takes shape out past Jerome Junction, is the difference between planning your Saturday correctly and guessing.

If you're weighing what a town like this is worth beyond its trail maps and grant announcements, that's the kind of on-the-ground read Peter Fife brings to conversations about Chino Valley, Prescott Valley, and the rest of Greater Prescott. If a move in or around Chino Valley is somewhere on your horizon, reach out to request a free home valuation and get a read on the market that accounts for what's actually changing on the ground, not just what shows up in a listing description.