Chester State Park will develop a tournament-grade disc golf course along Lakeview Lake this summer, thanks to a $30,000 grant from the Lutz Foundation.

The course will cover about 35 acres behind shelter 3 and the park’s primitive campground, and feature 27 holes suitable for all levels of play, from beginner to tournament level. Construction is expected to begin in March and the course should open this summer.

Play on the course is free with park admission, but fees will apply for tournaments.

Disc golf is a sport similar to traditional golf, except a Frisbee-like disc is thrown to holes or “baskets” laid out in a strategic course, and the objective is to land the disc in the baskets with as few tosses as possible.

National and world championship disc golf tournaments are already held at Winthrop Lake in Rock Hill.

Chester officials tout the health benefits of the course, as one round of disc golf covers 3 to 5 miles of walking.

The State Park Service is working closely with INNOVA disc golf out of Rock Hill on the design of the course.

The Lutz Foundation was established in 1995 in memory of Clarence H. and Anna E. Lutz, who spent their last years living in Chester.