The Disc Golf Experience

I’m Goin’ Back to Florida (Not Cali) 12/28-1/22 Second Leg 1/2 and 1/3 Tampa/St. Petersburg Area

Tocobaga, St. Petersburg, FL

This is the closest course to my Uncle Dan’s place on Tierra Verde Island on the south end of St. Petersburg Beach. I took him over to Tocobaga to show him what this newfound addicition of mine was all about. Here he is trying to learn how to putt . . . he actually hit his first try ever from 20-25’ which is pretty darn good if you ask me! He said “That’s as good as it’s ever going to be isn’t it?” I shrugged my shoulders so as to not discourage him from trying it again.

 

Hole #5 was a cool hole with a small pond just short of the basket. There were plenty of trees looking to kick your disc into that water too . . . overall just a cool little protected hole in the woods . . . with a little water to contend with.

 

This is also the location that I found this Gator . . .

OK So it wasn’t an actual Gator disc . . . but it made sense since the disc was obviously torn apart by a gator . . .ok well maybe a dog but I am taking the liberty of assuming it was in fact a gator . . . it makes for a better story!

Apparently, there is some sort of dispute over some Indian Burial grounds on the course and that is why hole #5 and #18 have been removed, but I haven’t heard anything about this since my first trip here. I look forward to an annual trip to this great old course . . . and hopefully I can keep improving.

 

Youth Park, Pinellas Park, FL

This was a very new course when I played it . . . lot of water in play, completely flat (absolutely no elevation change) . . . unless you went down into the water. There were some trees in play on some of the holes but it was mostly open. All in all . . . a decent beginner course, but one missing a lot of challenge for the average disc golfer.

Hole #2 Water Carry

Hole #7 Much bigger water carry

Hole #10 Tightest hole on the course

Cliff Stephens Park, Clearwater, FL

What more needs to be said . . . this is a mecca of disc golf because it is the home of the Twelve Time (12x for us disc golfers) World Champion Ken Climo. it is a park filled with water shots and trouble lurks on most holes. It was even more fun that I didn’t even lose a single disc. I had to retrieve one from the water’s edge but didn’t lose any! It is a must stop for all disc golfers because of the iconic disc golfer KC played here all the time.

Hole #2 Cool basket location amogst the trees

Hole #3 Anhyzer over the water

Hole #4 Tight tunnel under the trees

Hole #8 Another water carry

Hole #9 Timber Retaining Wall protecting the basket

Hole #10 Another water carry

Hole #12 Basket tucked near the pond

Hole #14 Hyzer over the water

Hole #16 Long water hole with a peninsula to be used to shorten the carry.

North East Coachmen, Clearwater, FL

You could spend all day playing N.E. Coachmen and Cliff Stephens because they are connected by a walking path . . . that runs right past the Philadelphia Phillies Minor League Ball Club’s Stadium.

This is an interesting property . . . some water in play as a few holes play alongside of a drainage-way and the rest of the course feels a little like Ocala Greenway because it is almost 100% under the canopy of the Palm trees and other foliage. It has a sandy soil and it just feels like you are in a nice little protected hollow. I could spend all day here everyday if I lived in the area . . . no need for this fair skinned man to go out in the Florida sun . . . EVER!

Hole #2 Nice Canopy of trees

Hole #6

Hole #10

Hole #17

Taylor Park, Largo, FL

Talyor Park was the more open mix between N.E. Coachmen and Cliff Stephens. Only a few holes along the water, but more open than N.E. Coachmen. It had warnings to not go near the water because of Gators . . . so I avoided those areas at all costs. There were some decent holes, but it seemed fairly repetitive. It isn’t totally in the open, but it feels more open because many of the trees are simply tall . . . but it isn’t a canopy over your head the entire round. There are plenty of trees to contend with and I would compare this course to so many of the typical “park-like” courses out there. The pictures don’t show much on this course, it is above average but it lacks that something special that realleaves me with a great feeling from a new course.

Hole #3 Typical Parklike Hole

Hoe #5 Nice Canopy

Hole #9 Alongside the lake

Gregg Paas Memorial, Safety Harbor, FL

Hole #2

Hole #4

This is a great property for disc golf . . . plenty of lanes, plenty of obstacles, nice variety and some minor elevation changes on a few holes. It goes from fairly open turfed holes into a tight wooded section of the property and is a lot of fun to throw. The only drawback I see on this course is that the palmettos seem to be a home for a homeless person. There was a shopping cart and some blue tarps surrounding the area. I felt a little uneasy passing by this spot thinking I may be waking up whoever is using this area . . . but I never heard or saw anyone. Either way I sure would hope this wouldn’t be an issue considering how many people (especially kids) might be ont his course on any given day.

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I’m Goin’ Back to Florida (Not Cali) 12/28-1/22 First Leg 12/28-1/1 Milwaukee to Tallahassee

Just a couple of days short of 1 year of playing this game I headed out on another 3+ week long road trip with my wife. This year was so different from the last because I had a year to learn just how much I love this sport, and also how much I love seeing new courses. My first road trip saw some mediocre courses with suspect maintenance and I truthfully was not overly impressed with the game initially (EVEN THOUGH I ENJOYED THE ACTIVITY). But as the last year went on and I played all of my local course,  I learned a whole lot more about the game, improved my ability dramatically, and I have also seen a lot in my first one hundred plus courses played. I knew there was bigger, better maintained, and more challenging courses out there with more unique ideas and I could simply not wait to get this road trip rolling along. My wife was a little more interested in the game at this time and she realized it is all I wanted to do on the trip, so it was a little less awkward, although it still feels weird leaving her in the car so she can get some extra sleep or read a book while I am out playing. I would much rather she be walking these courses with me than sitting in the car, but we have always respected each other enough to know when not to push the other into something they didn’t want to do. Don’t get me wrong, she liked playing the game . . . just not 3 or 4 courses a day like me. It remains that way to this day, but that is ok.

Pere Marquette Park was the first course outside of St. Louis which I thought might be the earliest my wife would want to play because of cold temperatures or snow, so I put it in the GPS and away we went. To help her acclimate to the weather I planned a stop in advance of the course, at Magnolia Hollow Conservation Area, a beautiful scenic overlook of the Mississippi River. We took some serious back-roads here to find this overlook, something I always enjoy on our road-trips. There is so much out there good and bad, and I think that we can all learn from seeing the way others live. I know I take a lot from it.

We arrived at the parking lot and had a short hike on a gravel trail to the wood platform overlooking the “Mighty Mississipp” to quote Clark W. Griswold. Here Loriena snapped a picture of me, which became my profile picture for about a year, because I really enjoyed the location and thought it was a good picture of me.

 

You can only look at the river for so long, so we headed off towards Pere Marquette Park just a few miles south in Ste. (Yes that’s Sainte) Genevieve, Missouri. Ste. and Sainte are feminine while St. and Saint are masculine. Who needs history 101 or social studies in high school when you can travel the country to learn all these things?

 

Pere Marquette Park, Ste. Genevieve, MO

The course at Pere Marquette started out with a long throw over a pond . . .

This is a really nice picture of my wife . . . excited to be out playing disc golf, on vacation, spending time together . . . all this despite the cold temperatures (Please note the skim of ice on the pond).

I chose to go around the pond since the carry was around 350’, a distance I am still unable to throw my disc, and still ended up with a 4. The rest of the course was mostly wide open  . . . except for #4 which also had another pond . . .with only a smattering of trees to contend with. Elevation change was the key design feature of this course. There were rolling hills, side hills, up and down, and everything in between. The elevation really affected almost every throw. Without the elevation change this would have been a horrible place for a disc golf course, but you have to learn all types of throws and hills can greatly affect your throws. I learned how fundamentally important elevation change can be in course design.

This course also had a pretty unique homemade basket, pictured here, and the lighting made this a really cool picture.

 

I noticed anything that went in without much chain activity could easily come spitting out the other side because of the bowl type effect of the actual basket. It wasn’t a basket you could hit the backside of the inside of the basket and it would stop dead . . . here your disc would actually go down in the basket and propel itself out at a seemingly quicker speed than it went into the basket. Either way it was a new disc golf course  and my first in Missouri and my first on my long road-trip so it was worth a stop. I also understand that this course has recently been redesigned and I look forward to return to see what else they could have done with the park. I was contacted after my course review by one of the locals . . . and at this time I didn’t have much input in terms of how I would have changed the course or what areas of the park I would have utilized, but today I would have jumped at the chance to help assist in a course redesign. It just was not my time apparently . . . although I did use google earth for the first time to try and see what could have been done with the course. I may have sent the local my ideas, but I doubt any of them were incorporated into the new course design . . . because I simply did not know enough about design, or even the property itself after only playing the course one time.

#9 was an uphill hole finishing with a spectacular view . . . the course was mediocre, but the overall experience was wonderful.

 

 

Our first overnight was outside of Memphis, TN and it was a shady hotel in West Memphis, but it was cheap and got me close to the next course on the list . . . Bud Hill.

 

Bud Hill, Millington, TN

This is a private course . . . I had contacted the owner . . . who at the time was in the hospital for some surgery and he had said he would let me play the course if I played with one of the locals. This local happened to be DGCR user: Sdervan . Stephen was a great guy who knew the course and was able to guide me along . . . we even played the “back 9” which I believe was possibly his first time playing the new 9 holes.

What a sweet property overall . . . woods, open, prairie, water carries, over-seeding was done on the wooded fairways in the wintertime and an awesome clubhouse and a nice place to spend the day. I can imagine how popular tournaments are on this property since I believe I remember they allow you to setup camp overnight. I have also heard that the family prepares a wonderful meal of chili for tournament players . . . what more can you ask for??? NOTHING . . . I would gladly pay $10 a day to play this course if it was in my area . . . it has a little of everything and is well worth the $5 that has become known as the standard for pay to play disc golf across the country. It is very clear to me, that Danny takes pride in his course and he puts a lot of time and effort into the maintenance . . . something I can greatly appreciate, and actually look forward to the day I can spend a few hours working on my own course and then going out for an afternoon round to enjoy the fruits of my labor. Danny . . . Nice Work, I hope to come back sometime soon.

Here are some pictures of the course:

Hole #3 Overseeding in the woods

Hole #5 Uphill water carry

Hole #14 Basket tucked up near a pond

Hole #18 Another carry over the water

 

Brighton Park, Clinton, MS

There wasn’t much exciting about this course, just another small park that added disc golf to its activities. Sure there was some artificial OB if you play walking paths and roads as OB all of the time, but overall this course lacked the space to really be a lot of fun. Every hole was a turnover or a flick until you got to the final hole #9. Then you could finally throw a hyzer if you wanted. This course happened to be on the way back to the freeway from our stop at the Civil War Museum in Vicksburg, MS, and we didn’t have enough time to get to one of the better courses near Jackson like Ross Barnett, so we had to settle on a short 9 holer or we would not have been playing another course that day.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the Museum:

USN Milwaukee

Civil War Museum House Diorama

Civil War Battlefield Diorama

 

Lafreniere Park, Metairie, LA

We arrived into the New Orleans area in time to head down to Bourbon Street for dinner. We hit up Pat O’Briens for an authentic Cajun Irish meal only because it was the only restaurant I remembered from my week-long stay in New Orleans a few years earlier when we crashed the Golf Course Superintendent’s Association of America Conference (to visit a bunch of our old golf course friends). I actually planned the route this time so that we could spend more time New Orleans. The first visit to New Orleans came because we realized nothing happened in Nashville on a Sunday until after 12 PM, so the next logical thing to do would be to drive to New Orleans for dinner, rather than continuing on the route through Tennesse and Georgia. We literally stopped for dinner at Pat O’Briens and then continued on down the road until we got to Florida. That detour for dinner was at least 200 extra miles, but being able to say we stopped in New Orleans for dinner when going from Nashville to Florida was so worth it.

This time we did more than just have dinner, we actually stayed in a hotel on Bourbon Street. My wife had a Shark Attack drink, which was a cocktail topped off with a plastic shark with a shot of Grenadine inside of it that was supposed to simulate blood in the water.

It was ridiculous and fabulous at the same time.  I was able to revisit the Tropical Isle (where I spent 5 hours each and every night for a week with my Best Man after my conference ended just a few years earlier). I think we listened to American Music by the Violent Femmes 5 or 6 times consecutively because he liked the song so much he programmed it into the jukebox like that.  We commemorated that long week of drinking “Hand Grenades” and learning about turf-grass . . . it is all a part of what got me to this point in my life anyways.

Ok so obviously this blog is more about disc golf than anything else, but we have to add in some culture every now and then or the blog would go stale. The last two places were our experiences with nature, culture and disc golf, where the rest of this blog entry is basically disc golf related. Don’t be mad at me, variety is the spice of life! You should experience what I experienced on my road-trip too!

So Here you go . . . have you ever seen marketing like this . . . HUGE ASS BEERS TO GO!

And to again revisit my roots in Milwaukee . . . Harley F…ing Davidson

We saw plenty of culture on Bourbon Street that night . . . my wife even told one of the people promoting outside of the strip club “GO TO CHURCH!” . . . That’s my wife and I love her! The next day it was crappy and raining so I decided to take Loriena on a river road-trip adventure along the Mississippi River north of New Orleans all the way to Baton Rouge. We spent the entire day driving through the rain, but also stopped at an old plantation . . . The Oak Alley Plantation which was a perfect place for two horticulturists to visit. Check out those old Oak Trees on the front page of the website . . . but don’t forget about the whole bunch of formal gardens that were just beautiful . . . even in the wintertime. Here is a picture of the walkway up to the plantation.

Before my wife and I went on this road-trip up the river road, I did squeeze in a quick round at Lafreniere Park in Metarie, LA, the rain didn’t even stop me from getting in another new course in another new state. It was a flat and somewhat open course that was very confusing because of some re-routing. The numbers on the baskets didn’t seem to be accurate so I got all turned around a few times. There really weren’t any highlights of the course, because it was so simple but again, another new course in another new state. Here were the highlights of the course although the numbers do not necessarily reflect the order in which I played them.

Hole #1 Waterfall

Hole #5 Pond Shot

Hole #7 Large mound used on a couple of holes

On to the next new course and state for me . . . Alabama.

Langan Park, Mobile, AL

Mobile was a really cool historic old town. The buildings and the architecture were outstanding to view and we enjoyed our drive to the course as much as the disc golf itself. The disc golf course was very well done for a relatively flat piece of land. There were interesting drainage-ways incorporated into the design as well as plenty of large mature trees (both evergreen and deciduous). Overall this was a great course, although some of the wide open holes became a little monotonous, the rest of the holes had plenty enough interest to offset the boring holes. Water was in play but still completely avoidable with a well placed shot.

Hole #14 Watch out for low flying planes

Hole #16 Excellent basket location surrounded by a ditch and OB water

Hole #17 Awesome green tucked underneath and old tree

Hole #18 Island green . . . awesome finishing hole.

On we went to Florida, including a stop at the Weeks Bay Estuarine Reserve. Just another stop of actual culture on the disc golf adventure.

Sunset Park, Gulf Breeze, FL

This course is set in a pretty small portion of a park which is filled with mature evergreen trees and by mature I mean really freaking tall trees. There is some water in play and you play onto and off of an island on 3 holes. Overall it was an exciting course for such a small property and it was diverse enough to keep you interested all the way through the course.

Hole #2 Throwing onto the Island

Hole #5 Throwing bac onto the island

Hole #6 Entire Hole ont he island . . . I lost my valkyrie in the murky water. I was afraid to look for fear of gators.

Hole #9 Peninsula Green

We rushed through the round because we wanted to get to the beach for the sunset and it did not disappoint. We found the Gulf Island National Seashore just a few blocks away and the sand was bright white and drifted like it was snow. It was blowing over the road even, making it feel like we were back at home . . . but we weren’t which made it all the more enjoyable.

 

 

We got back on the road again and headed to Tallahassee for the night . . . that was my choice so that I could wake up early and play one of the 2 courses in town. I decided on Jack McLean Park and the rain did not stop me from going.

Jack McLean Park, Tallahassee, FL

I decided after looking at the photos of this course that I was going to go for the biggest punishment I have ever been through . . . I chose the long tees pushing this course distance to over 9000 feet . . . and all tight woods as you will see from the pictures probably make the course play over 10000 or more because of not being able to really open it up. Ever hole is tight and there are so many trees in your way and underbrush to prevent you from recovering from your troubled lies. It was just brutal but I loved every minute of it.

Hole #2 Basket set on the other side of a retention pond after starting in the woods

 Hole #4 Jack McLean Park Tight wooded dogleg

Jack McLean #6 Another tight wooded fairway

 

Jack McLean Park #9 Tight tunnel fairway

My round ended at +23 shooting a 98 on the 24 hole Par 75 course. I had 2 6’s and 4 5’s plus a bunch of 4’s and only 5 3’s. Not a single deuce on the course. Now this is a course I must return to . . . just so I can get another score to compare against. For my Milwaukee friends . . . it is like Brown Deer on Andro (Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire’s drug of choice) and it is 6 more holes with not a single hole somewhat open . . . they are all tightly wooded. It is just insane!

I had a great time despite the uneasy feeling I had from the surrounding neighborhood. Fortunately I got here at sunup and played quickly . . . plus it was raining and New Year’s Day morning so I was probably done with my round before anyone was waking up from their New Year’s Eve bender!

Just picture all the rest of the holes with some minor variation. It all comes down to where you put yourself after the drive.

Ocala Greenway, Ocala, FL

There isn’t a whole lot I can say about this course and the pictures I have found really just do not do it justice. It is one of the most unique properties I have ever seen for disc golf. It is essentially an old abandoned barge canal. It is full of sand and interesting terrain features because of the sand.

Ocala Greenway #8 Lighthouse Basket

Ocala Greenway #10 Sandy Green

 

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My First Year of Disc Golf, 2009 Revisited (statistically speaking).

If you like statistics and numbers, then this blog entry is for you. If you want to read about how many courses, rounds, days, scores, etc. keep reading. If you only read my blog for the pictures press the next button (inside joke here . . . there is no next button). Anyways  . . .this entry is all about recapping my first year playing the game. Here you go . . . just right into the statistics!

 

I played 160 out of 365 days.

 

The month I played the least days was August (only 6 days).

 

The month I played the most days was December (21 days).

 

My longest streak of not playing disc golf was 8 days long between 3/5 and 3/12 probably because I was preparing  for the landscape season, and because the courses were probably underwater. This also happened between 12/28-1/4/10.

 

My longest streak playing was 8 days between 1/28 and 2/4. You might think this is the opposite of what would be normal, but remember my summers are very busy with my landscape business and we get a lot of free time in the winters.

 

The most courses I played in one day was 9 (a visit to Northwestern Chicago Suburbs).

 

The most holes I played in one day was 101 (also a separate visit to different course in the Northwestern Chicago Suburbs).

 

It took me 156 rounds before I carded myself an ace (5/9) . . .and only 98 until my next (9/11). My first ace was a completely blind shot and my second ace  couldn’t tell if my disc was in until I was within 50’ of the basket because it was my drive on the first hole down a big hill and it was before the sun was up. I heard the chains, but really didn’t know for sure until I got really close.

 

I played 131 courses in my first year (including one temporary 9 attached to an existing course and an 18 hole temporary course at the golf course I belong to (Western Lakes Golf Club) for my first PDGA tournament.

 

I began my PDGA career with a triple circle 8 on my second hole of my first tournament (yeah that’s right I tin cupped it into the lake 3 times, but I made the birdie on my 4^th tee-shot so take that!)

 

My first rated round ever was 708 and my second was 807.

 

My first rating was 791 (5 months into playing the game), and my next was 846 (2 months later).

 

My highest rated round for the year was 888 and my lowest was 708.

 

I played 371 rounds (although as I have stated from day 1, I play a lot of rounds simultaneously (meaning I play two discs from start to finish)). I do this to learn from my bad throws and to try and figure out discs and their flight characteristics. There are a few rounds not accounted for because the courses are not available on DGCR.

 

I played 5797 holes (plus the few rounds not posted on DGCR) with 2 aces, 766 birdies, 3437 pars, 1306 bogies, 201 double bogies, and 22 triple bogies). There are 63 holes not accounted for here, which apparently would fall under “other”!

 

I played 859 holes in April, but only 261 in July with the average monthly total being 483 holes.

 

I walked 266.28 miles (although that too is influenced by my 2 for 1 rounds, but also by the fact that the mileage is based strictly on the distance thrown, not actually walked).

 

I threw a total of 18488 shots with 6840 of them being putts.

 

I averaged 1.18 putts per hole which is about 3 two putts per 18 holes. Apparently I had four 4 putts in there and 87 3 putts . . .OUCH!

 

I made 55 shots or putts  from outside the circle for a total of 2782’ which is an average of over 50’ per throw (which included two aces and my 155’ upshot fairway ace at CP Adams in Hastings, MN).

 

 

 

 

Well those are about all of the statistics that I can gather. I used DGCR scorebook religiously from the beginning so I have the ability to pull this information very easily, and being slightly OCD I am happy my entire record is on file so I can reference it at any time. I love looking back and comparing how I did on a course in year 1 versus year 2, then year 3, and now I am compiling my statistics for my 4^th year in the game. I love being able to compare and show that I have improved and you will see this same sort of blog entry when I finish the blogs from 2010, so be prepared for more numbers and more comparisons. Fortunately, for those not that into numbers and statistics, I will be beginning the blog entries shortly about all of my roadtrips, tournaments, and courses played immediately following this blog entry.

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Majestic Minnesota 12/20/2009 The long way home.

Oakwood Park, Cottage Grove, MN

Playdg.com did another great course walkthrough so I am linking to their site again to give you a more complete picture of the course.

This course has a really nice variety of open holes, many with elevation change, slightly wooded basket or tee areas, and then some holes running through the dense woods. There is elevation change on almost every hole and the shots you need to pull off are diverse. I rated this course higher than most people had, and I think the reason is that the course had so much variety that if I had a course close to me like this, I would play it all the time. Here are two of my favorite pictures:

Unknown which hole this is, but who wouldn’t enjoy executing this shot?

Hole #18 Nice open hole that finishes on top of the hill in the distance.

As I walked off the course a group of 7 local guys were just about to get started. They asked if I wanted to join them (to fill out their 8-some playing doubles) and I told them I was not from the area and driving back home to Milwaukee. They were impressed I was out in that much snow and also so early in the morning. Little did they know, that was not at all out of character for me, I do it all the time.

C.P. Adams Park, Hastings, MN

Pulling into the parking lot I got stuck in the slushy snow that had not been removed from the lot. I just sort of left my car where I got stuck and figured I would be able to get out later. I figured someone would be around at some point and would be able to help me get out if I needed help, but I wasn’t going to let it keep me from playing the course!

Hole #1 Nice way to greet you in the morning. Tight shot with two tunnels!

Hole #5 Up the gut between the trees with a low shot or take it out and around with a high shot.

Hole #7 My first fairway ace of decent length. . .155’ turnover with my Stingray from the edge of the hill.

Hole #8 Nice open fairway with a challenging quick green. Rollaways are very possible.

Hole #8 Renovated retaining wall. It looks like it could use some “deadmen” to help spread the “load” out rather than just putting all of the weight right on the timbers. Perhaps an engineer said it wasn’t needed but it looks to me like it should have been done.

Hole #11 Open fairway but finishes in the woods.

Hole #13 Are you kidding me? What a cool hole, but it doesn’t even require a “throw”.

Hole #14 Sweet tight uphill wooded hole.

When all was said and done, I shot a 48 (-6) on what I would consider to be a pretty tough course. I must have missed the right trees and made some good birdies. I even missed a handful of putts which made me feel like I should have shot 44 (-10). I will have to go back sometime and play these short tees again and then play a round from the longs (which look to be very challenging).

I was rewarded at the end of the round, by being able to get out of the parking lot without issue. I was happy the car was no longer stuck and I headed out for 3 more courses.

Memorial Park, Red Wing, MN

What an awesome property, but boy was it some exercise to get up there. Normally there is a road that runs up the hill where you can drive up and park somewhere at the top, but this was winter and the road was windy and steep so they didn’t even plow the road. I decided it would be worth it to park at the bottom by the gate, walk up the 1 mile road (estimation) to the top  of the cliff through 6-8” of snow. In the end the course was pretty nice for a small town 9 holer, but the view was incredible. Mid-round there was an overlook which looked down on the entire city of Red Wing. I so wanted to toss some drivers off that cliff and see which house I could hit and how far the disc would go, but I figured they would know where it came from and I still had a 1 mile walk back down the hill, so a quick escape was not possible.

Castle Tower in the middle of the course

View of Barn Bluff from Soldier’s Memorial Park

I enjoyed my round but it was tough to throw in that much snow without teepads. I tried to use a runup and it was detrimental to my game I bet. I played one from the longs and the shorts because I wanted to make sure the walk up this cliff was worth the stop. I didn’t make a single birdie and I shot 28 from the shorts and 31 from the longs. It was time to walk back down the hill and head to the next course. I enjoyed the walk down the windy wooded road and I realized just how determined I was to get to this course, because I could tell just how much harder it was going up than going down! I am certainly dedicated because I know most people would not have climbed this road just for an average 9 holer, but those are the types of things that I will do to fulfill my desire to play and see lots of courses and simply just enjoy the ride this game has to offer. Looking back on this now 2+ years later, it was silly, but I would probably do it again if I had the chance.

MN State SE Technical, Red Wing, MN

This was tough to figure out the course layout under 8 inches of snow. No tees were visible so I just picked where I felt would be the most likely place for a tee. The only one I think I missed by a bit was #5. I teed off on the right side of the road thinking they didn’t intend for us to be throwing across the road.

Hole #2 Nice hole forces you to throw over a large sidehill dropoff to a basket perched back up on top of a flat area of lawn.

Hole #5 Low ceiling under the trees up a hill (tough shot to throw)

Hole #7 Nice little up and over shot with the basket tucked slightly on top of a hill with a drainage swale just below the basket.

Hole #8 Extreme basket location. Do not overthrow on this basket. I parked it for a deuce!

I had two birdies and one bogey on my round. Not much more to say about this one so I am off to the next and final stop for the day.

Jaycee Park, Wabasha, MN

This is an even smaller town course. It is completely flat and in two small parcels of land within a small park.  The most interesting thing about this course is the baskets. I am not sure who (or what) made them. Perhaps a sasquatch wanted to have a disc golf course so he welded up some baskets. These things are enormous, in fact my putter fell out of the basket multiple times because the holes were too big.  To quote someone from Finding Bigfoot “I do think there’s a sasquatch in dem woods”. All joking aside, I think it is cool they have a course here and the baskets actually make it even more beginner friendly, and it also probably would be better suited to playing with regular Frisbees.

The course was simple and the hole average was just a little more than 200’. There were fairways that crossed or came very close to others, but it isn’t like there will ever be many people at this course at one time. There were a couple tighter shots to be thrown, so this course was not just boring hole after boring hole, unfortunately I cannot find any pictures from this course at this time. I will try and find some to show the most unique holes out here, but you can enjoy the picture of the Sasquatch basket.

Sasquatch Disc Golf Basket

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Majestic Minnesota 12/19/2009 Day 2 Finishing the courses in the S.E. of the metro area

Wabun Picnic Area (Minnehaha Park), Minneapolis, MN

I woke up early the next morning to head out on a multiple course day. I didn’t have much left to play in the metro area, but I was headed to the S.E. of the cities to hit the ones I hadn’t played yet. My plan was to finish all of the courses in South and East of St. Paul/Minneapolis. My first stop was within a few minutes of my brother’s place so this was the ideal place to start. The course was full of a  bunch of ace runs and parkable deuce holes. I ended up shooting 23 (-4) by making 4 birdies and 5 pars. It was a good way to start out my day.

I remember hearing a story a year or so later about someone trying to break the most holes played in 24 hours and this is the course they chose. It was a short enough course (1728’ averaging less than 200’ per hole) to make this attempt but it also was on such a small piece of property (minimal walking between holes) and flat that this made for a pretty ideal place to attempt this world record. Here are a couple links about this story. Kare11 did a segment on the news as well as an article in print on their online page. 1035 holes later and they had a world record.

Highland Park, St. Paul, MN

After Wabun was Highland Park, only a few minutes away. I played this course in my typical fashion playing one disc from the short and the long tees. There were 5 holes with 2 tees and 4 with only 1 tee, so on those holes I played the first disc as a long tee and the second disc as a short tee. I ended up shooting a 25 (-2) from the short and a 27 (E) from the long. The best holes are shown below.

Hole #2 Basket . . . and a cool old stone building.

Hole #4 Basket . . . there is a huge dropoff to the right of this basket and it is on a fairly long hole so you are throwing an upshot from a decent distance.

There was a good mix of holes out here ranging from virtually wide open, to a few fairways with key trees forcing shots and then a couple more holes with more dense trees. It was a decent course and one I would return to another time if I had the chance, but it lacked that really cool hole to catch your attention.

Garlough Park, West St. Paul, MN

I headed off for another 9 hole course Garlough Park. I was pleasantly surprised at this course with the incredible variety on such a small property. It was another short course averaging just over 200’ per hole and made for a nice course to play in the heavy snow. There are some nice rolling hills here that come into play on most of the holes. There are plenty of trees to create some challenge and shape your shots and I thoroughly enjoyed this course even though it was rated under 3 discs on DGCR.

Here is a beautiful picture of Hole #2 in the fall and you can see the rolling hills and the beautiful mature trees.

Brockway Park, Rosemount, MN

My next stop was Brockway Park. This was a 9 hole course with dual tees so I decided to see the entire course and play a disc from each tee. Apparently this property was at one time a golf course on the property of Brockway Glass. I know nothing about this company, but it must have been a good place to work if it had its own golf course!

The long tees here are 50% longer than the short tees so the challenge is definitely upper going from 200’ per hole average to over 300’ per hole. There are a few that give a completely different angle and fairway, and others are just extensions of the short hole. I shot a 25 from the short tees and a 30 from the longs. Overall this is a really cool property. It is rolling terrain set amongst a lot of mature Oak trees and mowed fairways through the prairie type grass. Here are the highlights on this course (although the rounds only saw 3 birdies #4 from the long tees and #5 and #6 from the shorts.

Hole #3 Nice rolling fairway through the mature Oak trees.

Hole #4 Up the hill and across the sideslop . . . great hole . . . the way your disc lands is important.

Hole #5 Downhill shot!

Hole #7 Mandotory on the right to keep you away from the road. Tough second shot on this 640′ hole.

Hole #9 Pick your shot . . . left or right. Equal risk either direction.

Eagan DGC, Eagan, MN

I had one more stop on my day and it was another 9 holer. Playdg.com did another course walkthrough here so I have linked back up to that site, but I have some pictures I will share with you also. This was your typical small community park. It had jungles gyms, tennis courts, and basketball along with some baseball fields etc. The course worked its way around the perimeter of all of the other activities. It used some wooded areas well, included a nice toss down a big sledding hill, and some rolling hills. It had a lot of midrange shots because the holes averaged less than 200’. It was not a bad course overall and if I lived in the neighborhood I would practice here all the time. These were my two highlights on this course.

Hole #6 Nice shot down the sledding hill.

Hole #9 Stay off the baseball field but risk ending up in or behind those Spruce trees.

And so my day of discing is complete and I head back to my brothers for some family visitation and meeting up with some of my old college friends, then off I go headed back to WI . . .the long way through LaCrosse. Why you ask, because there were 5 courses along the Missisippi River that I have not been to and it is absolutely a beautiful drive (way better than I94 between Tomah and Minneapolis).

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I was headed up to Minnesota to see my brother and his girlfriend for the weekend, but this trip was just as much about playing more courses and getting my tally up higher, while I had already passed my goal of 100 courses I could get a head start on 2010 if I kept playing. I remember my wife asking “Are you sure you want to go up there after all this snow?” What do you think I said? Fuggetabotit . . . here is the proof of my decision. . . DGCR Roadtrip.

Black River Falls, Black River Falls, WI

I was told that this course was one of the oldest in Wisconsin by someone who has been around the disc golf scene for a long time. I value the fact that a course like this can stay in the ground that long, despite its design and playability issues. Would I like to see it improved, yes, but I think it gives perspective as to what changes this game has had over the last 35 years. With 4 holes under 200’ including the shortest at 120’ and an average hole length of just over 200’ this course can be a lot of fun to throw. There are a couple open holes, some tight wooded holes, and some elevation change. SO in terms of the shots and the hole design, this course is a perfect representation of what the game was about when the game started (at least as far as I can tell).

The issues on this course come from the old homemade baskets with large nubs on the tray, the 3×3 elevation tees which force a standstill throw or the risk of falling off the elevated tee, and the crossing fairways that certainly could have been avoided. If these things could be corrected and the layout altered to allow for better flow I think this course could be decent again. Either way I enjoyed seeing this course and seeing a course that has been around for so long. It helps me appreciate where the game is now and where it came from.

There aren’t many pictures of this course, but there are a couple of really cool holes in my opinion. Hole #2 starts out in the open and the basket is tucked down a little hill and turns from left to right. It makes for a challenging shot even though it is fairly short.

Hole #3 A nice turning fairway with a few trees and a slight upward elevation change.

Hole #4 is a total ace run registering at 120’. Hole #6 is a long straight shot through the woods that actually crosses one fairway and ends up close to another. Hole #7

Wildapple, Osseo, WI

This is the first Private course attached to someone’s home that I have played. I had played Blue Ribbon Pines which was Private and pay to play but on a commercial property, and Vallarta-Ast which was Private and pay to play but on a county park (similar to Winter Park and Heritage Trails). I contacted the owner Don Ticknor (DGCR username: tick) in advance and lined up a round with him. At the time I didn’t know that there was so much snow expected but I still decided to show up to play. Don was waiting in the shed near the first tee with his old buddy Gerald.  One of the most unique things about this course is that during the summer they do not have all the baskets that they have in season; they use a wind-chime system that Don initially had on his site. The baskets we were able to use during the winter come from Tower Ridge in Eau Claire because it is set on a ski/sled hill and the baskets needed to be moved somewhere.

Hole #1 A nice left to right hole around the woods to a basket tucked slightly back into the woods.

Hole #7 A great hyzer stall shot around the corner of the trees. You can cut inside of the trees on the end but risk ending up short in some thicket. Great hole!

Hole #8 A great hole running over and along a creek the entire way. There are a couple lanes but the best is a RHBH turnover shot but that is risking going into the creek.

Hole #12 A nice option hole . . .pick your line and execute.

Hole #13 A long downhill hole that turns left. There are a couple fallen trees in the fairway area that might knock down a drive that is headed towards the basket and the basket is tucked underneath some more limbs. Fun hole!

Hole #18 only birdie of the entire day for all three of us. and I got it.

Here is a picture with one of the wind-chime tone poles that he uses when he loses the extra baskets. I have only been there in the winter when he already has all the baskets in place.

 

I waited to review the course because I really didn’t get a good impression of what I was playing. They had just received 10” of snow a week prior and while the teepads were fairly clear, thanks to Don, the rest of the course was hidden by a blanket of snow. I went back a year or so later and got to “see” the whole course and

UWEC (University of Wisconsin Eau Claire), Eau Claire, WI

I stopped here on my way to Mount Simon, but there were a lot of people walking around the area where I saw the baskets, and the course had not been shoveled so I wasn’t sure I would even be able to navigate the course, so I just headed to the next course.

Mount Simon, Eau Claire, WI

Playdg.com did a course walkthrough of this course and since there is only one picture available of these holes I figured I would link back to their site again. As you can see from that walkthrough, this course is very “Park-like” and has a lot of trees scattered around the property, but is virtually wall to wall turf. The first four holes are decent holes but there are plenty of options to throw on each hole. Hole #5 is a great hole that starts in the turfed area and ends in the woods and finishes uphill. It’s a really good hole with challenge and is pretty also. Hole #6 is also a really good hole . . . a very tight tunnel (perhaps 10’ wide) on a 285’ hole. Go for the basket or lay a mid-range out there and hope for no bad kicks. The last 3 holes are more or less like the first three holes but they hug the edge of the woods. The baskets are tucked closer to the edge so the woods can become a factor in these holes with a bad skip or an errant approach. I sarcastically made fun of this course by saying this is the flattest Mountain course I have ever seen, but I realize the Mountain is above the course.

Wakanda, Menomonie, WI

I then headed over to Wakanda for the last stop on my drive from Milwaukee to Minneapolis. I found the first tee, I found the second tee, then I headed through that initial woods and I had no idea where I was supposed to go, so I was unable to play the entire course. I hope to get back some time soon because it looks like a cool course. It looks like it would be a marvelous late fall course with all of the Majestic Oak trees and rolling hills. I headed out to get to my brothers int he Twin Cities and look forward to leaving early in the morning to play a bunch of courses that I haven’t played yet.

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My First Off-Season : A Little of This a Little of That 11/9 – 12/17/2009

This blog entry is a little bit of everything. It spans 5 weeks where I didn’t really do any travelling for courses, but where I just played a lot of the same courses I normally play. It’s got a couple personal bests, it’s got a short story about one of my first exposures to the course design process, it’s got a story about the first people I have taken with me to introduce the game to (that ended up continuing on playing). Sorry if it seems a little disconnected, but these are really all just short stories that happened during the end of my landscape season and the beginning of my “off-season”. All I know is all I could think about as the landscape season ended was playing more disc golf and seeing more courses.

11/11/2009 Dretzka Park

Up until this point I had played 34 rounds at Dretzka Park (some on the 18 hole course and some playing the full 27 holes). The course setup at Dretzka can vary from really short and east to really hard and long because every hole has at least 3 if not 4 basket locations. It is hard to really compare rounds because I do not know if the scorecards have always been accurate for the current basket setup. However, I had started out shooting between 85-90 for the most part for the 27 hole course. Somehow I had managed to shoot 81 twice in this span, which I can only attribute to the course being setup in the short basket locations, but I had never broken par for the 27 hole layout, until 11/11/2009 when I managed an 80 (-1). I had shot 53 (-1) on the 18 hole course once in this time-span also, but I probably would have thrown that good round away if I had continued on to the newer 9 holes.

11/14/2009 – 11/25/2009 UW Parkside – Orchid

I had played the 9 hole course when I went to visit the regular UW Parkside course just a few times. I had heard there were more holes being installed here so I had headed down to see what I could see. I began my first round playing just the first 9 holes and I walked across the street to check out the new holes . . .I was able to walk the whole course because of the mowed paths used as fairways. I found all of the sleeves and the stakes where the tees were supposed to go.  While I was out walking I met one of the designers. He said he was actually going to be assembling the baskets and I jumped at the chance to help him with this process. Unfortunately, he left me in the middle of the course and said he would be over at “that building”. I finished my walk on the course and headed over to the area he was going to be and couldn’t find him or any of the other basket assembly volunteers . . . so I just headed home.  At least I knew the baskets were just about ready to be installed, so I waited a few more days and I headed back after I had heard they were finally installed. You can check out what else I said about this course from my previous blog entry entitled Southern Spring Swing.

 

This time-frame also saw the transition from Dretzka Park to Dretzka Park Winter 24. The original course gets pulled every fall because of the excessive damage that would occur during the spring and fall and to also allow this course to recover from all the play it receives during the season. I like this idea and it is something that I think other courses really should consider. Early in the fall we lose the regular course and only 9 holes gets installed at Dretzka because 15 of the other holes are set on the golf course. Since disc golf doesn’t make ay money for the county and golf does, I do not blame them for keeping us off of the golf course until the golfers put their clubs to rest for the season. Well since this was also the time of year where things slow down for me, you could find me at Dretzka many of these days. This course is very popular with the locals in winter because it is something they don’t get to play all year round. I ended up meeting up with a bunch of the local guys who I had met sporadically through the year and we had begun to play a lot of doubles rounds out here. The only issues I had with this group is we never knew how many people there were going to be, we never knew when we would actually start the round, and then when we finally did get everyone to start, it would take 3+ hours to play this course. While my work had slowed down, it hadn’t stopped and I really couldn’t justify being out there for 3-4 hours. I did still have work to get done. Some of these guys were unemployed, while many of the others worked in the bar/restaurant industry so they always worked nights so they had the whole day to kill if they wanted, where I had work to do in my shop, or office work to do at home (depending on the day). So over time it wore on me and I began to separate myself from this group a little bit. I did have fun playing doubles while I was there, I just wish it didn’t take as long as it did.

11/27/2009 Hobble Gobble Dretzka Winter 24 One of the little friendly tournaments I did play we deemed the Hobble Gobble which was the day after Thanksgiving. We played three rounds of random draw doubles on the top 9 holes. Each round you flipped to see who your partner was, and each round you had to be with a different person. This was really fun and really unique in my opinion. We had a great time and while I do not remember where we finished but I had shot 25 (-2), 21 (-6), and another 25 (-2) for those 27 holes. That isn’t that good of a score out here especially when there was no snow yet.

12/5/2009 Ripon Revisit Murray Park and Riggs Park

My wife and I headed up to Ripon to visit with our college friends again. I brought my discs along of course, because while my wife and her friend were going to be making Christmas Cookies, I planned to be out playing some disc golf. We actually ended up all going out to play a round together and afterwards I left them with 3 discs a piece and told them to keep at it. I have since done this with a few of my friends and I don’t think one of them has actually even gone out to play. It’s sad because I know they would love it, I wouldn’t have left them a disc if I didn’t think they would enjoy themselves. However, these friends really got into it, and they go out at least once a week together, and one has even made other friends who play disc golf, so he goes out pretty consistently. I was thrilled to have finally gotten someone interested n the sport I got so addicted to just 12 months prior.

12/7/2009 Spassland Park

What more needs to be said . . .CUBBY ACE Hole #2.

It was my second cubby ace (any throw that isn’t your first from the teepad), because if you remember I did it while I was in Minnesota playing Blue Ribbon Pines. I am not 100% sure but I probably had thrown a driver on the long 203’ downhill hole. I had not yet found how awesome mid-ranges can be. I don’t think I had even attempted to throw the Gator (which is now my #1 approach disc for anything inside of about 200-210’), and I know the Mako was not out yet. I might have still been carrying my DX shark or perhaps a Roc (not sue how quickly I realized I hated the Roc). Anyways . . .my second Cubby Ace, not a real ace because it was a second throw, but still fun to do!

12/12/2009 Holiday Huk Valley View

I do not remember this tournament all that clearly, but it was a non-sanctioned event run by Terry Miller of Lifetime Disc Sports (also of The DiscGolf guy Video Blog fame). I know I came home with some plastic, a nice 175g Pink Pro Destroyer and a 172g Echo Star Excaliber (which has become one of my favorite overstable drivers) so I must have played decently. I ended up shooting 47 (-7) and 49 (-5) but those rounds are skewed slightly because we played two of the easiest hole twice each round to avoid hitting any sledders which we share the course with. Holes #1 and #18 are right where hundreds of kids can be found every weekend sledding in the winter, so we skipped those two holes and played #4 and #5 twice, each round instead.

12/13/2009 Valley View Tying and beating my career best round

Remember way back to my blog about my home course valley View . . .well, I had shot 46 (-8) in one of my first league rounds (4/22/2009) and then proceeded to then average around 51 (-3) the rest of the year. Well, I had shot 46 another time during August, and I did it again on 11/30/2009. I couldn’t break through that barrier, in fact I was thrilled to have even been able to tie my personal best after a horrible summer at this course. We finally got some snow which finally came on 12/8/2009, and the course remained open in the winter for the first time in years. Apparently that was all I needed to shoot better, because on 12/13/2009 I finally beat my best and shot 45 (-9). I actually had 10 birdies and a bogey, aided by two putts outside the circle, one from 35’ and another from 50’. This is now the second time I have done that in a round recently and it is clear I am improving on my longer putts as the frequency seems to be picking up. I will be discussing this concept in my 2009 year wrapup blog coming in a few days.

12/14/2009 Dretzka Park Winter 24 Bettering my personal best 4 times

I had spent quite a few rounds at the Dretzka Winter course last winter after I returned home from my vacation. It was a tough course to learn how to play in snow, but I loved every minute of it. Over my first 21 rounds I had average 86.6 on the 24 hole course with only 2 roundsin the70’s shooting 79, and 78. Well the full 24 holes went in and I came out firing. I was able to set 4 personal bests (granted some of it is due to the lack of snow on the course as well as the good conditions on the rubber mats used at Dretzka.

12/7/2009 I shot 76 (+4)

12/14/2009 I shot 75 (+3)

12/17/2009 I shot 73 (+1)

1/25/2010 I shot 80 (+8) but this was right after I returned from vacation and the course was under a lot of ice at this point.

Then before the course was pulled for the spring (and the original course put back in) on 3/10/2010 I was able to muster a 71 (-1) . . . my first round under par on this tough 24 hole course. I had made some serious strides since I used to shoot about 86 (+14) just 12 months ago and now I am shooting just a few over par to as low as one below par. I was excited for the new 2010 season.

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I set out for a day of disc golf in an area of Wisconsin that I had not explored yet. Appleton is about 2 hours away from my house so I headed out around 5:00 AM with the intent of meeting a DGCR regular, Tallpaul, as he said he would show me around the local courses. He ended up sending his buddy, Steve, in his place as he had other things he needed to attend to. Here is a link to the DGCR roadtrip.

Plamann Apple Creek 18, Appleton, WI

I had started out at Plamann Apple Creek and since Steve was apparently running late, I decided to just get going. Steve caught up with me on Hole #7. Here are the highlights of this course.

Hole #1 Throw your approach to here and you should make a par. #1 is set on a nice rolling fairway with a wetland left and some trees guarding the right side of the fairway. Great starting hole.

Hole #2 Slight downhill to a basket just short of “Apple Creek”. Lots of big trees right and a prairie meadow to the left. Also pictured here is the erosion control methods they have attempted here with the plastic mesh (just like I saw last blog entry at Bryant Lake Park).

Hole #4 Great hole, plenty to think about and avoid. Do not throw into the trees on the right . . . it is jail!

Hole #7 Nice long hole with a sideslope sliding down the hill to the right. Lots of evergreens to the left to make your approach more difficult.

Hole #10 Split fairway down the hill and back up again.

Hole #11 Tough hole up the hill with a few trees forcing a pretty small window to a blind basket.

Hole #13 Big downhill shot with the creek just past the trees in the distance.

Hole #18 Great finishing hole with a tight fairway but a few options to consider.

The highlights of my round . . . were back to back putts from outside the circle . . . from 65’ on #14 for birdie and a nice par save on #15 from 35’. Up to this point in my disc golf experience I have only thrown in about 35-40 times (in about 300 rounds) from outside the circle so to do it twice in one round was pretty exciting, especially from 65′.

Plamann is one of the better maintained courses I have seen. They are doing what they can with the erosion control around the tees that normally turn to mud from compaction which I have only seen a handful of places. They have really nice mature trees that seem to have received appropriate pruning over time. There is a really nice variety of hole out there and it is also very picturesque. I have not been back since my first visit but I look forward to the opportunity to do so in the future.

Plamann Meadowview 9, Appleton, WI

This course can be played separately, but since I was playing with a local, we decided to bounce over to this 9 hole course after playing Hole #11 or 12 on the Apple Creek Course. There are a couple connector holes that transition you from the park-like holes to the prairie holes. Then there a couple more holes that bring you back into the park-like holes. Unfortunately, there are no pictures to show you this course. While none of the holes are particularly picturesque or unique, there are still some fun holes over here. There also are some frustrating holes too, and it is mostly due to lack of maintenance. Perhaps this is by design, but there are some thorny shrubs and some invasive species over there. These shrubs and areas do not play as much of a role in the shot shaping as they do in the recovery shot. So if you throw a bad shot, you are punished severely by having to sometimes throw a different shot. You still might even throw a good shot and end up in one of these shrubs forcing you to recover and that is what I do not like about this course. I imagine a skilled player that has played this course a few times won’t have as much of a problem, but I did, being fairly new to the game. It was still fun and I do look to return sometime soon, but I did have issues the first time through.

Grignon, Kaukana, WI

Grignon is a great course. The holes are basically tucked into the woods surrounding a big sledding hill. Elevation is a key aspect of the design here, but so are the woods. There is good variety on the course to though as there are7 holes that play in a relatively flat turfed area. These holes are not simple or boring by any means because of the hundreds of mature deciduous trees. There is even a creek that can come into play. All in all there is just some awesome balance on this course. The only hole I really hoped to find a picture of was #17 from the bend in the fairway to the green. It has a basket tucked just above the creek on the bank. It has all sorts of interesting terrain dow in this drainageway and it really reminds me of some of t he Charlotte area basket placements. It is a course that I cannot wait to get back to someday soon. Here are the highlights.

Hole #1 Outstanding Hole down a big hill tucked just into an opening in the woods.

Hole #2 Straight up the hill and to the right

Hole #3 Down the big hill and tucked to the left. Great hole!

Hole #5 Start in the woods, across the sled hill, and back into the woods.

Hole #8 One of the best holes on the course is also one of the most challenging.

Hole #9 Straight up the hill with the basket out in the opening.

Hole #10 First of seven park-like holes.

Hole #17 One of the other best holes on the course. It has a tight fairway, creek to the left, trees surrounding you, and a mulched path fairway up the middle. Oh and it’s a dogleg.

Hole #18 Just like #2 to end your round.

Kimberly High School, Kimberly, WI

Snapshot of the valley the course plays in.

As you can see the entire course plays on the edge of, down into, and back out of a big valley. The elevation change helps to make the shots more challenging and this course is by no means easy or simple. There are also some trees and some underbrush around a couple of the baskets that make these greens challenging. All in all it is a decent course that doesn’t get near the exposure as the others in the area. I would play this a handful of times per year if it was close to me, especially if I wanted to work on my driving in the wind.

Hole #2 A perfect example of the elevation that is used on 4 or 5 of the holes on this course.

 

 Kaukana JR., Kaukana, WI

This is pretty much a birdie fest or a good place to go for aces unless you are a beginner. If you are a beginner. . . it is a perfect course to learn how to play because while it is short and impossible to lose a disc here, it still provides some challenge and will also keep your interest while you learn the game. Not much else needs to be said about its course . . . I will update you next time I visit this course and  hope to have carded an ace.

Hole #6 Pretty typical hole . . . short . . . with some big mature trees . . . but options to throw your shot.

O’Hauser Park, Menasha, WI

Hole #2 Nice tunnel with a creek running the entire right side of the fairway.

This course is being redesigned as we speak . . . and it looks like the new design will not be unveiled until June 2012 when they plan to open the course. They are delaying the opening to allow grass to grow in, and it is becoming a pay to play . . . $3 per day or $25 all year. This is a really good idea for this course as it’s abuse has taken a toll on the quality of the turf and landscape. The pay aspect will lessen the amount of play, and will also increase the quality of the player (no offense chuckers).  I hope that the design appeals more to the skilled disc golfers as should be customary with a pay to play and not to the casual player. The old design was not bad by any means, but some of the holes were fairly contrived . .  . being carved out of Buckthorn and shots that just didn’t feel like disc golf on occasion.

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Just another roadtrip . . . here is your link to the DGCR Roadtrip.

Anna Page East, Rockford, IL

I started out on this course strictly because I liked what I saw when I drove into the parking lot. You drive past Hole #1 on your right and it just looked like a really cool hole so I thought I would begin there.

Hole #1 Nice wide fairway with a basket tucked over the rolling hills.

Hole #2 Nice low hyzer or skip shot. Try and get close to the basket tucked around the woods on the left.

Hole #3 Nice open hole with a chance at a nice roller.

Hole #15 Good hole with the basket tucked in amongst a bunch of trees. A low shot is best t keep the disc below the lowest branches on the trees.

While #15 is a great hole . . . it also has one of the funnest things I have ever seen. They have put an extra basket up on the top of a telephone pole a minimum of 30-40’ in the air. I am not sure if the rule is that if you get it in the basket you win something, or you can play to that basket if you want instead of playing the normal hole, but come on, what are the odds someone actually throws one in up there? I would say the odds are against you, but it sure was fun to throw a few at that basket. I hit the pole about 10’ low of the basket on one of my attempts, but maybe I should be happy I didn’t lose a disk to that basket.

This course is really a lot of fun holes, it is very beginner friendly because the fairways are more than “fair”. There aren’t really any tight woods shots, it is more “park-like” with fairways working their way around large pockets of trees and woods, so there still is a challenge, but a truly bad shot is really the only thing that gets punished. It feels like such a natural place for disc golf following the mowed turf areas around these pockets of trees. I think that is why I like this course so much, because it uses the natural areas and the turf well to make it feel like they did nothing to put this course in, they just used what the land gave them and picked the tee locations and planted the baskets in the ground and it was done.

Anna Page West, Rockford, IL

A quick stop at the car to replenish my beverage and on to the next 18 holes of fun. After playing the East course,  was not sure if I should expect the same type of course with just more holes of the same, but after I stepped to Hole #1 I knew I was in for a different animal. This course had mature Oak trees . . . everywhere! I have compared it to Miniwaukan ( in Mukwonago and much closer to home) but it is like that course . . .on steroids. Many more Oak trees, much more distance, and rolling hills on just about every hole.  Miniwaukan is fairly short, dead flat, and the trees are much further apart than Anna Page West. You just need to see the holes to really get a understanding of how cool this course is. There are two holes I really didn’t like because they were basically wide open long distance holes, but the other 16 are all solid and thus, I feel this course is the better of the two. Originally, I ranked Anna Page East higher than West, but I think that was because I was still pretty much a beginner disc golfer at that time. I liked the more open feel of Anna Page East and got frustrated with all the random tree hits on West. I also really did not like the two long open holes on the courses. I would have preferred slightly shorter holes with more trees because wide open long distance just isn’t fun, it only hurts my arm. Anyways, here are the highlights of this course, no descriptions needed, just know these are the best holes out there, but there really are not many weak holes, the ones not pictured are simply less wooded and more “park-like” so they just are not as photogenic as the tight wooded holes.

Hole #1  Nice anhyzer through the woods to start off your day

Hole #2 Open Hole (Well Anna Page West Type of  Open)

Hole #3 Over the hill and through the woods

Hole #4 More rolling terrain through the woods

Hole #8 Downhill tunnel shot

Hole #15 The Usual

Holed #16 Look familiar?

Hole #17 Field Goal Attempt

Hole #18 Fun finishing hole with elevation change large oaks and a tight window

Porter Park, Roscoe, IL

I headed off after Anna Page having just played two very solid courses. While I did not expect the rest of the courses to be as good as the first two so maybe I should have played in reverse order. But disc golf is disc golf is disc golf so I trudged on.

Porter Park has the nicest rubber mats I have played to date . . .they were installed well, staked down and solid, and were not lumpy at all. They seemed to be a good alternative for concrete, and while I still prefer concrete for consistency, these would have been acceptable in most circumstances. The only time these teepads would not work well is in heavy rain or below freezing conditions with snow on them.

Hole #2 Creek runs up the entire right side of the fairway so play safe.

Hole #3 Great hole shooting down this path to a basket tucked on top of a little mound underneath the trees.

Hole #6 Straight and open, but the raised mound makes putting interesting. I assume this was installed to help prevent the ball fields from flooding.

Hole #9

Woodlands, Rockton, IL

I have been unable to produce any photos of this course which is an absolute shame! This is not a shame because it is beautiful, scenic, or anything on the positive end . . . it is simply by far the most contrived course I have ever seen, basically carving the entire course out of Buckthorn infested wood. If the Buckthorn would be removes this would be an incredibly scenic and attractive course, but then again without the Buckthorn this course loses a lot of its challenge. Sure there are still some nice mature trees in the woods, but the Buckthorn is really what creates the challenge on this course. If you can avoid the dreaded “toss out of trouble” shot, you should shoot well because the course is very sort. With all this said I suppose it should be left as it is because that is what makes playing this course such a unique experience. I simply have not played anything like this before in my 300+ course played. If I am ever able to find pictures of his course I will definitely have to get them up on my blog because they are so tight. The funny thing about this course is you would think it is beginner friendly by its distances. Coming in at 3505’ total just under 200’ per hole is really short, but beginners will get frustrated looking for their discs and even more so trying to throw out of the trouble areas!

Dr. George W. Hilliard Park, Beloit, WI

This is one of the older courses in Wisconsin being installed in 1982 and it shows. The tee signs are beat up and faded, the areas around the baskets are compacted and have very thin turf. There are also a lot of other areas in this park that are bare dirt/thin turf. I do not know if this course was redesigned ever and baskets moved, but this may have led to the sparse turf scattered throughout the course, or perhaps this park just gets a lot of use. Either way it is not a very scenic course and the maintenance seems to be lacking a bit. One other thing I remember about this course was the fact that there were alternate 9 holes listed on the tee-signs. I have heard of this being down before, but never seen it actually written on the signs. For instance you could throw from #1 tee to #4 basket, then from #5 tee to #2 basket. They had different holes written on each tee-sign which makes this course play like 18 holes. This is a unique idea, but would be hectic on a busy course.

Hole #2 Good hole with the basket tucked up to the edge of the woods.

Hole #2 Basket Area Bare Soil

Hole #4 Tee Area and along woods bare soil

I had originally intended on one more course for the day, but Lustig Park in Janesville had already been shut down. I was glad my friend had posted that it was closed because he had driven all the way out there only to find the baskets out. I had to settle with only 5 new courses for the day and head home.

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Homestead High School, Mequon, WI

Anxious to get out and see some different courses after a long summer of the usual suspects, I decided to hit the one course within about 30 miles that I had not played yet even though it had approximately a 1 disc rating on DGCR.

This course is the ultimate in artificial obstacles. There are nets, fences, fields, a giant scoreboard, shotput pits, and buildings in play on this course. While there was a nice forced carry over a wetland on #1, the rest is mostly open distance with the artificial obstacles. I didn’t have much fun here, and I only came to this course because I was heading to two of my favorite courses in the area that I do not get to regularly. At least I also got to add a new course to my list.

Lime Kiln Park, Grafton, WI

I knew I was in for better disc golf because I was headed to one of my favorite 9 hole courses in the area. It is a little bit farther than I normally travel for disc golf on a given weekend unless I am headed on a multiple course adventure, so I was glad to get back to this course for the first time since my first visit back in March. My first visit saw me shooting 2 rounds (33) and (31) with only 1 birdie (#1), but I also had 9 bogeys and a double bogey. I was happy to say I had greatly improved since I was last here with an additional 6 months of practice and play. This day I only played 1 round and I shot (29) to beat my previous best by 2 shots. While I still only had 1 birdie, I also eliminated the double bogey and only had 3 bogeys. Still one of my favorite 9 hole courses in the area and even outside the S.E. Wisconsin area.

Tendick Nature Park, Saukville, WI

I left Lime Kiln in eager anticipation of playing Tendick Nature Park again. The first time I was here, I was only able to play 9 of the 18 holes. The 9 prairie holes were closed because the course had just undergone some improvements with new concrete tee-pads and the turf repair work around the tees as well as allowing the prairie to recover. So after the spring was over and everything was in good shape they opened the rest of the course again.

I again decided to play both tees simultaneously. The short tees were pretty straight forward . . . 1 birdie and 3 bogeys, but the long tees saw quite a bit more challenge as I had 10 bogeys, 3 double bogeys, and only 1 birdie. Holes #1-11 are still great holes and there are a couple redeeming features on some of the holes between 12-18 but for the most part they are long prairie holes, which I have discussed before as not being my favorite type of hole.

Here are the best pictures showing you the some of the prairie holes:

Hole #13 Straight away a long long hole. No prairie shortcuts here.

Hole #14 Straight hole with a little ditch with some young growth and a big tree on the right to avoid.

Hole #15 Rolling up, down, and back up again and into the woods. Great Hole.

Hole #17 Long Tee on the other side of this little bridge making for an interesting view with the wetland to the right and prairie grass to the left of the fairway.

While the prairie holes alone are somewhat disappointing, they do add to the variety on this course. The tight wooded holes, the park like holes running along the outside of the woods, and now the wide open prairie holes that test your distance and your ability in the wind. Unfortunately, it also feels a little repetitive because all of the prairie holes are played consecutively and take this for what it is . . . the course ends in a melodramatic fashion. I typically like to leave a course loving the final holes and it is the opposite here. I get all excited on the front 9 in the woods and then I leave one of the toughest and coolest holes, #11, and head into the prairie for 7 somewhat boring holes. It got me all excited and then let me down. My ideal layout of this course would be to play 16-18 for a warmup in the prairie, then 1-11 in the wooded section, and then finish on holes 12-15. That would be the best layout in my opinion, although it leaves the first tee slightly removed from the parking lot, but in terms of the order he holes are played, that would really help me enjoy the course more than I do now. All in all still a good course with good variety, it just leaves me somewhat  unsatisfied.

Kops Park, Milwaukee, WI

So after league ended one night back in September 2009, we went over to the local bar and grill for some drinks and appetizers. I mentioned I had played the two courses in Ixonia (and a few others) that had not been listed on the site yet, and was looking for any other course like this that had not been “discovered”. This was at the peak of my addiction where anything new was good, especially if it meant I got to add another course played. I am sure many people thought I was just an idiot, but they also probably thought I would get bored with seeing new courses and fizzle out . . . well 3 years later and I am keeping true to the 100 new courses per year goal. I am not going to stop because I get such enjoyment out of stepping up to a course that has not been reviewed, and more importantly a hole that I haven’t seen before. I love trying to decipher what the natural lay of the land will allow me to do. So anyways back to the discussion at the bar that evening . . . Kops Park somehow came up in the discussion when I had asked about local courses, even though it was only 2 baskets in a park, in fact Terry (The Designer) didn’t honestly remember if it was 2 or 3 baskets. I headed to Kops Park the next morning on my way to work. What the heck I figured I could play a round in 5 minutes. I ended up getting a birdie on both holes, thus I assume tying the course record, unless someone has gotten an ace and a birdie in the same round. I thought it was incredible that this course was unknown by a lot of people. It was only really known by those that might drive past it or those that found disc golf through the Milwaukee County Parks Site (since it is listed on there).

So I listed the course on DGCR and immediately started to get some grief about it. People wrote me messages about how stupid it was that the course was listed since it was basically 2 baskets in a park. At the time I didn’t even know there were concrete markers in the ground to mark the tees, so when I played I just went within about 15’ of the two park benches (one by each tee) without even knowing I had played from the general area of the actual tees. So after taking some abuse I decided to ask the general DGCR public what they thought of this course being listed.

This is the thread that started all the fun (it might not be all that fun or funny to you, but it was for me and many of the DGCR population) . . . following my listing of Kops Park on DGCR. The day this first thread happened, I was home sick . . . and it kept me entertained the entire day. This thread kept the discussion going. Here are the search results with all the threads  that have Kops Park in them in one way or another. All this talk about a 2 hole course! While it was listed for selfish reasons (courses played tally), I am glad I drew exposure to this course, and I feel listing Kops Park on DGCR eventually played an important role in the establishment of “Practice Courses” on DGCR.  Here is the first discussion about the “Practice Course” designation. Here is an additional thread about course classifications . . . which saw the addition of Seasonal and Temporary classifications. Inside of this thread is where timg finally came to the realization that having a “Practice Course” listing option would be a good idea. I am happy this type of course was finally allowed because it will bring exposure to courses and practice areas that might not ever get used. It might help some young kid find the sport and that is positive!

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