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Stewart Pond reviews
8
1
Two And A Half Season Course! 2+ years
Reviewed:
Updated:
Played on:Jun 2, 2016
Played the course:once
Pros:
What a great piece of land to build a course on. There are basically two separate areas, a large sloping, meadow area with scattered mature trees and a lower, could be wetter area comprised of large Oak and Ash trees.
You park in the parking lot at the dead end of Stewart Road. Walk in past the sign listing all those environmental groups who are not going to be happy with discs golfing trampling through their lovely, pristine piece of land.
The course has these nice, large concrete tee pads which are rounded off at the front end. This helps in navigation right away. The tee signs are currently just small laminated pieces of paper attached to small sticks. I would hope to see them replaced with more permanent and vandal proof signs. The baskets are new Discatchers with the red number on top.
Stewart Ponds starts out with three consecutive holes climbing upwards. They are 240', 250' and 300' but provide a challenge with their hills. # 4 finally gives you a chance to throw some air, it's 410 down the hill. Now holes # 5-15 all play through the lower forested area. They're almost all between 250' to 350' and all come with tight lines or mature trees or some kind of obstacle. Then 16-18 lead back to the sloping meadow area. # 18 concludes your round with a 490' downhill blast.
Stewart Ponds is long enough and technical enough to provide challenge for most players. It's not Blue Lake or McIver but probably plays similar to Dexter or Alton Baker in difficulty.
You park in the parking lot at the dead end of Stewart Road. Walk in past the sign listing all those environmental groups who are not going to be happy with discs golfing trampling through their lovely, pristine piece of land.
The course has these nice, large concrete tee pads which are rounded off at the front end. This helps in navigation right away. The tee signs are currently just small laminated pieces of paper attached to small sticks. I would hope to see them replaced with more permanent and vandal proof signs. The baskets are new Discatchers with the red number on top.
Stewart Ponds starts out with three consecutive holes climbing upwards. They are 240', 250' and 300' but provide a challenge with their hills. # 4 finally gives you a chance to throw some air, it's 410 down the hill. Now holes # 5-15 all play through the lower forested area. They're almost all between 250' to 350' and all come with tight lines or mature trees or some kind of obstacle. Then 16-18 lead back to the sloping meadow area. # 18 concludes your round with a 490' downhill blast.
Stewart Ponds is long enough and technical enough to provide challenge for most players. It's not Blue Lake or McIver but probably plays similar to Dexter or Alton Baker in difficulty.
Cons:
Long and could be confusing walk into # 1.
You're playing on a field of grass (18" high). This would result in an awfully wet walk after rain. But it doesn't rain in Eugene, does it?
BLM lands make me nervous. There are so many environmental groups involved here. I'm afraid if two discarded cans are found on the ground, there could be pressure to close this lovely course. The course designer has pretty much assured me that this area of Stewart Pond is designated for recreation use thus will be mowed regularly and all the environmentalist will accept the course. Good news!
The site has some lowlands area, combined with tall grass could make this course not playable in winter and large parts of spring.
Current signs are just laminated papers attached to small sticks. Vandals will trash them.
You're playing on a field of grass (18" high). This would result in an awfully wet walk after rain. But it doesn't rain in Eugene, does it?
BLM lands make me nervous. There are so many environmental groups involved here. I'm afraid if two discarded cans are found on the ground, there could be pressure to close this lovely course. The course designer has pretty much assured me that this area of Stewart Pond is designated for recreation use thus will be mowed regularly and all the environmentalist will accept the course. Good news!
The site has some lowlands area, combined with tall grass could make this course not playable in winter and large parts of spring.
Current signs are just laminated papers attached to small sticks. Vandals will trash them.
Other Thoughts:
If I was convinced that this course was to be mowed on a consistent basis, I'd feel a lot more comfortable. With all these environmental groups having a say, I think they might wish to keep the grass high. If the grass is kept 12-18' tall, it's means players are going to forever be searching for discs and wet feet will be the norm half the year.
I'll be looking forward to coming here again in the future and see what's going on as regards to tee signs, cutting the grass and in general, tolerating that small minority group of our disc golfers community, who tend to be lazy and sometimes discard their bottles and cans in the brush.
I'll be looking forward to coming here again in the future and see what's going on as regards to tee signs, cutting the grass and in general, tolerating that small minority group of our disc golfers community, who tend to be lazy and sometimes discard their bottles and cans in the brush.
Designer response by jeverett
Hi Valkyrie Kid,
Thank you for the Stewart Pond review! I don't know if I can assuage any of the 'cons' you listed, but I can at least provide a little background as to our relationship with the BLM. ;)
The footprint of the course is a tiny portion of the BLM's overall West Eugene Wetlands holdings, and one of the few areas designated as primarily for recreation (rather than habitat restoration). Thankfully, there aren't a lot of environmental groups and interests involved here. The site itself has a history of large-scale illegal camping, and it was the BLM (as opposed to our local club) that actually originally proposed disc golf on the property. We're also trying to be proactive about mitigating the impact of disc golf on the property, of course. :)
We've been working hard on getting a more frequent mowing schedule, with a mower rather than a tractor, and are hopeful that mowing is going to be more frequent. Long grass is indeed a drag. :( Amenities like real tee signs are also now funded, and will be installed this Summer. :)
In terms of the layout (my primary responsibility), yes, I would agree that the most-comparable course in terms of difficulty would be Dexter. Dexter is very slightly more technical, but Stewart Pond is slightly (200-300ft) longer.
If you would be willing to make one tiny change to your review.. In attempting to be mindful of the neighbors to the south of the property, we're trying to encourage players to come in on Bertelsen Rd. rather than Bailey Hill Rd., and then take Stewart Rd. to the parking lot right before the dead-end. i.e. Not parking on the Bailey Hill Rd. end of Stewart Rd.
Thanks again! If you're ever back in the area, I'd be happy to play a round with you out there!
Thank you for the Stewart Pond review! I don't know if I can assuage any of the 'cons' you listed, but I can at least provide a little background as to our relationship with the BLM. ;)
The footprint of the course is a tiny portion of the BLM's overall West Eugene Wetlands holdings, and one of the few areas designated as primarily for recreation (rather than habitat restoration). Thankfully, there aren't a lot of environmental groups and interests involved here. The site itself has a history of large-scale illegal camping, and it was the BLM (as opposed to our local club) that actually originally proposed disc golf on the property. We're also trying to be proactive about mitigating the impact of disc golf on the property, of course. :)
We've been working hard on getting a more frequent mowing schedule, with a mower rather than a tractor, and are hopeful that mowing is going to be more frequent. Long grass is indeed a drag. :( Amenities like real tee signs are also now funded, and will be installed this Summer. :)
In terms of the layout (my primary responsibility), yes, I would agree that the most-comparable course in terms of difficulty would be Dexter. Dexter is very slightly more technical, but Stewart Pond is slightly (200-300ft) longer.
If you would be willing to make one tiny change to your review.. In attempting to be mindful of the neighbors to the south of the property, we're trying to encourage players to come in on Bertelsen Rd. rather than Bailey Hill Rd., and then take Stewart Rd. to the parking lot right before the dead-end. i.e. Not parking on the Bailey Hill Rd. end of Stewart Rd.
Thanks again! If you're ever back in the area, I'd be happy to play a round with you out there!
