Pros:
The Easy Street 9 DGC is located at the Brundage Ski area just 4 miles north of McCall. The course starts up behind the bike shop next to the Easy Street chair lift. Look for the mailbox containing the maps and scorecards. The mountain scenery is beautiful up here.
The course uses these little floor mats for tee pads. They were OK for some of the holes but a little short when a bigger run-up is needed. The baskets are brand new Chainstars. The signs are simple little metals ones. They give you the the basic info including a very basic hole map.
# 1 is a great little throw to start the course. It's a fun little 210' downhill touch shot to a basket sitting on a green lawn below.
# 2 is the star attraction of this course and would be the signature hole on almost any course in the world. It's a 380' downhill hyzer which follows a natural sloping fairway. The grass carpet here on # 1 is among the most green, lush you can imagine. The hole is wide enough to not present any technical challenge. Intermediate players should be able to reach the basket off the tee. But it's such an amazingly, beautiful hole, you just want to play it time and again.
# 3 is then a 290' hole playing up the hill with a nasty little gorge on the left. # 4 is a 225' shot to a basket sitting under the lift. # 5 is a 360 downhill which requires a certain precision off the tee. And then # 6 is 340' downhill to a basket sitting over near a restroom. This middle group of holes were alright.
And I would have liked to have quit after # 6. I personally didn't care for the design of the last three holes. They all had features that I really didn't care for. # 7 is a 365' slightly uphill throw. The basket is not visible off the tee. Basically, you feel like your throwing into a deep forest with no idea of what line to follow and knowing that you're either going to be spending a lot of time looking for your disc or you're never going to see it again.
# 8 tees off a road and is 530' long. It's another hole where I felt like I was just throwing into the deep forest with absolutely no idea where an established fairway or route was.
And then # 9 was a 285' very tight uphill with the access road on your right and a steep gorge on your left. Another disc eating hole I chose to skip.
So these final three had:
Blind basket positions in two of three holes.
Throwing your drive into the deep forest abyss with great chance of lost disc.
Teeing off of road surfaces with no clear route to basket.
And in the case of # 9, extra tight hole with another great chance of trudging down deep, foreboding embankment hunting for errant throws.
Cons:
The small tee pads don't provide enough run-up on those holes needing it, especially # 3 and # 6.
Holes 7-9 were too long, too treacherous for most players.
Way too much chance of losing discs on the later holes here.
Other Thoughts:
My hopes for this course were sky high after playing the first two holes. The middle holes 3-6 were OK and then 7-9 were in my opinion, total flops.
I talked to the course designer and he seemed like an awfully nice guy. I hope next summer when he lays out this course, he shortens 7-8 and 9 so they're visible off the tee and lessens the likelihood of lost discs.
I'm nothing but an average old recreational player. As I was driving away, two guys with a little kid were just starting their round. They were just a step up from beginners and I thought to myself, "They are going to hate the last three holes."