Summer Roadtrip

[bjfergus21]

Me and my brother are avid disc golfers that have played everywhere we vacationed to and we live in Illinois and are planning on taking a DG road trip for a week or so this upcoming summer. Weather is not an issue because it is hot everywhere but I was wondering what other people would do. We were thinking about going up north to play in Minn, Wisc. But we also thought about going east to Ind, Ohio, and Penn. South would be interesting going through Missouri and Arkansas. We are unsure where to go. Maybe some feedback here will help us plan this thing out. Thanks

[solomon.trenton]

New England has a lot of nice courses. If you plan your trip right you should easily be able to hit 30 courses in a week. (something i am heavily considering this summer myself)

[DirtyMittenDG]

I will recomend this trip to you just as I do to every one. FLIP CITY, BEAUTY, BEAST, GOLIATH, LEVIATHAN!!! Very good courses all within good distance of each other. Flip city and mason county will have you wanting to play a extra day.

[DirtyMittenDG]

and if your looking for more you could jet over to the saginaw area and play a few really nice courses in tittabawasee park (freeland), the pines (st. charles), and memorial park (frankenmuth). then after that shoot down I-75 and play some really nice courses in southeast michigan. Then hop on 94 all the way back to Illinois. (If you decide to choose michigan, P.M. me and ill help you put together a nice line up)

[CincyRocs]

My vote would be to come to Ohio and play some of the courses in Cincinnati. We have Idlewild, Banklick, and Mt. Airy which are the #2, #12, and #18 rated courses. You don't have to spend a long time in Cincy, even though there are many other excellent courses :), you can just stop by for 2 days or so.

[Olorin]

Charlotte NC. 'Nuff said.

[Greg Layton]

I wonder how many posts we'll have in this thread before someone encourages the OP to play in a state that the poster doesn't live in? ;)

Good luck with your trip, bjfergus. Oh, and welcome to the forums. Post again when you decide where you're going to end up going. This is a great place to meet folks who can show you around their favorite courses. As I learned last year on my road trip, playing a course for the first time is a lot more fun when you're playing with a local.

[Olorin]

I just started a thread called "Hubs (http://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?p=23271#post23271)" that is attempting to compile a list of the cities and areas with lots of courses. That should help your planning.

[Olorin]

How far are you willing to drive?

The thread "Best Courses of 2008" would be courses to try to hit.

[SigmaChris]

I assume you and your brother are younger but yet old enough to drive. So flying somewhere far may be out of the question. A good road trip with camping gear would be...

Stop 1 in the Flip City area in Western Michigan
Stop 2 in the Kalamazoo / Battle Creek area
Stop 3 Greater Cincinnati - as mentioned before Mt. Airy, Idlewild, and Banklick
Stop 4 Louisville

Depending on time you could add Allentown, PA in between K-zoo and Cincy. This should provide you with a lot of quality courses while knocking off at least a half dozen Top 25 courses.

If you make to the Cincy / Northern KY area, look me up and I will be happy to meet up with you.

I can't wait until my 3 year old boy is old enough to enjoy this type of camping / DG trip. He likes to follow me along and throw discs but he maxes out at about 18 holes.

***Edit note - in the last couple of days I have heard the K-zoo / Battlecreek area isn't great. I haven't played but looking forward to it this summer. Why isn't it worth a stop if the PDGA hosted the World or National Championships there last summer? ***

[Greg Layton]

***Edit note - in the last couple of days I have heard the K-zoo / Battlecreek area isn't great. I haven't played but looking forward to it this summer. Why isn't it worth a stop if the PDGA hosted the World or National Championships there last summer? ***

I'm one of the people that said that. It's just personal preference based on the courses I've played in Michigan. I don't have a grudge against Kzoo or anything like that, in fact I'd recommend you avoid GR too... time is too short on road trips to play mediocre to good courses when you have greatness on either side of you. Once again, take that for what you will.

[D.W.G.]

If you are coming to Minny, you gotta play Kaposhia in South St.Paul...

[t i m]

Me and my brother are avid disc golfers that have played everywhere we vacationed to and we live in Illinois and are planning on taking a DG road trip for a week or so this upcoming summer. Weather is not an issue because it is hot everywhere but I was wondering what other people would do. We were thinking about going up north to play in Minn, Wisc. But we also thought about going east to Ind, Ohio, and Penn. South would be interesting going through Missouri and Arkansas. We are unsure where to go. Maybe some feedback here will help us plan this thing out. Thanks

What part of Illinois do you live in? It's a big enough state that will make a difference in what direction is the best way to go.

But, assuming you're in Chicago, here's a 1,500 mile dream trip (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&saddr=chicago&daddr=shelby,+mi+to:northville,+mi+to:pittsburgh,+ pa+to:burlington,+ky+to:elizabethtown,+ky+to:chica go&hl=en&geocode=&mra=ls&sll=40.65169,-83.822035&sspn=10.865408,19.775391&ie=UTF8&ll=40.647304,-83.825684&spn=10.865408,19.775391&z=6) loop starting from the Chicago area. Begin with a jaunt up into MI to play Flip City (#1 rated course), then head east to the Ann Arbor area and play courses there (including Cass Benton, #26), then head southeast and aim for the Pittsburgh area (where they have the #8, #10 and #13 rated courses), bounce back west to the Cincinnati area and play Idlewild (#2), Banklick Woods (#12) and Mt. Airy (#18), and then down to the Louisville area to play Freeman Lake Park (#11)...

There are a ton of other great courses in many of those cities (you are also passing through Columbus and Indianapolis as well, and I don't have any courses on the list yet for those cities). And I would stretch your trip to at least 9/10 days (Friday afternoon to a Sunday night) if you can -- streeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetch it as far as possible.

Based on the current top course list, that would hit courses #1, 2, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 18, 26, and would provide the opportunity to hit probably 20 other world-class courses that would be on that line that just don't have enough ratings yet to have made the top 50. I would bet that everything in the top 20 will still be on the top 50 list next year. Anything past that probably won't be, but there are a bunch of courses you could add that WILL make the top 50 next year.

And if you had the time and could do it, I would highly, highly, highly recommend adding the five hour (round trip) detour after Pittsburgh to go to Paw Paw, WV to play the Woodshed (http://www.dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=95) and the Whipping Post (http://www.dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=1910). They are my favorite place to play anywhere in the country, and most people who've been there would agree. Two courses in the middle of nowhere on the same piece of private land with the best hosts anywhere in the country. Amazing camping, amazing courses. If you want a break in the middle of the trip to just chill out for a couple of days and do nothing except rest and play disc golf, go to PawPaw. You'll thank me. The courses are world class and the place itself is even better.

Enjoy your trip -- I'm jealous. And already planning another trip with my brother for sometime in the spring. Unfortunately, we won't have a week. But I'm hoping for a long weekend to at least hit the Pittsburgh area.

[discNDav]

I've played over 200 courses, mostly east of the Mississippi River and highly recommend Michigan DG. After playing Flip City last year, I plan on returning
every year when I'm only 2.5 hrs away instead of over 13 hrs.The Ann Arbor area in Michigan is great with Hudson Mills x2 and Kensington.

Around Pittsburgh,PA there are 3 world class courses. I'm planning a trip
to Cincy/n Kentucky myself to play Idlewood and Freeman and English,IN
in early Sept '09. (I've played Banklick twice already)

From Illinois, I would also consider a trip to Des Moines,IA. The courses
in 2004 for the Worlds were fantastic. Kansas City,MO (and KA) are very
worthy too.

For my (not quite up to date) list and short reviews see:
http://www.mediafire.com/?behm22l0j2j

[bjfergus21]

Hey I am back, I like the suggestions for playing in Michigan, and I feel that going east is the best option for us. Cincy seems like they have some great courses and Pennsylvania does as well. The one thing that might steer me away from heading through Michigan is that my brother and I frequently go there because we have family there and he goes to Mich St for school. Somewhere new would be nice but Michigan is still a strong possibility. By the way has anyone played DG in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa area because I go to school at University of Iowa and think that I need to make the short trip to Cedar Rapids this spring to test out some courses there as well. I will post where we end up with this trip at some point!

[Jimb]

I assume you and your brother are younger but yet old enough to drive. So flying somewhere far may be out of the question. A good road trip with camping gear would be...

Stop 1 in the Flip City area in Western Michigan
Stop 2 in the Kalamazoo / Battle Creek area
Stop 3 Greater Cincinnati - as mentioned before Mt. Airy, Idlewild, and Banklick
Stop 4 Louisville

Depending on time you could add Allentown, PA in between K-zoo and Cincy. This should provide you with a lot of quality courses while knocking off at least a half dozen Top 25 courses.

If you make to the Cincy / Northern KY area, look me up and I will be happy to meet up with you.

I can't wait until my 3 year old boy is old enough to enjoy this type of camping / DG trip. He likes to follow me along and throw discs but he maxes out at about 18 holes.

***Edit note - in the last couple of days I have heard the K-zoo / Battlecreek area isn't great. I haven't played but looking forward to it this summer. Why isn't it worth a stop if the PDGA hosted the World or National Championships there last summer? ***

If I'm not mistaken, Allentown is north of Philly on the far Eastern end of PA. This doesn't seem like it would fit into the Cincy/K-zoo trip. Now if you're talking about Pittsburgh. That's more of a possibility. Pitt is in the far West end of PA and would probably make a nice little triangle drive between Cincy and K-zoo.

[t i m]

If I'm not mistaken, Allentown is north of Philly on the far Eastern end of PA. This doesn't seem like it would fit into the Cincy/K-zoo trip. Now if you're talking about Pittsburgh. That's more of a possibility. Pitt is in the far West end of PA and would probably make a nice little triangle drive between Cincy and K-zoo.

Yep -- exactly right. I meant to write in Pittsburgh there, not Allentown. (Though Allentown is AWESOME as a disc golf destination).

[dahig]

there is a fanastic course in centralia,il. (about 60 miles east of st.louis). not to mention at least 6 great courses in the st.louis area. (unger park in fenton,mo. put in last nov. and rock springs in alton.il. also last nov.).don't blame you for wanting to head east,but there are some damn fine courses just a little ways south.

[Texconsinite]

Twin Cities area alone can give you a week's worth of DG. If you choose to drive North, then you can also hit the two Justin Trails Courses in Sparta, WI on the way. TC is loaded full of great courses. I got a chance to play many of them when I lived there last summer, and they are legit.

Blue Ribbon Pines
Bryant Lake
Elm Creek (brand new Timmy Gill course should be done by july 4)
Plymouth Creek
Acorn Park
Kaposia
North Valley
The list goes one and on, and thats just some of the good ones in the Twin City metro area. If you drive an hour in any direction from twin cities, there are tons more that sound great as well.

Im planning 2 week trip in September thats JUST Twin Cities and Eau Clarie/Highbridge Hills area in N WI. The hardest part is fitting in all the courses I want to play.

Michigan sounds good too, but if you're gonna visit there anyways to see family, might wanna think of TC. After, Minneapolis isnt really "on the way to" anywhere from IL, so unless you go there on purpose, you are unlikely to find yourself in the area in the future.