Mark your home course?

[Innovadude]

After reading up on Ft. Steilacoom before I go there this week, and after playing so many ridiculously hard or impossible to navigate courses, I'd like to start asking people to go out and out some time in on their home courses and mark them. It can be anything from taking a Sharpie to the chastity belt on a Disccatcher and writing "#7 next tee ----->" to putting hanging arrows from the baskets or spray painting stenciled #'s on the pads.
Traveling and playing this many courses blind, often without time to plan ahead, playing the course alone, and having no map, I can spend hours in a day just looking for the holes. It's hard enough to find the courses with the directory.
I just want to see if anyone is interested in doing this, so go out and do it if you will. It'd be much appreciated by everyone going there for the first time. How can a family go enjoy this great game if they can't even find the 3rd tee and quit playing? Etc.
I will surely do what I can for whatever will be my home course someday.
I calculated that I've wasted more than an entire day, 24 hours, trying to navigate a course so far this year. Wasted as in all it would take is a spray painted arrow and I'd save 15 minutes. This times everyone else playing these courses must add up to an unimaginable time and hassle for everyone whose every gone out to play a new course. Sounds like a rant I know, but it's really important to me and to lots of people.

[Doktor John]

I totally agree with you...I play alot of courses when I travel and some are VERY tough to figure out...
Even some with maps are tough because some of the maps aren't too accurate...
My home course is pretty well marked (Morley Field in San Diego)...but I think most locals don't look at their courses through the eyes of someone walking up to it for the first time...
Do the sport a favor and help out us traveling DG vagabonds :)

[DannyM]

NO, that is not a rant....but a tremendous idea...and help. We recently just did this on my home course. We cut out some wooden arrows, spray painted them neon pink, and put the hole # on them in the direction to the tee pad on them with a sharpie just for this reason. I agree...if everyone went to their home course and did this, not for the easily seen or obvious next tee, but for the ones that are maybe a little harder to find, it would take out the frustration of playing a course "blind". The future of our sport is for the younger players coming up, and if families go out and play, chances are better if the course is well marked that they will return again.

[ERicJ]

One of the easiest things I've seen done is to paint (or Sharpie) red one wire on the bottom of the basket that points to the next tee. Very easy to do and if you know to look for it very effective directional tool.

ERic

[Innovadude]

I saw the wire thing recently, dual tees red and blue, one part of the bottom of basket was sprayed red one part blue pointing in a straight line at the next tee so you just walk in that direction til you reach it. This would be easy to do, and if there's a message board a sign could explain it. If not but a bright paint, easy to figure that out, especially if the idea spreads.

[magictenor1]

Great ideas. Nothing is more frustrating than going to a new course and spending all your time looking for the course instead of actually playing.

[Texconsinite]

On a related note, another great thing locals can do is update the conditions at their home courses. I was recently frustrated when I went to play a Course in WI (Chippewa Falls MS). I tried to find hole one, and gave up, starting at hole #4. I asked a local I ran into during the round, who told me that holes 1-3 and 15 had been taken out temporarily.

To him, it was old news, but I felt like a dog chasing his own tail trying to figure it out myself. So, beyond marking whats there, if holes are revamped/removed beyond the control of the locals, being dilligent about posting it here would be a godsend.

[davetherocketguy]

I think what you are asking is reasonable - but not always practical. My "home" course or the "course I play the most" is Rum Village which is in an urban area of South Bend, Indiana. This place is subject to lots of vandalism unfortunately. About 3 years ago someone (parks department maybe?) paid a lot of money to put up nice new signs at each tee-pad and now most of them are unreadable. :mad::mad::mad:

The other thing is I don't know how well the arrow on the basket thing will work since each hole there has alternate basket locations so I doubt each basket will be orientated the right way so the arrow will point the right direction in each location.

On the other hand, I hear your pain. Poorly marked courses are a royal pain the first few times you play them. BUT for problematic courses like Rum Village maybe there is another solution....If you have a home course, let's be sure to do the following where possible:

1. Do a detailed review. Be sure to indicate on the "other" category details regarding quirks of the layout.

2. Get an areal photo of the course and map out the approximate hole locations. With Google and Mapquest getting an areal photo usually isn't hard.

3. Be sure your course information is as up to date as possible on every web site that has it listed.

I know before I play a new course I usually gather as much information on it as possible before playing. Up to date information is very helpful.

-Dave

[Donovan]

This is again another great time to have a map maker program. I think I need to research what we could use. This would allow us to make our own maps for our courses and put those up on this website to help others visiting. I will try to find time today, but if someone already know of one, give a shout out! :cool:

[Russell Gore]

Speaking of Parks Dept.'s........I love what you guys are trying to do, however that isn't even an option here in Louisville Ky. We attempted this about a year ago and was threatened by the Parks dept. that we would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We were called vandals and were being watched for about 6 months. Dealing with our parks is like pulling teeth with a pair of pliers. It hurts like hell and no matter how hard you pull it just doesn't want to cooperate. So we asked them to do this work for us................................................ .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .......................................
You get the point we are still waiting. Kind of like we are still waiting for the last 2 bridges that should have been finished 2 or 3 years ago when the course was installed. We aren't even allowed to do simple clean up's unless we collaborate one month in advance and pay $100 for organized usage(rental fee) of the park. So if you come to Louisville and get lost, stop by our Parks dept. and let them know your displeasure!!!!!!!! Maybe than they will clean there ears out and listen!!!!!

[garublador]

I think marking courses like that is an excellent idea, but I'd rather pepole went through whomever takes care of the courses to get it done than just doing it themselves. Once people see any graffiti on the baskets it will open the floodgates and they'll just be covered in junk. That's a great way to lose a course.

[basmith42]

I travel for work and play most of my golf on unfamiliar courses out of town. The most enjoyable courses are the ones that tell me where to go to catch the next tee and have good signs to show me where the basket is.

The large yellow rings on the Innova baskets help a lot. Retro-fitting non-innova baskets with indicator rings might help to make them more noticable.

I, also, really aprpeciate being able to see the hole number on the basket itself. At least I know I'm on the course when I see the number.

Otherwise, I'll just get behind a group of locals and follow them. If they offer to let me play through, I decline. It makes for a long round but at elast I find the holes.