This is Higher Ground

[ShannonHG]

Hello, I'm here to introduce my course properly.

I'm Shannon Neely and I designed and built Higher Ground back in '94. Actually the course used to be called "Up The Creek", but in '96 we had hurricane Fran come through here and wreak havoc on the all the local courses, including mine, and destroyed my house. So we bought the house and property next door and slightly up the hill...and expanded. I added some more holes to the course and it was fittingly renamed Higher Ground.
(It's funny every time I hear them say it on the weather channel if a storm is approaching..."Head to higher ground"...lol.

I've sponsored events here on three different popular disc golf tours since '99. The Homegrown Tour, my favorite, along with many others in NC, is a tour that covers the whole state of NC, and exclusively plays private courses. Each of these courses was carefully and painstakingly built from scratch by devoted and very enthusiastic disc golfers who wanted to create and share their own course with the rest of the community. They may not all be championship course material, but each one is unique and was built for the love of the game by people's own hands...not bought and paid for by the state and stuck in some park full of constant traffic. You go to a private course and you get the privilege of playing in a quiet, clean, serene, environment. We screen our guests. It's a place where you don't have to worry about some new guy who just stopped at the store, picked up a disc and headed to the nearest park with it....then rushes all over the course with no etiquette, and hits someone in the head because they don't know to yell FORE if they have an errant shot. There are no beer cans, cigarrette butts, even condoms, on the ground and no loiterers or thieves who will pick up your disc and stick it in their bag and walk off.
Private courses rock! Support your local private course owners please. They are all great people.

Now for a few pics of my little slice of heaven. All the baskets on the course, except 4 that were donated, are hand made by myself. I've built the same type and installed them on a few local courses, one at a church in Durham, which I designed and built myself.
I have three 18 hole courses setup here, using the same baskets but playing from different tees, and in different directions around a 4.5 acre pond, along the creek, and winding through the woods and open fields.

Come see us! You can look me up in the PDGA Disc Golf Directory, or just send me a PM or email and I'll be happy to give you directions.

Now for some pics!

[ShannonHG]

Here's all three courses.

The original (black) course is mixed in there with the Red and Blue in the last pic. I need to find where I put the separate pic of those holes and print up some of those maps again. That's just too congested. But you can tell which ones by the colors for now.


Hey could I please get a moderator to remove that pic in my previous post? I'm still getting used to the software here. I couldn't get all three to post the first time and found a better one of the Red tees. Thanks:)

[ShannonHG]

This is me putting on hole #9 Red...

A friend putting on Red #2...

Followed by my friend "Boston J" putting on #2 Blue (or 16 red?)...

[ShannonHG]

I'm gonna post some more pics. Got some friends coming out soon to help on a course workday so I'll come back later and post some more stuff. We've got a huge tournament coming up in two weeks and are expecting over a hundred people. I always do an overhaul on the course in August to prepare for this one. It will be in tip top shape if the weather cooperates.

For now though...here's a few more.

L to Rt...
Me on #2 (or #1 black)...

Rich on #6 Red...

Coming down Red 14's fairway...

[ShannonHG]

Me on #6 Red...

Rich about to birdie #7 Red...

And a good shot of #9 Red...(the basket is tucked around to the left just over the dam). This is one of the coolest holes on the course.

[ShannonHG]

Dean on #9....

Gray sinking a putt on #3...

And a classic shot of one of the most unique baskets on any course! The 'Joe Who' "Broken disc basket"! Hated by some...but loved by all who know Joe and can appreciate it. There's a story behind this one....

[ShannonHG]

This is my friend Brent grunting one out one of the 300' holes....#18 Red

Boston J with another fine grunt on #6...

And me floating an air biscuit on #15...lol....ooops!

[ShannonHG]

Dave saving one from near disaster....

Gray Drilling one on #18...

Stretch missing the CTP but making his birdie on #15...

[ShannonHG]

Original #1 Tee...

View from the deck....

Looking down original #18 (also 18 Blue) from the top of the hill...

[ShannonHG]

Gotta run now...It's mowing time...:D

Be back later with some more....

Eventually I'll have a website with a pic of each hole from the tee.

Thanks for lookin'!

[tomschillin]

wow man, course looks great! I'm new to the area, moved from St. Louis not too long ago...can't wait to get down and play your course...just played Middle Creek today for the first time and next time i make it down there i'm gonna hit you up and try out your course if you don't mind...i've played Sunshine Acres and Tar River on the HGT and both of those are very entertaining and interesting courses! from the pics, yours looks similar...can't wait to find out for myself

[ShannonHG]

Bring it on anytime Tom. Sounds like you know some good friends of mine...Ann A., Hawk, D Silva, lots more I'm sure....

yeah I played MC for the first time last week. Looks like they have a nice thing going there. I look forward to watching it, and helping it grow in.

[Olorin]

There's certainly plenty of variety at Higher Ground. With 3 layouts you can play the same baskets a number of different ways. The course is very scenic with many of the holes playing around the lake and creeks. There's risk vs. reward all over the place.

Hole 3 Black layout (Red 9) is one of the top 5 best and most beautiful holes of the >200 courses I've played. At 237 ft. it's not long, but your drive has to hyzer out over the lake, then land on a peninsula with a creek behind, so you have to have just the right touch. Go too short, too long, or too far left and you've found water, but it sure is satisfying to park it for a deuce!

Thanks, Shannon, for all of your hard work out there and the events that you run!

(I'm re-posting Shannon's picture of hole 3. The hole is even better than the picture, but this gives you some idea of it.)

[Olorin]

Shannon,

How many baskets are there in all out at HG?

Also, I uploaded some maps, score cards, and pictures (the pictures are copies of a couple of yours).

[I'd love to see a better picture of Black 3/ Red 9 where you can see more of the lake and where you have to land.]

Take care,
Olorin

[ShannonHG]

I'm glad someone who is known and trusted here, and has actually met me and played my course numerous times, decided to post about it.

It was Olorin who led me to this forum to begin with. It was also him who helped me out with my scorecard design. Thanks L!

I'll try and get a better pic for you of your favorite hole here.
To answer your question, there are 19 pin placements in all, which give the visiting golfer a choice of three totally different 18 hole courses to play.

Two of the courses are set up for tournament play, with mutiple groups on the front and the back, and the "old course" is designed for smaller groups, and plays the front nine around to the clubhouse, then back around on the same 9 baskets in a classic double loop, only using the same baskets twice (from totally opposite directions, therefore totally different holes).

[Texconsinite]

I'm thinking about setting up a course of my own as well. Love the blue homemade baskets. They look pretty solid. How did you make them (& for how much $$)?

[davetherocketguy]

I like the basket hanging from a tree. That has to be a lot of fun in a stiff breeze with the branches swinging back and forth. Looks like a neat course that I have to check out if I am ever in the area.

-Dave

[ShannonHG]

They are pretty labor intensive but the material cost isn't that much. I get the barrels for free from my local car wash, and the poles, chain, and hardware from the local farm supply. That one probably cost me around 20 bucks because I already had the chain.
Chain has gone up a lot in the past few years though. I used to pay about 48 cents a foot for galvanized 3/16" coil chain, but now it's at least twice that. With around 30 feet per basket (mach two design), it adds up.
They are very solid though. That blue one was the first one I ever built, and it's still just as solid as ever, after almost 14 years now. It also collapses into itself for easy storage and portability, with a steel base that fits inside. The pole is separate of course.

[ShannonHG]

I like the basket hanging from a tree. That has to be a lot of fun in a stiff breeze with the branches swinging back and forth. Looks like a neat course that I have to check out if I am ever in the area.

-Dave

That one used to be in a local city park (Kentwood) before a tree landed on it during a hurricane that came through here. It was bent up pretty bad so the course pro there donated it to the course after the city replaced it. I managed to straighten it mostly back out but it could only sit straight if hung like that from a tree. There's a length of chain inside the PVC pipe supporting the weight.

I have another older Innova basket that suffered much worse damage in hurrican Fran in '96. That one's REALLY scary to putt at...lol....but it catches puts just fine if you drill it in the middle. It's actually one of the most aced baskets on the course. You'd never believe it though if you saw it.

That's something that some people, who are too serious about the game, can't seem to grasp. When some of these courses were built, it was on a shoestring budget, and different people made or donated different targets for the holes til there were finally 18 holes. They evolved slowly and very uniquely. My goal when I first set out to build my course was to have 18 totally different baskets so each hole was a different challenge and a piece of local history. Different people make them different ways. My original layout consisted of 9 totally different baskets that we played around one way, then back the other, and it was just as fun as any public course. To some, it's all about FUN... not who has the most perfect scores or the most courses or reviews under their belt.

Yes those hanging baskets can be really fun in a breeze. One of our local private courses is called "Swingin' DB's" and before they raised enough money to buy some nice new baskets, they were all hanging baskets, either supported by big metal frames made of conduit, or from trees, and even cables strung between trees (hence the course name...DB is the owner). THOSE are really wild to putt at when the wind is in the trees. They bob up and down, and side to side simultaniously. It's mind blowing but pretty damned fun.

I'll share this with you, you get used to putting most of the time on homemade baskets, and you are flat out deadly when you get on a course full of Mach 3's or the like!

[Olorin]

Personally, I like the Black (original) layout the best. I love water holes and that layout has the most holes that play over or near water. With the pond in the middle Higher Ground is very scenic and peaceful. Shannon and Joy are also very friendly and hospitable folks.

Overall, coming up with 3 layouts in that amount of space was very creative.

P.S.- I also have good memories from the one Piedmont Random Doubles Tour event that I played there. I was paired with Leslie Herndon (former U.S. Woman's Champion), who was touring with Cameron Todd at the time. Leslie even gave my young daughter a quick lesson!

[Texconsinite]

I have some land in Northern Wisconsin that I am building a course on, so I totally sympathize about the shoestring budget. Also, I am very interested in economical homemade baskets like yours. What kind of barrels did the local carwash give you that were a good size for basekts? I need to get my hands on some.

Also, in light of the chain (steel in general) prices going up, do you find that the weight of the chains makes a big difference in how the basket catches?

[ShannonHG]

Personally, I like the Black (original) layout the best. I love water holes and that layout has the most holes that play over or near water. With the pond in the middle Higher Ground is very scenic and peaceful. Shannon and Joy are also very friendly and hospitable folks.

Overall, coming up with 3 layouts in that amount of space was very creative.

P.S.- I also have good memories from the one Piedmont Random Doubles Tour event that I played there. I was paired with Leslie Herndon (former U.S. Woman's Champion), who was touring with Cameron Todd at the time. Leslie even gave my young daughter a quick lesson!

Yes Olorin I like the Old Course the best myself. I had to make the other two layouts so that we could play loaded tournaments here and be able to play in just one direction without much interference.
The first big tournament I had here in '99, the Homegrown, that was all I had so I let everyone play the front nine twice (back to back), then the second round we played two times around the back. That was pretty neat having a chance to throw a better drive, or have another chance at a deuce on a hole you might not have done so well on the first time around. We still got two rounds of 18 and everyone had a blast.

Thanks for reminding me...I should have mentioned before that I've had not just one, but two World Champs, play my course (in a tournament) and they both enjoyed it very much. They had no gripes about anything. Cam and the rest of the Team Flying Eye gang even stayed around and we all played a fun round of night golf afterwards. We all had a great time and Cam went on to take the Championship away from Climo just a month or so after that. Ken hasn't made it by here yet but he told me he would get down here sometime when he's in town. We did have a great time together though, up at the Country Course in Louisburg in '97. Me, Climo, and my cousin Bob got grouped by ourselves for 25 holes in the first round. That was awesome getting to play my favorite course in a tournament with the Champ! The Champ really enjoyed playing with us because my cousin Bob was also a former world champ (in hi diving and trampoline) so we didn't act all giddy like some people do around him. We just had a great time and got some great tips along the way. Ken, of course, went on to win the tournament and told Bob to look him up next time he was in Clearwater. Bob lived not too far away in Clewiston, and had also come all the way from Fla just for the event. He stole the show by skydiving down onto the course right before the tournament...lol. I'll have to get some pics up from that! It was way cool! Climo really dug it!

[ShannonHG]

I have some land in Northern Wisconsin that I am building a course on, so I totally sympathize about the shoestring budget. Also, I am very interested in economical homemade baskets like yours. What kind of barrels did the local carwash give you that were a good size for basekts? I need to get my hands on some.

Also, in light of the chain (steel in general) prices going up, do you find that the weight of the chains makes a big difference in how the basket catches?

The ones I use are 55 gallon drums. I only use ones from car washes or other clean sources, you never know what's been in some barrels yo might find laying around.
I've found that the white ones work best. You can put a light on the top for night golf, and with it shining down through one of the two holes they have in the top, the whole basket glows and is very easy to see. I've got my whole course set up with solar powered lights on the baskets now, and they light up just at the right time, and go out when the sun comes up, and charge the rest of the day. It comes in real handy when it starts to get dark, then suddenly the baskets light up all by themselves.:cool:
Darker barrels will work too but tend to be more reactive to sunlight, and can warp if the plastic wasn't evenly injected to form the barrel. You cut into some barrels and they can be up to a half inch thick on one side, then only 1/8" on the opposite side. Those require steel hoops riveted to the inside to keep them straight. For that I use galvanized tensioning bars for chain link fences.
I used to make and sell these baskets for $150 apiece, and was doing pretty good til those cheap smaller gauge steel baskets and the Skillshots came out for around the same price or less. With the ones I was selling, the total material cost was up near $50 to $75 apiece and they were very time consuming if you wanted them nice. It takes at least half a day to build just one, even if you already have everything figured out and have patterns to go by. I set up a couple of courses and then it kind of petered out. Occasionally I still build one for someone on request.

Here's a cool one I did for a good friend of mine who's a fellow Earnhardt fan...(Todd Gillihan...the guy who was behind the Piedmont Random Doubles tour).

http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd210/Cobra762/Disc%20Golf/IntimBskt3.jpg

http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd210/Cobra762/Disc%20Golf/IntimidatorBasket2.jpg

[ShannonHG]

Texconsinite I forgot to mention the chain info....

Yes the heavier chains do make a big difference in the way they catch a disc. The kind I have been using is less expensive than the "2/0 straight link" chain that Innova uses. I was buying it by the 1000' barrel and it was a lot less expensive than even the nickel plated straight link chain, which is all you can get unless you buy huge quantities, like Innova does, of the galvanized chain.
The nickel plated stuff is the same weight and catches almost the same, but it will eventually rust, unlike the galv. It usually runs ( or did last I checked) around .90 a foot to 1.50 depending on where you get it. I was paying .49 a foot last time I bought the proof coil chain.
It's a little heavier than some people might like, but I would rather have that, and be able to trust an ace slamming in there from 300', than possibly have it bounce out, or slip through the slippery finished 2/0 nickel chain that you can get at lowes or the hardware store. I putt hard and straight at the middle anyway so it doesn't bother me to have a heavier chain.