increasing or decreasing difficulty?

[petecarp]

I am in the midst of designing a course and we scoped out a few holes today. 6 holes, fairly open, a few trees all under 350 ft. i feel they are fairly easy holes compared to the proposed wooded holes for the first 12. the way it is now, the course starts with 12 tight wooded holes and ends with 6 fairly open holes with minimal trees relative to the front. i would classify this as a decreasing difficulty course. my question for you is what is better, courses that get harder as they go or easier as you progress through the round? i know a lot of this is personal preference but any light shed on the subject would be appreciated!

[discflinger]

Personally, I need about nine holes to get warmed up so I appreciate the increase in difficulty.

[Lewis]

I agree with discflinger. I'd rather start the round with easy holes than with difficult holes, so I have a chance to get warmed up. However, if I really could have my way, the easy and difficult holes would be mixed throughout, rather than having all the easy or difficult holes bunched together in one run.

[nosajeel99]

I am with the other two posters. I like the course to increase in difficulty as I play, but not necessarily in a linear fashion. The first hole, in my opinion, should be fairly easy, but not too easy. On the flip side, the 18th hole should be hard but not too hard. The easiest and hardest shouldn't be first and last in my opinion. Often the 18th is some type of "signature hole" if that can be done.

[dobbins66]

I like the hole difficulty to vary through the course with the back nine being weighed a little more to the difficult side than the front. I like the starting couple holes to be somewhere in the middle of the pack so that you are warmed up when you get to the deuce holes and also ready when you get to the hard ones.

[sidewinding]

Difficulty, length, "epic" holes, etc. should be distrubuted as evenly as possible throughout the course. You never want to put two like holes back to back if you can prevent it.

[ERicJ]

Starting the course with an easy one to two holes is good to get players warmed up and confident. After that ideally you mix up the difficulty.

ERic

[taxman]

i'd go with a nice bell curve. starting out generally easier then working up to the hardest in the middle then slowing down to easier at the end.

mixing them up is great to. as long as the first hole is easy.

the two closest courses to me both have hard turns to the left for the first hole. as a LHBH thrower it makes the first hole a challenge.

[magictenor1]

I don't prefer either 9 to be more difficult, just a good overall mix.1 or 2 easier holes to start is good. Sometimes to get the best course overall you need to let the course follow it's own natural flow and so which 9 is harder may be dictated by your overall design.

[Olorin]

Please contact Russell Scwhartz, Harold Duvall, and/or Stan McDaniel. They can give you invaluable perspective and advice.

[DannyM]

Excellent advice Olorin. I play a Duvall designed course at my home course, he does a great job. Also played Stan's design at Hornets nest <web>. Have to say that course was brutal, but still fun <just killed my ego shooting an 80 something>.
As far as course design, have to say I agree that the first hole should be relatively easy and/ or slighty open. You want to try and have it were the front 9 and the back 9 should be fairly equal. You say that you have 6 open holes and 12 tight woods, any way you can mix that up into 3 open holes per nine?....I know that because the way the land is you are limited, but if it is a possibility that would be a great way to lay it out.

[Donovan]

For your situation I would have the easier holes first.

I do like a good mix, but not all terrain allows this. If you have to group things, I think it is fun to have easier holes in the middle. The reason I say this is because, I love watching people get fine tuned early, then really open up, and watch them straggle to fine tune again near the end. That is difficult for people do to is go from finally opening up and then have to get focused again.

Of course I am a bit mad. :D

[Olorin]

It's a general practice to have the first hole be an easier hole to warm up on and get a little confidence. Just look at Richmond Hill.

It's also a general practice to have hole 18 as a great hole that could win or lose a tournament. Make it as memorable as possible so that people leave with high euphoria for the course. Look at Renaissance or even Mars Hill College.

In general, then, it might be better to start with the 6 open holes so that players can warm up their arms.

On the other hand, depending on the difficulty of the 12 wooded holes players do breathe a sigh of relief when they break out into the open again. Beware that the feeling of relief only lasts about 2 holes, though. If others are like me, after 5 open holes I'm starting to get a little bored when I get to the 6th. If this was #18 it might well dull my appreciation for the course.

[Eagle Man]

I agree I think it is cool for the course to get harder as you go along allows you to separate the men from the boys as so to speak

[Geoffro]

I love this thread, as my favorite courses are those that have character. So many courses in my area seem to be afterthoughts - e.g. "hey, we have a park, why not put a disc golf course on it?"

The courses that are memorable have challenges that can be understood within the context of the individual hole, as well as the course as a whole. They also have unique elements you don't expect to see (the 19th hole at Sandy Point in Lac Du Flambeau, Wisconsin has a decrepit 1959 Pontiac parked and in play - I've seen guys sidearming out of the passenger side window after inadvertently throwing into it). As noted above: a good mix of short and long, left and right, s-curves, elevation changes, etc. A nice clown-mouth is a nice touch as well.

It's also a general practice to have hole 18 as a great hole that could win or lose a tournament. Make it as memorable as possible so that people leave with high euphoria for the course.

That's a great point - the 18th has to be unique as well as challenging. It's the last of what you take from the course on your way home.

I'm just glad people are talking about it.