Karen plays infrequently, but I'd like to get her more involved in the game -- she enjoys it, but has no distance on her throws. Good short accuracy and good flicks and flick-annies from years of playing ultimate, but just hasn't made the transition to disc golf very quickly, and would love to join you and Sheila for a few rounds, because I think it would inspire and help her game.

Anyway, I'm rambling -- but I hope things are well for you both. Kick an update when you can. I don't check this that often, but you can reach me here, or can always reach me on my e-mail, tim@tiltedhalos.com

Blessings my friend,
Tim

It looks more open than it plays because there are a lot of holes that finish hard into the woods and you need to plan your approach carefully. So you have lots of air to play with, but small areas you have to land in. Which makes it play like a golf course should -- every shot -- no matter how open -- has to be planned and aimed with heavy risk reward, and you have to know when to throw short because you want to hold onto angle or elevation for your approach shots.
Basically, Iron Hill / Carousel is a two day event that is mentally exhausting in the best possible way because you have to think about every one of the almost 300 shots you will play during the two day tourney. Totally amazing. If you think you can make it, come early and I'll take time off to go out and play the courses with you.

Four rounds in two days totaling more than 42,000' of holes, most of it through woods. You should plan a trip back this way around that tournament -- I think it's a A-tier this year. Iron Hill has been refined into what I think may be the best technical and mental challenge of any Pro Level tournament course in the country. And Carousel is the perfect counterpart -- it's almost as tough mentally as Iron Hill, and just as long (or longer) but has all the shots that Iron Hill lacks. A lot of open shots with water hazards and huge elevation changes. Good mix of trees and woods. It's still being refined, but you would love it.

Closest thing I can compare it to is Hawk Hollow, but longer, and without the cow pies. It's a course that requires at least 350+ (but more realistically 400+') of CONTROLLED golf distance in order to score well because of some of the landing areas you need to hit to give yourself the opportunities for birdies and pars.

(didn't realize there is a message limit; this will be in several parts)
Hello my friend. Hope you and Sheila are doing well. I'm hoping to actually make it up to Seattle in July -- I'll keep you posted on dates. Regardless of whether or not I make it in July, I've got a conference scheduled in October that I should definitely make it for. I look forward to seeing what the Seattle scene has to offer. Karen and I got married last fall, and we're getting antsy to leave D.C., and Washington/Oregon are high on our list of considerations as places to escape to.

I tore my ACL in July and had it reconstructed in December, so needless to say I've been absent from the disc golf scene basically since June. The last tourney I played was the Deleware Disc Golf event in late June ... and my goal is to recover enough to play it again this year. It is the most brutal event I've ever played (and since I'm a bit of a masochist when it comes to DG, that also means that it was one of the most fun).

Just saw your Brandywine review, I think I'd give it a 3.5 but totally agree with all of the points you made. Especially loved the last line, "great place to practice/not to play"

Anyway, was wondering how you are these days - hope life is wonderful over there

You need to put Seth Burton DGC on your wish list my friend. Oh yeah, and replace NAD with Fairgrounds and you'll be all set - well, you should just probably play them both