How wooded do we like it?

[Cgkdisc]

It's been my experience that for a course that starts and ends at the same elevation, 500 feet from highest to lowest point on the course is about as much as players can handle when walking 18 holes. It's even tougher at high elevation like Snowbowl when we played that at Pro Worlds in 2003. The course ranged between 9500 to 10,000 feet. The elevation difference was pretty brutal let alone the thin air.

It's not too hard to get 500 feet differential in many eastern locations but I would never recommend that for a public course if you want it to be played regularly. Granite Ridge is a workout and the lowest point is only about 125 feet lower than the start of the course. Toboggan may be less than that. People complain in the Twin Cities playing HSSA which is in the neighborhood of 125 feet vertical.

My point is that western mountains aren't necessarily ideal as terrain for fun, hilly courses EXCEPT for courses that start at the highest point, play mostly downhill and you take a shuttle or chairlift back to the top when done.

[Sadjo]

Originally Posted by Fishy

Ft collins isn't exactly hills, much less mountains. I was thinking either Beaver or Bailey.. or Leadville as mountain courses.
I was just poking fun at the "Mountains" back east since I live higher than any place east of the Mississippi. I've hiked some brutal hills with serious steep elevation gains in Michigan, but your mountains back there aren't very tall, or very rugged. They are older than the Rockies, more like our foothills.

I have family all over Colorado and vacationed there lots over the years...along with living in Southern California in the late 80s. I've also live in MN, IA, GA and SC....playing disc golf in all of those places. Elevation of an area and how many hills there are don't always go hand in hand.

Our mountains may not be tall....but all take the Golden Corner of SC or NE GA over any-other place to live, work and play DG.

[grodney]

There's a certain amount of pansy-ness involved if you're favoring one course over another due to shade in hot weather. Come on guys.

[Cgkdisc]

Note that for those over 40, the definition of a good throw on sunny days is one that lands in the shade where available.

[sidewinder22]

Originally Posted by grodney

There's a certain amount of pansy-ness involved if you're favoring one course over another due to shade in hot weather. Come on guys.

Well where do I sign up for pansy-ness then?

[sidewinder22]

Originally Posted by Cgkdisc

Note we're only talking about figuring out the effective length of a hole, not adjusting for other factors like precarious pins on mounds or sidehills. Those can be tougher due to elevation but doesn't come into play to determine the effective length of a hole.

I'll buy that for a $1.

[sidewinder22]

Originally Posted by optidiscic

quite often those mountain courses don't play as well as courses that utilize "hills"

I am the only disc golfer in the world who doesnt get excited about mountain golf

I thought you enjoyed Orange Crush? Or you talking ski golf?

[skurf]

My two favorite courses (Circle C and Circle R - Meadow) I would consider moderately wooded. I do enjoy heavily wooded from time to time, but definitely not all the time, or even most of the time.

[optidiscic]

Originally Posted by sidewinder22

I thought you enjoyed Orange Crush? Or you talking ski golf?

Oh I loved orange crush. It's 100000 times the course Aspen mountain was.

[KniceZ]

Originally Posted by Dave242

On a more on topic note, you do not need big mountains to make it very hilly. If say 9 holes have elevation of 20'+ and another 3-5 have have elevation of 10-20', that is a very hilly course in the scheme of things (in the top 1/3 of hilliness).

Really - you'd call a course with holes that have 20' elevation change as very hilly??? 20' over a 400' hole is less than 0.5% grade.

I didn't expect it to take 100'+ to be called very hilly but 20' I'd call that moderate at most.

I agree with some of the later posts that you don't want a course to have more than maybe 150' min to max elevation change but going up and down 20' for 9 holes isn't much. And I'm from the low lands of Virginia.