2013 DG Tour - Minneapolis and Northern Wisconsin

[superberry]

2nd such a reactionary and inaccurate post about Winter Park in a week. Strange.

It is funny/bizarre that 4 holes of 27 that are "220' long 8' wide holes" (7, 8, 8E, 9) turn into "Endless"......but I guess you can't control the way certain holes get etched on people's minds. Maybe it is the lack of oxygen in the brain after hiking all the way up top where those holes are.

My response.

BTW, I too felt like there were 1-2 too many of these holes and told the designer that....but it is a 27 hole course and the incredible variety of other holes more than make up for that. Those are good holes and an appropriate test of real DG skills - lots of people have trouble throwing dead straight for 200-250'. The lack of that essential skill should be punished by a real DG course.

I think those who don't like Winter Park, just don't like my design style in general. They call "fluck" and I call "maybe you suck at a certain shot". I like to FORCE specific throws off the tee, even slight variations of such, and 27 holes at Winter Park definitely allowed for lots of slight variations of a theme on tightly wooded holes through that gorgeous river valley, sharp clay cut ravine, undulating terrain.

Hole 7 is straight, gentle fade left
Hole 8 is lightly controlled gentle left to right
Hole 8E is straight and then gentle fade right (like a mini hyzer flip)
Hole 9 is dead nuts straight, but the spacing of the trees alternating from one side of the fairway to another allows for a variation of little mini s-curves.

For those who like multiple lanes and wide open fairways, generally sparsely populated with trees scattered throughout the middle, WP is not for you. There are specific tight lanes forcing a particular type of disc flight. If there are alternate routes, they are definitely even tighter and much less forgiving!

Not knocking Silver Creek, in fact I always pimp the trifecta that now exists in NE WI - Winter Park, Silver Creek, Rollin Ridge. With those three courses you get just about every thing your heart desires about disc golf. And you'll likely have your favorites.

 

[Shuie]

So, How was Hidden Lake???

 

[TempleOfDoom]

Okay, so where were we? Oh yes,

Day 10 - Highbridge Gold, The Bear and Granite Ridge. I f@&king hate mosquitoes. I had a truly miserable day here. My supposedly waterproof Goretex shoes were soaked through within the first 6 holes. I was in the rough pretty much every hole, which sucks because you can't advance once you go in. Lost a disc on the first hole. Found it later, but only after searching for it three separate times. The courses were great. My play was not. I think I liked the Bear the best of these three, but it was also the worst experience I have had playing...ever. The mosquitoes found me about halfway through. To the golfer I played through on hole 16, I am truly sorry for my behavior. My only defense is, by that time in the round I was about an inch away from tearing all my clothes off, smearing poop all over myself and running screaming through the woods. I finished off the round by throwing my putter on every shot, advancing 100-150 feet on each shot, just so I could keep my disc in sight and keep moving. Somehow, I convinced myself to go right into Granite Ridge. All of a sudden, I got into the open, the mosquitoes disappeared and I actually had a reasonably good time. Still, by the time I left, I was so physically and mentally drained that it was a miracle I made it to Duluth that night in one piece. Speaking of Duluth, the cherry batch at Fitgers is awesome.

 

[Stardoggy]

Okay, so where were we? Oh yes,

Day 10 - Highbridge Gold, The Bear and Granite Ridge. I f@&king hate mosquitoes. I had a truly miserable day here. My supposedly waterproof Goretex shoes were soaked through within the first 6 holes. I was in the rough pretty much every hole, which sucks because you can't advance once you go in. Lost a disc on the first hole. Found it later, but only after searching for it three separate times. The courses were great. My play was not. I think I liked the Bear the best of these three, but it was also the worst experience I have had playing...ever. The mosquitoes found me about halfway through. To the golfer I played through on hole 16, I am truly sorry for my behavior. My only defense is, by that time in the round I was about an inch away from tearing all my clothes off, smearing poop all over myself and running screaming through the woods. I finished off the round by throwing my putter on every shot, advancing 100-150 feet on each shot, just so I could keep my disc in sight and keep moving. Somehow, I convinced myself to go right into Granite Ridge. All of a sudden, I got into the open, the mosquitoes disappeared and I actually had a reasonably good time. Still, by the time I left, I was so physically and mentally drained that it was a miracle I made it to Duluth that night in one piece. Speaking of Duluth, the cherry batch at Fitgers is awesome.

Still better than work.

 

[Mando]

Still better than work.

I don't know about that.

 

[TempleOfDoom]

Day 11 - Mont du Lac Eagle's Peak, MDL White Cedar and Hidden Lake. I lost four discs at Mont du Lac. FOUR. I opted to play the entire 36 holes in one loop. On the very first hole, my upshot disappeared, which also happened to be my last ace disc. Needless to say, I wasn't going to give it up easily. My extensive search was in vain. (Happily, laramiecarlson found it yesterday and is sending it back). I continued on and came to hole 5 which was a combo hole playing to basket 6 due to some flooding last year. I, however, played to basket 9 as it was the only one I could see from the tee. When I realized my mistake, I made the long climb back to the tee to play the correct hole. I had what looked like an excellent drive and never saw it again. Bring a spotter, seriously. I continued on and soon was on the White Cedar course, which is awesome, but also one of the more dangerous courses I have played. Some steep, muddy climbs that I'm sure are fine when they're dry, but I doubt that happens very often judging by the vegetation. I got to hole 17 and after a decent drive, had a short left to right upshot. I threw my first forehand of the day and found out the hard way that there was a cliff right behind the basket. I could see my disc, but had no idea how to get it without killing myself. I was soon back on Eagle's Peak and tried to finish out without further losses. That didn't happen. I got to hole 18, the second of two holes throwing across a pond. I cleared the water fine, but due to a highly inaccurate tee sign, threw in the wrong direction right into some tall marsh grass. By that time, I wasn't in the mood to search too long. So I left. In a huff.

I headed off for Hidden Lake, cause damn it, I was going to finish what I started. The day, which started off sunny and nice, got cloudier and windier as I got closer to St. Cloud. Was I making a horrible mistake? Time would tell. I arrived at Hidden Lake and the course immediately dived down into the trees and out of the wind. Success. I would have to say this was my second favorite course I played in Minnesota, after Kaposia. A little rough around the edges, like Kaposia, but some quality shots. I finished up, after trying my best to lose some more plastic, right before it started raining.

 

[Mando]

So how does WI/MN justifiably have 1/2 of the top courses in the US with long,snowy winters and hot, bug-filled summers ?
How many months can you actually play these courses,comfortably...and are those courses really that good ?

 

[TempleOfDoom]

I grew up in a place that was 70 degrees year round. As far as I'm concerned, the weather in most of the country is intolerable.

 

[Aim For The Chains]

2-3 weeks? lol not as bad as it sounds... going to be beautiful next ~10 days and fall is great besides losing discs on all the leaf colors covering the ground'

serious answer: depends on the year but I'd say at least 3 months where its not jungle muggy or extremely hot/cold temps.

 

[Steve West]

So how does WI/MN justifiably have 1/2 of the top courses in the US with long,snowy winters and hot, bug-filled summers ?
How many months can you actually play these courses,comfortably...and are those courses really that good ?

You can play comfortably all year, if you spend enough money at REI.

 

[Mando]

Okay, so where were we? Oh yes,

Day 10 - Highbridge Gold, The Bear and Granite Ridge. I f@&king hate mosquitoes. The mosquitoes found me about halfway through. To the golfer I played through on hole 16, I am truly sorry for my behavior. My only defense is, by that time in the round I was about an inch away from tearing all my clothes off, smearing poop all over myself and running screaming...

You got off easy, black flys are much worse.

 

[Mando]

You can play comfortably all year, if you spend enough money at REI.

Good answer, but statistically how do you interpret the course rating if one course is comfortably playable for 25% of the year, and another is comfortable for 50% ?

 

[Dave242]

You focus almost exclusively on the airways......and almost none on the conditions. Use the pictures here to help visualize ideal conditions and base your rating on that.

 

[Stardoggy]

Real men throw in the snow. It's either that or sit around all winter wondering what shots you coulda had.

We play down to about 20º...anything below that gets to be a bit too much.

 

[yangs1]

I played more in the snow and cold last Winter than ever before. One day in fact we played in 5 degree weather. Like has already been said, you play or you sit around and day dream about what shots you could have made.

 

[Steve West]

Good answer, but statistically how do you interpret the course rating if one course is comfortably playable for 25% of the year, and another is comfortable for 50% ?

Well, what I did was fit activity to the heating degree days (too cold) and cooling degree days (too hot) for each month.

 

[BionicRib]

I fully agree with your experience of the Bear at Highbridge.......best course out there, but so frustrating with the upkeep. Once you get to hole 12 it just gets brutal. Its too bad, because if the grass was atleast "mowed" it would easily hit my top ten.

 

[Mando]

Cool. What's that gonna look like when you throw mosquitoes & blackflies into the mix ? That is part of being uncomfortable along with the weather, right? Taking a DG/camping roadtrip to wisco after reading TOD's trip report sounds like no fun.

Well, what I did was fit activity to the heating degree days (too cold) and cooling degree days (too hot) for each month.

 

[sloppydisc]

I'd take cold weather over the flies and skeets any time. And poisonous reptiles count as a nuisance too!

 

[Broken Shoulder]

I'd rather play in cold or deal with mosquitoes than scan for alligators when looking for a disc in a pond.