2015 Best Places List

[Steve West]

Based on quantity and proximity of disc golf courses, these are the places where residents would be expected to play the most disc golf. The rating is how often a resident would play, compared to how often they would play if they lived next to a single 18 hole course with no other courses around.

6.33 Charlotte, NC 28205
6.27 Sabattus, ME 04280
6.15 Minneapolis, MN 55405
6.10 Crown Point, IN 46307
6.08 Bartlett, IL 60103
5.90 Milwaukee, WI 53224
5.85 Joliet, IL 60432
5.84 Byron Township, MI 49315
5.71 Round Rock, TX 78681
5.62 Houston, TX 77047
5.58 Allentown, PA 18104
5.48 Fishers, IN 46038
5.47 Kansas City, MO 64111
5.42 Houston, TX 77092
5.41 Arvada, CO 80003
5.29 Tulsa, OK 74105
5.20 Austin, TX 78701
5.17 Moraine, OH 45439
5.16 Whitmore Lake, MI 48189
5.08 Cary, NC 27518
5.05 Cincinnati, OH 45225
4.99 Whistler, AL 36612
4.99 Grayslake, IL 60030
4.98 Ypsilanti, MI 48197
4.95 Royal Oak, MI 48073
4.91 Smithville, MO 64089
4.90 Milan, IL 61264
4.86 Rockford, IL 61101
4.86 Franklin, OH 45005
4.84 Cedar Hill, TX 75104
4.81 Bowling Green, KY 42103
4.78 Durham, NC 27707
4.76 Emmaus, PA 18049
4.75 Hazelwood, MO 63042
4.73 03100 Vihti, Finland
4.70 Lewisville, TX 75067
4.70 Gardiner, ME 04345
4.68 North Yarmouth, ME 04097
4.67 Tupelo, MS 38804
4.67 00740 Helsingfors, Finland
4.66 Lansing, IL 60438
4.62 Westerville, OH 43081
4.60 Haltom City, TX 76117
4.59 Lancaster, PA 17602
4.57 Bedford, VA 24523
4.56 Pine, CO 80470
4.54 Huntsville, AL 35805
4.53 Augusta, MI 49012
4.52 Emporia, KS 66801
4.51 Spring, TX 77389
4.44 Burlington, NC 27215
4.34 Spotsylvania, VA 22551
4.34 Prescott, AZ 86303
4.34 Holt, MI 48842
4.33 Oshkosh, WI 54901
4.32 Ludington, MI 49431
4.31 167 74 Bromma, Sweden
4.28 Des Moines, IA 50317
4.28 Appleton, WI 54913
4.27 Wichita, KS 67213
4.27 Springdale, AR 72762
4.22 Carthage, NC 28327
4.22 20740 Åbo, Finland
4.21 Baltimore, MD 21211
4.20 Waterloo, IA 50701
4.20 Limerick, ME 04048
4.19 St Cloud, MN 56301
4.19 East Peoria, IL 61611
4.17 Seaside, CA 93955
4.16 Nine Mile Falls, WA 99026
4.16 Black Mountain, NC 28711
4.13 Live Oak, TX 78233
4.12 Seattle, WA 98146
4.11 Asheville, NC 28806
4.09 Memphis, TN 38127
4.07 Sheboygan, WI 53083
4.04 Myerstown, PA 17067
4.02 Cedar Rapids, IA 52402
4.01 Madison, WI 53704
4.00 Appling, GA 30802
3.95 Spring Grove, PA 17362
3.94 Green Bay, WI 54303
3.93 Rocky Mount, NC 27804
3.91 Nicholasville, KY 40356
3.90 North Plains, OR 97133
3.90 Chattanooga, TN 37421
3.88 Tyler, TX 75709
3.88 Boise, ID 83716
3.86 Leicester, MA 01524
3.86 Canton, OH 44709
3.80 Nashville, TN 37217
3.79 Augusta, GA 30901
3.77 Lakewood, WA 98499
3.77 Clearwater, FL 33759
3.76 Wood Village, OR 97060
3.76 Highbridge, WI 54846
3.76 Fort Collins, CO 80525
3.73 Salem, OR 97301
3.72 Duluth, MN 55808
3.71 Rochester, NY 14611

This list is not directly comparable to the 2012 list. These new ratings are based a re-calibration of my model, based on many many recorded rounds. Disc golf play is more local than what the previous model was based on.

 

[Aim For The Chains]

Very cool. Thanks!

 

[scarpfish]

If you mean recorded rounds on DGCR were entered into the data, I'm not sure that's a good indicator of a lot of play, as it is locations of people on this website who are very diligent in entering their scores. A large degree of the entered rounds are done by a small number of people.

For instance, my old home course has 917 rounds entered, but almost 700 of them are mine.

 

[Aim For The Chains]

But are you the only person there? It wouldnt really matter given average of included surrounding courses.

 

[Steve West]

If you mean recorded rounds on DGCR were entered into the data, I'm not sure that's a good indicator of a lot of play, as it is locations of people on this website who are very diligent in entering their scores. A large degree of the entered rounds are done by a small number of people.

For instance, my old home course has 917 rounds entered, but almost 700 of them are mine.

The formulas are calibrated based on each user's frequency of playing courses. So, they could be set with just a few diligent users.

However, there were a lot of rounds entered by a lot of users.

 

[DavidSauls]

It needs a better title.

Another attempt at an objective measure of a subjective subject. I'm not even sure what you're showing, or how it's calculated; it may well provide insight into player or course distribution.

But "best places"? Wouldn't that take in a lot more factors---course quality, crowdedness, traffic, climate, local club scene, tournaments, and lots more?

 

[grodney]

I'm not even sure what you're showing, or how it's calculated;

Yeah, I don't get it.

 

[Steve West]

It needs a better title.

Another attempt at an objective measure of a subjective subject. I'm not even sure what you're showing, or how it's calculated; it may well provide insight into player or course distribution.

But "best places"? Wouldn't that take in a lot more factors---course quality, crowdedness, traffic, climate, local club scene, tournaments, and lots more?

Good point. How about "places with where the availability of disc golf courses results in the highest rates of play"? It's not subjective, there is no judgment involved in setting any of the numbers.

It's a spin-off of the calculations for determining how busy a new course would be.

Demand is the difference between how much disc golf is played now and what would be played if there were a new course.

The numbers above show how much disc golf would be played now by a player who lives in the sweet spot of the area.

 

[bhadella]

Huh. 28205 is my zipcode, apparently I am the center of the disc golf world. If only I could get more than two rounds in a week.

 

[Jukeshoe]

Lots of good hotspots surrounding me...which I kinda already knew.

Drive 1 or 1.5 hours in any direction and there's SOMETHING decent.

 

[Stardoggy]

Basically all the places I play are on there. I'm surprised Manitowoc, WI didn't make the list.

 

[Cgkdisc]

Not enough people playing Highbridge or Augusta for either to make the "Best Place" top 25?

 

[scarpfish]

Good point. How about "places with where the availability of disc golf courses results in the highest rates of play"?

Except people who know some of these places by real world experience and not numbers on a website know some of them don't have the highest rates of play. They're just places where some statistical quirks about their relative locations and some DGCR data about them put them on this list. The fact that Smithville, MO (where there is a three course pay to play complex by a lake), has a higher rating than Bowling Green or Des Moines kind of proves this.

The three times that I've been to that complex, traffic has been light to non-existent. Granted, I'm sure it picks up a bit on weekends.

 

[Steve West]

Highest rates of play per resident, not the most players on a course.

If you are looking for a place that has a lot of courses around to motivate you to play as much as possible, you'd want to move to these places.

The relative importance of distance, size of course, and number of courses was set to best fit the recorded rounds of the biggest source of such data available.

Highbridge and Appling suffer from a lack of an abundance of courses after getting outside the immediate area. Florida has a similar problem, since there aren't a lot of courses in the ocean. Yet.

 

[Steve West]

More Trivia. This shows which states have the most courses closest to the most residents. The average resident in IL has enough disc golf courses nearby to play more than 3 times as much as the average resident in MT.

 

[Mushin No Shin]

If Steve's data accounted for my vehicle, he would have discovered that my car was the best place for DG this year

 

[Steve West]

If Steve's data accounted for my vehicle, he would have discovered that my car was the best place for DG this year

Well, that explains that anomaly.

 

[blazerico]

otherwise known as the "best places to live to be near disc golf" list

 

[Steve West]

Here's the rest of the country in graphic form. Also, what it looked like in 2011.

Black indicates no courses nearby. White is the densest concentration. Red is very good.

 

[Cgkdisc]

Steve, is that map strictly course density? If so, it would be interesting to also see the map in relation to population density to see where courses might still be needed. Or is that what you've already done and call it service level?