Areas with overrated courses?

[GMcAtee]

What areas or cities have you found with overrated courses or a rash of bad disc golf design?

Are there areas that surprised you and may be underrated?

 

[thrembo]

The Lake County courses in Florida surprised me with how good they are.

Lincoln Ridge (KY) was probably my most disappointing.

 

[Countchunkula]

I can't really come up with anything. Maybe some of the highly regarded Cali courses, but I played those 10+ years ago and I don't think they're as highly rated as they were at the time. By the same token, I think the top Chicago area courses were overrated for a long time, but I think that's largely corrected itself.

The last course I played that I felt was overrated was Hobbs Farm, but not terribly so. It's also the only place I've played in Georgia though. No idea if it's a regional bump or *conspiracy theory alert* a Houck bump.

I also felt Lake Arvesta in MI was overrated, but I don't remember thinking any of the other SW MI courses that I've played were significantly overrated.


Surprised at Thrembo naming Lincoln Ridge. I remember a few notable baggers considered that one a favorite. Maybe it hasn't aged well or maybe the quality of courses overall has increased?

 

[elmexdela]

I can't really come up with anything. Maybe some of the highly regarded Cali courses, but I played those 10+ years ago and I don't think they're as highly rated as they were at the time. By the same token, I think the top Chicago area courses were overrated for a long time, but I think that's largely corrected itself.

The last course I played that I felt was overrated was Hobbs Farm, but not terribly so. It's also the only place I've played in Georgia though. No idea if it's a regional bump or *conspiracy theory alert* a Houck bump.

I also felt Lake Arvesta in MI was overrated, but I don't remember thinking any of the other SW MI courses that I've played were significantly overrated.


Surprised at Thrembo naming Lincoln Ridge. I remember a few notable baggers considered that one a favorite. Maybe it hasn't aged well or maybe the quality of courses overall has increased?

i thought lincoln ridge was pretty standard park and patchy woods mix of a course

i would consider it overrated and overhyped but no one really talks about it anymoar

 

[sisyphus]

Lincoln Ridge had a fairway terrace collapse (over five or six years ago) on hole 15, which effectively closed holes 14 thru 17. The park department put up signs indicating they weren't to be thrown, and stopped maintaining what used to be a few really spectacular holes. I don't think they removed the baskets, so people still go down there. Without the holes, the course drops in quality and variety, but if played, they don't impress you any more.

Otherwise, the course is a really nice Intermediate par three layout, which makes it extremely popular, The park does a good job of maintaining 18 of the 'remaining' 20 holes. They should pull 'added' holes 22 & 23, around the stenchy 'pond', which really don't help the flow anyway. ps: those two holes are often joined by 4 additional temp holes for bigger tourneys...

...and Lincoln Ridge has fallen off relative to the newer courses in the area that are as good or better (Johnson Hills, Osage Grove, Stonelick, Devou, and up north Echo Valley, to name a few). Of course there's still Idlewild and Mt. Airy...

 

[thrembo]

I gave Lincoln Ridge a pretty good review and did like the course. It needs some updates and a little polish to get it back up from a 4 to a 4.5.

 

[discRabbit]

chicago has 2 good courses out of 250
the entire state of california

 

[GMcAtee]

Lincoln Ridge had a fairway terrace collapse (over five or six years ago) on hole 15, which effectively closed holes 14 thru 17. The park department put up signs indicating they weren't to be thrown, and stopped maintaining what used to be a few really spectacular holes. I don't think they removed the baskets, so people still go down there. Without the holes, the course drops in quality and variety, but if played, they don't impress you any more.

Otherwise, the course is a really nice Intermediate par three layout, which makes it extremely popular, The park does a good job of maintaining 18 of the 'remaining' 20 holes. They should pull 'added' holes 22 & 23, around the stenchy 'pond', which really don't help the flow anyway. ps: those two holes are often joined by 4 additional temp holes for bigger tourneys...

...and Lincoln Ridge has fallen off relative to the newer courses in the area that are as good or better (Johnson Hills, Osage Grove, Stonelick, Devou, and up north Echo Valley, to name a few). Of course there's still Idlewild and Mt. Airy...

That's disappointing to hear about Lincoln Ridge. I haven't played there in years. May not bother to again now.

 

[Tim_the_Enchanter]

chicago has 2 good courses out of 250
the entire state of california

I can't comment on Chicago, but yeah, you would think CA would have more quality courses given how big it is and its diversity of terrain. I've enjoyed most of the courses there, but I haven't been appropriately blown away by the courses that touted as epic.

I know it's going to come off as blasphemous, but I'd nominate Charlotte. Don't get me wrong, Charlotte has a ton of great disc golf. My criticism is that all the courses feel very similar to one another. I played most of the "must plays" in the area, had a great time, but I'll be damned if I can remember which was which. Renny and Hornet's Nest stand out, but the rest are mostly a blur.

 

[biscoe]

I can't comment on Chicago, but yeah, you would think CA would have more quality courses given how big it is and its diversity of terrain. I've enjoyed most of the courses there, but I haven't been appropriately blown away by the courses that touted as epic.

I know it's going to come off as blasphemous, but I'd nominate Charlotte. Don't get me wrong, Charlotte has a ton of great disc golf. My criticism is that all the courses feel very similar to one another. I played most of the "must plays" in the area, had a great time, but I'll be damned if I can remember which was which. Renny and Hornet's Nest stand out, but the rest are mostly a blur.

Zenbot came to visit Hawk Hollow years ago and said something along the lines of "I need to recalibrate my course standards." Good land in California is insanely expensive I would imagine.

 

[ru4por]

I would go with Dallas/Ft Worth area and Southern CA.

 

[Tim_the_Enchanter]

Zenbot came to visit Hawk Hollow years ago and said something along the lines of "I need to recalibrate my course standards." Good land in California is insanely expensive I would imagine.

Around the populated areas for sure, there's a whole lot of rural land in CA too though. Areas in NorCal like Mendocino and Humboldt have a ton of great land that would make for stellar disc golf. But I think most of the land owners there dedicate their property to more lucrative pursuits.

I forgot the second part of the OP's question: Upstate NY is a region I hardly ever hear about but the handful of courses I played there were fantastic.

 

[biscoe]

The federal govt also owns almost half the land in California.

 

[discRabbit]

Lots of the public lands in CA are desert or scrubland, no good for disc golf. Federal holdings just above the foothills though would be a goldmine if you could convince USFS to add another activity to the "land of many uses". What Tim is referring to (I think) is the foothills area, which would make the best golf terrain but the feds don't own much of that land.

 

[GMcAtee]

I can't comment on Chicago, but yeah, you would think CA would have more quality courses given how big it is and its diversity of terrain. I've enjoyed most of the courses there, but I haven't been appropriately blown away by the courses that touted as epic.

I know it's going to come off as blasphemous, but I'd nominate Charlotte. Don't get me wrong, Charlotte has a ton of great disc golf. My criticism is that all the courses feel very similar to one another. I played most of the "must plays" in the area, had a great time, but I'll be damned if I can remember which was which. Renny and Hornet's Nest stand out, but the rest are mostly a blur.

I have the exact same memory of Charlotte, and I've only played two of their courses.

 

[wolfhaley]

chicago has 2 good courses out of 250

I haven't played everything in Chicagoland but I'd say there's 3 good ones out of 250. You're vastly underrating the quality there pal.

The Canyons, Highland and Fairfield. (Well, the wooded half of Fairfield). So two and a half good courses.

The great thing about Chicago is there's courses everywhere. You can easily play 4, possibly 5 or 6, nine hole courses within a three mile radius in less than 7 hours some of the days of the week at the ass crack of dawn or in the dark. The sewage stench is not as prominent when the suns not out. Except at Summit.

 

[DavidSauls]

My description of Charlotte is "a quantity of quality". A lot of good to very good courses, but not necessarily great courses. So if you're passing through and looking for a Top-10 experience, it's overrated. If you're staying for 10 days to play 20 different courses, maybe not.

My best guess at underrated, because I've never been there, is Maine. I get the impression it has some really good courses, but is so out-of-the-way that there's not much discussion about them.

 

[Cgkdisc]

I haven't played everything in Chicagoland but I'd say there's 3 good ones out of 250. You're vastly underrating the quality there pal.

The Canyons, Highland and Fairfield. (Well, the wooded half of Fairfield). So two and a half good courses.

The great thing about Chicago is there's courses everywhere. You can easily play 4, possibly 5 or 6, nine hole courses within a three mile radius in less than 7 hours some of the days of the week at the ass crack of dawn or in the dark. The sewage stench is not as prominent when the suns not out. Except at Summit.

Compare the open holes at The Canyons (7,8,10-12) with Fairfield (1-5ish,18,19) and what they bring the overall layout in terms of balance and elevation. Some might give the edge to Fairfield. I agree those working to improve Fairfield should consider adding a few more strategically placed trees to grow into additional shot shaping challenges on some of those open holes.

 

[Countchunkula]

I haven't played everything in Chicagoland but I'd say there's 3 good ones out of 250. You're vastly underrating the quality there pal.

The Canyons, Highland and Fairfield. (Well, the wooded half of Fairfield). So two and a half good courses.

The great thing about Chicago is there's courses everywhere. You can easily play 4, possibly 5 or 6, nine hole courses within a three mile radius in less than 7 hours some of the days of the week at the ass crack of dawn or in the dark. The sewage stench is not as prominent when the suns not out. Except at Summit.

Not disagreeing. We've got a ton of mediocre or worse courses around here. I think our courses were more overrated in the early days of this site, when the best thing a lot of Chicago area golfers had ever seen was Highland though.

 

[elmexdela]

Not disagreeing. We've got a ton of mediocre or worse courses around here. I think our courses were more overrated in the early days of this site, when the best thing a lot of Chicago area golfers had ever seen was Highland though.

glad to see youre alright

i know a tornado or two came rippin thru chicagoland last night