Houston, TX to Cincinnati, OH and back

[jsc430]

Starring.......


rmj333

Ms. Nix

Yours truely

But...i found it

 

[jsc430]

Lake Bistineau

Hole 3

Hole 9

 

[jsc430]

Horeshoe Canyon Ranch - WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW

Hole 6

Hole 13

 

[jongoff09]

So are you going to review each of the courses you are playing?

I want to get up to HCR really bad. So close, yet too far away to justify a trip up there just for disc golf by myself. I will have to get a group together to play there sometime very soon. Sounds like you enjoyed it.

 

[jsc430]

Another Update

^^^^I'm not sure yet. I've been taking notes and mental reminders but work is going to get serious when I get back and reviews unfortunately are going to drop to the bottom of the priority list. And yes, you HAVE to get up to HCR, and NO , do NOT play it alone or with a noob. Be ready for a serious hike. PM if you ever get around to it and I will try to help you out a little as navigation was somewhat of an issue.

 

[jsc430]

Another update…We made it to Cinci well, Florence, KY actually. We spent yesterday in STL and played Sioux Passage…97 degrees felt like 107. Like one reviewer said "the main obstacle to contend with here is elevation"(and heat as there are few trees). This is a serious understatement. It was up and down rolling hills on the front nine with two semi-technical holes on the front. I expected there to be more verity on the back but it was much the same – it seemed like each hole had an exact or similar counter hole that simply played the opposite direction up/down the last hole. E.g, 2-6, 10-11, 12-13. I know this is logical for design but it kind of made the course a little bland. 13 is the signature holes and was amazing. I threw a 500ft forehand. WOW! Also, none of the signs were marking the correct pin position and that left us guessing a lot (esp 17 where we looked for the basket for 10 min). Honestly, I think the designers went a little crazy with the elevation but it is a great course, just not one I could play every time I went out for a round. Some incredible elevation holes but a low fun factor IMO. I think I'd give it a 4/5.

Today we played Mesker Park in Evansville, IN. It was a very well thought out course with maybe one throw away hole. It had a little bit of everything. I saw one of the other reviews said this course lacked signature holes and I can see his side of the argument. But, there are a high number of really great holes with plenty of character. Of the top of my head - #s 3, 8, 9, 13, 14, 17. It has an island hole(14) that the locals call devils' triangle. If that's not a signature hole I don't know what is. The OB works very well in shaping the holes. The fun factor here was very high. It gets a solid 4/5. I thought about a 4.5 but HCR gets a 4.5/5 and Mesker isn't close to HCR.

So far we have ranked the courses as follows: HCR, Mesker, Lake Bistineau, Sioux Passage

 

[jsc430]

Looking back to the tee from the basket on hole 6. The tee is along the treeline on the right side on the other side of the hill

Hole 13 - 550ft. It was a tough hike to get there, but worth it.

 

[REDARMY]

sorry i couldn't show you around sioux, should've sent ya my number earlier in the week.

looks like you picked a good day to play there though and hope you had fun!

 

[jsc430]

Mesker Park Pictures

Hole 2 - pretty self -xplainitory.

Holes 14 - devil's triangle. Plays uphils from tee. The basket is just in front of the two twin bishes at 12 o'clock. Rmj333 is throwing from the drop zone since he missed the island. I joined him shortly thereafter.

 

[Hamilton]

skipping fun farm?? missing out on that one...

 

[jsc430]

skipping fun farm?? missing out on that one...

unfortunatly we didn't have time to play them all, so we had to pick one...

Today we played Lincoln Ridge and Idlewild. Both were outstanding courses and the weather couldn't have been better. When we stepped on the first tee at lincoln ridge it wasn't hotter than 75 degrees. Both are 5/5s with Idlewild taking top notch on character and uniqueness.

Idlewild, LRP, HCR, mesker, lake bistineau, sioux passage

 

[tallpaul]

Poor Sioux Passage....sigh. Foundation DGC in Centrailia, Illinois; @one hour east of St. Louis would have been the best choice in that area. Rock Spring would have been better as well.

 

[REDARMY]

Poor Sioux Passage....sigh. Foundation DGC in Centrailia, Illinois; @one hour east of St. Louis would have been the best choice in that area. Rock Spring would have been better as well.

BOO!

 

[AdamE]

skipping fun farm?? missing out on that one...

That's the tough thing about the I-64 corridor between Louisville and St. Louis, there aren't a huge concentration of courses but they're all quality, 3.5 or better.

Charlie Vettiner
Buffalo Trace
Fun Farm
Old English (OMG I love that course)
Patoka
Mesker
Centralia

 

[jsc430]

^^^^^ ya, it was hard to make a decision and it ultimatly came down to time. We were able to easily navigate and play mesker in only a coupke of hours.

It was one of the lower rated courses we played but suprisingly it ranked comparably high.

Since the last update we played Holler in the Hills and Bud Hill. The former was great the later - OUTstanding course. My gf and rmj333 played mt airy while i was in training on wed and compared it pretty closer to mesker.

Tongiht we are crashing in Tyler, TX and playing Lindey Gold before heading on home to Houston. Its currently the #1 course in Tx even though it only has 8 reviews.

I will drop some pics and another update after a nice rest this w/e.

Tenative rankings so far -

1. Idlewild (5/5)
3. Bud Hill
3. Lincoln Ridge Park

4. Horseshoe Canyon Ranch (4.5/5)
5. Holler in the Hills
6. Mesker Park
7. Mt Airy

8. Lake Bistineau (4/5)
9. Sioux Passage

 

[jsc430]

Finally made it home. We showed up at Lindsey Gold aka "the dogwood" this morning about 8 am anf the parking lot was fullllllll. Unfortunatly there was a b-tier tourney starting at 9 with a shotgun start. Theres no way we were making it through.

We left half heartedly with a phone number of gentleman who we were hoping would show us around a brand new course near Lake Nac in Nacodgoches, TX (not listed on dgcr). The trip had gone soooo smooth up til now b/c said gentelman was working and recommended against going at it alone because its so new and its w/o a map or tee signs.

We reluctantly headed for Houston and stoped in at our favorite local course - Spring Valley. Since i'd been on a dg binge for a week plus i was hoping to conqur it and shoot under par. In the weeks leading up the trip i'd been shooting a two, three, four strokes over par....Today, i shot a 67:wall: Oh well, at least at can get another crack at Spring Valley, the others were probably once in a lifetime for me.

Pics of the other courses to come...Thanks for listening