How are the courses these days vs when you began playing?

[Tripper]

My sense is that the Triangle and Triad area of NC have always had a robust selection of courses (relatively speaking). One of the first courses around, Cedarock, is still well played, well loved and well maintained. Course like Kentwood and Cornwallis that also go back to the 80s are played and loved. Valley Springs continues to be a well know gem. UNC just got a major overhaul. Leigh Farms, only 12 years old, has had a ton of maintenance and redesign work done in the last 18 months. "#7 course in the world" Diavolo just opened. Plenty of people are playing, but the courses seem to have kept up with demand, and there are more planned. Overall, we seem to be in a sweet spot as far as courses go.

But, I haven't been a truly active player until recently, so I'm curious what others think. I also wonder what things will.be like in the fall once the student populations get back on campus, as that might really lift the DG player numbers.

UNC did not get an overhaul so much as it got ruined. Losing 3 of the most fun holes for Mountain biking is a travesty and adding a nearly 1/4 mile transfer because of the lost holes is practically criminal.

I played Leigh Farms after it first opened and it was pretty nice for 2 years and then maintenance stopped and the course became an overgrown tick farm. I stopped playing it before they shut it down to build the Palladian Apartments due to the flooding and lack of upkeep. It has come a long way back and now I prefer it to UNC (almost).

 

[CapeGirl79]

Changes at Burgess Park Marstons Mills MA

Wow what 20 years won't do huh? LOL. This park was the first place I ever played. I played for about 5 years back in the late 90s and then life got too busy. Now, I am taking the time and getting back out there. Burgess is right down the street so that's where I returned to. WHAT A HUGE IMPROVEMENT! We used to throw at 2x4s with the painted tops. There were no baskets. Slowly they were added. Now this course is BEAUTIFUL and so well maintained. There are tee signs at every hole. There are brick and cobble stone tee pads at each hole. There are benches at every tee. There are barrels for trash through out the course and most players do a great job keeping the place clean. Hamblins Pond lines one side of the park and provides a nice breeze most of the time. It's a par 3 golf course with LOTS of trees. Holes 11,12 and 18 take you out onto an open field. All other holes are in the woods. Most holes are under 400' and the course can be played in about an hour. If you're visiting Cape Cod, you should really come try this course.

 

[GripEnemy]

I kinda live in between Kenilworth/Boyertown/Upper Salford/Ryan C. Kelly Green Monster/REZ PRK equidistantly but am at the first three most.

Where you play?

I'm closest to Tamanend probably, but don't play it much (little 9er). Fort Washington, Tyler, AGA Farms...miss Nockamixon tons. Sedgley isn't too far either but I so rarely play it due to the course traffic.

I've been dying to get back to the Monster, only played it maybe 6 times?

 

[Three Putt]

Chicago area was mostly crappy niners when I started. We still have most of those, but there have been a few quality 18 hole courses added that really made a difference.

The best course in the Chicago area 15 years ago wouldn't be top 5 today and maybe not even top 10. Our options are so much better than they were.

Downside is increased participation. I haven't played my favorite area course in a couple of years and probably won't try to again unless I have a weekday off. I've stopped by a couple time on weekends and didn't even get out of the car. Time's too precious to wait around on every tee.

When I was moving up there in 2000, JT Rosenthal was at an event I was running in St. Louis shortly before I moved. According to him in 2000, Shady Oaks was the only course worth playing in the Chicago area between Joliet and the Wisconsin state line. Sadly, he was probably right. Madison Meadow was probably the only other decent course I can recall. Lemon Lake Red and Anna Page were in if you could expand "Chicagoland" that far. Oswego and Jericho Lake were big deals when they went in, and Mokena was generally regarded as the best course in the area when it went in. Channahon was also a big deal at the time.

Now you have the Canyons, the new Fairfield, Highland and Rolling Knolls. Maybe one of those courses that was around in 2005 when we moved from there might sneak into the top five.

 

[Evan27]

I started in early 2000s. My area had approximately 3 courses around town vs now there are 7. One of the courses I use to play, Timmons in Greenville, SC was quite good with its' layout thru both woods and a surrounding field. However one neighbor complained that disc golfers were making too much noise on the holes closest to his house, and the city decided to relocate 3 of the holes on the back nine. Because of that the course lost some of its' fun appeal, since the replacement holes just didn't seem as fun. More recently several front nine holes were expanded in length, probably rightfully so. In total 11 holes have had modifications from the original layout when I began playing, some more than others, but it is a shell of what it once used to be for me.

Also, It seems like now a days you can pull up a map and find numerous courses, some you didn't even know existed, whereas 15 years ago there were only a handful in certain areas.

 

[Pizza God]

lol, Lets see. When I started playing I had to drive 20 miles to play the closest course.

Greenbelt (18) - Carrollton
Fritz (9) - Irving
BB Owen (9) - The Colony
Shawnee (9) - Plano
Skyline (18) - Dallas

Those were my choices back then. Now I have 103 courses within 50 miles of my zip code.

 

[Pizza God]

Greenbelt (18) - Carrollton
Fritz (9) - Irving
BB Owen (9) - The Colony
Shawnee (9) - Plano
Skyline (18) - Dallas

I should note
BB Owen and Skyline are long gone

Fritz is now 18 and only a couple of the holes are the same from back then.
Shawnee is now 18 and has been redesigned twice
Greenbelt moved to a different part of the park and is pretty much 100% different than the original 80's layout.

 

[WD09]

I played several times in the 90s when I visited friends who had courses in their towns, but I didn't start playing regularly until '04.
Those friends' 90s courses are still the same, though one of them got new baskets. They play easier now bc of changes in disc technology and tree loss.

Some very good private courses in the area where I live now have closed down bc the property became more valuable as the population grew and the owners sold the land.

Within the last 10 years or so, I have played a lot of new courses that were clearly designed by someone fairly new to disc golf who just wanted a course in their town, so they threw up some baskets and spaced them out about as far from each other as their max drive distance and called it a course. So the addition of new courses doesn't always mean better disc golf.

However, many private land owners and parks dept. types have learned more about the sport and started designing (or paying designers for) top-notch courses with great amenities and holes that involve shot-shaping and landing zones. I love traveling to places I have been before and finding high-quality new courses or re-designs that improve old courses!

 

[porkturtle]

I'm closest to Tamanend probably, but don't play it much (little 9er). Fort Washington, Tyler, AGA Farms...miss Nockamixon tons. Sedgley isn't too far either but I so rarely play it due to the course traffic.

I've been dying to get back to the Monster, only played it maybe 6 times?

By all means - get back to the Green Monster. Just played it Sunday for the first time (white layout). The course is awesome! Helps to fill the void here in SE PA that Nockamixon left.

 

[jeffmonty]

A lot shorter distances in-between.

 

[ohtobediscing]

My first courses were
-- an object-target 9er, USM campus (with a real island green), '79
-- a basket 9er at USM forestry property (rough as you can imagine) '82
-- a temp-basket 18 at Hiller Park in Biloxi, '83

Hiller is now a very nice 25-hole course, and there's at least 20 courses within 75 miles, whereas 20 years ago there were 2.


But I didn't start playing habitually till '02 at Dabney near Portland, and these great courses didn't exist then:
--Pier
--Hornings complex
--Blue Lake
--Stubb Stewart
--McCormick
--Buxton
--Trojan
--Wheatland
--North Bonneville

 

[magictenor1]

Hey the usm course was my 1st as well. 10 holes

 

[thrembo]

The first basket course I played was West Park in 1979. It has concrete tee pads now for the first time ever, a sure sign of the apocalypse!

 

[jupiterboy]

Tees used to be dust bowls, which worked OK as long as it was not wet. Now they are generally much worse.

 

[EarthRocker]

Started to play in 1992. Here in Charlotte there was Reedy Creek and Kilborne, and then Hornet's Nest and Renaissance. We had the Winthrop course, too, but it seemed to us like A) too far to drive, and B) a disc-eating, no-fair monster. Ah, the folly of youthful ignorance...
Nowadays, Winthrop is just a stone's throw from anywhere in the CLT area. And it's so much fun to play. It's much different, of course, but it's still a beautiful corner of the world to watch discs fly. (I remember going to watch one of the early Championships down there, and dudes were throwing a lot of rollers to fight the wind. I remember distinctly having this thought: "If that's what it takes to be good at this game, I'm out. It's almost like cheating." )

Since then, courses have popped up all over the place, both public and private, free and pay-to-play. And like most have said, the main difference with the newer courses these days - or the redesigns of the OG's - is the length. Back in the day, Reedy seemed like a tough course. Today, it's one of the shorter, easier ones in our pantheon, and I rarely play it for the crowding reasons others have touched on...

I know we're spoiled here. I try very hard not to take it for granted.