uDisc: Why Should I Use It?

[BillFleming]

I do not work for/with uDisc, nor do I know anyone who does. The comments below are just my personal thoughts based on using uDisc as a player and what is happening in Mesa, Arizona.

There's another thread about uDisc raising their prices this year. This thread isn't about that; it's strictly about why uDisc should be used by disc golfers.

((I did not run this post by the person who is involved in the discussions with the City of Mesa....and I don't like dropping names without checking with them first, so they aren't named in this post. During our conversation, which happened a month or so ago, he did say he had no issue with me repeating the information.))

Red Mountain Park in Mesa, Arizona has two disc golf courses (North and South). For a few years now, the city has wanted to get rid of the North course and put in more soccer fields. The desire for more soccer fields makes sense - they want to host state and national tournaments, but since they don't have enough fields, they lose out to other cities. Now it is approved and actually going to happen. We are losing 17 & 18 from South (already have places for both of those holes) and a bit more than half of North.

What does uDisc have to do with this? I have had a discussion with the main disc golfer responsible for the courses and he has told me what has gone on in discussions with the city. Mesa basically said: we see people using the existing soccer fields, we see them using the basketball courts, and we see them using the pickleball courts. No one plays disc golf. Well, that's because disc golf is played over a large area and it's not easy to see how much use it gets. That's where uDisc came in. The disc golfer got uDisc folks to provide him the information on how much each course gets used based on the rounds played and recorded via uDisc. I was told that the city planners were surprised that the courses got that much use.

End result is that the city is working to give us more land for re-designing the North course. Part of my understanding from the discussion is that the developer is even going to 'donate' concrete tees for the new holes.

Why is this happening? Because people are using uDisc when they play the courses. The courses now have signs on each Hole 1 about how to download and use uDisc.

Please consider using uDisc when you play a course - even if it is just the free version...someday the stats might help keep a course going.

 

[jupiterboy]

It's a priceless tool for developing courses, too. Helps with planning, signage, etc.

 

[Dcinmd]

It is free with a PDGA membership.




Pending a future agreement post 2021.

 

[itsRudy]

Udisc is great for directions, finding new course (gets listed there first before here), up to date course conditions, and maps.

It has a problem with way too many maps/layouts. Especially ones that are never finished but hang around never the less. Obsolete one time map layouts hang around forever.

Photos are more up to date, but not as organized as here (ie in hole order, etc). Often there can be dumb photos like just discs in a basket rather than instructive. Some really dumb photos, like one yesterday had a water droplet on a twig for someone thinking they were a nature photographer -- the golf hole behind it was blurred out like bokeh.

Reviews suffer horribly from grade inflation. Everyone thinks their hometown course is the best. Conversely, the worst ones get really sunk into the ground by the irate. But there is little middle ground. The point spectrum that exists seems to be 0-1.5, 3.5-5.

 

[BillFleming]

Udisc is great for directions, finding new course (gets listed there first before here), up to date course conditions, and maps.

It has a problem with way too many maps/layouts. Especially ones that are never finished but hang around never the less. Obsolete one time map layouts hang around forever.

Photos are more up to date, but not as organized as here (ie in hole order, etc). Often there can be dumb photos like just discs in a basket rather than instructive. Some really dumb photos, like one yesterday had a water droplet on a twig for someone thinking they were a nature photographer -- the golf hole behind it was blurred out like bokeh.

Reviews suffer horribly from grade inflation. Everyone thinks their hometown course is the best. Conversely, the worst ones get really sunk into the ground by the irate. But there is little middle ground. The point spectrum that exists seems to be 0-1.5, 3.5-5.

I agree with your points....I think uDisc needs to identify the person(s) responsible for each course. Then, every 6 months, that person needs to review the course entry and 'clean up' any layouts, photos, etc. that are no longer valid. Maybe even require changes to be reviewed/approved by that person. For example, what used to be my home course had a hole changed from par 3 to par 4 twice. I'm not the person responsible for the course, but after discussion with them, I sent a photo of the tee sign to uDisc and requested they change it back AND notate that it should not be changed unless someone provides a photo of the tee sign showing that it was changed to a par 4. If the change had to be approved, we wouldn't get into that situation.

Or, easier, layouts could be identified as main or temporary. Temporary ones expire and are removed after a certain time. The person responsible for the course could identify whatever layouts are needed as 'main'. For example: 18 hole normal, 18 hole alternate, 9 hole normal, 9 hole alternate, 9 hole beginner. A tournament layout would be tagged as temporary and be automatically removed after a set time.

 

[wproct]

That was a very interesting story to read. I tried several different disc golf apps when I first started playing disc golf in 2014 or so, and Udisc was the most straight forward user friendly of the ones I tried and I've been using it ever since. I play multiple rounds every week and log everyone. The app has continued to improve steadily all along and to me is worth every cent I pay for it.

 

[BillFleming]

That was a very interesting story to read. I tried several different disc golf apps when I first started playing disc golf in 2014 or so, and Udisc was the most straight forward user friendly of the ones I tried and I've been using it ever since. I play multiple rounds every week and log everyone. The app has continued to improve steadily all along and to me is worth every cent I pay for it.

Thanks.....as an aside....I've been waiting to hear what deal PDGA and uDisc are ending up agreeing to. Will the Pro version remain free to PDGA members? Or will it no longer be included, but we will get a discount for being PDGA members? Or will we have to pay full price?

If it ends up no longer being part of our membership (free or discounted), I'll still get it. $15 USD a year isn't much. I have unused discs on my shelf that cost more than that.

 

[HyooMac]

I do not work for/with uDisc, nor do I know anyone who does. The comments below are just my personal thoughts based on using uDisc as a player and what is happening in Mesa, Arizona.

There's another thread about uDisc raising their prices this year. This thread isn't about that; it's strictly about why uDisc should be used by disc golfers.

((I did not run this post by the person who is involved in the discussions with the City of Mesa....and I don't like dropping names without checking with them first, so they aren't named in this post. During our conversation, which happened a month or so ago, he did say he had no issue with me repeating the information.))

Red Mountain Park in Mesa, Arizona has two disc golf courses (North and South). For a few years now, the city has wanted to get rid of the North course and put in more soccer fields. The desire for more soccer fields makes sense - they want to host state and national tournaments, but since they don't have enough fields, they lose out to other cities. Now it is approved and actually going to happen. We are losing 17 & 18 from South (already have places for both of those holes) and a bit more than half of North.

What does uDisc have to do with this? I have had a discussion with the main disc golfer responsible for the courses and he has told me what has gone on in discussions with the city. Mesa basically said: we see people using the existing soccer fields, we see them using the basketball courts, and we see them using the pickleball courts. No one plays disc golf. Well, that's because disc golf is played over a large area and it's not easy to see how much use it gets. That's where uDisc came in. The disc golfer got uDisc folks to provide him the information on how much each course gets used based on the rounds played and recorded via uDisc. I was told that the city planners were surprised that the courses got that much use.

End result is that the city is working to give us more land for re-designing the North course. Part of my understanding from the discussion is that the developer is even going to 'donate' concrete tees for the new holes.

Why is this happening? Because people are using uDisc when they play the courses. The courses now have signs on each Hole 1 about how to download and use uDisc.

Please consider using uDisc when you play a course - even if it is just the free version...someday the stats might help keep a course going.

Thanks for taking the time to write this. I've always looked at the app from a narrow, personal perspective, and this is a great example of how it can be used to help a group.

Regarding photos: I asked once about ordering them more logically, and they explained the current ordering is based on the number of likes a photo receives. They were looking at it as more of a social feature, I guess...

But uDisc will quickly remove any photo that doesn't focus on the course. I have reported dozens of selfie-style photos, and they are removed immediately.

You can also request that temporary courses be removed from the map. From a course's main page, click Edit, and Uodate Course, and change the status to Permanently Closed. If they approve the request (generally, there's something in the description saying it's a temporary course), it will disappear from the map. It will stay in the dataset though, and you can always retrieve it by searching for it by name. The courses can be reset to active, if appropriate.

 

[ThrowaEnvy]

I've used u disc a few times to find courses etc, I haven't actually logged stuff because I'm not that serious, I have birdie beads and honestly disc golf is the only break I get from my infernal communication machine. It is awesome though that it has been used to collect usage data, most awesome in fact!

I had a buddy I haven't seen in a couple years come over to play and he was like "I should u disc your course" .

Don't you ****i ng dare! I don't want every ******* finding me, please just don't!

 

[glassila]

I've used u disc a few times to find courses etc, I haven't actually logged stuff because I'm not that serious, I have birdie beads and honestly disc golf is the only break I get from my infernal communication machine. It is awesome though that it has been used to collect usage data, most awesome in fact!

I had a buddy I haven't seen in a couple years come over to play and he was like "I should u disc your course" .

Don't you ****i ng dare! I don't want every ******* finding me, please just don't!

Do you play on a private course?
Otherwise, I would think pretty much every public course that's been open for a month or more is in the U-Disc database. It's pretty easy to add and map a course.

 

[Moose33]

Is there a way to see how many rounds are logged on a course? I would love to see that data.

 

[ThrowaEnvy]

Do you play on a private course?
Otherwise, I would think pretty much every public course that's been open for a month or more is in the U-Disc database. It's pretty easy to add and map a course.

Yes my place is private.. And I wanna keep it that way. Haha. The hundred or so that know is plenty

 

[Ryan P.]

Yes my place is private.. And I wanna keep it that way. Haha. The hundred or so that know is plenty

Haha so true. I'm developing a course on my land and no way will I tell people about it. I want my own oasis.

 

[ru4por]

P2P would have provided the same answers and solutions.

 

[BillFleming]

Is there a way to see how many rounds are logged on a course? I would love to see that data.

I don't think the app provides that information, but you can ask the uDisc folks for it - that's what the guy in my story did. I think they provided him the details by month. You could probably even get the data reported by day. I think they provided him the information for free, but that may have been due to the circumstances (providing the data to the city as proof the courses are being used).

 

[BillFleming]

P2P would have provided the same answers and solutions.

With a public park, the cost is usually just for entering/parking in the park....so that doesn't show the actual use of the course. I'm not sure how most public parks would be able to charge for disc golf - the courses are too long, too spread out to really patrol/enforce.

 

[ru4por]

With a public park, the cost is usually just for entering/parking in the park....so that doesn't show the actual use of the course. I'm not sure how most public parks would be able to charge for disc golf - the courses are too long, too spread out to really patrol/enforce.

It is done all over the country. It is a bit of effort...building a booth, staffing the booth, occasional patrols (done well, this is a couple kids in a golf cart, cleaning garbage, blowing leaves, teepads and generally making a presence to curtail damage and vandalism, IMO) The course generates it's own revenue and the park system can gather their own data....which is really the best way to have an ongoing feel for how effective their choice is.

 

[Moose33]

I don't think the app provides that information, but you can ask the uDisc folks for it - that's what the guy in my story did. I think they provided him the details by month. You could probably even get the data reported by day. I think they provided him the information for free, but that may have been due to the circumstances (providing the data to the city as proof the courses are being used).

What I would like this for is showing the need for the city's new escape room not to share parking with a course. Or have additional parking added

A formerly unused building in the parking lot of Oregon Park(probably the busiest course in GA) is being converted to an escape room run by the parks department and it is going to have issues with traffic, especially on league nights.