vacationing from Orlando to North Georgia 3/31 - 4/7/12

[chainedwraith]

I'm in the process of planing our family vacation to North Georgia and trying to make my list of courses to hit along the way but I need to plan carefully because my wife & 5 yr old daughter are not that into DG (yet) and the courses that I play need to meet one of the following requirements in order to make everyone happy:

A) The girls will enjoy the scenery of the course so much that they won't mind tagging along with me for the duration of the round. (the girls do enjoy hiking a bit)

B) the park is family friendly enough for them to find other activities to do there while I get in a round.

C) the park is in close proximity to another attraction altogether in which the girls can have a little fun of their own while I play a quick round.

So, I'm open to opinions of courses in between Orlando & North Georgia (Cleveland \ Helen area) that might meet at least one of those requirements.

We will leave Orlando late afternoon on Friday 3/31 and head north up I-75 and stop probably near the Valdosta area for the night, then begin a course-filled journey up through Atlanta and beyond. We may swing as far east as Augusta but doubtful. I'd like to at least swing out to Athens on our way up. Basically, we would like to arrive at our cabin outside of Helen, GA in time for dinner Monday evening. We checkout Thursday and can take a slow 2 day trip back to Florida to give time to hit another couple of courses along the way.

The base list I've created for starters is as follows:

Magnolia DGC - Live Oak, FL
Freedom Park - Valdosta (April Fools early morning round)
JP Mosley Park - Stockbridge
Redan Park - Atlanta
Indian Creek Park - Rutledge
Sandy Creek Park - Athens
North Georgia Canopy Tours DGC - Lula (most definitely playing)
Meeks Park - Blairsville

I doubt I'll have time, but if I can make it to the Augusta area I'd like to check out:
Hippodrome, Riverview Park, and of course the IDGC trifecta.

I now turn this over to you guys that have played these courses to give me a little insight as to whether any of these courses meet one of the three requirements I listed at the top and/or if there should be another course I consider in place of any of these. Thanks in advance for the input and hopefully I can meet a few of you fellow DGers along the way! CHEERS!

 

[GT Chris]

Check out Alexander Park in Lawrenceville, GA. It's northeast of Atlanta, between Atlanta and Athens. It's in a great multi-use park with walking trails.

Also look into Perkerson Park just off of I-75 in Atlanta. It's a 15 minute drive from Centennial Olympic Park, World of Coca-Cola, the Georgia Aquarium, and every other attraction in downtown Atlanta if you wanted to drop the girls off there and go play. The course has been temporary since 2007 and is currently being made permanent. It should be in by the end of March, so keep tabs on that.

 

[ManU]

I'd tell the family it's "staycation" time and play T1 and T2 over and over

not helpful for you but T2 is such a great course

 

[DavidSauls]

Lake Russell (Elberton, GA) would be a more convenient sidetrip than Augusta. It's a beautiful course to walk, not too strenuous; it's in a state park so there are other amenities there if they don't want to tag along with you.

 

[chainedwraith]

I'd tell the family it's "staycation" time and play T1 and T2 over and over

not helpful for you but T2 is such a great course

LOL Turkey Lake is about 15 minutes away from my house, which is not far enough away according to my wife.

 

[chainedwraith]

Check out Alexander Park in Lawrenceville, GA. It's northeast of Atlanta, between Atlanta and Athens. It's in a great multi-use park with walking trails.

Also look into Perkerson Park just off of I-75 in Atlanta. It's a 15 minute drive from Centennial Olympic Park, World of Coca-Cola, the Georgia Aquarium, and every other attraction in downtown Atlanta if you wanted to drop the girls off there and go play. The course has been temporary since 2007 and is currently being made permanent. It should be in by the end of March, so keep tabs on that.

Thanks! Maybe I can swing through Lawrenceville after playing Redan and on our way towards Athens. I'll keep tabs on that other course as well.

 

[bholy08]

I was going to say you have to play the North Georgia Canopy Tours course but I see you already are! Incredible course!!! Really something you won't forget

 

[chainedwraith]

I was going to say you have to play the North Georgia Canopy Tours course but I see you already are! Incredible course!!! Really something you won't forget

I'm hoping my inlaws (whom are meeting up with us in Helen) can watch my daughter for a day so I can drag my wife along for that course and then we can do the ziplines as well; otherwise I'll be driving down to play that course solo sometime during the middle of that week.

 

[chainedwraith]

Lake Russell (Elberton, GA) would be a more convenient sidetrip than Augusta. It's a beautiful course to walk, not too strenuous; it's in a state park so there are other amenities there if they don't want to tag along with you.

note taken

 

[chainedwraith]

very loose preliminary schedule so far:

3/31 - drive to Valdosta and get a room.

4/1 Sat - play Freedom Park in Valdosta early morning and then head up to Atlanta area to play JP Mosley as well as goof around with wife'n kid in Atlanta area as much as time allows. We'll probably get a room somewhere on the eastern outskirts of ATL.

4/2 Sun - early morning round at Redan then head towards Athens. Play the Athens course and then get a room or continue our side trip to Lake Russell as suggested by DavidSauls, time permitting.

4/3 Mon - completely up in the air ??? I have all day to drive or hit up <enter course name here> that I didn't have time for the day before. We just want to be in Helen, GA in time for dinner.

4/4 - 4/6 - one of the 3 days in Helen I will make my way down to Canopy Tours and play that. If lucky I can make a trip up to Blairsville for Meeks Park, but not sure.

4/6 Thurs - In the afternoon we will make our way back down south but we don't necessarily have to go back the way we came so maybe we'll stop and get a room near a course that I wasn't able to play yet.

4/7 Fri - Get up early and play <enter course here> in the morning then get on road and drive to Live Oak, FL area before getting a room.

4/8 Sat - Play Magnolia DGC in Live Oak in the morning and then drive home.

4/9 Sun - Be at my home course, Barnett Park, for my usual league handicap round @ 10:30a so I can tell all my local friends about all the great DG I played while on my trip!

 

[12StonesScott]

Given the route you're planning, it's hard to fault the choices of JP Moseley and Redan. The one caveat to that is that the neighborhood around Redan can be a bit dicey, and car break-ins are not uncommon there. There's also not a lot else for the family to do at the park or nearby -- it's mostly residential, unless they drive over to the Stonecrest Mall area 10 minutes or so away (and I haven't been around there in quite a while to know what the current state of affairs there is). Moseley is also fairly isolated, but is only about 10 minutes from the Stockbridge/Mt. Zion area and the interchange between I-75 and I-675, where there's plenty of stuff to do.

Moseley's a long course and really not that scenic so I doubt the family will want to tag along for that one, though they could do so for the first six or seven holes through the woods and then break away when you head for the more open and longer back part of the course. Lots of long grass and potential for ticks/chiggers out there as well, so probably sub-optimal for having the family walk it with you. It's not that it's bad, but it's definitely not the best choice among those for having the family along -- if nothing else, the back side of the property is a long way from the parking area if they did decide to bail out part way through.

Meeks is a good option if you want the family to walk around with you -- it plays fairly short, and because of the way the holes are laid out it's not terribly far from any of them back to the parking area/pavilion/restrooms. And it's probably more of a pleasant walk (better scenery, etc.) than some of the others.

Haven't been to North Georgia Canopy Tours yet, so no comment on that one.

 

[kevinmzane]

N. Georgia canopy tours was awesome! I couldn't tell you a whole lot about the rest of the courses on your list but this course blew my mind. I didn't know what to think since there weren't many reviews when I played it but the fun factor was off the charts and I don't think I threw more than (maybe) 1 boring shot. I would highly reccomend making it a point to play here.
I can't wait to get back and play more Georgia courses and finally get a chance to play the Carolinas as well.

 

[12StonesScott]

4/1 Sat - play Freedom Park in Valdosta early morning and then head up to Atlanta area to play JP Mosley as well as goof around with wife'n kid in Atlanta area as much as time allows. We'll probably get a room somewhere on the eastern outskirts of ATL.

Moseley and anything else the same day is a tall order. Moseley plus 4 hours on the road plus another course is seriously pushing it.

4/2 Sun - early morning round at Redan then head towards Athens. Play the Athens course and then get a room or continue our side trip to Lake Russell as suggested by DavidSauls, time permitting.

Early Sunday morning is probably the best/safest time to hit Redan, but you might seriously consider hitting Alexander Park instead. There's a lot more safe hotel options in the general vicinity of Lawrenceville than the Redan/Lithonia area, a lot more restaurants and other stuff to do, tons of fairly nice new shopping areas nearby and a huge play area at the park (nothing like it at Redan), and you'd be fairly close to GA Hwy 316, which is the main freeway from the Atlanta area to Athens. It's only about an hour drive from Alexander to Sandy Creek. And there's an excellent disc golf store, Disc Stalker, almost within throwing distance of Alexander, but it's closed on Sundays during the winter -- might want to check on when they will be open on Sundays again.

Not hating on Redan -- I like the course, but if I had the family with me and were heading to Athens afterward, I'd definitely hit Alexander.

4/4 - 4/6 - one of the 3 days in Helen I will make my way down to Canopy Tours and play that. If lucky I can make a trip up to Blairsville for Meeks Park, but not sure.

Do make the effort to hit Meeks if you can -- I really enjoyed playing a tournament there last year and will be doing so again at least once, maybe twice, this year.

4/6 Thurs - In the afternoon we will make our way back down south but we don't necessarily have to go back the way we came so maybe we'll stop and get a room near a course that I wasn't able to play yet.

4/7 Fri - Get up early and play <enter course here> in the morning then get on road and drive to Live Oak, FL area before getting a room.

If you head down US 19/GA 400 from the mountains, Central Park in Cumming, GA is right next to the freeway; farther south, Wills Park in Alpharetta and East Roswell Park in Roswell are also close enough to the highway to be easy stops, and with the North Point Mall area, Chattahoochee National Recreation Areas, and historic downtown Roswell, there's plenty of other stuff to do and tons of hotel options. Wills is frequently crowded, both with disc golfers and with other park users (the recent redesign has helped a lot, but there's still a lot of cross-traffic as many of the holes are close to other park facilities and play through areas that aren't segregated from the rest of the park; I like it, but if you can only play one course it wouldn't be my first choice. I'm biased in favor of East Roswell, partly because it's my home course (almost literally -- I live within 1000 ft of the fourth tee), but also because it has a huge playground right where the first, ninth, tenth, and eighteenth holes begin/end, with restrooms, paved and crushed-stone walking trails nearby, and yet the disc golf course is well segregated from the rest of the park so you don't get (many) random people walking or biking through the course. It's only about 2.5 miles off GA 400, right off Holcomb Bridge Road, so it's easy to get to/find. It's much more heavily wooded than most of the holes at Central or Wills, though, so if that's not your bag they might be better choices.

As I said, there's tons of hotel and restaurant and shopping choices in Cumming, Alpharetta, and Roswell, and all three parks have playgrounds close to the disc golf courses, so you've got options for the family.

 

[chainedwraith]

12StonesScott,

You da man! Just the kind of detailed info I'm lookin' for.

You're probably right about getting up there and playing Moseley the same day so we'll probably just do some basic sight-seeing in the Atlanta area instead. I may even have to save Moseley & Redan for another trip since keeping my wife 'n kid happy takes precedence over my desire to conquer all the courses on my wishlist. Redan sounds a lot like Barnett Park here in Orlando, which is a nice park in a dicey area and my wife hates going with me despite how awesome the courses are. lol

So to revise a bit according to all the great suggestions:

3/31 - drive to Valdosta and get a room.

4/1 Sat - play Freedom Park in Valdosta early morning and then head up to Atlanta area to goof around with wife'n kid as much as time allows. We'll probably get a room somewhere out towards Lawrenceville.

4/2 Sun - early morning round at Alexander Park then onto Athens for an afternoon round @ Sandy Creek and/or sightseeing with the family. (are there cool things to do in Athens or should we head out to Lake Russell?)

4/3 Mon - Depending on where we stay the night Sunday night, I'll either play Sandy Creek in the morning, or Lake Russell and then get on road toward Helen, or we may drive up and hit North Georgia canopy on Monday and I'll just have the family tag along. This means my mid-week solo excursion can be used for Meeks instead of NGCT.

4/4 - 4/6 - one of the 3 days in Helen I will make my way up to Blairsville for Meeks Park unless I wasn't able to make it to NGCT on Monday. If I have to choose one or the other I'm probably going to go with NGCT.

4/6 Thurs - In the afternoon we will make our way back down south but we don't necessarily have to go back the way we came so maybe we'll stop and get a room near Cummings.

4/7 Fri - Get up early and play Central Park in Cummings in the morning then get on road and drive to Live Oak, FL area before getting a room or campsite.

4/8 Sat - Play Magnolia DGC in Live Oak in the morning and then drive home.

 

[chainedwraith]

If I can only play 1 of these 3, which should it be?

Central Park in Cummings
Wills Park
East Roswell Park

Maybe if I'm lucky I can play 2 of the 3 since they are relatively close.

 

[chainedwraith]

any dubs, glow golf or handicap leagues going on at any courses on my list?

I play a lot of tournaments plus dubs and handicaps any chance I get. I wouldn't mind trying to steal somebody's ace pot during my travels.

 

[kevinmzane]

If I can only play 1 of these 3, which should it be?

Central Park in Cummings
Wills Park
East Roswell Park

Maybe if I'm lucky I can play 2 of the 3 since they are relatively close.

When I stayed in GA, one of my days there I had to decide between East Roswell and Central park. I was told that Central Park should be the clear choice so I played there and was pleasantly suprised at how much fun this course was to play. I would definitely play it again if I was in town FWIW

 

[12StonesScott]

If I can only play 1 of these 3, which should it be?

Central Park in Cummings
Wills Park
East Roswell Park

Maybe if I'm lucky I can play 2 of the 3 since they are relatively close.

My preferred order (but as I said, I'm biased) would be:

1. East Roswell
2. Central
3. Wills

Wills and Redan are the two courses remaining from the early days of disc golf in Atlanta and have a lot of fans for both historical reasons and because they're good courses. At least on a weekday at Wills you wouldn't have to contend with the random crowds from the baseball/softball games, equestrian competitions, and all the other folks out for a nice walk in the park, but you'll still have to keep an eye out before throwing on much of the course. It's much better than it used to be thanks to a major redesign last year that moved several holes back into otherwise unused wooded areas of the park, but holes 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 17 and 18 all still play along and through areas adjacent to or across sidewalks, playing fields, tennis courts, pavilions, and open areas next to parking lots and creeks that draw a lot of people just strolling along. I like it, I occasionally go over there to play a quick round when I want a change from ERP, and I wouldn't want to discourage you from playing it if you had enough time to hit several, but it definitely would be my third choice among those three. But it does have a lot of good playground equipment and plenty of room to walk around on the sidewalks and such, and is reasonably close to a lot of shopping, including North Point Mall, which has an American Girl store and American Girl Bistro restaurant, if your five-year-old daughter has begun to catch that bug.

Central is definitely the easiest to get to of the three -- just hop off 400 at Keith Bridge Road and turn right, then almost an immediate left into the park. 27 holes are laid out with tee pads and pins, though there's always some moving around of things up there and I haven't been in a while to know what the current state of affairs is. Three permanent tee locations on each hole. Most of the "main 18" holes are open, except for a brief turn in the woods on 3-4. 1 and 2 play near the main road into the park -- 2 from the long tee invites a shot over the road (which is of course OB), and I'm really not fond of those sorts of holes; they're OK when there's almost never any cars around, but that's not the case here. Enough elevation change and obstacles on the open holes that most aren't pure distance throws. The A through I holes branch off from the main part of the course at hole 12 and play through a somewhat more wooded area at the edge of the park. A few are truly heavily wooded, while others have relatively open fairways with woods/trouble off the fairways. All those options do come at a cost in terms of navigation for a first-timer playing this one alone, though. I had to stop other players and ask for directions a couple of times my first time there, and it's still far from obvious in places. The course map posted here may be incorrect -- the last few times I've played it have been in the "Gold" tournament layout where several holes are combined or skipped or whatever, and what's on the map isn't what I remember. It'd take quite a while -- couple of hours at least -- to play all 27, and aside from the playground and a few restaurants back on the other side of the freeway exit, there isn't a whole lot else for the family to do in the immediate vicinity. Wherever you park, parts of the course are going to be an awfully long way from the car and from the playground, etc., if the family does tag along.

East Roswell is easy to get to -- Exit 7 off GA 400 (Holcomb Bridge Road), turn left onto Holcomb Bridge Road, go about 2.5 miles to Fouts Road (you'll see a shopping center with a Kroger and Rite Aid and several restaurants on the left), turn right onto Fouts and keep going until you have to turn right, then all the way through the park to the end of the parking lot between the tennis courts and the playground. There are two large play structures and a few picnic tables right at the beginning of the course (which is also where hole 9 finishes, hole 10 starts, and hole 18 ends). Course is of the shorter, more technical, heavily wooded variety, with only holes longer than 400 ft. There are three tee pads on each hole, and each offers a somewhat different look/challenge in addition to the difference in distance. Relatively easy to navigate -- transition from 4 to 5 is probably the most potentially confusing on the course (walk back past the trailers from the basket for 4 to the tee for 5). Holes 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, and 17 & 18 (from the black tees) are blind tees, but the there are tee signs with hole maps on each black tee pad, the course map is accurate (except that the area marked "batting cages" is now a sprayground), and there's a PDF caddy book that reproduces the info from the tee signs that you can peruse ahead of time. Finishing 18 holes here in under 90 minutes is nearly guaranteed, and if you play fast you might make it in about an hour. The course layout is relatively compact, so you're not too far from the playground/parking area from anywhere on the course. Besides the stores and restaurants across Holcomb Bridge Road, there's a Target less than a mile away, a Studio Movie Grill (theater with food service) a little farther away, and you're only a couple of miles from the North Point Mall area (see paragraph on Wills above). Main downsides are that traffic in the area gets very heavy toward rush hour on Friday afternoon, so getting back to GA 400 and heading through the middle of Atlanta might take you quite a while (but that's going to be an issue with any of these three courses). The course itself also gets pretty busy even on weekday afternoons when the weather is nice, but particularly on Fridays. And it's much more heavily wooded than either Central or Wills -- each of those has a few holes that are wooded, but nearly all of ERP is as wooded as any hole on those -- once the foliage is back as it will be by early April, there's always a chance of losing a disc, and not everyone enjoys the technical challenge of a course like ERP.

 

[GT Chris]

any dubs, glow golf or handicap leagues going on at any courses on my list?

I play a lot of tournaments plus dubs and handicaps any chance I get. I wouldn't mind trying to steal somebody's ace pot during my travels.

I should have mentioned this earlier, but you can check out the ADGO site for more info on any metro Atlanta courses.

The only action applicable to your itinerary are three sets of random draw doubles. Redan and McCurry Sundays at 10am and Alexander Saturdays at 10am.

Maybe consider this alternate itinerary:

4/1 Sat - play Freedom Park in Valdosta early morning and stop at Claystone in Macon. Drive up to Atlanta and stop at a hotel in Fayetteville.
OR
play Freedom Park in Valdosta early morning and then head up to Atlanta area to goof around with wife'n kid as much as time allows. Get a hotel somewhere near downtown or Fayetteville. This option would include ~35 minutes of backtracking on Sunday morning.

4/2 Sun - Sunday morning doubles at McCurry park. Then sightsee around Atlanta for the rest of the day OR drive out to Athens and play Sandy Creek in the afternoon. It'd be about a 2 hour drive between the two courses and both courses are somewhat long, so make this call based on your own stamina.

4/3 Mon - Depending on where we stay the night Sunday night, I'll either play Sandy Creek in the morning, or Lake Russell and then get on road toward Helen, or we may drive up and hit North Georgia canopy on Monday and I'll just have the family tag along. This means my mid-week solo excursion can be used for Meeks instead of NGCT.

McCurry is an underrated park in Fayetteville, about 35 minutes Southwest of Atlanta. 18 holes, par 57. Overall I'd call it equivalent to Alexander as far as fun/challenge/amenities. Never crowded, and it's in a great multi-use park.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

Country Music played here!!!

If the family likes Country Music, then hit Magnolia DGC, and spend the night at The Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park, I played there about a month ago.

The course is right on the campgrounds and they have country karaoke... I'm not even a fan of country music, and I had a fun time watching & listening. Other activities for kids... seems very family friendly. Hit their web site and give'em a call to see what activities they have planned for when you'll be in the area.