Your thoughts on Hybrid Courses???

[TheTeeboxCo._Levi B.]

Getting into doing a new hybrid course in the Triad area and was hoping to get some people's general opinions on hybrid courses.

Anyone else put one in before? Thoughts on design, cost, municipal vs p2p, maintenance, conversion issues, etc. are all welcome.

 

[SD86]

So what do you mean by "hybrid" course? Hybrid with what? TIA.

 

[lyleoross]

Half DG, half BG?

 

[TheTeeboxCo._Levi B.]

Hybrid = Ball golf course / Disc golf course

Should've been more specific. A disc golf course that runs through or congruent with an existing ball golf course.

 

[JC17393]

Temporary disc golf courses on a ball golf course for a tournament, such as is done for the St Jude's event or the Japan Open or the GBO, is one thing. If designed well, it can be fun for a round or two but ultimately ends up favoring guys with big arms who can take advantage of the wide open air space.

Disc golf co-existing on a daily basis with ball golf is quite another. The only way I can see it working long-term is if the two courses rarely if ever cross paths. Shared fairways (or tees or green areas) just leads to right of way conflicts and safety issues. And it's an easy guess which of the courses will take the fall if it comes to a "one or the other" ultimatum.

The best example of a disc golf course designed within the grounds of a ball golf course I've played had about half the holes set up in areas out of the way of the ball golf holes (wooded areas between fairways or off to the sides of holes mostly). Not coincidentally, those holes were arguably the best and most fun holes on the course. Even when the holes that shared fairway space with ball golf were interesting design-wise, I was constantly keeping my head on a swivel making sure we weren't in the way of the ball golfers or in danger of being hit by a ball and it took some of the enjoyment out of it (and it wasn't really a busy day).

IMO, disc golf courses on ball golf property are not a whole lot different than disc golf courses in multi-use parks...the less overlap with other activities, the better the disc golf course is.

 

[Peterb]

I've recently installed a 'dualie' course in Redwood City Califonia on a short executive par 3 golf course. The way we do it is to set up tees and baskets away from the golf tees and green (greens and bunkers can and should be used as hazards...land in one and it's OB). Because of the small size of the golf course, we don't run the disc golf on the side and golfers play simultaneously. Rather, disc golfers get a tee time like golfers, so the play is exclusive per hole. Works great though disc golfers tend to play a bit quicker than golfers.

 

[KniceZ]

Temporary disc golf courses on a ball golf course for a tournament, such as is done for the St Jude's event or the Japan Open or the GBO, is one thing. If designed well, it can be fun for a round or two but ultimately ends up favoring guys with big arms who can take advantage of the wide open air space.

^ +1000 We've got a local course that was put on closed par 3 BG course. Pretty much one open shot after another. Good for driver practice but it is BORING. Make sure to take advantage of the areas between the BG fairways. I watched a little of the final GBO round and honestly didn't find it interesting to watch. Long bomb after long bomb.

 

[SD86]

Should've been more specific. A disc golf course that runs through or congruent with an existing ball golf course.

Thank you for clarifying. And so my reply is that this might be okay on par-3 golf ball courses; however, IMHO the ball golfers would be the ones that would have issues with it. There is a huge safety issue of being hit by golf balls. In addition, even if you make greens OB, discs hitting them is a problem and would damage them. In pro tourneys, they accept one weekend of some hits, as pros are accurate enough to mostly avoid the greens; amateurs/casual DGers all the time are another thing.

If you have a ball golf course with woods on the property that is otherwise not used, a DG course might could be fit in there. But on the golf course, I suspect the ball golfers would have strong objections.

 

[Peterb]

Thank you for clarifying. And so my reply is that this might be okay on par-3 golf ball courses; however, IMHO the ball golfers would be the ones that would have issues with it. There is a huge safety issue of being hit by golf balls. In addition, even if you make greens OB, discs hitting them is a problem and would damage them. In pro tourneys, they accept one weekend of some hits, as pros are accurate enough to mostly avoid the greens; amateurs/casual DGers all the time are another thing.

If you have a ball golf course with woods on the property that is otherwise not used, a DG course might could be fit in there. But on the golf course, I suspect the ball golfers would have strong objections.

Discs can make divots on the green, but in my experience, they make a lot less of them than balls. And it's not a big deal to pick up a divot tool and fix them.

 

[kevdiv48]

Spring Valley DGC is a well executed concurrent ball golf/ disc golf course.

 

[Broken Shoulder]

Maybe send a message out to Steve West.

 

[Martin Dewgarita]

Spring Valley DGC is a well executed concurrent ball golf/ disc golf course.

This was one of the best I've seen.

 

[Peterb]

This was one of the best I've seen.

It's been a long time since I played it but I agree that this was a really fun course. The signage on the finesse 9 was difficult to understand at that time though.

 

[BraveThrower43]

I've found that it can be very difficult to design a good course that isn't boring on a ball golf course. Very easy to put in a lot of boring tweener holes.

I've only played 2 where that wasn't a major issue.

Spike hyzer Ponderosa and the long course and the Spike Hyzer Sandhills event. Both were designed by Barry I believe and he did a great job

 

[Dylan Courtney]

Villas Crossing is a great hybrid course that uses ball golf fairways as well as the woods around the course. Carts are gas powered and you bring them in the woods with you. It's in my top 10 of 100+ I've played.

 

[Reniger]

Yankee Springs here in Michigan is a nice traditional golf course that added 18 holes of disc golf on/through/beside the ball golf course.

From DGS;

The course is on an existing ball golf course. It is a mix of long open holes along with a few tight line shots. The course is full of big mature trees and beautifully manicured fairways. Golf carts are available for rentals for your round here and in the club house is also a full kitchen and bar. The course is a lot of fun to play and has plenty of opportunities for players to really open up on some drives and get the full flight potential of a disc.

$8 gets you a cart and greens fee for a beautiful course. They have a few tournaments a year which I have not been able to attend yet, but look forward to playing this July. While I typically prefer tight, wooded courses with a few bombers mixed in, having a grounds keeping crew of that caliber maintaining a beautiful course is very exciting and makes for a more scenic round. I'll stick to the woods mostly, but the hybrid course is certainly a great change of pace and appeals to the snob in me!

So pretty;

 

[ThrowBot]

If you have a ball golf course with woods on the property that is otherwise not used, a DG course might could be fit in there. But on the golf course, I suspect the ball golfers would have strong objections.

I think this is a great point, and to expand on that:

There are a lot of property features that aren't conducive to ball golf courses, but can be great assets for a disc golf course. Moderate to heavy trees, more/steeper elevation changes than are traditionally seen in ball golf, maybe certain obstacles such as boulders, etc.

A lot of ball golf courses probably have portions of their property that are considered "unusable", and they may not realize that those areas would make awesome disc golf courses. Those are the places that we need "hybrid" courses, rather than trying to crowd into the open and flat spaces with ball golfers.

 

[ThrowBot]

$8 gets you a cart and greens fee for a beautiful course.

$8 pays for greens fees and a cart?! Hot dang that's an awesome deal.

 

[Improbably]

On the golf cart subtopic of hybrid courses.

If the flow depends on the use of carts to make the flow function on a course that would not otherwise be very walkable; the flow is bad.

If there are not multiple holes with terrain golf carts can't traverse I will find the course boring and whimp oriented.

 

[araytx]

Should've been more specific. A disc golf course that runs through or congruent with an existing ball golf course.

Thank you for clarifying. And so my reply is that this might be okay on par-3 golf ball courses; however, IMHO the ball golfers would be the ones that would have issues with it. There is a huge safety issue of being hit by golf balls. In addition, even if you make greens OB, discs hitting them is a problem and would damage them. In pro tourneys, they accept one weekend of some hits, as pros are accurate enough to mostly avoid the greens; amateurs/casual DGers all the time are another thing.

If you have a ball golf course with woods on the property that is otherwise not used, a DG course might could be fit in there. But on the golf course, I suspect the ball golfers would have strong objections.

Spring Valley DGC is a well executed concurrent ball golf/ disc golf course.

This was one of the best I've seen.

I think this is a great point, and to expand on that:

There are a lot of property features that aren't conducive to ball golf courses, but can be great assets for a disc golf course. Moderate to heavy trees, more/steeper elevation changes than are traditionally seen in ball golf, maybe certain obstacles such as boulders, etc.

A lot of ball golf courses probably have portions of their property that are considered "unusable", and they may not realize that those areas would make awesome disc golf courses. Those are the places that we need "hybrid" courses, rather than trying to crowd into the open and flat spaces with ball golfers.

On the golf cart subtopic of hybrid courses.

If the flow depends on the use of carts to make the flow function on a course that would not otherwise be very walkable; the flow is bad.

If there are not multiple holes with terrain golf carts can't traverse I will find the course boring and whimp oriented.

Spring Valley DGC is a great example. Of course, it helps if the owners are lovers of both. With a dual pro shop on site, they've found a way to make it sustainable as well.

On theirs they have a color-coded system for playing three distinct dg layouts -- the Power 9, which is the 9 long holes (3 400's, 2 500's 2 600's, a 700' and a 900') which slightly interact with the ball golf holes; the Finesse 18, which is 18 strictly disc golf holes which run in the woods behind and beside the ball golf course; and the Total 27 which is a combination of of the two with one hole changed for flow. There are actually 28 dg holes on the site of a 9-hole ball golf course. The Power 9 dg holes have some interaction with the ball golf course, but they can certainly be played at the same time if it's not crowded there. They do close the Power 9 on weekends, even though many dg'ers play Power #1 as their practice hole walking to the Finesse 18 if no ball golfers are on it.


Their website is here http://www.springvalleygolfanddiscgolf.com/. I'd suggest calling them and ask how they decided. Andi, the owner, is also a designer and has designed several disc golf courses.