Santa Maria, CA

Waller Park

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45(based on 37 reviews)
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4 1
Vninja
Experience: 14.4 years 5 played 5 reviews
4.50 star(s)

Pristine Course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 2, 2017 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Always nice weather, never crowded, a variety of shots (both forehand and backhand friendly, beginner to advance level course, easy and free parking, it's a giant public park that is very very clean. You can play the 27 holes course in shorts if u wanted too. Great signs and tee boxes. No pot holes, thorny bushes, poison oaks, and etc. There are stores near by to get snacks and drinks and to eat afterward. I live in San Francisco and I have played this course about 5 times now. It's worth it for me to make the 4-5 hour drive and make an over nighter trip and play this course and other course while I'm 3/4 of the way toward LA.

Cons:

It can get crowded on special weekend from other park users like family bbq but not from disc golfers.

Other Thoughts:

I played there this past Fourth of July weekend and it was crowded from family bbq but I was still able to get prime parking and I only had to skip one hole out of 27 holes due to family in the way of the baskets from them doing their family thing. Right now I have played as far north as south Lake Tahoe and down south as far as Fontana LA. This course is one of my top 2 courses I've played so far.
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3 0
BBB-SoCal
Experience: 26 played 17 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Excellent Public Park 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Oct 17, 2015 Played the course:once

Pros:

27 holes
Free
Challenging, multiple terrain types
Scales from easy to difficult throughout the course

Cons:

Public (non-players) cross path of discs several times
Can be crowded on weekends
Your arm can be tired toward the end (with long distance holes to go)
Confusing layout toward the middle will cause you to get lost (or throw to wrong basket)

Other Thoughts:

You will definitely need to print a map beforehand and bring it with you -- there are several points where the next tee pad is not obvious.
I liked that most of the course was grass and very forgiving to my discs. There is a decent amount of variety although there is not a lot of elevation change throughout.
The public will cross your path several times throughout which did give me some pause when deciding how to throw a shot. I tried to be conservative (even if it hurt my score) just to be on the safe side.
There are several restroom/water facilities throughout however a full round of 27 will take up a good portion of your day so prepare accordingly.
All in all, I had a great time and the place was well kept as it is in a mixed-use park and seems to really be a crown jewel of the city. I would highly recommend it to others.
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3 0
Mr72datsun
Experience: 10 played 10 reviews
4.00 star(s)

super duper nice 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 22, 2016 Played the course:once

Pros:

went on a wednesday and saw only 2 other people playing. one local guy was working on course and was super friendly. nice signs. low chance of losing disc. playing on grass for a change was nice. nice park setting. great parking. nice bathrooms. good course for beginners and experience players both.

Cons:

i really would have liked to have rented a golf cart. signs did not call out which basket placement was in play.

Other Thoughts:

if you like disc golf and are in the area, you should play here. we drove 1 hour 20 minutes and were very happy with the course.
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4 0
Philbert
Experience: 12.8 years 41 played 8 reviews
4.00 star(s)

An excellent mix 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Apr 30, 2016 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

Waller Park is a parks park. Plenty of things for the non disc golf oriented family members to do while the awesome 27 holes of Waller take you to town. The course itself plays from the front parking lot, to the back of the park and back to the front parking lot. Holes 9 / 10 also stop right next to hole 27's tee pad if you want to just throw a quick 9 or need to get something from the car.

The terrain changes from manicured lawn with well placed trees to sandy pine barrens back to rolling cut grass to wide open sandy fields. It's a good long hike and the mix of rolling hills and flats and varied vegetation makes for some interesting disc.

The holes are a good solid mix of left to rights, right to lefts, hills, flats, wide open, roller... Yeah. Ya know what? If there is a shot in your bag, you will most likely use it here. OB when found is well used. Elevation was used where ever it was found. Some mandos add to some of the already technical holes. In the pine area baskets are located on edges or inclines. Making blow by's and spit outs rough. The added complexity made for a lot of fun.

There where water faucets and restrooms located throughout the course. Which is good, as the course is 27 holes.

Tee pads where solid concreate with some good roughing for extra grip. This worked out really well even on the holes where there was a ton of sand. Out of the 3 rounds I played I had no slippage issues.

The tee signs are brand new and give all of the relevant information plus a few extra details as needed.

Baskets are a slight mix of older innovas and newer ones. But all in good order. The older heavier chains were awesome to putt on.

The park as a whole was well maintained and clean. Rangers and club members working together to keep a good thing going.

Cons:

Not a whole lot to put here.
The course is played in a park. You may need to slow down and let people know you're throwing in a few spots.

Pin indicators were not on the new tee signs at the time I played. Though I heard they were on there way.

Other Thoughts:

This is one of those courses I want to see in my home town. Very well mixed to suit all styles of play.

In regards to course flow, there are a few places where you need to walk a little. The new tee signs have addressed this quite well though. Directions to the next tee where on all the ones I saw.

A shout out to the club in Santa Maria, you guys are doing a bang up job down there. Beautiful course!
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1 0
geodude
Experience: 40 played 38 reviews
4.00 star(s)

great course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 19, 2015 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Beautiful trees, nice course design, good tees, great park. Water and bathrooms available about every 9 holes.First 4 holes are shorter so you warm up. warm up basket at hole 1. Nice setting. Can skip holes roughly 16-22 or so to make it a nice 18. Trees cut the valley wind pretty well most of the year, so it is relatively warm for Santa Maria.

Cons:

Not much. Can get a little crowded on weekends. Tees are a tad short. 27 holes can work you on a warm day. A little hard to navigate.

Other Thoughts:

Not too faroff the freeway, definitely worth playing
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3 0
tangfoot
Experience: 15.4 years 57 played 3 reviews
3.00 star(s)

Worst flow of any course I've ever played 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 13, 2015 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

Very challenging variety of hole types. There's a ton of birdie opportunities to start, some very challenging thread-the-needle throws in the woods, and some booming distance holes in the field toward the back of the park.

Cons:

At least half of the tee signs were missing, and the ones that were there did not consistently show the path from the end of one hole to the beginning of the next. I attempted to play this course twice and got lost 3 or more times each round. The second time I played, I took a picture of the course map near #1 and still couldn't figure it out. When I approached a local and asked if he would mind pairing up, he said no.

The flow is awful. In several cases, you finish a hole, and then either have to double-back past the hole you just played, or have to take a short (unobvious) hike to find the next tee. If you see a tee nearby the basket you just finished, it's ALWAYS the wrong one. And there won't be a tee sign there to tell you.

Other Thoughts:

Without knowing the course history, it appears the first 9 were installed a long time ago as a pitch and putt course, and then an additional 18 holes were placed further into the park. I commend the designers in producing a very nice variety and using the entire park, but they need to take some steps to help the people from out of town.

A simple arrow on the basket pointing toward the next tee would suffice, because then I would at least know the direction I'm supposed to be heading.
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2 2
Raider Dave
Experience: 16.5 years 21 played 7 reviews
4.50 star(s)

Sell Everything and Move Here 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 27, 2014 Played the course:once

Pros:

The entire thing! By entire thing I mean, weather, # of holes, Variety of shots, views and food vendors.

Cons:

Hard to raise any Cons: Like several others have said, we did have a hard time with a few transitions, but Seriously, not a problem.

Other Thoughts:

8 or so of us made the 2 hr trek from Bakersfield, I would drive 4 hrs to play here! 30' cooler than home, close to the coast, but not too close that wind was too much of an issue. Everything I want to say about this course has already been said. IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED HERE, GET HERE!
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4 4
Seabrook
Experience: 29.3 years 32 played 4 reviews
4.00 star(s)

A real gem 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Aug 1, 2012 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

All course equipment is in excellent shape and well maintained. Great mixture of shots to challenge any golfer. With a mixture of left and right shots along with minor elevation change makes every hole different. Good variation of distances for each hole for some easy par 3 if you are new and long enough to be challenging birdie shots for the advanced player.

Cons:

If you are not a regular at the course some of there are a few transitions between basket to the next tee which can get confusing. I've played it a half dozen times over 6 years and still get confused at a couple of walks between holes. Course is built on fine sandy soil, becareful if there is too much sand on the concrete pads easy to slip.

Other Thoughts:

Always excited to come back to Waller when I'm in the area. Love love love this course.
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7 5
nuttinbutchain
Bronze level trusted reviewer
Experience: 12.5 years 44 played 23 reviews
4.50 star(s)

Best course yet 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Feb 26, 2014 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

-trees
-weather
-parking
-27 holes = more DG
-hole variety (forehands, backhands, low canopy shots, open field shots, rolling hills, grass, dirt, pine needles, big distance holes...just about everything)
-teepads are concrete...some of the front ends of the tee pads are scored for extra grip on rainy days
-beautiful scenery
-Santa Maria BBQ pits and the smell of that BBQ
-friendly ppl
-huge park which is well kept

Cons:

-flow could be a bit better at certain spots, but not much to complain about here
-some signs could be better

Other Thoughts:

Up to this point I've played 29 courses and I've played here twice now. This is easily the most baller pimp ass course that I've played. The beautiful weather, the scenery, and the variety of holes make this course very very challenging and entertaining. This course will test you many many times in a variety of ways; the wind, distance, trees, rolling terrain, blind shots, and low canopy shots will all come into play. You start off playing holes with few trees, then midway through the course you play into the woods with many many obstacles and low lying throws. Then you play some open holes (I believe this part is called Soldier Field) where your distance will be tested. You head back into the woods with some elevation changes. Then you finish like you started with holes that have a moderate amount of trees. All in the mean time your driving and putting can be tested here if its windy (I view this as a positive because challenges are fun right?) There is more or less a mix of everything here, but it is an opulent feast for any DG'er. Definitely one of the top courses in California to play. My only complaint is that the flow could be better at some parts and that the signs could be better on some holes...but I'm just nitpicking. Do yourself a favor and play this course, then go eat some local Santa Maria BBQ because it is delicious. Can't wait to play here again. Also play with some locals if you can...the vastness of this course can be disorienting at times even with a course map.
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1 9
57759
Experience: 12 played 3 reviews
5.00 star(s)

Top notch course! 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Nov 29, 2013 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Several different types of terrain, awesome shots for leftys and rightys, perfect weather, its really never windy, good people, course map by hole 1, seceral positions

Cons:

Wet grass early morning . Thats iiit

Other Thoughts:

Have fun
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2 3
SDtoSB
Experience: 17.7 years 24 played 6 reviews
5.00 star(s)

Favorite Course By Far 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Sep 22, 2012 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

-Great hole length variation
-Multiple basket positions
-Great terrain variation (grass, dirt, wood chips, pine needles)
-Great scenery and tree density variation (Some holes are heavily wooded, some are wide-open fields)
-27 enjoyable, memorable holes
-Not overly crowded at all
-Fun for all skill levels, but a few holes are a bit lengthy
-Feels like you're walking through nature, but not lost in the woods

Cons:

-Unless you live in Santa Maria, it's a bit of a drive

Other Thoughts:

-Played this course mostly while in college in Santa Barbara, but will absolutely plan on stopping whenever road tripping up and down California.
-If you're ever within 2 hours of this course, it's worth the drive.
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2 2
tdkrizenshine
Experience: 11.4 years 34 played 12 reviews
4.00 star(s)

27 holes of bliss! 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 3, 2013 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

Incredible variety: woods, wide opens, ceilings, tunnels, grass, sand, fallaways, rollaways, tecnicals, grip and rips, OBs, mandos- this place has it all! Gorgeous park with plenty of shaded holes! Hella cool locals! Good signage and great tees.

Cons:

No pro shop (although Play It Again Sports is just down the road).

Other Thoughts:

This is on the top of my list along with Brengle Terrace for the sheer variety and skills required. Add the beautiful park setting, low crowds and 27 holes and you've got a top notch, must play course!
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4 0
khyzer
Experience: 4 played 3 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Awesome Course! 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 31, 2013 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

-This course is thoroughly laid out
-Park is well kept
-LOVE the different terrain from the well trimmed grass to the thick terrain
-The pins were very easy to see
-I liked how there was a practice basket by the 1st tee off box
-Enjoyed how the course was challenging, it didn't always have you want to throw a backhand
-The people that go to the park know to stay out of the way
-Safe atmosphere and nice to have bathrooms

Cons:

-My father and I got to the course around 10:00a.m. and the grass was pretty dewy
-You would throw next to picnic tables at times
-I didn't know where one hole was because someone had taken off the tee sign

Other Thoughts:

This is by far the best course I've ever played. Going there in the morning the park looks majestic. I love the atmosphere there because people like to stop and watch you throw and they even say "good job." My father and I met a man who was 93 playing a round and we joined him. It was great seeing someone who was that old still throwing plastic and bangin' chains. If you are ever in Santa Maria you HAVE to play Waller Park. This course is AMAZING!
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5 0
mashnut
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 22.7 years 831 played 777 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Very nice park course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 28, 2013 Played the course:once

Pros:

The course plays through a sprawling park that was beautifully groomed when we played. The grassy areas were recently mowed and there was no trash and no dead limbs or other debris in the fairways. The course is a mix of open field type shots with some longer distance and holes with mature trees to avoid.

The wooded holes offer a few interesting lines and some low ceilings to contend with. There's a good mix of hole lengths, with plenty of shorter reachable holes and some that let you air out a longer drive. The tee pads are nice concrete with plenty of grip. There are some minor elevation changes in play that make for a couple interesting elevated greens.

Cons:

The course is a little too open to provide many really interesting line shaping challenges. On top of that, a few of the more wooded holes have silly lines where the basket isn't reachable off the tee except with some luck, but there isn't enough trouble that most bad drives will turn into a bogey or worse. That leads to a lot of boring 3 holes where you don't have too much chance at a 2 or a 4. There are also a bunch of tweener length holes in the open that have the same scoring spread problem.

The signage is inconsistent, and doesn't do a very good job of laying out the hole. In a few spots with multiple baskets in view that can get confusing. There are also a few poorly marked walks between holes where you'll need the course map the first time through. There are some conflicts with picnic areas and park roads in a few spots, it seems like that was avoided in a lot of places but there are still some potential issues.

Other Thoughts:

Beginners will find this course longer, but not very punitive so it won't get too frustrating. More experienced players will find the layout very straightforward. You don't need a full repertoire of line shaping to score well here, and there isn't enough trouble to really punish you for errant drives. It's worth a stop for sure if you're in the area, and makes for a nice relaxed round.
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2 0
DannyThunders
Experience: 9 played 9 reviews
4.00 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 17, 2012 Played the course:once

Pros:

-Beautiful area, Santa Maria is great
-Huge technical holes
-Grass, forestey dirt , and Sand holes , so much variety
-Great variety of shots, LHBH hyzer , RHBH hyzer , plenty to offer
-HUGE course in a HUGE park , located near the edge of Santa Maria California

Cons:

-Can't think of many
-Semi-hard to navigate , try to find a local to play with

Other Thoughts:

A definite course to play in the area , don't skip this one. 27 grueling holes of disc golf, make sure to bring a map as this one is semi hard to navigate, the tees and baskets aren't always clear. I can see other park users becoming a problem in certain areas of this park.
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2 0
Hazer
Silver level trusted reviewer
Experience: 18.6 years 168 played 54 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Very Nice Fun 27 in Beautiful Park 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Dec 14, 2012 Played the course:once

Pros:

27 holes. Nice cement tees on every hole (besides hole 25) that are smooth in the back and grooved in the front. Basic signs with pin locations and distances. Some signs showed the direction to the next tee. Very beautiful park with well maintained grass throughout the course besides on the more heavily wooded holes. Good variation throughout the course testing all shot types and playing through 3 distinct terrain types. Great distance on some holes, and very tight technical shots through heavily wooded areas on others. Some holes are quite challenging. The front 9 is moderately wooded and pretty flat with very large mature trees. Some smaller hills come into play starting with hole 8 and many holes feature at least modest elevation change. Hole 11 has one pin position featuring a fall away green. Holes 25 & 26 shoot through a heavily wooded area with small hills requiring you to hit your line or pay the price; a bad shot might cost you more than 1 stroke. There are some signs throughout the course pointing the direction to the next tee. Also some baskets had next tee arrows on them. Nice mando signs on holes that had mandos. Nice safe distances between pins and tees but no real long walks. No overlapping fairways. Multiple pin locations on all holes except hole 20. The tee for the original 18 layout's hole 13 still stands and has a sign next to it explaining that this is a hole from the original 18 layout and that the original layout can still be played (this original hole 13 shares the basket with the current 27 hole layout's hole 14, but is not an actual hole on the current 27 hole layout). Great flow to the course. Very fun to play. Beautiful, peaceful park with restrooms and water fountains on site. Everyone on the course and in the park were very friendly. Very low traffic when I played.

Cons:

A few signs were missing or damaged and hard to read. Some signs had inaccurate distances listed on them and did not list some (I'm guessing new) pin locations. The signs also do a poor job showing the hole layout. Navigation can be a little tricky going from hole 9 to 10. The first 7 holes are pretty wide open and don't offer much of a challenge. For holes 15-25 the course opens up a lot and despite a few long distance shots these holes are not very challenging. Overall the course is fairly easy and only a smaller number of holes offer a real challenge for experienced disc golfers.

Other Thoughts:

This is a very nice course with a great variety of hole types, terrain, and types of shots needed. That said, I was expecting it to be much more challenging after reading the reviews (I shot -2 playing all as par 3's my first time playing, and I'm an intermediate player at best). Despite this, I still would highly recommend this course to any disc golfer (besides fresh beginners due to the length and difficulty of some holes). Also I didn't play the most difficult pin placements on a lot of holes, so if set up for a tournament I'm sure the difficulty would be higher. The tranquil setting and beauty of the park are amazing and if I lived in the area I would hang out there even if I wasn't disc golfing. The course navigation isn't as tough as some other reviews make it seem, but maybe some more 'next tee' signs have been added since those reviews were written as I had no problem navigating without ever looking at a course map. To get to hole 10's tee walk across the paved path and to the left you will see 2 tees: the one closer to you is hole 10's. The tee closest to hole 9's basket when in the deep right position is hole 13's tee, not hole 10's. Hole 25 shoots from a paved walking path and has a sign next to the tee area which is marked off with white paint. This is no doubt a fabulous course and is in my personal top 10 courses in California. Will definitely play again the next time I am in the area.
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2 3
Halibut Skies
Experience: 13.7 years 11 played 2 reviews
4.50 star(s)

Best course yet 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 13, 2012 Played the course:once

Pros:

it is enormous, gorgeous, completely decongested and FUN

Cons:

it is not closer to my house

Other Thoughts:

I want to go back, badly. It has tons of varying holes, terrain, difficulty, distance, etc. I used everything in my bag which was great fun.
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1 2
Mateo227
Experience: 26 years 22 played 8 reviews
4.00 star(s)

good mix 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 29, 2012 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

lots of baskets
good signage
wonderful park setting
smell of BBQ guaranteed on the weekend

Cons:

park can get crowded with non disc golfers

Other Thoughts:

This course takes great advantage of the park terrain. About half of the holes are on grassy well maintained areas whereas the other half are in naturally wooded/shrubby areas. Likewise there is a good mixture of short and long holes.
There is a temporary 9 holes which is wonderful since it is out of the way of normal park goers.
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11 0
bazillion
Silver level trusted reviewer
Experience: 24.1 years 55 played 37 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Superior quality course! 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Mar 2, 2011 Played the course:once

Pros:

I'd read the reviews and seen the pix, so I was prepared for a really righteous DG experience when I cruised through town on vacation today. I was NOT disappointed, even though I didn't get to play all 27 holes!

Waller Park is very easy to find, with plenty of parking and a really nice-looking bulletin board by tee #1. The grounds are clean, with groomed grass and landscaping maintenance evident.

The course starts with a handful of pretty easy holes with no elevation change at all. Great warmup, with nothing so hard to discourage a new player right off the bat. Then you get into the hilly part, where the interest and fun factors shoot sky-high. No huge dramatic Top of the World shots, but rather constant surprises, constant challenges, and constant satisfaction when you put two or three shots together well. Trees are everywhere but rather forgiving, letting discs slip through the needles rather than grabbing onto them maliciously like some trees I know.

The tees were simply superb. Flat concrete at the back, grooved concrete at the front - excellent design that gave me total confidence in my footing despite being wet. Tee signs showed where the next tee was, so for the most part (see below for exceptions) navigation was easy.

Cons:

Other reviewers have commented on the navigation issues in the middle of the course, and I echo them. I couldn't find hole #11 at all, probably because I neglected to print a map for myself. There was a map box at the info kiosk but it was empty :-(

Some tee signs were missing / illegible and there were a couple of soupy spots (it had rained the night before) but I've seen way worse in both regards.

Other Thoughts:

Overall my experience here was truly memorable despite being incomplete. I definitely want to hit this one again on my way back home, if I possibly can, and envy whoever lives within an hour of Waller for the opportunity to play it regularly.
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4 8
RIPE MELON
Experience: 15.4 years 4 played 4 reviews
5.00 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:May 17, 2010 Played the course:once

Pros:

Different terrain every 9 Holes.
Lush HUGE park!
Easy to find pines and pads.
Short and long holes to challenge you.
Signs mark your position, multi-position of pins and distance to pin.
Wide spaces as well as tight trees for challenging saving throws.

Cons:

Windy at times.
A few places to lose sight of a disc.
A few places throwing could encounter picnic tables.
No drinking in the park is allowed.Don't get caught. :p

Other Thoughts:

I'd love to live near this coarse and play it 5 days a week.
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