2025 Reviewer of the Year

How do you folks who do so many reviews keep notes for writing your reviews? Do you keep notes on your phone while playing? Do you write up your thoughts immediately after playing a course you intend to review?
I know wellsbranch takes notes. I do mine all from memory as long as I've played it within a week with a course map in front of me.
 
So I had some time to kill at work today, so I decided to spruce up my spreadsheet where I track all the reviews I've done. So far, 2025 is far and away the lowest year for me in terms of average course rating - and there are a lot of small courses nearby I have yet to finish reviews for. Although my overall average rating already feels low at 2.34, it seems miles better than the 1.28 I am sitting at for 2025.

Might need to expand my circle soon so I can check out some better courses!
 
How do you folks who do so many reviews keep notes for writing your reviews? Do you keep notes on your phone while playing? Do you write up your thoughts immediately after playing a course you intend to review?
I used to take notes. Now I rely on memory and pictures I've taken. Having written so many reviews, certain aspects are second nature: quality of tee pads, quality of tee signs, dual tees, how does course flow (does #9 loop back to the front or 1 big continuous loop), quality/skill level/fun factor of course, etc.
 
The streak is still alive, 16 days, 16 reviews.

I have reviewed the 13 courses I played this year already, now to start working on the back log of courses I didn't review last year. Oggwood will be next (tomorrow) :cool:

This weekend is out, looks like I will be able to play somewhere next week.
 
It's January 16th.

Reviews by Pizza God this year: 16
Reviews by PastorofMuppets this year: 16
Reviews by dndelli this year: 11

Thomas had 30 in all of January 2024, but no one else broke double digits that month.
 
Finally getting around to clearing out my Texas run as work has slowed down enough for me to squeeze out some reviews. In trying not to spam the review page with tons of reviews at once, I'm spacing them out one a day though I've got basically the entire trip in notepad ready to copy and paste over. I'll slow down very soon after my Texas trip gets posted until I can get some fair weather that doesn't involve work and bag some more courses. Pizza God though, very well may post a review a day or more this year. Lord knows he's played enough courses to. *Tips Hat
 
gets posted until I can get some fair weather that doesn't involve work and bag some more courses. Pizza God though, very well may post a review a day or more this year. Lord knows he's played enough courses to. *Tips Hat
I am in a similar boat. In the past month or so I tried hard to play all the courses (still have a handful to go/more if I choose to look at practice "courses") within 50 miles of my front door that I had never gotten around to playing, so I am trying to take advantage of the less than ideal weather on our weekends we've had this month to finish some reviews.
 
I am in a similar boat. In the past month or so I tried hard to play all the courses (still have a handful to go/more if I choose to look at practice "courses") within 50 miles of my front door that I had never gotten around to playing, so I am trying to take advantage of the less than ideal weather on our weekends we've had this month to finish some reviews.
I've considered trying to clear my entire state this year or a certain mile radius and things like that but non disc golf responsibilities keep throwing wrenches in my plans. I'm still going to make several day/weekend trips when I can and clean up some nearby clusters but not nearly at the pace some of these legends course bag.
 
I'm behind by a couple days but I do believe that despite a rough January for much of the nation, we now have 25 folks who have reviewed at least one course this year (January is typically super slow anyways compared to most other months). That puts our magic number for the top 25 at 1!

The magic number, for a lack of a better term, is the current review count of 25th place. This number varies from year to year, and doesn't necessarily make for a good representation of whether that year had more or less reviews than average from our top 25. Outside of 2007 when the number was a resounding 6, the magic number has ranged from 20 to 36. Here's a full history:

2007: 6
2008: 29
2009: 36
2010: 30
2011: 26
2012: 28
2013: 24
2014: 27
2015: 20
2016: 20
2017: 23
2018: 24
2019: 20
2020: 22
2021: 30
2022: 22
2023: 23
2024: 20
 
January In Reviews

Alright, we're already a month into the year, which means it's time for our first monthly review! Here's what January looked like:

1. Pizza God: 30
2. dndelli: 22
3. PastorofMuppets: 19
4. Shadrach3: 7
5. DFrah: 6
6. Cerealman: 5
6. DiscGolfCraig: 5
6. wellsbranch250: 5
9. Urmomsbf: 4
10. Ryal: 3
10. Sharknado2: 3
12. chevis: 2
12. Impatient: 2
12. KD5JHA: 2
12. pmay5: 2
12. The Red Death 30: 2
12. Tyler V: 2
18. Baysinger: 1
18. Daniel Kraak: 1
18. DeanMoriarty: 1
18. Doofenshmirtz: 1
18. GeezerGolfDFW: 1
18. GO1962: 1
18. Moose33: 1
18. psvines: 1
18. SimonCarr: 1
18. Xelto: 1

131 Reviews is just a tad behind January 2023's pace, but considering the weather much of the country got this month, I'd say this is a decent clip, as January is always one of the slowest months of the year. I doubt a single review will cut it to make the top 25 in February.

There's a nice mix of veteran reviewers, familiar faces that have yet to make a yearly list, and first time reviewers who make an appearance this month, but our top three really stand out from the rest. Pizza God made his intentions known going into this year, but dndelli and PastorofMuppets also put up large numbers. There's also few things as consistent in life as wellsbranch250 and DiscGoldCraig putting up at least 4-5 reviews in a month, even in the dead of winter.

January Notes
New Reviews The Month: 131
Members who reviewed their first course this month: @Impatient, @KD5JHA, and @Daniël Kraak. Thanks for joining the site!
Top 10 Reviewers in January: Just look at the list up above for now.

NEW:State/Country Breakdown
We're just a month into the year, but we already have had almost half of the states represented amongst reviews posted this year, as well as two countries in Europe:

1. South Carolina: 21
2. Florida: 14
2. Texas: 14
4. New Mexico: 12
4. Tennessee: 12
6. North Carolina: 8
7. California: 6
7. Michigan: 6
9. Missouri: 5
10. Louisiana: 4
10. Mississippi: 4
10. Virginia: 4
13. Illinois: 3
13. Pennsylvania: 3
15. Alabama: 2
15. Kentucky: 2
15. Georgia: 2
18. Indiana: 1
18. Maryland: 1
18. Ohio: 1
18. Oregon: 1
18. Washington: 1
18. West Virginia: 1
18. Wisconsin: 1

Netherlands: 1
Scotland: 1

Missing States: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Conneticuit, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Wyoming

NEW: Course Breakdown
I thought it would also be fun to see what courses get reviewed the most this year. This list may be slow to grow, but we have one course that has been reviewed more than once: Estero DGC in Estero, FL, reviewed by Sharknado2 and pmay5. We'll see what this list looks like come New Years - I have no idea what to expect, and I encourage speculation.

ROTY Averages
Wondering what it takes to make a top 25 list? Here's what the average review count is for each placement from 2008 to 2024 (2007 is omitted due to being such an outlier):

1. 154.4 Reviews
2. 106.6
3. 84.1
4. 74
5. 65.5
6. 58.8
7. 52.7
8. 49.6
9. 45.9
10. 43.9
11. 41.2
12. 39.5
13. 38.3
14. 36.1
15. 34.4
16. 32.6
17. 31.6
18. 30.6
19. 29.1
20. 28.4
21. 27.2
22. 26.8
23. 25.9
24. 25.5
25. 24.9

The averages at the top of the list have gone up the past two years, while the bottom of the list has gone down, as only 23 reviews in 2023 and 20 reviews in 2024 were needed to make the list. The top 10 is also a little deceptive compared to recent trends, as 58 reviews were needed last year for the top 10, and 60 was the minimum for the top 10 in 2023.

The Pizza Tracker
The man said he was gunning for 365 reviews this year, and while there's still 11 months to go, he's keeping pace with 30 reviews in 31 days so far. I think that warrants a look at his January:

Pizza God January.png

Some of this map goes back to catching up on late 2023 rounds, but Pizza God has already managed weekend trips to New Mexico and the Gulf Coast. Keep it up, buddy!
 
I like the stat for ROTY averages. Pizza's already made top 20 for the year based on averages.
 
Too busy Friday to get one in, but I will get 4 done today of some of the courses I played this weekend.
 
Several of you wrote that The Hideaway is the most difficult course in Texas. I only saw two of you reviewing Lyndsey Gold in Tyler. Pizza God and a name I have to look at to spell. I do not see them comparing the courses. I have difficulty comparing courses and saying which is best. For the moment Lyndsey Gold is the most difficult course in Texas I have played comparing it to The Beast in Waco, Harry Myers and Cross Roads in Duncanville. Houston and Austin have a ton of courses I have not played. The reviews of the The Hideaway were very well composed, thoughtful and helpful. I am going to start reading reviews for courses I might enjoy playing in my retirement. I thank you all for reviewing and I hope to see suggestions for new places to play in Texas and elsewhere when I get to travel.
 
Several of you wrote that The Hideaway is the most difficult course in Texas. I only saw two of you reviewing Lyndsey Gold in Tyler. Pizza God and a name I have to look at to spell. I do not see them comparing the courses. I have difficulty comparing courses and saying which is best. For the moment Lyndsey Gold is the most difficult course in Texas I have played comparing it to The Beast in Waco, Harry Myers and Cross Roads in Duncanville. Houston and Austin have a ton of courses I have not played. The reviews of the The Hideaway were very well composed, thoughtful and helpful. I am going to start reading reviews for courses I might enjoy playing in my retirement. I thank you all for reviewing and I hope to see suggestions for new places to play in Texas and elsewhere when I get to travel.
its a top 5 for sure.

The Ranch in Waelder is up there
Sprinkle Valley in Austin too.

I have not played Roadrunner since before it opened to the public. But I did the same with The Ranch, I got to play it thanks to knowing the caretaker. Sprinkle Valley I just played this last year when Bill Burns #581 and I drove down to the Texas Disc Golf Hall of Fame ceremony.
 

Latest posts

Top