9 out of 19 new courses in California are on ball golf courses

[Star Shark]

I've heard Verdugo Hills referred to as a Roc and Leopard course, but there are very few people who can get to most of those pins with a Leopard. I've also played DeBell and the drawback to both is that the pins are almost always right next to the greens, which are OB. It gets old really fast when you have essentially an OB lake within about 15' of every pin.

 

[DavidSauls]

If you want to see one done right, look at the course in Woodville Texas, done by Neal Dambra. It's a mix of everything, and it will eat your lunch if you don't bring your A game. Never seen anything like it. He's running an A tier out of there in April.

To make sure the critics understand, Neal worked the edges of the fairways constantly to make very technical holes. There are some very large hills on the property, and even on the big open holes, he'd dig them into tight finishing spots where you hade line up and pull into an alley to get them right.

I'd love to see that. I've played a couple of dual courses, know people who've played a couple more, and checked out some here. None have been that great, and it's not surprise that despite all the potential, they never seem to make lists of top courses or recommendations to play.

But I've looked at some and thought, If this were done much differently, it could work..

 

[discmeister]

Converted golf course

Cornerstone church in Lake Jackson TX has a golf course which has been converted for DG. It was well done and challenging.

 

[Steve West]

Converting a course allows for much more creativity in design than a dual course. When ball golf is going to be going on at the same time, there are severe constraints. Often, the primo tee and target locations are just not available.

 

[DavidSauls]

Converting a course allows for much more creativity in design than a dual course. When ball golf is going to be going on at the same time, there are severe constraints. Often, the primo tee and target locations are just not available.

I would think the flipside, in most cases, is that converting a course loses some of those amenities that some might feel attractive---onsite food service & pro shop, groomed grounds, golf carts, etc.

I've only played one converted course, and it still involves way too much open space.

 

[Cgkdisc]

If I were a ball golf owner looking at the best way to get disc golf traffic, I would seriously look into building a tiki style DG course next to but not on the ball golf course. That would be a fun recreational activity available to all skill levels and even the ball golfers might play it in addition to their regular round. But we don't have designers out there skilled at designing nor recommending tiki style courses as an option to ball golf course owners looking for alternative revenue.

 

[BENFTS]

I've heard Verdugo Hills referred to as a Roc and Leopard course, but there are very few people who can get to most of those pins with a Leopard. I've also played DeBell and the drawback to both is that the pins are almost always right next to the greens, which are OB. It gets old really fast when you have essentially an OB lake within about 15' of every pin.

It's a Roc and Leopard course for sure. When I play there I'll use an Orc on a few holes when playing form the added long tees but most of my drives there are with a Phenom. Yesterday I had 4-5 park jobs that were on the green 10'-15' from the basket but were OB. I hate the greens being OB when the pin is located on the fringe. I don't mind the greens bing OB but don't place the pin on the fringe. Kinda lame IMO

 

[Zunz]

I clicked the survey but it's closed.
I've played Verdugo a couple of times, 1 day and 1 night with a really good cheeseburger in-between. Had a great time there. Nothing overly challenging but good enough for my rec/am3 level arm. Played with a local who just destroyed the course. At one point in our second round he said, "I'm gonna show you an ace" and damn if he didn't almost do it on the next 5 baskets, hitting metal twice. He parked another hole (long and flat with the basket off the green to the right and up a little hill) with a ridiculous roller saying, "After a while out here, you get bored and just start trying things." The elevation shots really made this course a lot of fun. First time I ever played a dual course, the flow in with the ball golfers was quite smooth and the conversations we had were cool. Playing under the lights was freakin awesome!

Since then I've played a dual in Pennsylvania (Villas Crossing) that is longer (Dugo is a chipp and putt, not a real golf course), has carts and plays partly in the woods... Delightful!

I don't mind paying a few bucks to play these courses. Been to other pay to plays that I didn't like nearly as much (I'm looking at you Trophy Lakes) and probably wouldn't pay for a second time. The fact that most of them have a pro shop is a major major plus. I'm getting old, I love the cart availability... Then I just have to worry about my arm falling off.

 

[@iDiscGolf]

I've played Sea Pines. It was fun.

But, put me in the forest or park any day and I'm much more happy there...

 

[Major Tomahawk]

Not a big fan of any of the ball golf/dg courses I've played.

 

[lion]

Van Buren golf center does have a course. Should be on list

 

[lion]

This list must be massive by now!!!

 

[etdefender19]

This list must be massive by now!!!

At least two of the original list (Sunrise and Lockeford Springs) are no more

 

[The Valkyrie Kid]

I think I have probably played 50 or more disc golf courses on golf courses. Easily, my favorite is Brooktrails in Willits, CA (northern California). It combines excellent disc golfing with an incredibly beautiful course. Others range from pretty good to total money grabs.

One I played in out of the way, Winthrop, WA, offered disc golf, footy golf and fling golf (where you fling a ball lacrosse style). Unfortunately, the disc golf here was relegated to this crummy off the golf course vacant lot part of the course where they put their old grass clippings, rusted out old machinery, a burned out building and harsh desert terrain as deep as your waist.

 

[aredoubles]

One I played in out of the way, Winthrop, WA, offered disc golf, footy golf and fling golf (where you fling a ball lacrosse style). Unfortunately, the disc golf here was relegated to this crummy off the golf course vacant lot part of the course where they put their old grass clippings, rusted out old machinery, a burned out building and harsh desert terrain as deep as your waist.

This sounded amazing, so I dug up your review. I'm surprised you gave it a 1.5, that seems awfully generous given that I couldn't find a single positive point, other than the friendly pro shop lady.

 

[The Valkyrie Kid]

You might be right. Maybe I'm just too easy or maybe it's so isolated that I felt any disc golfers in the area would be glad to have any place to play.

 

[The Valkyrie Kid]

As far as I can tell, these are the golf courses courses I've played in California. Add five more in Washington and couple more in Oregon plus maybe 5-10 more scattered around the country.

Brooktrails Willits, CA. 4.5 (Way out in front)
Lake Chabot Oakland 3.0 (Designed by disc golfers)
Sun Valley La Mesa 3.0 (extinct but was bringing in more $ from us than those other guys))
Colina San Diego. 3.0
Buckingham Golf Course Kelseyville, 3.0
Mission Bay San Diego 3.0
DeBell Burbank 2.5
Black Rock Cobb No (already extinct when I played)
Mission Hills North Hills 2.5
Sea Pines Los Osos 2.5
Kelley Ridge Oroville. 2.0
Lake Forest Golf Course Lake Forrest 2.0
Van Buren Riverside 1.5
Mallard Lake Yuba City 1.0 (extinct and I'm not surprised)


So here's my question for all of you but mostly for the serious course baggers? What percentage of all the courses that you bag would you play again if you had a reasonable opportunity to play? Not if you had to drive to another state or drive a long distance to get to.

I guess that I probably would want to play about 60-65% of all the disc golf courses that I have ever bagged.

But for courses on golf courses, my percentage would be much lower. Probably only about 20% do I care to return to. Even though, I've given some decent ratings to some, I personally wouldn't care to play them again. I can rate a course 3.0 because I know younger, stronger better players would like it even though it's not my cup of tea

And in my case, the percentage is even lower for disc golf courses on ski resort area. I can say, it's probably 0%. Such in the life of a course bagger. I'd like to hear the numbers from some of other more serious course baggers





Brooktrails Willits, CA. 4.5
Lake Chabot Oakland 3.0
Sun Valley La Mesa 3.0 (extinct)
Colina San Diego. 3.0
Buckingham Golf Course Kelseyville, 3.0
Mission Bay San Diego 3.0 $18 for 18 holes is pretty steep my mu disc golf budget.
DeBell Burbank 2.5
Black Rock Cobb No (Couldn't rate it as it was already extinct when I played)
Mission Hills North Hills 2.5
Sea Pines Los Osos 2.5
Kelley Ridge Oroville. 2.0
Lake Forest Golf Course Lake Forrest 2.0
Van Buren Riverside 1.5
Mallard Lake Yuba City 1.0 (extinct

 

[Casey 1988]

As far as I can tell, these are the golf courses courses I've played in California. Add five more in Washington and couple more in Oregon plus maybe 5-10 more scattered around the country.

Brooktrails Willits, CA. 4.5 (Way out in front)
Lake Chabot Oakland 3.0 (Designed by disc golfers)
Sun Valley La Mesa 3.0 (extinct but was bringing in more $ from us than those other guys))
Colina San Diego. 3.0
Buckingham Golf Course Kelseyville, 3.0
Mission Bay San Diego 3.0
DeBell Burbank 2.5
Black Rock Cobb No (already extinct when I played)
Mission Hills North Hills 2.5
Sea Pines Los Osos 2.5
Kelley Ridge Oroville. 2.0
Lake Forest Golf Course Lake Forrest 2.0
Van Buren Riverside 1.5
Mallard Lake Yuba City 1.0 (extinct and I'm not surprised)


So here's my question for all of you but mostly for the serious course baggers? What percentage of all the courses that you bag would you play again if you had a reasonable opportunity to play? Not if you had to drive to another state or drive a long distance to get to.

I guess that I probably would want to play about 60-65% of all the disc golf courses that I have ever bagged.

But for courses on golf courses, my percentage would be much lower. Probably only about 20% do I care to return to. Even though, I've given some decent ratings to some, I personally wouldn't care to play them again. I can rate a course 3.0 because I know younger, stronger better players would like it even though it's not my cup of tea

And in my case, the percentage is even lower for disc golf courses on ski resort area. I can say, it's probably 0%. Such in the life of a course bagger. I'd like to hear the numbers from some of other more serious course baggers





Brooktrails Willits, CA. 4.5
Lake Chabot Oakland 3.0
Sun Valley La Mesa 3.0 (extinct)
Colina San Diego. 3.0
Buckingham Golf Course Kelseyville, 3.0
Mission Bay San Diego 3.0 $18 for 18 holes is pretty steep my mu disc golf budget.
DeBell Burbank 2.5
Black Rock Cobb No (Couldn't rate it as it was already extinct when I played)
Mission Hills North Hills 2.5
Sea Pines Los Osos 2.5
Kelley Ridge Oroville. 2.0
Lake Forest Golf Course Lake Forrest 2.0
Van Buren Riverside 1.5
Mallard Lake Yuba City 1.0 (extinct

I have played one disc golf course on a ski resort, WISP and I would play one in that style again as it used part of the area that is not used for anything in the summer just that a few holes are garbage with the bike/XC Ski trail behind them on top. A few on the side were near the lake really a pond, how I lost a worn out garbage DX Valkyrie that had the dog incident happen to it after only having the disc for a year and the that same cousin got my first DX Dragon almost lost on that pond. They also lost an older DX Panther that was one of my uncles.

 

[Putt for D'oh]

Kelley Ridge Oroville. 2.0

Funny at first I wanted to disagree with such a low rating here. I was working out there for a few months a couple years ago and the river bend courses were still closed due to the damage from the dam issues and flooding. They had a weekly there and I became pretty fond of the course, but like normal your review was pretty spot on. I did walk it the first time and found tees but it was a lot of hunting. I'm amazed you only saw 5 deer. I kinda think you would have put the actual number but were afraid it would sound unrealistic so you rounded down to 5.

As far as I know at least 2018 it was still a ball golf course but I had only ever seen people that walked on and played a few holes way back playing it. I'm not a bolfer but I could not even remotely imagine playing bolf on that property. After talking to the locals and playing with them a lot and also talking to Greg Barsby when he did a nor-cal tour after his world's win this course is a huge disappointment when it comes to what the plans were and what it could be. Barsby had plans for that place to be a big time tournament destination. The actual hole designs are some if you are not throwing 450'+ can be boring. 300', 300', 150' putt. But having the distance to take a stroke off of that game plan gave the holes a much different look. Anyway the property owner really seems to want to do no work and let things just bring money in and its unfortunate. The potential was huge. But yes the actual Tees if you had found them may have dropped your rating more and tee signs are always nice.

Right before I left is when Lava Creek burnt down. Another ball golf 9 holer. A much more polished DG course. Some decent variety if not exceptionally challenging, at least interesting. It should re-open and hope you can make it back down when it does.

 

[Putt for D'oh]

Bah... edit window.

@ TheValkyrieKid there area some more.
Glen Eagles in SF
Emerald Hills in Palo Alto
Monarch Bay in Oakland

They're getting better. It seems that municipal golf courses losing money and other property just being so damn expensive could be good for DG. These are all designed by DG people. Emphasis on using a lot of the terrain and DG obstacles bolf doesn't.