Rex in Or.
Newbie
hay harr0140 were is the thread on the pdga site? couldn't find it, I'm web challenged.
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disk golf on ball golf courses' does it work?
- Thread starter Rex in Or.
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Since Tupelo is in my backyard, and my "most played" course. I'll chime in on this. It works, yet it has it's drawbacks.
1. During the warm weather, it's God awfully crowded. You can find yourself waiting during a back up. You will play faster than the regular golfers. Which means you can Drive, approach, and hole out, and the golfers will still be on the next tee. Forget playing solo.
2. It's fairly basic. For Myrtle Beach, it's just another "Touristy" thing to do. akin to miniature golf.
It is lighted, and open till 11pm in the summer time. During this time of year, the course is virtually empty. Which is a bonus.
Sadjo
* Ace Member *
I don't know if you would need to call other courses that do this for information and much as you need a plan of action to bring to the decision makers. You mention that there isn't enough available land. Is there the money to purchase 19 baskets (need a putting basket) and the money to install Disc Golf tees?
If there's the money to buy the hardware and it's already a city owner and maintained property, I'd go to the manager of the course first and then to the city council and go from there.
No matter what other courses that have done this say, it will be up to you to sell the vision.
I'm generally skeptical of disc golf on ball golf courses. Tupelo is one of 4 courses in South Carolina, and seems to have the best chance. It's in a fairly populous area with few or no other options (none until recently, and as I understand it, still no "great" courses in the area).
Some of the hurdles disc golf on ball golf courses must overcome:
* Pay-to-play, and more than a nominal $3 or $5 as on other pay-to-play courses, especially in areas where there are good free courses nearby.
* Too much open space, making it harder to design a really good disc golf layout.
* Possible poor reception from ball golfers.
* Long rounds, 3 or 4 hours, if there are ball golfers playing the same area.
* If in a heavily-populated area, there are usually better courses around. If in a lightly-populated area, there are few disc golfers to support it, and it must rely on peple traveling long distances. There aren't enough of them.
Of course, there are advantages to the concept. It's just a question of whether the advantages (bar, restaurant, golf carts, groomed grounds, lights, etc., etc.) can overcome the hurdles to generate enough play to make it a success.
Which does bring us back to the definition of "success" of a disc golf course on a ball golf course.
Of the 4 in South Carolina, Tupelo is apparently working out, Crestwood and Lake Murray, to my knowledge, get very little play, and River Chase is new, built on the Fly18 model, so the jury's out.
Some of the hurdles disc golf on ball golf courses must overcome:
* Pay-to-play, and more than a nominal $3 or $5 as on other pay-to-play courses, especially in areas where there are good free courses nearby.
* Too much open space, making it harder to design a really good disc golf layout.
* Possible poor reception from ball golfers.
* Long rounds, 3 or 4 hours, if there are ball golfers playing the same area.
* If in a heavily-populated area, there are usually better courses around. If in a lightly-populated area, there are few disc golfers to support it, and it must rely on peple traveling long distances. There aren't enough of them.
Of course, there are advantages to the concept. It's just a question of whether the advantages (bar, restaurant, golf carts, groomed grounds, lights, etc., etc.) can overcome the hurdles to generate enough play to make it a success.
Which does bring us back to the definition of "success" of a disc golf course on a ball golf course.
Of the 4 in South Carolina, Tupelo is apparently working out, Crestwood and Lake Murray, to my knowledge, get very little play, and River Chase is new, built on the Fly18 model, so the jury's out.
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Hopefully the "no great courses" status won't be the case much longer. ...hopefully!
I think you hit the nail on the head. I've played Crestwood... Oh lord! It could definitely be more than it is. It's got decent potential to be a standard, nothing stellar, but not that bad, type course. But it had issues that made me actually say Screw the 6 bucks, and I walked off the course. (See review)
You said it about the Price tag of a Golf course, especially when an executive course is on the same property. They aren't going to be cheap! Hell, even offering a locals discount would be nice! 7$ for 1 round of 9 and 10$ for 2 is a bit obscene. IMO. They would attract some more Golfers. Don't get me wrong though, playing at night on the lighted course is pretty cool!
Now, they do have a VIP card at Tupelo. 25$ gets you 5 plays. So that might be something to consider if you are in town for a couple of days.
I probably should add that to the profile! lol
Tylerr
Newbie
There is a ball golf course right next to Blythe park ( a new course in Seattle )
We sneak over there every now and again and hit the back 9. I love it. If you don't have the arm for it, you wont make par even remotely.
But if you do. it can be quite rewarding.
I personally find ball golf courses to be a lot of fun, when you are feeling like you can give every hole 110% otherwise its just a lot of walking in open spaces. Kinda boring.
We sneak over there every now and again and hit the back 9. I love it. If you don't have the arm for it, you wont make par even remotely.
But if you do. it can be quite rewarding.
I personally find ball golf courses to be a lot of fun, when you are feeling like you can give every hole 110% otherwise its just a lot of walking in open spaces. Kinda boring.
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Wayne Golf Course, yeah I didn't know you lived by Blythe! Cool I play out there sometimes, great course for Super Class!
I played one in Paridise, CA, and it was fun. Good layout, and able to use areas of the property not useable for ball golfers.
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The golf course there runs it. The baskets were paid for and installed by Dave Greenwell. Management at Old English love having disc golf there. It brings in extra cash on some days where they're not expecting anything. I've gone out there with a big group with snow/ice on the ground and they welcomed us with open arms.
Those baskets have been pulled. It was initially installed on a two year plan to gauge the interest of making it permanent and potentially installing baskets on other courses. From everyone I've talked to, the course wasn't very popular and was only used in one tournament. Personally, I didn't like the course. It was just bomb after bomb with no water, sandtraps, and minimal tree incorporation to make it worthwhile.
Marv Vega
Birdie Member
Two in our area are extinct, Red Hawk http://www.dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=1908 and Saint Andrews Links http://www.dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=1506. Red Hawk was excellent and Saint Andrews was a fun course to air it out in, it was nice to be able to rent a cart in the summer. We still have Lutz left http://www.dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=1506, which is kind of a funky little course.
discinboogs
Newbie
I have the same interest. In Michigan there are so many golfers it would be nice to go somewhere where I can play seriously without unnecessary interference. I definitely would not mind paying greens fees to play a well designed dgc on a bgc.
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There is that!! Although, I haven't had to many issues, the couple that I've had have been caused unnecessary use of my stomach acid!
VenV
Newbie
Definitely talk to Reese of Fly18. I have. I will definitely try and find a way to fit his model into my area. He has lots of good ideas about what has worked and what hasn't on the courses he has installed. As an avid ball and disc golfer, I think most ball golf courses do not have a great disc golf course layout available. It takes a special course. Ball golf is about hitting from fairways onto the greens. Disc golf is about finding lines through the airways. They just aren't the same. If the type of people that use the ball golf course are the same type of people that will play the disc golf course that's a good sign.
Reese is definitely a leading evangelist of blending disc golf with ball golf. It's less clear whether his concepts are the best way to accomplish this, or how successful they've been beyond the initial installation.
Sadjo
* Ace Member *
A dozen or so played Disc Golf at River Chase (ball) Golf Course in Union, SC yesterday afternoon. That course was installed back in November. The course has been tweaked since it first went in the ground and we played with their regular clientele on the course.
It's also best to keep in mind that the ball golf courses that are adding Disc Golf tend to be more blue collar courses.
The two guys that own the course have begun playing Disc Golf and said yesterday that some of their regular players have tried their hand at Disc Golf.
It's also best to keep in mind that the ball golf courses that are adding Disc Golf tend to be more blue collar courses.
The two guys that own the course have begun playing Disc Golf and said yesterday that some of their regular players have tried their hand at Disc Golf.
That's great to hear. I was at the Opening Day and, though I doubt I'll play it very often, I wish River Chase much success. It does have the benefit of being a great piece of property.
Sadjo
* Ace Member *
Being a part of the course being installed there and it being my wife's hometown, I will probably play there an average of once a month.
Now that I've played it a couple of times, I begin to notice some different options that might make the course more challenging and take better advantage of the terrain. I'm hoping that some more tweaks could be made to the course.
simpletwist
* Ace Member *
I play and love both. But a shared course doesn't sound like a good time to me. Typically a ball golf course is 2 or 3 times longer than an average disc golf course. And any quality ball golf course would be to wide open to challenge your technical disc golf skills.
imho
imho
