I propose...

[elmexdela]

idk mates

we saw what happens on udisk when any mf can review the course

bunch of 5s or 1s

i like to think dgcr is moar refined than that

 

[BogeyNoMore]

Moose's post struck a chord in me. I wrote my reviews for myself, and fir others like me. I find it helps me remember the course.

The last few years, I just don't have as much free time, and I don't enjoy writing them as much, so I'm nowhere near as prolific as I used to be.

The good news is there's a crop of up and comers doing a good job. :thmbup:

 

[Three Putt]

Moose's post struck a chord in me. I wrote my reviews for myself, and fir others like me. I find it helps me remember the course.

The last few years, I just don't have as much free time, and I don't enjoy writing them as much, so I'm nowhere near as prolific as I used to be.

The good news is there's a crop of up and comers doing a good job. :thmbup:

A funny thing about DGCR was I already had a spreadsheet tracking courses I played. I was already rating those courses. I was already writing comments down about them. I have a note on that spreadsheet that reads "Couldn't find the tee signs after hole 16, best course in the World my ass!" from when I played LaMirada in 1997. DGCR was a public way to share thoughts I had been recording all along.

If the reviews I wrote can help somebody plan a road trip, that's awesome. I wrote them more for me, though. I was going to do it anyway.

 

[tallpaul]

A funny thing about DGCR was I already had a spreadsheet tracking courses I played. I was already rating those courses. I was already writing comments down about them. I have a note on that spreadsheet that reads "Couldn't find the tee signs after hole 16, best course in the World my ass!" from when I played LaMirada in 1997. DGCR was a public way to share thoughts I had been recording all along.

If the reviews I wrote can help somebody plan a road trip, that's awesome. I wrote them more for me, though. I was going to do it anyway.

In those days, our personal record, was our personal dgcr to share with other like minded individuals. We were a relatively small group; who, generally speaking, were thrilled anywhere baskets went in.

And, with not much resources available, word of mouth was the primary way to share new course info. If you could send a spreadsheet to a like minded individual you had met; or receive one, you were thrilled!

 

[Jukeshoe]

Personally, I don't worry so much if someone finds my reviews helpful or not, it's all cool.

After a while reviews became a way of objectively remembering courses I'd have completely forgotten without going through the review process. It helps me "lock in" the memory to a much greater degree than not writing a review. *Especially* when on a course bagging tear.

 

[Golden Tuna]

When this site started I was a competition-based player and I rated courses with a "can we hold an A-tier here?" bias. The course that tripped me up was Campton Hills....

And...I got a bunch of thumbs down. At the time I thought just what you said, buncha Campton Hills homeboys giving me the homeboy bias thumbs down for saying their crappy course is crappy.

After I got over myself just assuming everyone else was dumb.... but...hey, it's the Internet. If I'm like 12% right I'm better than most of the Internet. :|

I agree with a lot of what you've said here and your benchmarking philosophy. That said, my approach to reviews was a little different than yours. I approached reviews from three perspectives:

PARK AMENITIES: Bathrooms, Navigation, adjacent user groups, etc.
COURSE SPECIFIC: Pads, benches, trash cans, tee signs, practice basket, ease of navigation, flow, challenge, and (of course) fun
ANECDOTAL: My personal impressions of whether I liked the course or not. Did I find it enjoyable, challenging, scenic, etc.

I tried to focus mostly on facts... Again, I looked at it as providing a service to other course baggers like myself. But it just seemed to become trite when objective reviews were not appreciated. Then I saw other reviewers campaigning for likes and I just stopped doing it.

A funny thing about DGCR was I already had a spreadsheet tracking courses I played. I was already rating those courses. I was already writing comments down about them.

Same. I wasn't as sophisticated at first. I just highlighted courses played in my paperback course directory and made comments in the margin

After a while reviews became a way of objectively remembering courses I'd have completely forgotten without going through the review process. It helps me "lock in" the memory to a much greater degree than not writing a review. *Especially* when on a course bagging tear.

I don't know. After so many courses some of them just tend to blend in. I like to think I remember all the truly epic holes/courses, but the reality is sometimes I just remember having a great time at a specific course.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

A funny thing about DGCR was I already had a spreadsheet tracking courses I played. I was already rating those courses. I was already writing comments down about them.

I'd just started keeping track of the courses I played in this area on my own, and had been lurking on DGCR for a while, before realizing, "Hey! It'd be easier to just keep track of courses played here."

That's what actually got me to make the move from lurker to member. Never expected I'd start writing reviews. Never thought I'd plan road trips around, disc golf... let alone specifically because of it. Never thought I'd join a league or play in tournaments.

What started out as "something that was kinda fun/cool to do every once in a while," very organically became a bigger part of my life.

...and DGCR played a huge role in sucking me into it deeper and faster than I ever thought possible.

 

[Jay Dub]

The original DGCR was the Front 9 (good courses) and Back 9 (bad courses) done by Greg Hosfeld in a disc golf publication.

 

[HyooMac]

I think sometimes the stats on a review can help you mindset on reviews going forward.

When this site started I was a competition-based player and I rated courses with a "can we hold an A-tier here?" bias. The course that tripped me up was Campton Hills. I HATED Campton Hills from the time it went in. It was a 15-minute drive from my in-laws house and we ended up in the area 3-4 times a year when my kids were little, and I couldn't wrap my brain around why anyone in the mid '00's would spend time and money (and they did spend some money on stairs and platforms) to build a pitch and putt. I also couldn't figure out if you were going to build stairs and platforms why in the name of God you didn't install legit tee off areas. The place really bugged me so when this site started I wrote a review and blasted it.

And...I got a bunch of thumbs down. At the time I thought just what you said, buncha Campton Hills homeboys giving me the homeboy bias thumbs down for saying their crappy course is crappy.

After I got over myself just assuming everyone else was dumb I finally realized that disc golf actually is supposed to be fun and every course doesn't have to cater to competitive disc golf. The review I wrote managed to miss the point of Campton Hills and it should have a bunch of thumbs down. All the other people who wrote a lot of reviews that played there mentioned "fun" and all I did was talk about what the course didn't have.

Having that feedback changed the way I looked at a lot of courses; I really try to focus on what a course does have and how well it does what it can rather than worrying so much about what it can't do. Fun courses are fun, and we have to let them be fun. If a course is easy and bad it should get called out for being bad, but easy doesn't=bad. Easy and fun is good for the player looking to play for fun.

Without that feedback, I'd probably still be missing the point on a lot of courses.

The overall totals are more a function of how many reviews you write; I took it more as a "congratulations, you submitted a lot of data" thing that was nice to get after I wrote reviews for 12 or 13 or however many years it was. I'm still planning on trying to hit new courses and write more reviews event though I'm "topped out" on that recognition. If it wasn't fun to bag courses and then blather on and on about what I thought about them, I wouldn't do it.

I've left that review as is BTW; it reminds me that I'm still wrong a lot. It's probably not the only review I've written that was wrong, but...hey, it's the Internet. If I'm like 12% right I'm better than most of the Internet. :|

I found this so relatable. One of my recent reviews prompted a PM from the course designer, who admitted he gave me a downvote based on my rating. He made a very cogent case that the course wasn't designed for competition, but for beginners and beer leagues. I responded that the text of my review said pretty much exactly that, and I praised it for being very good at that. He told me he was sorry about the downvote, did it in the moment out of frustration, and wished he could change it.

For my part, I revised the score up a half point - because he WAS right about that: when I looked at all the others I had scored, it clearly belonged a notch higher.

 

[Three Putt]

I found this so relatable. One of my recent reviews prompted a PM from the course designer, who admitted he gave me a downvote based on my rating. He made a very cogent case that the course wasn't designed for competition, but for beginners and beer leagues. I responded that the text of my review said pretty much exactly that, and I praised it for being very good at that. He told me he was sorry about the downvote, did it in the moment out of frustration, and wished he could change it.

For my part, I revised the score up a half point - because he WAS right about that: when I looked at all the others I had scored, it clearly belonged a notch higher.

Basically most of us don't like to consider that we are wrong, so feedback falls on deaf ears. It's cool that you considered what he said.

 

[Olorin]

In those days, our personal record, was our personal dgcr to share with other like minded individuals. We were a relatively small group; who, generally speaking, were thrilled anywhere baskets went in.

And, with not much resources available, word of mouth was the primary way to share new course info. If you could send a spreadsheet to a like minded individual you had met; or receive one, you were thrilled!

In 1999 I started my quest to play every public and private course in North Carolina. At that time, the PDGA course directory, in print and online, was the main way to find new courses, but there was (and is) a large network of unpublished private courses too, that you would only learn about by word of mouth. And some on the Homegrown Tour.

Circa 2000 I started a basic website with google sites called... wait for it... Disc Golf Course Reviews (with an s on the end).
https://sites.google.com/site/discgolfcoursereviews/Home
For some unknown reason, it never got as much traction as DGCR.

I was also a member of the old PDGA Course Evaluator program. Chuck and a few others will recognize that is still the main source for my reviewing rubric. Unfortunately, that group imploded from several inherent challenges, but the experience got me started.

 

[Monocacy]

In 1999 I started my quest to play every public and private course in North Carolina. . . .

Early 1990s a buddy used to organize "Disc Golf Across Maryland", where a group of friends who grew up with object Frisbee golf would play every known course in the state in a day. Not as impressive as it sounds because there were only maybe 4 or 5 courses.

After a few years it took all weekend to play every course. And at some point we had to get selective.

We still do the get-together, but usually just play a doubles round at Seneca Creek. For most of the group, that is the only time they toss plastic all year.

 

[Olorin]

Shadrach3 has over 2000 Helpful votes! Especially for those of you who are newer here and have never read his reviews please check out his work.

 

[Olorin]

Shadrach3 has over 2000 Helpful votes! Especially for those of you who are newer here and have never read his reviews please check out his work.

Shadrach3 is now up to 2200+ helpfuls on 200 reviews, so he is averaging 11 thumbs per review! His HTN ratio is insane too. He might only need 1 more Unique voter.

If you have never voted for Shadrach, please do so today!