Links golf. Heard of it?

[tomjohnson59]

As far as I know, there are no links style disc golf courses, except in Lewiston, CA. Links golf is typically ocean side and without trees. Wind, tall grass, rolling terrain and blind shots are common. In traditional golf, tall grass means hacking out sideways, losing a ball and re-teeing, taking an unplayable lie etc. In DG, we find our discs and play them from tall grass without much penalty. A shorter run up might be the only hindrance. What we did in Lewiston was make the tall grass OB. The risk reward element is key, even though the course looks wide open. I'd just like to hear some thoughts on links golf and ways to apply it to DG in places that are starved for features. Shoot!


St. Andrews, Royal and Ancient. Think about it.

 

[scarpfish]

Several courses here in flyover country use tall grass rough areas on some degree of the holes because trees aren't plentiful enough, or more commonly because the parks department wants to save money on mowing. Its often up to the player's discretion as to whether its OB or not.

This has actually been the plan at my home course for three years now, but persistent drought has caused the tall grass areas to never get tall.

 

[mashnut]

This is just my opinion, but I'm not a fan of that type of course. Disc golf is all about what happens in the air, elevation and trees make you think about how it will curve in various ways. Golf is about what happens on the ground, which is why their primary hazards are things like bunkers and tall grass. For disc golf, tall grass doesn't actually affect the way you throw your next shot in most cases, once you actually find the disc you can generally make a normal throw from there if it's not ob. If it is ob, why also make people search for the discs rather than keeping it a little shorter (6" grass is plenty of contrast with short mowed fairways to define the ob areas), it adds a lot of time and frustration to the round without adding a lot of legitimate disc golf challenge. It also disproportionately punishes less skilled players, better players aren't going to struggle that much staying on reasonable width fairways, so you're going to have to spend a lot of time waiting on those new players ahead of you who really don't want to lose their only disc. On the comparison to golf, losing a ball is much less of a big deal than losing a disc, they're replaceable and all perform exactly the same.

 

[jdinteg]

In Oregon we have a lot of Fir trees. Most courses around here work within that one statement. But recently we finished a constructing a course called Blue Lake (Fairview, OR). This course has many open shots with long grass as the OB. Additionally the course has been staked out with markers to assure the OB line is clear. Landing your speed 11-13 disc on a small fairway from 300+ feet away is a challenge, regardless of how long it was in the air. This has brought a totally different type of strategy and technique to our area. Blue Lake is the closest thing we have to a links style in our area, I really enjoy this new challenge.

 

[Sadjo]

Several players have suggested we do a redesign of Chattooga Belle Farm and use link style holes...at least on the front side of the course. In the spring and early summer they let the hay grow to 4-5 feet...so being off the fairway does give you a difficult throwing position....stance wise and view of the target.

In the fall and winter when grass is short the course plays very different.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

On the comparison to golf, losing a ball is much less of a big deal than losing a disc, they're replaceable and all perform exactly the same.

Reading this last line just made me think about a ball golfer contemplating which ball to use for a given shot. I realize disc selection is more like club selection... just saying it made me chuckle a bit.

 

[joegraham]

Reading this last line just made me think about a ball golfer contemplating which ball to use for a given shot. I realize disc selection is more like club selection... just saying it made me chuckle a bit.

You can't contemplate, you have to play the ball you start with until you take it out of play due to a scuff or cut damage and notify your group or official. Golfers play the exact same ball all the time (sponsor usually) that fits their game. There are many different types of balls that do different things. I have played the Bridgestone E5 for the past 6 years, lots of them!

 

[bodomdethllica]

i was certain that players use different balls for putting.... but im not sure. like when they get to the green, they mark their ball with whatever and then use their putting ball....???

 

[DavidSauls]

My experiences with tall grass---in the fairway, off the fairway creating hazards, or out-of-bounds---have been miserable.

Searches can take a while, especially on a long hole where it's hard to judge exactly where the disc landed, since you almost have to be on top of the disc to see it, and sometimes not even then. Plus it brings in the possibilities of briars, chiggers, unseen snakes, etc.

But it does look cool.

 

[Steve West]

i was certain that players use different balls for putting.... but im not sure. like when they get to the green, they mark their ball with whatever and then use their putting ball....???

They're cleaning it, not using a new ball.

"A ball on the putting green may be lifted and, if desired, cleaned. The position of the ball must be marked before it is lifted and the ball must be replaced..."

 

[trifocal]

I enjoy links stye courses.

Improvements to playability might include accurate distances to landing areas. Random posts or flags in the tall grass. Blue bird nest boxes in the tall grass. Glacial erratic boulders in the tall grass. A few well though out shortrgrass cuts to make paths into tall grass areas. Wind socks.

I love the openess of a links hole. Makes me think without being clued by tree that suggests a flight path. .....