Wow, sounds like a great trip! How about a top 3 or top 5 courses played on the trip?
Its really hard to say but as far as my ratings go
Bracketts Bluff for the all around awesome experience. WOuld certainly garner a 5 if I could rate it, but alas it is extinct. This course stands alone at the top.
But I played so many great courses I can't justify giving the nod to any one of them. Some were better maintaned, some had a better all around DG experience, some had both but lacked flow, signage, challenge, etc etc etc. Below were my favorites on the trip all ranked 4.5 discs, and there were some honorable mentions of 3-4 disc rated courses too. I tried to hit the best of every area I went.
Ocala Greenway because it is an awesome property with all sorts of features
Rennaissance Gold because it will kick anyones butt, but is a little lacking in sustainability due to the soils and traffic it receives.
Hornets Nest "Charlotte's Web layout" because it will again kick anyones butt and you will enjoy it as it happens. All you can do is laugh.
Bud Hill is another private course that was just outstanding. It is well maintained (the owner recently fell doing some fall cleanup of limbs and was int he hospital when I played the course). It challenges you through and through. It has a clubhouse, bar, firepit, and two owners that apparently will cook for people at the tourneys. What a great place to just hang out ALL DAY. No reason to leave the site!
Lincoln Ridge was my last stop and it will leave me wanting more because it was so good. It had rained heavily so it was slick and that affected some of my play for sure because the footing was not always great. It was however a wonderful course. The front 13 holes are duece or die for the pros, then the next 7 holes are just incredibly difficult, narrow, and truly risk/reward on your drives. Go for the basket or layup to the fairway for an easy approach and putt for par. I went the driver approach and it didnt pan out on some of th eholes but others it did. The last 4 holes are fairly open and straight forward but they give a nice finish to the diversity of this course that is set on those rolling Kentucky hills.
Crooked Creek was another awesome property. It had all sorts of variety, it had water, it had elevation, it had woods, and then it had all three on a few of the holes. There was an island green which was no bigger than a 25' diameter which was challenging for sure, despite being fairly short. It was just a really fun course.
Please keep in mind I rate courses based on my desire to return if all courses were located the same distance and allt hings were the same. That way just because a course is in the middle of nowhere I can give a true representation of how likely I would be to return if I had the chance.
P.S. I am really considering starting a blog to document my roadtrips including the reviews I write, places I go while on the road trips for those who want to do more than just DG, places I might stop and eat for some local fare, people I met and/or played with etc etc etc. Anyone think people would want to read this? I have seena lot of interest and jealousy in some instances fo rmy ability and desire to take these roadtrips. Now I cannot take a month to go play disc golf except for in the winter when my landscape business allows, but I do take little one day trips all the time where I might hit between 3-9 courses in a day. I would like to document all of these trips and a blog is the best way for me to do so. So do you have any input, would this be a worthwhile read, would you try and recreate some of the trips if you had the chance, would you enjoy seeing more than just review of the course? Give me your input . . . I am still investigating the whole blogging as a media type before I make a decision, but I want to do it quickly because I already have like 20 trips I have taken to go for DG and I do not want to get backlogged. Fortunately all my reviews are here so I have a lot of the content there, but I willhave to add to those entries with other info later.
Let me know what you think.
