After all the "growth" this year I'm definitely in favor of going back to niche status...
Does niche status mean having a niche number of courses to play? Because that sucked.
When I moved to Kalamazoo in 1998, there were 1.5 courses. The new half course was Oshtemo, in its infancy, only the back 9 of today's version installed. The other course, love it or hate it, was Cold Brook.
Next nearest course was Brewer Park, about 50 minutes away. There were two others in Grand Rapids with baskets (Riverside and Johnson).
Next closest was kind of a tie, Grand Woods in Lansing or Hudson Mills near Ann Arbor. Kensington had the old Tunnel course, but not Toboggan just yet. I always thought Hudson Mills was like heaven. That was our mecca for sure.
I guess Wilson Park in Mishawaka, IN was about that far away too. I've always had fun playing that one.
Detroit suburbs had Addison Oaks and River Bends. Those are the two big ones that stand out to me.
That's really about it for top-notch (at the time) courses in the whole state. We have about that many just in Kalamazoo now. The whole I-94/I-96 corridor (with about 7 million people?) had just those courses, plus a handful of others not as highly esteemed. And we were considered one of the better Disc Golf areas in the country outside of California, Texas and Florida at the time. Seems like last week to me.
Thank heavens we're no longer a niche sport. Thank you, PDGA, and thank you too, those who have pitched in to grow the sport, for all you've done!