Short and/or beginner/family friendly courses

[Parks]

In my experience, these types of courses (Red tee or easier) quickly become either abandoned, or overrun by shirtless barbarians, litterers, people getting retarded drunk and loud, and generally full of "folfers" with no etiquette (throwing on people, etc.) due to the absence of golfers that respect the course and the game. I know all public courses have the latter set of problems to some degree, but I mean to a noticeably higher degree than more challenging courses that have a more experienced user base.

I'm not talking about courses that are beginner friendly in the sense that they are easy to navigate and have alternate easy tees, but courses that are straight up built for rec type players.

Who here has a local short and/or beginner course(s) that has been successful for multiple years? What was the secret to the success there? Did it turn into a location that was very family friendly?

 

[BrotherDave]

Horizons Park in Winston Salem, AKA the oldest course in NC (1985?), is pretty beginner friendly and is remarkably not in too terrible of shape. It still gets a lot of hardcore discers and holds some tourneys. I think the secret is just club presence that isn't afraid to tell the shirtless barbarians to STFU or GTFO.

 

[discspeed]

The one course like this that I can think of is Knollwood in Kalamazoo. It is a short course that plays around water with a little elevation. I always loved it because of the variety...For being a short course no two holes are the same, and the couple of easiest ones also had OB close to the basket. Anyway, it was absolute chachi haven, positioned literally adjacent to fraternity village. So it was a big negative on the family factor.

 

[keltik1]

Is Horizons older than Kentwood? just looked it up and both were started in 1983. regardless I think you are right Brother Dave about a club presence keeping the place "cleaner". Kentwood is near a State University and sees a lot of student traffic that brings some strange smells. But there is also Middle Creek DGC (I think Frank D was one of the "founders") and it is near a High/Middle School and is a fairly clean place but it does have more of a club presence feel. Both of these are shorter courses (Middle Creek having short tees etc.)

 

[rusch_bag]

There is a course here in Oshkosh that is just trashed that is like this. It is fairly easy with most of the holes being fairly wide open and under 300'. It is also across the street from a high school so that just gives it more of an opportunity to get destroyed. All of the tee signs are broken, trash everywhere, broken glass everywhere, baskets get knocked over or have chains broken off. It is bad news bears.

 

[masterbeato]

Moir park in Bloomington, MN is the oldest course in the state (1975) and is not too bad with the vandalism, not as bad as some of the other courses that are in the metro, and is really short.

the course that gets hit the worst in our state i think it would be safe to say either North Valley or Oakwood, not short courses, but vandalism on those courses are terrible, and people have no respect for other people on those courses (oakwood being the worst IMO), broken glass, shirtless hooligins starting fights and breaking and bending baskets. one time someone took a huge dump on the end of 3 tee pads last year. on different days!

North Valley is a pay to play course now which will help get rid of all those stupid idiotic kids that just trash the place all the time.

Acorn Park built in the late 70's and is one of the oldest courses in the state, is a relatively short course and is notorious for stolen baskets, torn out pins, trees (and other vegetation) cut down, and vandalized signs, benches, and other accessories. the guy that keeps that course up and running made some really nice signs and got them posted on all holes before we teed off and we started our second round, and every single one was either broken, replaced, moved or gone in that short time period.

Kaposia used to be really bad too, but that changed recently and they are putting some money in to retain it, putting up walls on the greens to prevent erosion and its a wonderful sight to see.

 

[SkaBob]

Civic Center park in Auburn Hills, MI has like...1 hole over 200 feet, I think. It's relatively unplayed by that crowd because it's in the back yard (literally) of the AH PD.

Brys Park in St. Clair Shores, MI (new last year) has lots of rec players that show up, but it's got no spots to hide to smoke, and there're usually at least a couple dozen people walking the path that rings around the course on any given day, so there's a lot of people to keep the morons in check.

Raintree Park in Troy, MI has been around for AGES (one of the first courses in Detroit, iirc) and doesn't have a huge problem with casuals or rec players.

In this area, at least, it seems even the casuals step up to the longer courses. Even so, I'd imagine it's all situational in terms of what courses are full of what kind of people...

 

[cali]

Belmont Park during the summer is a good example.

The locals sit at hole 1 and drink/smoke weed from sun up to sun down, HUGE groups of highschool kids swarm in and smash their beer bottles on trees and flip trashcans over. Really sucks because it is a super fun course but it's impossible to have a nice relaxed round once it gets nice out.

 

[zj10021]

Zilker in Austin TX. First course in the ground in the mid 1980's I believe. 18 holes of mid/putter love with only 2 holes in the 315-330 range. Course has plenty of locals that wont let you pass or make you wait 2-3 holes. But generally the crowd is very very very casual since Zilker park is an Austin mainstay because of Barton Springs Pool. There are the smokers/drinkers but I have only seen people being "hooligans" maybe once or twice. Highest foot traffic of any course in town, so the better players steer clear of it during the weekends or afternoons. Also it is Austin, the community just has a friendly vibe and the city goes to great lengths to keep this park clean. It is my home "practice" course where I warm up in the morning before taking on Ridge/Pease/Circle C. There is also a police dept HQ buried back in a corner of the park. I would say the secret to maintaining these beginner courses is all on the city/community and how much cooperation/work is being put towards it. Zilker Park is a huge part of what is Austin

 

[Easy]

Two courses near where I live, and each one has a different vibe.

Copperhead in Clairborn Park ( Orange County , Texas - County Park ) -
This is a very family friendly park, with lots of BBQ pits and kiosks, playground, fishing, etc. It is a really nice park that happens to have a 9 hole ( someday 18 ) course that is pretty short but mostly woodsy with tight holes. The park is closely monitored by the county employees, led by "Grumpy Old Dude" ( I dunno his real name ). The park has a rep in the DG community of being "very strict" ( no beer, closes at 7pm, etc. ), but I have never had a problem with anything and find it a really enjoyable place to play. Then again, I'm old, don't smoke, don't litter, don't drink while I play, and bring my wife when she has time.

Klein Park in Beaumont -
Very decent 18 hole course with both short and long tees, beer and night golf allowed. The park is mostly a DG course and a walking/jogging trail combined, but a a diverse crowd comes here. We share pretty well, you just have to be patient in a couple of spots when there is a wandering human being led about by their doggie. The only real problem is the adolescent kids that hang around here sometimes, and the occasional weirdness in the bathroom or the woods. Frankly, kids being obnoxious and broken beer bottles is more of an annoyance to me than what consenting adults choose to do with one another. Most things are kept in check by the regulars - techniques vary, but it all keeps things down to a dull rumble.

I live in a pretty small-town environment, but I would think that most people would cherish the concept of a public parks space and that a few bad apples might crop up here and there most everywhere you go.

 

[inthedrift]

Interesting you should bring this up Parks since you mentioned Westchester in the ace thread. Westchester Lagoon DGC is Anchorage's oldest course - there are two holes around 280' but everything else is below 250' and there are two holes under 200'. Despite its shorter length it's really not a bad little nine holer as it offers a decent variety of shots. As DG has increased rapidly in popularity, the traffic on this course (particularly on nice summer evenings and weekends) has become overwhelming for this in-town course. Our association president is actually currently in talks with the parks department regarding plans to reconfigure the course and make it a bit more friendly to non-DG use as there are trails that run through several areas. Unfortunately they don't seem to want to work with us on the creation of new courses until the Westchester situation is resolved, and it seems that they're making us wholly responsible for it - the funds, the manpower, everything. It doesn't help that some on the board seem to think we as the local association are the same hoodlums that smash beer bottles all over the park and walk across a busy six lane road to get from #9's basket back to the teepad for #1. Our association catches a lot of flak from the city regarding people walking across the roadway so we're all constantly offering friendly reminders to people we see doing it. It sucks because many of us in the association would just as soon see this course disappear and take our baskets to some other location for the summers and keep it as a winter course only for us hardcores, as most of us rarely play it in the summer months due to the course itself and all the annoyances it seems to attract.

 

[Aaron_D]

someone took a huge dump on the end of 3 tee pads last year. on different days!

lol

 

[JohnnyB]

The shortest easiest course around me is one of the best kept, smack dab in an open park in the middle of a nice neighborhood. I've noticed though that the more privacy a course offers the worse off it is as far as courtesy and all around human decency. Privacy = stoners and alcoholics and all the finest examples of humanity they bring along with them.

 

[CHAS.1]

Jackson Park Atchison Kansas. For a quick round play the front 7 then walk the trail Northeast to the 17 tee then finish 18 and back to where you parked. #17 300ft. #18 330ft. This was the first nine baskets installed in July of 07.

 

[curt1]

Zilker Park in Austin TX. First course in the ground in the mid 1980's I believe. 18 holes of mid/putter love with only 2 holes in the 315-330 range

 

[riverboy1]

Klaus park, in Jamestown ND, is pretty good. It used to have some problems but for the most part has become a pretty family friendly place. I no longer see the problems I used to. I couldn't really say what the secret to success is here, but it might have something to do with increased popularity to use the shelters for events.