Clue
Newbie
I don't rate courses based on weather.
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I wonder how many states you could completely cross through the midpoint in the time it takes to get from Ft Worth to Rockwall, or have less people? Comparing DFW to other *metro areas* is like comparing dinosaurs to frogs and turtles.
Course reviews for Austin and DFW are so incredibly inflated. I've played most of them, and I don't mean to sound like a hater because I love playing in Texas, but some of the 4 and 5 star ratings are absurd.
I could flip flop KC and Des Moines all day depending on criteria. KC probably has better leagues and tournaments and is easily more fun, but Des Moines' courses are still better. Charlotte and the Twin Cities are really close as well, and they both have the potential to jump significantly in the next year or two with major course expansions. I think Austin gets a slight edge over DFW. But a real super sleeper is the Quad Cities on the border of Iowa and Illinois, easily a top 10 area in the country.
There are 39 courses in the Greater Houston area.
IMO there's like 5 major disc golf scenes in the US, in no particular order...Texas, Carolinas, Upper Midwest(MI, WI, MN), California and the Pacific Northwest...This is fairly broad statement but I'd bet that about half or more of the top pros in the world are from one of those areas.
Not much love here for the Ann Arbor area. Within 50 miles of my zip code I have 11 4 star+ rated courses, and 51 total. I wouldn't call it the best area, since we've not quite got the geology for it, too flat, but there's a really strong scene. Good maintenance on courses, tournaments constantly, excellent players. The only time I've been to any of our quality courses and not found someone else playing was during a blizzard. And me and a friend still played 24 holes while 4 inches fell.
Oh, and we've got Discraft's HQ, too.
Saying California or Texas has a thriving disc golf scene is imho ludicrous. If I lived in San Diego Its an all day affair just to drive to San Fran. And Texas is the 2nd biggest state in the union. Metro areas makes more sense to me. Houston with 39 metro courses makes sense, but not Texas. And to say the tri state area of MN, WI, MI as a metro area is again ridiculous. If you have to drive more than 2 hours you are way beyond the idea of a metro area.
This is 30-something percent of the country's population. Just California and Texas combine for about 20% of the total US population. So it would not be terribly surprising to find that close to half of the top pros are from one of these areas. Anectodally, however, 3 of the last 4 USDGC champions were NOT from one of these areas of the country.
Hence the "this is a fairly broad statement" part whenever you're talking about California and/or Texas the population of those two states surely inflates the numbers.
And yeah I didn't break up California into Northern or Southern. Didn't seperate MI, WI, or MN, and didn't split up Texas. I don't really know the specific areas within those areas, but know they're all fairly big DG areas.
So honestly if you're in SoCal and are serious about DG I'm sure you make the trip North a few times a year to play tourneys etc. Just as I'm sure people from the DFW area play tournaments in Austin.
TX has (for my argument) 3 major disc golf metro areas. DFW, Austin & Houston. From DFW to Austin or Houston is under a 4 hour drive, Austin to Houston even less.
I've just read back a few posts and see that some folks consider climate as a factor, as in being able to play all year long. Who was it not long ago said in the media we are becoming a country of wussies. I played all weekend here in the Great White North. Wind chills around zero Saturday and Sunday, slightly milder yesterday. The wife and I weren't the only ones out there.
You can play all year long just about anywhere. The early forecast for this upcoming Saturday around these parts is a high of 12 and a low of 0. And that doesn't factor in the wind chill. We'll be out there. I like it better with these severe conditions better than 90 degrees and 90% humidity.
Hence the "this is a fairly broad statement" part whenever you're talking about California and/or Texas the population of those two states surely inflates the numbers.
And yeah I didn't break up California into Northern or Southern. Didn't seperate MI, WI, or MN, and didn't split up Texas. I don't really know the specific areas within those areas, but know they're all fairly big DG areas.
So honestly if you're in SoCal and are serious about DG I'm sure you make the trip North a few times a year to play tourneys etc. Just as I'm sure people from the DFW area play tournaments in Austin.
What up St. Louis?
I think we have some great courses, as well as some crappy ones.