What are the benefits of owning a championship level course?

[Gblambert]

I recently bought a 25 acre tract and decided to install a disc golf course on it. The initial idea was to build the best championship level course we could using the entire property. It's a beautiful piece of land and I think we could have put a great 8500 ft gold level course on it.

The property happens to be located though in a fairly populous area with a large number of local amateur players. So in the end we decided not to go with a championship level course and instead install two 18 hole "fun" courses. The large one will have red/white/blue tees with a max distance of 6500 ft and the smaller will be a 2000 ft par 2 pitch and putt type course.

I absolutely think we're making the right decision based on the demographics in our area, but I've always wondered what we're going to be missing out on by not installing the championship level course. Can NT's bring in a lot of money or prestige to a course? Do pros only play gold courses? Just what are the benefits of owning a championship, gold level course vs a shorter, amateur type course?

 

[allinpflop]

I absolutely think we're making the right decision based on the demographics in our area, but I've always wondered what we're going to be missing out on by not installing the championship level course. Can NT's bring in a lot of money or prestige to a course? Do pros only play gold courses? Just what are the benefits of owning a championship, gold level course vs a shorter, amateur type course?

An NT can bring prestige but a disc golf course is never going to bring in a lot of money....if money is what you are making your decision on then a disc golf course is probably the last thing you should invest in....as far as pros they will play any course that has enough of a prize pool......but typically that is an a tier or nt which more often than not are at least blue level and more and more at least a tourney gold level layout.

 

[Goatman]

Which would you rather play? Is there a Championship level course in your area? If you are going to be the one working on it and playing it the most, you should design it in a way that fits your life. I have 40 acres but have opted for a shorter fun course that I enjoy playing because I do all the work and play by myself most of the time. I also have optional layouts if I want it to be longer but they take a lot more work. The last two sanctioned events here brought in over 70 players each. Holler in the Hills is right down the road, so if I want to play a bigger course I can go there. Also over time as trees grow or fall you may have new lines open that you didn't see before.

 

[Cgkdisc]

It might be complicated to do this but I wonder if you would be able to design a gold level overlay layout that could be configured temporarily that would use selected tees and pins among the two layouts you are planning?

 

[Aim For The Chains]

That was actually a thought I was trying to put into words lol. Basically the 2 18's become 1 championship level course playing 1 tee to 2 basket and so on. Seems like you could have best of both worlds that way and and not have the gold course take up a ton of land.

The 2 "fun" 18's is a winner IMO. if you can get 100 people per day to come play at $5/pop you will be aiiiiiiight. Now getting that kind of traffic might be hard to do' Seems like leagues and other smaller events are of a greater impact to private courses around here.

 

[Gblambert]

It might be complicated to do this but I wonder if you would be able to design a gold level overlay layout that could be configured temporarily that would use selected tees and pins among the two layouts you are planning?

Great idea, except the small course is filled with big metal sculptures, sunken baskets, lighthouses, roller ramps, etc which would all get in the way. Also, the greens on the small course are scaled for ~ 100' holes and would be way undersized for a gold course. Good idea, though!

 

[DavidSauls]

How are you defining "championship course"?

I think Goatman's advice to design the course you most like to play is excellent. That, and take what the land gives you---don't try to force a gold-level course where it'll be just a mediocre gold-level course.

 

[DavidSauls]

An 8500' gold course squeezed onto 25 acres sounds like you'd have to use almost every inch of the property, instead of using the best parts and leaving the rest.

 

[rexdp10]

It might be complicated to do this but I wonder if you would be able to design a gold level overlay layout that could be configured temporarily that would use selected tees and pins among the two layouts you are planning?

I think this is a great option. Who says a course has to only have 18 holes. That's what I love about Stoney Hill. You play a really long 18, then 24+ish holes the next round. Similar overlaying layout. Some are the same hole just spilt up or different baskets on same hole...etc...

 

[Cgkdisc]

Great idea, except the small course is filled with big metal sculptures, sunken baskets, lighthouses, roller ramps, etc which would all get in the way. Also, the greens on the small course are scaled for ~ 100' holes and would be way undersized for a gold course. Good idea, though!

You wouldn't play very many of the existing holes when using the overlay layout and maybe none of the short course holes. Maybe three short holes combined would be a gold hole but that would mean planning both permanent courses so that a temporary gold 18 overlay could be configured without too much extra fiddling around.

 

[Gblambert]

How are you defining "championship course"?

a course long enough for gold level tees and designed well enough to host national tournaments.

The course will be P2P so the decision to go with two smaller courses was purely economical. Two smaller courses also leaves room for a clubhouse, music stage, etc that would have been tough squeezing in with the larger course. I'll probably be playing the white tees on the large course most of the time (except the pitch and putt is sure fun to play so I'm already spending more time there).

 

[DavidSauls]

I absolutely think we're making the right decision based on the demographics in our area, but I've always wondered what we're going to be missing out on by not installing the championship level course. Can NT's bring in a lot of money or prestige to a course? Do pros only play gold courses? Just what are the benefits of owning a championship, gold level course vs a shorter, amateur type course?

My brother and I built a course; here's a perspective to consider.

Our course is not a gold course, but it's pretty challenging, nonetheless.

We're not trying to make money, so getting lots of play from local amateurs isn't a goal. There are free, quality courses in the area, more convenient than ours, so I doubt if we built a fun course we'd draw steady play, anyway. And I'm not sure we'd like constant crowds.

An NT won't bring in money---it'll cost a lot.

But here's the advantage of building a high-level course: We get to meet and play with a lot of people whom we'd never meet otherwise. We're a stop for people traveling the Southeast, sitting roughly between Charlotte and Augusta hotspots. So, in remote SC, I've played with people from CA, OR, MN, WI, MI, ME, CT, AK, Canada, and who knows where else. I've met everyone in the 1000-course club, and played with Pros, designers, and others whose tracks I'd never cross anywhere else.

Over time we've built overlapping layouts that allow us to play a "lighter" version when we don't have time or energy for the most grueling layout, which has worked well for us.

Oh, and most importantly, as Goatman suggested, we've built a course that we like to play. If nobody else does, we can still enjoy it.

 

[scarpfish]

I absolutely think we're making the right decision based on the demographics in our area, but I've always wondered what we're going to be missing out on by not installing the championship level course.

Nothing.

Can NT's bring in a lot of money or prestige to a course?

No, as this sport as a whole has no money or prestige.

Do pros only play gold courses?

Pros would play an elementary school pitch and putt if there was enough money riding on it.

Just what are the benefits of owning a championship, gold level course vs a shorter, amateur type course?

Other than building something out of the ordinary that will help bring in folks from far away, not that much.

To me, one of the benefits of having a private course of any type is that you can build it as you want. If the existing version gets boring, you can change it up whenever you want.

 

[JC17393]

If you're building a course with the aim of it being a viable, self-sustaining pay for play course, a white to blue level course (or a couple) is where you'll make your best bang for the buck. Re-playability is ideally what you're after. Most people can get bored with a red-level course after a while. The majority of players are going to get scared away by a gold level course (maybe they play it once, just to say they did).

At every place around here with multiple courses on site (and there are a few in Maine), they'll tell you that the course they designate as their "pro" course (i.e. the harder one) is the one that gets the lesser amount of play. Maybe it's a 60/40 split or 51/49 or 90/10, but "fun" tends to win out for the most part. Not to say that easy=fun, but hard, especially too hard for a given skill level, definitely can equal no fun. And no fun usually means no return.

 

[mashnut]

Gold level courses often provide pretty poor scoring spread for a lot of amateur players too. Even if people aren't thinking about that, they'll at least subconsciously notice when they have no chance at a birdie on a bunch of the holes.

 

[hipster]

I definitely like the idea of roller ramps, an on site brewery would be nice too.

 

[biscoe]

My brother and I built a course; here's a perspective to consider.

Our course is not a gold course, but it's pretty challenging, nonetheless.

We're not trying to make money, so getting lots of play from local amateurs isn't a goal. There are free, quality courses in the area, more convenient than ours, so I doubt if we built a fun course we'd draw steady play, anyway. And I'm not sure we'd like constant crowds.

An NT won't bring in money---it'll cost a lot.

But here's the advantage of building a high-level course: We get to meet and play with a lot of people whom we'd never meet otherwise. We're a stop for people traveling the Southeast, sitting roughly between Charlotte and Augusta hotspots. So, in remote SC, I've played with people from CA, OR, MN, WI, MI, ME, CT, AK, Canada, and who knows where else. I've met everyone in the 1000-course club, and played with Pros, designers, and others whose tracks I'd never cross anywhere else.

Over time we've built overlapping layouts that allow us to play a "lighter" version when we don't have time or energy for the most grueling layout, which has worked well for us.

Oh, and most importantly, as Goatman suggested, we've built a course that we like to play. If nobody else does, we can still enjoy it.

Other than adding a "lighter" layout my experience with Hawk Hollow mirrors David's.

 

[1978]

I recently bought a 25 acre tract and decided to install a disc golf course on it. The initial idea was to build the best championship level course we could using the entire property. It's a beautiful piece of land and I think we could have put a great 8500 ft gold level course on it.

The property happens to be located though in a fairly populous area with a large number of local amateur players. So in the end we decided not to go with a championship level course and instead install two 18 hole "fun" courses. The large one will have red/white/blue tees with a max distance of 6500 ft and the smaller will be a 2000 ft par 2 pitch and putt type course.

I absolutely think we're making the right decision based on the demographics in our area, but I've always wondered what we're going to be missing out on by not installing the championship level course. Can NT's bring in a lot of money or prestige to a course? Do pros only play gold courses? Just what are the benefits of owning a championship, gold level course vs a shorter, amateur type course?

25 acres for a 6500FT course and a 2000 FT course seems really small. The rule of thumb is about an acre per hole but that would only get you 7500' of course, I guess it would work but I bet it is a little tight in there with parking and all.

 

[1978]

a course long enough for gold level tees and designed well enough to host national tournaments.

The course will be P2P so the decision to go with two smaller courses was purely economical. Two smaller courses also leaves room for a clubhouse, music stage, etc that would have been tough squeezing in with the larger course. I'll probably be playing the white tees on the large course most of the time (except the pitch and putt is sure fun to play so I'm already spending more time there).

You would need a good 50+ acres, probably more with the amentites you would want to have. Designing a proper (responsible) disc golf course design (if you dont just plain build obstacles) takes you in and out of the terrain. You can't just line up the holes in order back to back. Utilizing what nature provides properly is a halmark of many of the great championship courses out there...OH and length. Length &(+) risk creates the scoring spread you want from pro's. Anyone can shoot -15 on a 6000' course. You cant just section off 25 acres into 25 pieces of 300' holes and expect a good result. In my experience, pro's dont like things that get in their way (little trees) so you have to have the room to make very clear, very defined fairways and fairway shapes.

 

[Mando]

Nothing.


No, as this sport as a whole has no money or prestige.


Pros would play an elementary school pitch and putt if there was enough money riding on it.


Other than building something out of the ordinary that will help bring in folks from far away, not that much.

To me, one of the benefits of having a private course of any type is that you can build it as you want. If the existing version gets boring, you can change it up whenever you want.

Good answers. I echo all those sentiments. You are barking up the wrong tree.