-
Discover new ways to elevate your game with the updated DGCourseReview app!
It's entirely free and enhanced with features shaped by user feedback to ensure your best experience on the course. (App Store or Google Play)
What makes a great disc golf course ?
- Thread starter Jmorri67
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2009
- Messages
- 15,752
First and foremost: variety.
-Fairway Types: open, moderately wooded, densely wooded.
-Fairway Shapes: left, right, straight, S-shaped, some weird or interesting ones...
-elevation: uphills, downhills, risk reward pin placements on near slopes/drop-offs, holes that throw over gullies, over hills/rises, and at least a few flat or nearly flat, some holes that can have you putting uphill or downhill based on where your upshot lands.
-Distances: good mix of all kinds of distance, and should have at least a couple of 175-225' Ace Runs, and at least a couple of 500'+ bombers, and all sorts of stuff in between, especially good if there are some holes of similar distance that play quite differently due to elevation.
Until you have ^this^, you can't begin to think about a truly great course - that's square one.
Multiple pins/tees helps (if well executed), but is not absolutely necessary, and won't save a bad course from being bad.
Other factors that determine whether a course is truly great or not:
Basics: Tees, baskets, signs, upkeep & maintenance. I don't care how great the holes are, if people can't find their way, or things are in disrepair, things aren't great. Basics don't have to be incredible - they just have to be good enough to "not be a factor." No one really shoots better because of truly exceptional baskets, tees, or posts, but they can certainly shoot worse when things suck. Good = great as far as I'm concerned on this. If you get this wrong, it doesn't matter what else you get right.
Beauty - a great course is inviting to play and a pleasure to see, would be a nice walk without discs.
Challenge - great courses are challenging, yet able to be accommodating to a variety of skill level. Hard to be great if too many holes are easy (or impossible) to par, which leads me to...
Scoring separation: tougher to do than it sounds. Well designed holes create scoring separation. don't want to elaborate here, search other threads for more info.
Good use of natural elements, especially water.
Flows well from hole to hole.
Fun factor - makes you want to come back.
Bonus for things like: unique holes, hanging baskets, basket in tree, water carries that aren't absurd, charm, and unique touches you often see on private courses which give them personality (as long as things aren't overdone).
Top of the world shots (who doesn't love 'em?).
I'm pretty sure I left some stuff out, but if you used my list to evaluate a given course, and everything scores favorably, you definitely have a great course. How great is a matter of details related to that course and personal tastes.
-Fairway Types: open, moderately wooded, densely wooded.
-Fairway Shapes: left, right, straight, S-shaped, some weird or interesting ones...
-elevation: uphills, downhills, risk reward pin placements on near slopes/drop-offs, holes that throw over gullies, over hills/rises, and at least a few flat or nearly flat, some holes that can have you putting uphill or downhill based on where your upshot lands.
-Distances: good mix of all kinds of distance, and should have at least a couple of 175-225' Ace Runs, and at least a couple of 500'+ bombers, and all sorts of stuff in between, especially good if there are some holes of similar distance that play quite differently due to elevation.
Until you have ^this^, you can't begin to think about a truly great course - that's square one.
Multiple pins/tees helps (if well executed), but is not absolutely necessary, and won't save a bad course from being bad.
Other factors that determine whether a course is truly great or not:
Basics: Tees, baskets, signs, upkeep & maintenance. I don't care how great the holes are, if people can't find their way, or things are in disrepair, things aren't great. Basics don't have to be incredible - they just have to be good enough to "not be a factor." No one really shoots better because of truly exceptional baskets, tees, or posts, but they can certainly shoot worse when things suck. Good = great as far as I'm concerned on this. If you get this wrong, it doesn't matter what else you get right.
Beauty - a great course is inviting to play and a pleasure to see, would be a nice walk without discs.
Challenge - great courses are challenging, yet able to be accommodating to a variety of skill level. Hard to be great if too many holes are easy (or impossible) to par, which leads me to...
Scoring separation: tougher to do than it sounds. Well designed holes create scoring separation. don't want to elaborate here, search other threads for more info.
Good use of natural elements, especially water.
Flows well from hole to hole.
Fun factor - makes you want to come back.
Bonus for things like: unique holes, hanging baskets, basket in tree, water carries that aren't absurd, charm, and unique touches you often see on private courses which give them personality (as long as things aren't overdone).
Top of the world shots (who doesn't love 'em?).
I'm pretty sure I left some stuff out, but if you used my list to evaluate a given course, and everything scores favorably, you definitely have a great course. How great is a matter of details related to that course and personal tastes.
Last edited:
That pretty well covers it.
DiscinFiend
* Ace Member *
Variation
I don't think I can add much to Bogey's list, except this:
The greatest course of all has all that, and is 10 minutes from your house.
The greatest course of all has all that, and is 10 minutes from your house.
Rockiesfan4ever
Birdie Member
I don't think I can add much to Bogey's list, except this:
The greatest course of all has all that, and is 10 minutes from your house.
It's in your backyard.
That basically covers it. Multiple tees/pins can also help with the variety aspect of it. It's nice to go to the course and have a "different" hole to play because they moved the basket or you try a different tee.
nat16dick
Bogey Member
I will respectfully disagree with this. While having a bathroom onsite might be nice occasionally, I rarely find myself having to go in the middle of a round. Taking care of that kind of stuff before leaving home is smart. I could care less about park amenities (bathrooms, water fountains, picnic areas, etc.). As long as the course is great, bathrooms do nothing to affect my view of a course.
But that's me. If you want bathrooms, that's cool as well :thmbup:
Post 2 seems to cover a lot of it. Ill just say that during summer months that a course basically needs 50% or more canopy otherwise it can just be waaaaaaay to hot. I love open courses but June-August me and my friends basically stay at the courses with lots of trees. The sun is just brutal.
Since Bogey saved me about 200 words, I'll toss in a few very subjective thoughts as well:
In my mind, a good hole is one in which, when I stand on the teepad, I have considerable doubt as to what score I will get---and that doubt is dependent on my decisions and execution, not on luck. A great hole is a good hole that presents an interesting and unusual challenge. To steal Harold Duvall's line, it's a hole you approach with anticipation and anxiety.
Even more subjective, a poor hole is one that I don't enjoy playing. This usually falls into one of two categories: boring holes, in which the score is pretty certain; and "luck" holes or holes that I don't enjoy throwing, even when I score well on them. If I birdie a hole and didn't like it, I deem it a poor hole.
Which brings me to the Great Course. A Great Course has a high percentage of good and great holes, and no more than one or two poor holes.
In my mind, a good hole is one in which, when I stand on the teepad, I have considerable doubt as to what score I will get---and that doubt is dependent on my decisions and execution, not on luck. A great hole is a good hole that presents an interesting and unusual challenge. To steal Harold Duvall's line, it's a hole you approach with anticipation and anxiety.
Even more subjective, a poor hole is one that I don't enjoy playing. This usually falls into one of two categories: boring holes, in which the score is pretty certain; and "luck" holes or holes that I don't enjoy throwing, even when I score well on them. If I birdie a hole and didn't like it, I deem it a poor hole.
Which brings me to the Great Course. A Great Course has a high percentage of good and great holes, and no more than one or two poor holes.
Halcón
Free At Last
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2012
- Messages
- 12,038
Water fountains are a huge plus too. Obviously, a course can be great without a bathroom. But, IMO, it can't be a "5."
Bogey's list is pretty good too.
I've only seen a few backyard courses[and I've seen plenty] that even qualify as good, let alone great. If you mean that you live next door to a excellent, developed course, I agree. But 10 minutes is as good as next door almost anywhere in the US.
ForTheGlory
Birdie Member
Bogeys list + in my backyard + all wired and lit up for complete rounds of night golf (we're dreaming here, right?) = great course
I've seen a few. I think a few courses in the Top 25 might qualify. At any rate, the "backyard" post was a supplement to Bogey's list; a course with all that, AND in my backyard.
Ah, but that's just an individual's benefit, not a definition of a Great Course.
10 minutes away might be better than in your backyard...because it means someone else is doing the work.
^^^Heh---saw a guy use his dog packs on his Labrador to haul his 4 discs. Only thing was, the dog had a tendency to roam and chase squirrels, leaving him putting with his Katana.
If you mean Flip City and Idlewild, I certainly agree, but to me those go far beyond a "backyard" course.
If you mean Flip City and Idlewild, I certainly agree, but to me those go far beyond a "backyard" course.
Last edited:
Clever.
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2009
- Messages
- 15,752
A few words regarding amenities:
IMHO, they're much more important at multi-course destinations where you're likely to be spending a whole day (or most of it) on site.
I can't tell you how much I appreciated a clean bathroom with running water when I played 4 courses in a one day at Lemon Lake, or being able to take a break, wash up and grab a bite between 24 hole rounds at Hudson Mills' Activity Center. It'd be hard to top the amenities at IDGC (loved the boot cleaners they had behind the building in addition to everything else), and being able to buy drinks, snacks, and discs when playing 30 holes at Ponds of Lakeshore. Decent amenities make a long outings a much better experience, and leave you in better shape for subsequent rounds.
Extras like next tee signs, distance to pin markers, high visibility baskets, scorecards w/maps, etc. are particularly nice when you're on the road playing new courses, and can save enough time to make the difference between squeezing in an extra course that day or not playing one.
That said, all of these might account for roughly ½ disc in my course rating (regardless of how much review space I may use to list them).
A great course must be able to stand on it's own, with/without extras. They certainly enhance your ability to enjoy the course(s), but like the basics, they can't improve a bad course, or make a pretty good course truly great. If you enhance "meh," you end up with really nice "meh." If you have a great course, it's a great course even without any of that (e.g. Flip City, Leviathan).
IMHO, they're much more important at multi-course destinations where you're likely to be spending a whole day (or most of it) on site.
I can't tell you how much I appreciated a clean bathroom with running water when I played 4 courses in a one day at Lemon Lake, or being able to take a break, wash up and grab a bite between 24 hole rounds at Hudson Mills' Activity Center. It'd be hard to top the amenities at IDGC (loved the boot cleaners they had behind the building in addition to everything else), and being able to buy drinks, snacks, and discs when playing 30 holes at Ponds of Lakeshore. Decent amenities make a long outings a much better experience, and leave you in better shape for subsequent rounds.
Extras like next tee signs, distance to pin markers, high visibility baskets, scorecards w/maps, etc. are particularly nice when you're on the road playing new courses, and can save enough time to make the difference between squeezing in an extra course that day or not playing one.
That said, all of these might account for roughly ½ disc in my course rating (regardless of how much review space I may use to list them).
A great course must be able to stand on it's own, with/without extras. They certainly enhance your ability to enjoy the course(s), but like the basics, they can't improve a bad course, or make a pretty good course truly great. If you enhance "meh," you end up with really nice "meh." If you have a great course, it's a great course even without any of that (e.g. Flip City, Leviathan).
Last edited:
MarkDSM
Double Eagle Member
Playing many hot weather rounds lately..
+ for shade
+ for parking that allows for pit stops mid round
+ for nearby convenience store for beverages / ice
+ for fountains (wash off poison ivy / cool off)
+ for shade
+ for parking that allows for pit stops mid round
+ for nearby convenience store for beverages / ice
+ for fountains (wash off poison ivy / cool off)
Similar threads
