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Tornado Crossing reviews
15
0
Likely To Be a Good Future Play
Reviewed:
Played on:Dec 1, 2023
Played the course:once
Pros:
.
*** THIS REVIEW IS BASED ON PLAYING THE TEMP 9 HOLE LAYOUT AS IT EXISTED IN LATE 2023 ***
+ Excellent use of unused land in a huge park to create an area dedicated to disc golf. An incredible amount of clearing has been undertaken in order to create a mix of open and wooded holes
+ Bulletin board with course information (see pictures of the temp and permanent course maps), and a heavy duty lost disc "mailbox" is already installed
+ Each hole has two tee positions (although the tees are still being built). The frames are in, along with temporary signage. It looks like the tees will be pavers. A clever way to differentiate the tees is the material used for the frames: The long tees are framed with wood, and the short tees are framed with interlocking dark plastic sections. The signage includes distances from both tees, overhead photo maps of the holes with illustrated ideal throwing lines
+ DisCatcher baskets, and - the first time I've seen this from Innova - plastic discs mounted in the bottom of the baskets with directional arrows pointing toward the next tee. If you've played any Discmania/DiscGolfPark courses, you're already familiar with the metal arrows mounted in those baskets. But now Innova's doing it (and branding them too, because I guess a plain arrow isn't enough)
.
*** THIS REVIEW IS BASED ON PLAYING THE TEMP 9 HOLE LAYOUT AS IT EXISTED IN LATE 2023 ***
+ Excellent use of unused land in a huge park to create an area dedicated to disc golf. An incredible amount of clearing has been undertaken in order to create a mix of open and wooded holes
+ Bulletin board with course information (see pictures of the temp and permanent course maps), and a heavy duty lost disc "mailbox" is already installed
+ Each hole has two tee positions (although the tees are still being built). The frames are in, along with temporary signage. It looks like the tees will be pavers. A clever way to differentiate the tees is the material used for the frames: The long tees are framed with wood, and the short tees are framed with interlocking dark plastic sections. The signage includes distances from both tees, overhead photo maps of the holes with illustrated ideal throwing lines
+ DisCatcher baskets, and - the first time I've seen this from Innova - plastic discs mounted in the bottom of the baskets with directional arrows pointing toward the next tee. If you've played any Discmania/DiscGolfPark courses, you're already familiar with the metal arrows mounted in those baskets. But now Innova's doing it (and branding them too, because I guess a plain arrow isn't enough)
.
Cons:
.
- The downside of a dedicated disc golf area in a huge park is that it's a long walk from the parking lot. Using uDisc to help me plot a general direction to walk out past the beach volleyball courts and athletic fields to the gap in the treeline. One basket is visible about halfway out - but that's a practice basket - so, keep walking.
- The designers seem to get a kick out of leaving one tree right in your way, or creating holes that require throws through screens of skinny trees (on the temp 9 alone, you'll see this strategy on #1, #2, #4, #8). Most often this only affects the back tees, but the frequency gets a bit old. And the back tee on #7 is in a pit, so the fairway is at chest level. Maybe this will all get sorted out with some regular play, but right now the challenges feel artificial, like you can feel the designers saying "Hey, let's add this to make it harder…"
.
- The downside of a dedicated disc golf area in a huge park is that it's a long walk from the parking lot. Using uDisc to help me plot a general direction to walk out past the beach volleyball courts and athletic fields to the gap in the treeline. One basket is visible about halfway out - but that's a practice basket - so, keep walking.
- The designers seem to get a kick out of leaving one tree right in your way, or creating holes that require throws through screens of skinny trees (on the temp 9 alone, you'll see this strategy on #1, #2, #4, #8). Most often this only affects the back tees, but the frequency gets a bit old. And the back tee on #7 is in a pit, so the fairway is at chest level. Maybe this will all get sorted out with some regular play, but right now the challenges feel artificial, like you can feel the designers saying "Hey, let's add this to make it harder…"
.
Other Thoughts:
.
~ The Temp 9 includes a few very good holes, a handful of "meh" holes, and a few questionable holes. The "meh" holes tend to be just wide open throws across the center field. Two of them are par 4's (currently #7 and #8,will be #15 and #16 in the future). Wide open par 4's might be the most obnoxious holes in disc golf: throw into space, rinse and repeat). These will be helped somewhat by the full 18 layout, which will include more wooded holes. These open holes might end up feeling like a respite.
~ The best holes incorporate some woods to give them shape (#3, #4, #5). One uses woods combine with a downhill slope to create a ceiling, one uses a wood line along the entire side. The best of them (#5) appears to have been wholly cut out of thick woods. It's a dogleg left from the back tee, and a straight shot from the short tee - they ask for completely different shots, and they both play really well.
~ The questionable holes come at the very beginning (#1 and #2 now and in the future). The back tee on #1 plays through a narrow break in the trees, just in front of the short tee. That's great, but once you clear the gap, the basket is almost 90 degrees to the left, 150'+ across an open field. A similar 90 degree left turn is required on hole #2. This time you're throwing out of a wooded tee and into the open field, with the basket placed 200' up the hill. I don't see how either of these holes can be played for birdie (except for the lucky fairway throw-in) due to how sharp a turn each requires. Instead, you're left dinking and dunking on a couple of par 3's - which is a lousy way to start a round
~ The care that's been taken to create a course "out past the treeline" in this park makes me very optimistic about the eventual permanent course. This isn't the typical baskets-around-the-park scenario. I'm looking forward to coming back when the tees are in and the 18 is done
~ Played this winter as a raw temporary 9 with no tees, Tornado Crossing is a 2.0. Unless you're an <ahem> impatient bagger, my advice is to wait. I expect to return to the course once the 18 is finished and I will update this review. It's too early to make a final judgment yet. Let the full 18 get installed and played in a bit. I'm sure it will be better.
.
~ The Temp 9 includes a few very good holes, a handful of "meh" holes, and a few questionable holes. The "meh" holes tend to be just wide open throws across the center field. Two of them are par 4's (currently #7 and #8,will be #15 and #16 in the future). Wide open par 4's might be the most obnoxious holes in disc golf: throw into space, rinse and repeat). These will be helped somewhat by the full 18 layout, which will include more wooded holes. These open holes might end up feeling like a respite.
~ The best holes incorporate some woods to give them shape (#3, #4, #5). One uses woods combine with a downhill slope to create a ceiling, one uses a wood line along the entire side. The best of them (#5) appears to have been wholly cut out of thick woods. It's a dogleg left from the back tee, and a straight shot from the short tee - they ask for completely different shots, and they both play really well.
~ The questionable holes come at the very beginning (#1 and #2 now and in the future). The back tee on #1 plays through a narrow break in the trees, just in front of the short tee. That's great, but once you clear the gap, the basket is almost 90 degrees to the left, 150'+ across an open field. A similar 90 degree left turn is required on hole #2. This time you're throwing out of a wooded tee and into the open field, with the basket placed 200' up the hill. I don't see how either of these holes can be played for birdie (except for the lucky fairway throw-in) due to how sharp a turn each requires. Instead, you're left dinking and dunking on a couple of par 3's - which is a lousy way to start a round
~ The care that's been taken to create a course "out past the treeline" in this park makes me very optimistic about the eventual permanent course. This isn't the typical baskets-around-the-park scenario. I'm looking forward to coming back when the tees are in and the 18 is done
~ Played this winter as a raw temporary 9 with no tees, Tornado Crossing is a 2.0. Unless you're an <ahem> impatient bagger, my advice is to wait. I expect to return to the course once the 18 is finished and I will update this review. It's too early to make a final judgment yet. Let the full 18 get installed and played in a bit. I'm sure it will be better.
.
