Girdwood, AK

Mountain DGC @ Alyeska Resort

1.255(based on 2 reviews)
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3 0
Smithreyjeff
Experience: 75 played 5 reviews
1.00 star(s)

Can check Alaska off my list. 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 15, 2015 Played the course:once

Pros:

I was on a National Geographic Expedition, but try to play disc golf as often and as many places as I can. After playing Alyeska I will now be able to cross Alaska off my list, but that is about all.

Cons:

The map on this website and the map you get at the course are exactly the same. Very hard to read and navigate, just like the some of the course.
It took some time to figure out where tee 1 was, once I finally found it after a few warm up throws to incorrect baskets. I had to wait about 20 minutes while a few meandering guests walk down the path that is between you and the basket and even after warnings are oblivious.
All of the holes have flags at the tee box as well as the basket, except for hole 1, it is missing the tee box flag?
Holes 1-4 are extremely difficult, you can not see the basket from the tee box and so most of the time I was throwing and hoping that I would be close enough to capture a par 3, I played the course twice to get a full 18 and that made round 2 slightly easier for these holes. I would say that for these first four holes there is a clear hiking trail that meanders through the woods getting you from tee to basket, but in no way is there anything close to a fairway. Holes 5-9 are your typical ski resort type course holes... Up and down a green slope, the negative on these easier holes was that is was in a drainage reservoir, the day I played it was dry, but a little rain could make this awful, and every so often I would walk past a hole in the ground that I could easily lose my leg up to my knee. Also on hole 8 there is a pole and chains, but no basket??

Other Thoughts:

I did lose a disc on hole 3, but am not anticipating getting it back.
For holes 1-4 be aware of the cow parsnip, I came home with several areas of itchiness on my legs.
The Pro shop does sell several Innova mids and distance discs, they also had an Alyeska putter that I purchased as a souvenir, but was a little dissappointed to see that it did not say Girdwood, AK or Alaska.
I was hoping to play the Girdwood DGC course, but was unable to manage the time and travel to get there, my understanding was that it wasn't too far from Alyeska.
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10 0
Steve West
Bronze level trusted reviewer
Experience: 10 months 612 played 30 reviews
1.50 star(s)

How bad do you want to play? 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 16, 2011 Played the course:once

Pros:

Tees provide good traction, plenty of elevation to play with, friendly and knowledgeable disc golfers work in the Alyeska Mountain Shop. Two sets of tees.

Cons:

You can't play it unless you are a guest of the Resort. The course is on the drainage for half the mountain, so it's not just soaked, it's covered with ankle-deep running mud which stains clothing and is very difficult to wash out. There are some safety concerns with the fairways of a few holes.

Other Thoughts:

Before playing this course, I was not expecting much from a 9-hole course at a hotel. And yet, I was still disappointed. But, not for the reasons I was expecting. I expected a little, safe, sanitary disc golf course on a manicured lawn that was appropriate for little old ladies and their grandkids to throw Frisbees(R) at.

Instead, what I found was a gnarly, muddy, tough to play and difficult to walk course, with some worrisome flight paths.

Here's how I think this might have come about:

Once upon a time...

A hard-core disc golfer was working at the resort. Everyday he looked up at the extreme terrain and dreamed of installing a disc golf course on the ski hill slopes and in the woods. He convinced someone in management that the popularity of disc golf guaranteed that the investment would pay off. Management agreed, but only wanted it to be an amenity for the guests, thinking that getting only a few more families to stay in the hotel was worth a whole season's worth of admission prices from day-players.

So it came to pass that management turned the design of the course over to the hard-core disc golfer, but only allowed the course to be near the hotel, which meant it had to be placed on one part of one ski run, plus a little along the trail to the maintenance shed.

Given these constraints, the hard-core disc golfer then set out to make the course that would provide the most challenge to himself. With a lot of hard work, including building up suitable tee pads, he succeeded, but at the cost of compromising some design safety principles, pretending that the ground would not always be wet (ignoring the wetland plants that are growing there) and allowing some throws over places where they really shouldn't go.

OK, that story may not have any truth to it at all, but it lets you know what kind of course to expect.

So the result is a course that isn't really right for the hotel guest who wants to try disc golf, nor for the advanced player who wants a challenging course.

This doesn't mean the course isn't interesting and fun, it's just not worth the unpleasantness. I felt no desire to play it a second time.

If only the management had decided to put in a stand-alone, destination-quality disc golf course on the front of the mountain. Think of how big, fun, and dry that course could have been. <sigh>
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