Best DG in the country.

[New013]

So my sister is taking a statistics class and has to do a project where she took data and created a ranking. She came to me for help because I'm, in her words, "mathy." Her idea for the project was some lame crap about rainfall so I steered her towards DGCR and told her here's a giant database, use it. She then said that the database already shows what the best courses are and she had to create her own rankings so I suggested she figure out what the best place to live for disc golf was in terms of quality.

After that I didn't really give her that much more help other than to tell her the task would be less daunting if she used the parameters to create a smaller sampling. She settled on these parameters. An area to be considered had to have courses that were 18 or more holes, 3+ in rating, had 5+ reviews, and be in a 29 mile radius.

She then basically used the 25 mile radius (which goes out to over 30 for some reason so she bumped it up to anything inside 29) to click on every part of the country and find areas where high quality disc golf was located. Note that if a course didn't pop up on the map she didn't use it, so some listed courses are not included.

When she found an area with a high quality selection of courses she would mark it and it's rating down. She then created this formula to determine the score for each area.

(Sum of the course ratings) * (Avg. course rating of courses squared) OR

(A+B+C...) * (Avg^2).

This formula created the ranking system and she cut the list at the Top 35 areas to live for high quality disc golf. Here's her list. (note that the place or city listed is the one closest to the X she marked on the map; if there is a large city near there where many of the courses are located it is listed in parenthesis beside it.)

1. 975 - Dallas - Fort Worth, TX
2. 926 - Charlotte, NC
3. 812 - Farmington Hills, MI (Ann Arbor, MI)
4. 737 - Minneapolis, MN
5. 693 - Kansas City, MO
6. 690 - Augusta, ME
7. 680 - Denver, CO
8. 647 - Austin, TX
9. 632 - Hubbardston, MA (Worchester, MA)
10. 619 - Tulsa, OK
11. 612 - Allentown, PA
12. 579 - Portland, OR
13. 555 - Orlando Park, IL (Chicago, IL)
14. 552 - Johnson City, TN / Linville, NC
15. 537 - Atlanta, GA
16. 526 - Oxford, PA (Lancaster, PA / Wilmington, DE)
17. 522 - Cincinnati, OH
18. 503 - Hart, MI
19. 494 - Des Moines, IA
20. 485 - Augusta, GA
21. 452 - Houston, TX
22. 431 - Kalamazoo, MI
23. 419 - Lake Tahoe, CA
24. 409 - St. Louis, MO
25. 405 - Louisville, KY
26. 403 - Los Angeles, CA
27. 399 - Memphis, TN
28. 388 - Cedar Rapids, IA
29. 376 - Seattle, WA
30. 371 - Oklahoma City, OK
31. 370 - Raleigh, NC
32. 368 - Davenport, IA
33. 363 - Columbus, OH
34. 357 - Baltimore, MD
35. 350 - Indianapolis, IN

 

[1978]

Nice, I just started a job for a company that is based in DFW but does third party work for the company I used to work for in Charlotte so I dont have to move. Best of both worlds when I travel to the mother ship.

 

[grodney]

She then created this formula to determine the score for each area.

(Sum of the course ratings) * (Avg. course rating of courses squared) OR

(A+B+C...) * (Avg^2)

What's the logic or reasoning for this formula, if any?

 

[BogeyNoMore]

Summing the ratings allows places with more courses to rack up points.
Squaring the average rating favors places where the average course rating is higher - thus weighting quality over quantity.

 

[New013]

Squaring it will favor places with a higher average rating.

this. at first it was just the sum times the average but squaring the average changed the list quite a bit to favor places with a bit fewer but higher quality courses.

Johnson City / Linville jumped like 5 spots just because the quality of courses there were so high.

if you want some perfect explanation of why this formula was used you wont get one, it's just what she came up with and looking at the results i can't really complain.

 

[grodney]

Whither Chequamegon National Forest (aka Highbridge and others)? I get 460 points.

Also, rounded disc rating? Or actual decimal rating to 2 places?

 

[BogeyNoMore]

Interesting... I'm guessing Wisconsin's quality courses must be too spread out to make this list, because there certainly seem to be a lot of 3.5+ courses in the state.

Thank your sister for us! :thmbup: Not sure how definitive this is (may actually turn out to be pretty damn good), but at the very least, it's food for thought, and exactly the kind of stuff we on this site just love to debate!

this. at first it was just the sum times the average but squaring the average changed the list quite a bit to favor places with a bit fewer but higher quality courses.

^I'm a bit on the mathy (i.e. geeky) side as well


Three cheers for where I live! :hfive:

 

[rocthecourse]

http://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32382

Steve West's best places to live based on the " approximately the number of baskets you could play everyday, although that's not the definition and there is more to it than that. as of 1/1/11."

It might be helpful, at least to compare results.

Edit: it looks like you are close, your number 3 location is 10 miles or so from his number 1.

 

[grodney]

Spottsylvania, VA might make the list, too. Unless it's covered in one of those.

 

[ru4por]

Pretty good list. I have played a couple handfuls of these areas and don't think I could really argue too much. Usually, when on a week road trip, our area extends beyond 30 miles so I might list a little different. Kudo for the project and the feedback for this site.

 

[DavidSauls]

There are, of course, all kinds of ways to come up with formulas to rate places. They're fun, but hardly definitive.

At a glance, this formula has an side effect that if an area has a good average, and builds a 1.0 course on an elementary school ground, it drops the area's rating---even though nothing has changed about the courses people would likely play.

 

[dukdukgolf]

Looking at this briefly. (A+b+C) courses are added. So one side of the equation is How many Courses in the area and other side is Quality of those courses. Not to burst your bubble id question any results from a formula like this.

Basically places with few courses will never compete with places with alot of courses simply becuase your adding them all together on the left side of the equation. I dont see how this can show anything other than who has the most courses. If an area only has 2 top courses in the country it still wouldnt compete with somewhere that has 10 so so courses, no with this formula. I think you would need to decrease the value of each additional course to balance it out. Like Course 1 is worth X, Course two is worth X-, Course three is worth X-- and so on.

 

[grodney]

Here's a similar list compiled in Nov:

And its thread:
http://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59454&page=5

 

[New013]

good catch with highbridge.. i didn't notice that. i'm guessing there is more than likely a few places left off just because she has no clue when it comes to disc golf and her method was literally clicking on the map and seeing what popped up.

i got 460 with highbridge which would put it at 21. if there are any others you think might be left out bring it up so i can tell her. i know for a fact spotsy didn't make the list due to lack of sheer numbers, the tiki course wasn't included nor were any mini courses.

 

[rocthecourse]

Interesting... I'm guessing Wisconsin's quality courses must be too spread out to make this list, because there certainly seem to be a lot of 3.5+ courses in the state.

Highbridge, WI should be good enough to make the list.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

I have a feeling slight tweaks to the radius could flip the orde around quite a bit, although it wouldn't result in wholesale changes - I think the same places would simply get reordered for the most part.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

Looking at this briefly. (A+b+C) courses are added. So one side of the equation is How many Courses in the area and other side is Quality of those courses. Not to burst your bubble id question any results from a formula like this.

Basically places with few courses will never compete with places with alot of courses simply becuase your adding them all together on the left side of the equation. I dont see how this can show anything other than who has the most courses. If an area only has 2 top courses in the country it still wouldnt compete with somewhere that has 10 so so courses, no with this formula. I think you would need to decrease the value of each additional course to balance it out. Like Course 1 is worth X, Course two is worth X-, Course three is worth X-- and so on.

apparently, you're not "mathy"... that's the beauty in squaring the average rating.

Highbridge, WI should be good enough to make the list.

I could see how it might, all by itself... plus Sandy Pointe's not too far from there, as well some others. Also, she may have seen it as only one course... you can't tell there are a bunch there until you zoom in on the map a bit.

 

[New013]

i see some of you are bringing up that places with a bunch of crappy courses are included, i guess i didn't explain it well enough. only courses 3+ were used in the sum or average. so any 1 disc courses were not included in any part of the formula.

if you want to argue that you would rather live in an area with three 4.5+ courses rather than eight 3.5 courses that's another story and you can go create your own list for us to argue about.

 

[SteezeOG]

I got 3 that are near or over 4 star rated within ten miles. It's a cool list but I'm good where I'm at. I've done enough city living prior to turning thirty. I like not dealing with traffic on the roads or at my regular courses.

 

[New013]

Corrected list with Highbridge included. Sorry Indianapolis.

1. 975 - Dallas - Fort Worth, TX
2. 926 - Charlotte, NC
3. 812 - Farmington Hills, MI (Ann Arbor, MI)
4. 737 - Minneapolis, MN
5. 693 - Kansas City, MO
6. 690 - Augusta, ME
7. 680 - Denver, CO
8. 647 - Austin, TX
9. 632 - Hubbardston, MA (Worchester, MA)
10. 619 - Tulsa, OK
11. 612 - Allentown, PA
12. 579 - Portland, OR
13. 555 - Orlando Park, IL (Chicago, IL)
14. 552 - Johnson City, TN / Linville, NC
15. 537 - Atlanta, GA
16. 526 - Oxford, PA (Lancaster, PA / Wilmington, DE)
17. 522 - Cincinnati, OH
18. 503 - Hart, MI
19. 494 - Des Moines, IA
20. 485 - Augusta, GA
21. 460 - Highbridge, WI
22. 452 - Houston, TX
23. 431 - Kalamazoo, MI
24. 419 - Lake Tahoe, CA
25. 409 - St. Louis, MO
26. 405 - Louisville, KY
27. 403 - Los Angeles, CA
28. 399 - Memphis, TN
29. 388 - Cedar Rapids, IA
30. 376 - Seattle, WA
31. 371 - Oklahoma City, OK
32. 370 - Raleigh, NC
33. 368 - Davenport, IA
34. 363 - Columbus, OH
35. 357 - Baltimore, MD