Half-Day St. Cloud Trip?

[smarkquart]

I play all winter long, but I am often confined to Saturdays. I am a little more flexible during Winter Break. I will also definitely hit up the Winter Carnival. Lastly, no matter what the weather, my am league starts up in March and will run through October.

 

[RyanisCorriganis]

Yes that's the sledding hill.

 

[MNThrower]

Wow. Really glad I went at this time of year. Hidden Lake has got to be even more unforgiving in the middle of the summer. Becker too. Played terrible all day but really great courses to play together. I'd definitely do it again.

Quick rundown:
Got up to Hidden Lake around 12:30 as planned and played long tees. Didn't have to look for my discs much this time of year which was nice but still one of the toughest courses I've played. Certainly would go back and play more aggressive with other people helping me search for discs haha.

Ran through Sportsmans Hill from 2:30-3:15. I really enjoy this course. Nothing too open or long but tough and fun. Really well taken care of too. I wish it was just a bit closer.

Only got through 10 at Becker by around 4:40. Ended up with some dog doo on my Roc and called it a day. Which was totally fine by me - I don't know how you guys get through more than 27 holes in a day regularly!

 

[BirdieMachine]

Nice courses. I really like Hidden Lake. It's a pretty tough course but the par's are really generous. I shot 12 down last time with two eagles. I havent played Sportsman. Becker is fun but havent been there in a couple years. Is the rough really nasty or has it died off? I think I'd only play there in the spring, same as Mayhew.

 

[Johnson]

I don't like Calvary even a little. Millstream and Riverside are nice though.

 

[MNThrower]

Calvary was a good stop when I had a full day and hit up Millstream, Calvary, Riverside, and Sportsmans all in a day. By itself it certainly isn't worth the trip and I didn't find Millstream to be all that great either.

Becker was really dried up now - thankfully. Just had to be sure not to throw a light green disc into the rough or a light orange one into some leaves. Found the Innova hunter Orange to be the best color overall for all situations.

I certainly did not shoot 12 down at Hidden Lake - more like 12 up. But that's not too uncommon for me. For some reason I still end up with a handful of terrible misfires each round and I couldn't make a putt to save my life (or par, actually). Still a really fun course and I normally throw way better somewhere after I've played through once. I'd consider doing this trip again in the next couple weeks but on a Saturday with a bit more time to rest my arm between rounds.

 

[smarkquart]

I have Monday, Dec 2nd off from teaching. I am not quite sure yet where I am going to head out, obviously weather permitting, but I am looking to hit up a course or three that is no more than 75 minutes outside of the Twin Cities. Weather permitting, I am thinking of hitting up some of the smaller courses around Saint Cloud and finishing the day up in Hidden Lake.

 

[MNThrower]

Man, I wish I could make that but I'm pretty much out of vacation for the year. It resets in January though so if you do something similar at the start of the new year let me know!

Also, definitely looking forward to your amateur league next year. I should probably start checking into some more official rules before then to make sure I'm not "that guy" on the course though. My friends and I are fairly chill about our rounds but I've been doing my best to shake off bad habits that I'm aware of lately (just small stuff like walking to my disc while someone is throwing, cracking a beer during someone's drive, etc).

 

[MNThrower]

Nice courses. I really like Hidden Lake. It's a pretty tough course but the par's are really generous. I shot 12 down last time with two eagles. I havent played Sportsman. Becker is fun but havent been there in a couple years. Is the rough really nasty or has it died off? I think I'd only play there in the spring, same as Mayhew.

You weren't kidding. I just checked out the scorecard I grabbed at the start of the round. I realized there was no map on it so I grabbed the phone to check the map here and didn't pay much attention to signs or pars after that.

I'm not sure I've seen a legit par 5 before let alone several on a scorecard. I have a hard enough time convincing people I play with that there are par 4's let alone 5's I've just gotten used to playing everything as 3's. Is that common to have par 5's? BRP and Kaposia don't have many 4's and I don't think any 5's.

 

[smarkquart]

Plymouth Creek #8 is a legitimate Par 5. Lochness is almost nothing but Par 4s. In Majestic Layout BRP has numerous Par 4s as well. It is tough thinking of many Par 5s. Go to Highbridge (our Am League is going there again next year as our annual road trip), Bear is almost all Par 5s, and there are more than a generous helping of them on Gold and Granite. Eastern Twin Cities is notorious for long Par 3s and technical Par 4s, but the only possible 5s that come to mind are Fort Snelling. Those who can bomb 450+ may disagree, but for those of us at 400 and under, Holes 2 and 12 from the Golds sure feel like 5s.