How do you play this course???

[pmorgan1214]

Played Handyman disc golf course today and got my but whooped. I play better at Idlewild then handyman.


First, Where in the world is your fairways. Its like someone took the disc golf course threw it in the woods and had no thought and did not care about opening fairways. Almost every hole from "pro" pad location has no fairway beyond 50-100 feet. you have to place the shot and then move on. The whole course revolves around luck.

Does anyone else feel that this course is just stupid and more of luck shots than actually having defined fairways.

 

[ru4por]

Lol, tough course for sure. Especially from the back tees. I have only played once with BogeyNoMore and we both got whooped pretty well too. I think it is a course that you need to play a few times and focus on hitting landing areas, to set up your next shots. This is the type course where you take your pars and bogeys in the woods and make up some strokes on the open holes, if you have the arm. I really enjoyed Handyman. Go back and dominate!!!

 

[BogeyNoMore]

^ Amen Brother!... that course bruised my ego something fierce! Demanding for sure, but I don't think it's unreasonable at all. It's a course that really penalizes you for being too aggressive on the tee if you don't have the skill or consistency to back up that aggresiveness... I think that added quite a few strokes to my round. You simply have to play that course within your ability, and as Ru4por said, play for placement.

Bite off too much from the tee, you could end up playing a hole from one bad lie to the next. That's not bad design - that's rewarding well placed shots and punishing bad ones.

I also think they were thinking ahead, too. Over the years, some of those trees will be lost to storms and such, and that course should still maintain it's intimidation factor.

 

[pmorgan1214]

I still feel that this course was harder than Idlewild. Idlewild has old fairways that are super nice and if you hit your line you are well deserved.

As to the landing areas i definately see that. However you can still be punished for a good placement shot. just too many trees.


We played 2 rounds. first on the longs. We were destroyed and ego sucked. Second round from the shorts. Other than losing my McPro Aviar on hole 8 i think that was the hole. It was black and in the middle of the creek that is cold as heck. I threw 2 putters on that hole and both in the water. retrieved on though. The shorts are fun to play.

I also think this course has no "fun" factor from longs. Other than saying i beat you or i had a great score. I find hitting one line every 30 shots is not rewarding enough.

 

[notapro]

I played it tree to tree. Next time it's from the shorts.

 

[zugthug1705]

I've only played the short tees but after a few rounds I get a better idea of how to play some of the goofy cluttered holes. The creek there is disgusting so I have to avoid using some of my favorite discs on the 2 holes you have to throw over it. Besides that I think it's a pretty cool, challenging course. I think they do a BYOP Triples tournament out there in the summer.

 

[Martin Dewgarita]

I loved that course. I thrive on pin point roc shots. Some of my best tourney rounds are on tight technical courses. It's what I built myself in my back yard, remind me that if you come play my course, I only let you play the red and white layouts.

Anyway, HaH was definitely one of my favorites of the area on a trip that included well over 100 courses. Fun technical lines that occasionally make me want to curl up in a ball and cry. Drool, I wish I could be out there right now.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

I can see lower scores on Idlewild than Handyman longs tees to long pins.

Fun factor is rather subjective, and while it's well designed, HAH didn't move my fun-o-meter as much as most courses that well designed. I think Ru4por got more out of it than I did, and that's how things go. People don't always see things quite the same. That's why I write reviews - I genuinely try to express what I think a course does well and what it doesn't. Hopefully, they help a few folks out.

 

[Ranger Rick]

sounds a lot like Lake Stevens http://www.dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=642 except you don't have the crazy egg baskets like they have at Lake Stevens.

 

[nat16dick]

I'm from Kansas, and upon moving to Oregon, I had a lot of similar problems to what you're describing. At the wooded courses, I was extremely frustrated by the seeming lack of fairways, and alleys to throw through. In the time since, I've learned to break the hole into segments, and analyze the hole in pieces for the different parts of your throw. Needless to say, I've gotten a lot more comfortable throwing mids and putters from the tee!