How much would you pay?

[Timeetyo]

I think this fits in best for a tournament. But for casual play, it's not even something I take into consideration. When I play a casual round, I'm not looking to spend all day at the course. I just want to go, throw my round, and then get on with the rest of the day.

If I want food or something to drink, it might be nice to eat at the course, but I also can more than likely find better food on the drive to or from the course.

This.

 

[The Last DJ]

Good stuff! Thanks for all the feedback! How much does the ability to have food (sandwiches, burgers, bar food) and beer come into the equation for you?

I would be much more likely to stay at the course and get a daily pass if I would have a place to relax in between rounds. Having a burger and some craft beer to break up a day of disc golf sounds amazing! Is it spring yet?

 

[Steve West]

The only time Fort Snelling ever rented ALL their carts at the same time was during a disc golf event.

Be sure to factor in the revenue from hot dogs and beer. That can be much more than the admission fee.

 

[Dan Ensor]

Good stuff! Thanks for all the feedback! How much does the ability to have food (sandwiches, burgers, bar food) and beer come into the equation for you?

My thinking is that trying to provide food just whenever would make any DG or ball golf course go broke. I'm guessing you'd need complete course saturation to make it feasible.


My CC just had a small kitchen that was open to members. Very nice for all day expeditions. But this is BFE ... it's 20 minutes or something to ANY food from the course.

 

[clard]

Good stuff! Thanks for all the feedback! How much does the ability to have food (sandwiches, burgers, bar food) and beer come into the equation for you?

If anything I would say having a snack stand with water, gatorade, and some granola bars would be your best bet. Even people who are willing to pay to play probably don't regularly want to drop $8-15 on food while they are there.

 

[MacDaddy]

Thanks again for your comments! This is already a working ball golf course, with food and beverage service. They are looking at adding disc golf to in crease their traffic, round count, pro shop sales and of course, the bottom line. Really trying to figure out price points (per round, per day, season pass, cart) and potential numbers of users. They are in the Midwest, close to the Interstate and within 1 hour of LOTS of disc golfers.

 

[A rod]

Would pay $5/round occasionally. Pay 100-150 for a year pass depending on the difficulty and course design, amenities etc.

I would not pay to play at an easy ish course. There are plenty of small courses to play for free or just take my basket out to a park.

The sport needs some par 60+ courses. I honestly think the problem with DG (if there was one) is course difficulty.

Too many courses have one mediocre difficulty pad and then another pad that's the same shot but 20' further. Alternate tees need to be u utilized to increase difficulty.

 

[scarpfish]

Great rebuttal. You clearly know the will of every DGer everywhere.

I don't have to know the will of every DGer everywhere. I have the knowledge of what 11 years experience playing this game has taught me about it, and the demographics of the people who play it.

I know when a group of people tee off together, even on your rudimentary Par 54 layout, their discs don't always land together. On a Par 72ish layout, with longer holes and more evil obstacles, that scatter pattern is going to be amplified considerably.

I know in three years of playing our local leagues, on a couple of those Par 54 layouts, there is plenty of time for socializing, before, during and after the proceedings. The fact that no one goes terribly off course keeps the group together and chatty.

I know in a few trips to Kansas City, big monstrous Blue Valley Park, (at 11,000 ft set long and Par 67) is largely empty every time I've been there. I've seen more illegal ATV riding in that park than I have perfectly legal disc golf. Meanwhile, while the 30 year old "obsolete" top course at Rosedale Park (well under 6,000 feet set short) is crowded every afternoon, and probably all day on weekends.

Honestly, I would like to see disc golf move in the direction of more Par 4 and 5 holes, merely for sake of breaking up the monotony, but we don't have to mimic the ball golf formula of 3-5 Par-3's, 3-5 Par-5's and the rest Par-4's to get a Par 70-74 ball golf like layout. There are other ways to make a disc golf course stand out, and entice people to pay for the experience, besides making it longer. Bryant Lake Park in the Twin Cities is proof of this.

 

[thatdirtykid]

Depends on the course, but if its good and relatively convenient (less than 1 hour)
$5/$9/$75 wouldnt pay for carts.
There are too many good free not too crowded courses within an hour or two of me, that I don't get to play enough.

RE Par 70 golf, I am all for it but prefer to see tight 5-600' holes where it takes two good 300' placement shots to get a 3 than a few 900' mostly open (golf fairway) holes. Playing between fairways, with greens/bunkers OB golf courses can have a pretty good variety of woods/elevation/landscape.

Saying Par 54 golf is good enough is fine, but saying we only want par 64+ to be like golf is silly. There is a whole new element to the game when a hole is not reachable in 1.

 

[DavidSauls]

Good stuff! Thanks for all the feedback! How much does the ability to have food (sandwiches, burgers, bar food) and beer come into the equation for you?

More instructive than what a dozen people people here think, might be the experience of other disc-golf-on-ball-golf properties.

A few have claimed to be "championship level" courses, but rarely if ever do they get highly rated. Perhaps you've solved that formula.

The one near me that recently closed had many of these aspects---14,000' from the gold tees, huge elevation, groomed, amenities like carts and on-site food. What it lacked was proximinity to a lot of disc golfers, or an interstate. It was sold with a great deal of fanfare, but never seemed to flourish.

I'd find some of the others that havebeen more successful, and learn from them.

 

[DatRedDude]

Thanks again for your comments! This is already a working ball golf course, with food and beverage service. They are looking at adding disc golf to in crease their traffic, round count, pro shop sales and of course, the bottom line. Really trying to figure out price points (per round, per day, season pass, cart) and potential numbers of users. They are in the Midwest, close to the Interstate and within 1 hour of LOTS of disc golfers.

What's the price point of the golf course itself?

The philosophy around green fees for golf is 10$ for every million put into the course. So simple math says if you put 4 million into building your golf course you charge 40$ for green fees with cart. So what you pay to play on a course is in direct correlation to what they put into it. If its a course that basically puts no money back in the course then no thanks.

I am in your area and i play golf on all the courses in this area. I would be curious as to which course this is at. I know you can't just throw that info out but i will say this. I believe in this area there are many public courses that could maintain this but there are many that already take almost 5 hours to play and adding a disc golf course to the mix would be a disaster, also see above about courses that put money back into their land.

I pay to play boondocks in knightstown quite often, leave a 10 in the box and play all day. I have donated to other private courses in the are and have no problem doing so. I also have disposable income and am pretty loose with my money(retirement be damned).

I would pay up to 10 for a round but at that price probably wouldn't play it often. I want nothing to do with a cart.

10$ for an all day pass sounds good, 100-150 for a yearly pass.

As far as food at the course, 5$ for a hot dog does nothing for me.

With being in the midwest and many courses shutting down during the winter months would that also be the case for the disc golf side of it?

I think the only time it would be profitable would be during off peak season for golf.

at work so a bunch of disconnected thoughts in this reply

 

[UCF_Knight]

Arod and Scarp's posts sum it up well for me. I think par 60+ is the sweet spot for DG. 11,000 feet is very long and thats only a par 67. I cant think of any of the guys I play with often, MA1/Open level players, that would regularly choose to play a par 70+ over a par 60-70.

Looking back at Iron Hill reviews not even all of the people going to the course as a DG destination are playing the 10,000+ layout.

Have you considered more than 18 holes?

 

[Timeetyo]

What it lacked was proximinity to a lot of disc golfers, or an interstate.

I think this is honestly one of the more important pieces (outside of designing a good course). Putting up a mega course in a land of few DGers will not make gold level players magically come.

Putting a solid course in a decent DG area with a ton of good courses - and although you will get some play it will be hard to entice us (cheap) DGers to pony up when there is a free option down the road.

Putting a solid course in the middle of a place with overcrowded courses and all of sudden there is a lot more incentive to buy that annual pass.

 

[Dan Ensor]

I don't have to know the will of every DGer everywhere. I have the knowledge of what 11 years experience playing this game has taught me about it, and the demographics of the people who play it.

I know when a group of people tee off together, even on your rudimentary Par 54 layout, their discs don't always land together. On a Par 72ish layout, with longer holes and more evil obstacles, that scatter pattern is going to be amplified considerably.

I know in three years of playing our local leagues, on a couple of those Par 54 layouts, there is plenty of time for socializing, before, during and after the proceedings. The fact that no one goes terribly off course keeps the group together and chatty.

I know in a few trips to Kansas City, big monstrous Blue Valley Park, (at 11,000 ft set long and Par 67) is largely empty every time I've been there. I've seen more illegal ATV riding in that park than I have perfectly legal disc golf. Meanwhile, while the 30 year old "obsolete" top course at Rosedale Park (well under 6,000 feet set short) is crowded every afternoon, and probably all day on weekends.

Honestly, I would like to see disc golf move in the direction of more Par 4 and 5 holes, merely for sake of breaking up the monotony, but we don't have to mimic the ball golf formula of 3-5 Par-3's, 3-5 Par-5's and the rest Par-4's to get a Par 70-74 ball golf like layout. There are other ways to make a disc golf course stand out, and entice people to pay for the experience, besides making it longer. Bryant Lake Park in the Twin Cities is proof of this.

Ozark Mountain is shorter than Big Blue, and a very legit Par 72. It's tough to not be walking with your group down the fairway on most holes. The obstacles usually keep the disc closer to the center of the fairway, not further away. Both of those are extremely taxing par-72s though. There doesn't have to be that much elevation change. If there are carts, even if the discs aren't too close, they're probably close enough to ride between.

And that's just casual golf. Tournament golf, I really despise the two-round days being typical. I can don't mind any one particular two-round day, but as a general scheme, I don't like it. I want to play a round of golf, feel like I played enough golf that day, and go prepare to be well-rested etc. for the next day. That's a par-72ish course (Big Blue is also enough golf for a day, at par-67)

I'm all down for a 12-hole par 54.


Par 3s lack risk and reward scenarios, and cannot adequately separate scores based on overall disc golf skill.

 

[Declarkus]

I'd personally like to get my round done in under two hours. A lot of people are quitting or cutting back on ball golf rounds precisely because they take too long.

This need to make par 70+ disc golf courses seems to stem from some inferiority complex some of us have to make ourselves more like our so-called "big brother sport" in every aspect. In all honesty, we really need to cut that out and run as far from that direction as possible.

I don't have to know the will of every DGer everywhere. I have the knowledge of what 11 years experience playing this game has taught me about it, and the demographics of the people who play it.
[...]
Honestly, I would like to see disc golf move in the direction of more Par 4 and 5 holes, merely for sake of breaking up the monotony, but we don't have to mimic the ball golf formula of 3-5 Par-3's, 3-5 Par-5's and the rest Par-4's to get a Par 70-74 ball golf like layout.

Wow. You actually managed to disagree with both layouts......but I'm sure you disagree with that, too.

 

[Monkeypaws]

$5 a day unless it is extra special, in which case I'd go as high as $10.

No more than $20 for a season pass.

 

[chevis]

I think this is honestly one of the more important pieces (outside of designing a good course). Putting up a mega course in a land of few DGers will not make gold level players magically come.

Putting a solid course in a decent DG area with a ton of good courses - and although you will get some play it will be hard to entice us (cheap) DGers to pony up when there is a free option down the road.

Putting a solid course in the middle of a place with overcrowded courses and all of sudden there is a lot more incentive to buy that annual pass.

^this

 

[BENFTS]

$5, or I'm going with other options.

 

[Mr. Butlertron]

I got into disc golf because it was free to throw my local courses. I dread the day when pay to play courses are the norm.

 

[Cgkdisc]

No need to speculate on whether a gold level course will draw more in a market than an easier/shorter course. In multi-course complexes I can think of like Highbridge, IDGC or Lemon Lake, the Gold course has fewer rounds played than the others. I suspect the Silver layout within the Lemon Lake Gold course also gets more rounds than the Gold layout.