My first in state marathon of disc golf.

[harr0140]

I was on a mission today to get to a bunch of courses I haven't played before. I left at 7:30 this morning and headed about 25 miles northeast to Grafton to Lime Kiln Park. Its a cool park right along the rushing Milwaukee River (you can hear the water from just about everywhere on the course). It's a little 9 holer, that is fairly short, but has some large terrain changes and tucked baskets. Because I am still learning the game and specific discs, if I can, I always play two discs. Since noone was there I did throw two discs the entire way. The first round of the day was enjoyable albeit a little cool (30 degrees). Only 1 birdie and it came on the first hole. I finished my round and got back in the car and headed north about 10 more miles to Saukville to Tendick Nature Park. I knew half of the course was closed for reseeding the prairie area, but I still wanted to see the course because it was pretty cool looking from the pics. Wow, what a well thought out course. Two sets of trapezoidal concrete teepads and 2-3 hole locations per hole. I played 1 from each tee so I could see the whole course. I actually shot 2 over from each tee. 3 birdies on this course including one on a tight hole 222' from the back tee, but I couldnt get the birdie on the front tee because I hit a large tree about 40' short of the basket, then I birdied the next hole from the forward tee, and another one on the final hole. I wish I could have played the prairie holes because I think I would have enjoyed them, and it is a good distance from my house so I don't think I will be back there very often. Back in the car and another 10 miles straight west to West Bend to Villa Park. Its a little park set inside of a neighborhood. An alright course with 5 extremely tight wooded holes with large elevation changes. The fairways are as tight as I have ever seen, so it was not easy. Only 1 birdie on one of the tightest holes with a slight dogleg left. But the beauty of this course was that I found a $5 bill on the second hole. I also measured all of the holes here because there wer no signs indicating distances. Back in the car for another 10 mile jaunt west to Hartford to Woodlawn Union Park. This course was nothing much to speak of, short, not very technical. Again only 1 birdie so I was disappointed with this being the easiest course of the day. Back in the car for a 5 mile drive south to Thompson to Erin go Bragh Park. Couldnt find the first tee so I ended up starting on the third hole and finished with 1 and 2. Decent little course in the middle of absolutely nowhere. 1 birdie again and it was about a 50' throw in on a slightly errant teeshot. Back in the car and another 25 mile drive home. I enjoyed myself, I wheel measured 2 courses, and got the hole info for 3 more, and promptly updated all that info and conditions on this awesome site. I played 10 rounds of disc golf at 5 courses and drove 85 miles to do so. I look forward to doing this again in another area with new courses. I have seen some good ones and some bad ones in my travelling so far. I have been playing now for almost 3 months and I have already played 23 courses in 5 states including 11 in other states and 12 in my home state. I'm still not very good, but I am improving dramatically. For some reason though my putting has gone downhill since I began the game, or maybe I am simply leaving my approaches or drives farther away from the basket but still in putting range.

Thanks for reading the whole thing if you make it, I was just excited and wanted to share my day with everyone. I think if we want this site to keep getting better we all need to help promote it. I just printed out 20 business cards from the homepage to post at different courses. There are only 20 people from my area on this site, and that surprises me. I will do everything I can to keep getting info for this site, but it would be nice if other people were also updating the info. It takes a little time but what the heck it isnt a big deal to do.

Take care,

Mike Harrington

 

[swellerdiscgolf]

Wow! That sounds like a great and fun day. I'm glad you had a chance to do that. Keep on chucking!!!

As for the putting going down hill, mine did the same when I started, my bro-in-law is hitting that bad part now, and my cousin who never played before hit like 3 or 4 from about 40' out on his first game. I think it has to do with the improvement of throwing longer shots, and understanding of the game that our putting goes away after a couple of months of playing. It will come back and be better than before.

 

[The Valkyrie Kid]

Sounds like an excellent day of discing. And very cool to have that many courses in such close proximity of each other. To bag the last ten courses I need in Washington, I'm going to have to drive like a million miles around the state in circles, up and down mountains, over to islands, etc. Anyway, sounds like you had a great time and contributed to this awesome site. Thanks.

 

[zud00]

85 miles to do 5 courses...you are lucky. I played 6 courses Monday and we drove over 200 miles.

A day disc golf trip is definitley loads of fun, especially if you get to play new courses.

 

[thenamesben]

Just wait until summer, Mike. Screw those 9-holers, hit up all the 18s up I-43 and take a trip to Madison. Ohhhh... I CAN'T WAIT!

 

[harr0140]

85 miles to do 5 courses...you are lucky. I played 6 courses Monday and we drove over 200 miles.

A day disc golf trip is definitley loads of fun, especially if you get to play new courses.

I could have easily played 3 more for an additional 5 miles, as the 5 I did play were a minimum of 20 miles away. In summer there are about 5 others within 10 miles of my house too, so I am excited for my first summer of disc golf.

 

[harr0140]

Just wait until summer, Mike. Screw those 9-holers, hit up all the 18s up I-43 and take a trip to Madison. Ohhhh... I CAN'T WAIT!

I just like playing new courses even if they are only 9. I am working on updating all the course and hole info on this site for the area, so I want to play them all to compare them and get that info on this site. I wont probably go back to west bend or hartford, but I did enjoy erin go bragh park, lime kiln, and tendick (even though only 9 were open).

I had been looking forward to getting down to parkside but it sounds like i missed the boat there, as I read on PDGA they shut the course for the next few weeks. Apparently the new 9 is still open but the other 18 is closed. Now I am just waiting for Village Park in Sussex, Brown Deer, and Valley View to open to have hit all the courses in the Milwaukee and Waukesha county area.

 

[thenamesben]

Oh, don't take my previous post the wrong way, I'm all for playing new courses, even if they are only 9ers. I plan to go to all of those little courses this year, just to say I've played them and can let others know of my experiences there. I've played Lime-Kiln and Tendick, both GREAT courses, and of the three you mentioned later in the post, Brown Deer is the best, followed by Villiage Park. I've only played Valley View once and quite frankly, I hated it.