THE BASKETS ARE IN!!!

[Tenacious EJ]

Yes, there will be a major soccer tourney this weekend Sat and Sun. On game days most weeks you have a city vs city setup. This weekend there will be numerous teams from several cities. Parking will be an issue and holes 16 and 17 will likely be used for parking. Traffic to and from the park will be heavy all day long.

 

[BrotherDave]

Yes, there will be a major soccer tourney this weekend Sat and Sun. On game days most weeks you have a city vs city setup. This weekend there will be numerous teams from several cities. Parking will be an issue and holes 16 and 17 will likely be used for parking. Traffic to and from the park will be heavy all day long.

*puts Soft Summit into bag*

So, uh, if there are cars on 17's fairway does that make it a par 3? :|

 

[Stardoggy]

Thanks, Adam. I see that you were in our general area back in January. If you're coming back this January, hope you can get by and play The SPC. #8's horror of the hillside should be alleviated by then.

I travel down there occasionally for work, as one of our plants is in Spartanburg. If I can squeeze the time, I'll check it out.

 

[DSmith]

So Buzz,
Have you put out the word that you needed help with the course with the local pros? I ask because you made this course for them and not the baby ams. Maybe thats why the ams dont want to come out to your work day. I mean the course isn't for them.
And by Pros I mean players with a rating 970+, true Pros, not below because thats just ams playing pro not Pros that are Gold rated. These are the cashing pros in upper tier tournaments...like the Worlds.

To help you out in your search look up 970+ rated pros in NC and you can whittle that down to those within an hour of the course. Actually thats probably pushing it 30 minutes it probably more realistic but we'll say an hour cause you never know, right?
http://www.pdga.com/player_search_addition_results
You might have to do some research to find out who lives nearby that'll help.

You can do the same for Blue level players but heck we all know advanced players dont do work for free.

Anyway, good luck!

 

[Tenacious EJ]

Well After I launched my dyed Champion Tern into the middle of a brier patch ten feet around in every direction yesterday, I vowed to go clear that damn hill BEFORE Winter, even if I had to do it myself. I found my machete and my sling blade today and if weather permits perhaps I'll start tomorrow afternoon when I wake up.

I have plans to tackle it all day next Friday, and probably the following Monday and Tuesday as well. Anybody is free to join me. Ideally, we'd have a bunch of folks out there and we'd rent a chipper, but I'm plain tired of waiting, ruining my clothes, and getting scratched to hell for keeping my disc in the fairway. So I'll go out there and hack away. If you see me whilst playing, stop and say hello.

 

[Tenacious EJ]

Just to clarify, THIS is in the fairway.

 

[BuzzSharpe]

I guess cars in the fairway could equate to heavy foliage. Of course, the only course where I've seen people park stupidly like that is at Barber in the middle of #4 and on the mound on #5. And I've seen those soccer pitches full of players and spectators, but never have seen that adjacent parking lot full.

 

[BuzzSharpe]

I know you probably don't believe it, Jason, but it makes me super sad, too. Let me know about when you're thinking about being out there tomorrow. Weather.com says partly cloudy, upper 60's to low 70's with very little chance of rain. Assuming that the Monte Carlo has at least one more journey in her, I'll be there.

 

[Tenacious EJ]

I usually get up at two when I work the night before. I should be able to get 2 hours in before they get home.

And I do believe you. Courses are much more fun when you aren't spending time looking for lost discs.

 

[avillion23]

OK.....

The last post I made, I decided to bite my tongue and be politically correct, for those of you that know me well, that is not very easy. But at this point, I am sick and tired of the freaking bitching and moaning. I feel like I am watching my 5 year old daughter complain about not getting a pop tart before dinner!!!

Most every damn course in the country has a handful of holes that are undesirable to one player and desirable to another. I read the bitching about hole 3..."it's too long", "the mandos are dumb", "it should be two holes".......WTF, if you can't keep it in bounds from the poured tee pads, move to a new tee area and play the hole how YOU want to play it. You don't like the mandos? Dont play them. You want to tee off on top of a dumpster, DO IT!!! Make it your game, as long as it doesn't put others in harms way or slow up any other players.

Moving tee boxes.....AINT GONNA HAPPEN. This course has been in the freaking ground for less than two months and there are a handful of people that seem to be obsessed with bashing it. I am willing to bet that not a single person complaining plays at a pro level or has ever designed a course from cradle to grave.

When I first saw the design and drove through the course, I was swayed by what I had previously read about the plans and I fell into the category of skeptic. But as the course has been completed and I have played it numerous times a week, I can say that it is a nice course that mixes accuracy with distance and it will get broken in by foot traffic. I can say that I have not played a single round where I felt I was endangering people or personal property (other than my discs).

For those of you who haven't played this course yet, give it a try with an open mind. In the past week, I have received FANTASTIC feedback from a couple of guys about the course. Heck, one guy called me out of the blue just to tell me about his round and how much he liked it. To each their own.

 

[Tenacious EJ]

Buzz and I spent about two hours out there today and we managed to take out a particularly nasty section of briers. But the truth is, two people aren't gonna cut it. Regardless who the course is designed for, I've seen players of every skill level playing it. And while Buzz and I go round and round on here sometimes, we actually have no problem working together and getting stuff done. But we need more people to come out and help. Sure I'd have loved to have fit in a round today in my spare two hours, but one thing Buzz and I have absolutely in common is a desire for SPC to be the best course it can be. And to do that, we need help. We need sacrifice. Its gonna take hard work and effort, but if we get enough guys to come out and help it will get done. Heck, you don't need to wait for other folks- just go out there and trim the hillside. Put on some gloves and grab a rake and some strong clippers, and yank some shrubbery.

 

[New013]

I'm not bashing the course, just giving my honest opinion of it. If all the good people who have something to do with this course weren't coming out with this attitude of it's amazing and technically perfect and it's going to get worlds I wouldn't be critical of the way they're presenting the course to us.

You can say all day long that every hole out there is solid but it's just not. There are some bad holes and boring holes. I've played over 100 courses and I've played some of the hardest courses our area has to offer. I didn't leave those courses come home and bash them because I wasn't good enough. So when you accuse me or anyone else of being angry that we're not good enough to appreciate it I take offense to that. That's just dumb logic, there's a lot of really bad players who go to Renny weekly to get their ass kicked and they come on here and give it a high score because it doesn't take a disc golf savant to play a course and say yeah that course is hard but amazing.

In my review I tried to be critical of what I saw wrong but to make sure you guys who put this course in the ground understood it wasn't a personal attack and yet instead of taking those criticisms to heart you're just saying we're to dumb or not good enough. The only thing I've said that was personal is that Buzz is acting a bit crazy with the way he's hyping up this course in to something it just isn't.

Personally I've been begging for more courses like this in the area. I can throw 500' and courses like this play far more to my strengths than most of what NC disc golf has to offer. If anyone would praise a course like this it would be me. The entire well you guys aren't pros so shut up argument is ridiculous. I was throwing big hyzers and having putts on most of the holes on the front nine. It's not all that difficult if you have the arm, that's where you guys are lost. You clearly don't have the arms to take all the difficulty out of the holes and with a big spike hyzer you can. If a legit pro came out and played SPC they would destroy it, it wouldn't be any kind of challenge at all.

 

[BuzzSharpe]

We Did Make A Dent

And Jason did most of it. But as he said, two guys with simple hand tools (especially when one of the guys is a tired old old timer) are going to get only so much done. But we did take a noticeable bite out of the middle of that brier patch about halfway down, including a cleared foot path from valley floor to hill crest. I also got some branches trimmed to open up the alleys between trees and light poles on 3 and 4. I had one group who played them right after I trimmed say that it made it too easy.

 

[BuzzSharpe]

Mike, THANK you, Pardner

At a lunch meeting with Tony Laws yesterday, he pretty much gave me 'permission' of 'designer's divine right' to appoint a willing board of directors, or whatever to promote, and generally look after the course. You are one whom I would definitely want on that committee, along with the likes of Tom Wagner and Rob Nicks.
There is one pad that I wish we had placed differently that I hope that we can move at some soon future date. And you know, I think that it is pretty amusing that without you naming names, the nameless knew to whom you were referring.

 

[bcbrown]

Buzz, if you get a second, could you explain hole 18 to me.
I'm interested in which or how many trees are mando right and I'm interested in how you think the hole should play. I'm currently at a bit of a loss with the current pad placement. The hole plays beautifully if I start about 80' up the fairway from the gold tee (Standing between the 2nd and 3rd tree (or 3rd and 4th), BUT (and this is a huge BUT), it would mean the first drive is over the road. But the view from that spot provides a great view of the raised basket AND gives you a vision of the rolling fairway... both of which are memorable. I really think you'd like the results.

But again, it would require the first throw to be (at least for the first ~60 ft) over the road... and I'd understand if that's a dealbreaker.

 

[BraveThrower43]

I'm interested in playing the course. I will say I have played many courses with New and I know that he has an eye for what is good in a course and what isn't. I will say that pretty much everyone I know who has talked to me about this course has echoed New's concerns. These are not just some hack going out there and shooting poorly these are 960+ players.

I will likely make it up there in November to play and make my own decisions.

 

[avillion23]

I apologize if that is how I came across. I guess my intended emphasis was on allowing the course to grow a little instead of consistently beating a dead horse. SPC makes you think about your shots, and plan ahead. I agree that some big pros might kill the course....but take into account that #3 and #8 are both potential round killers which add a particular amount of tension to those holes.

I have never seen what the bank at #8 looks like in the winter, but I imagine when the grass is dead (and with traffic it will be), opinions of the hole will change.

These are my thoughts, hole to hole...
#1 Must Birdie, from both pads
#2 Tough birdie but doable, from both pads
#3 Key is second shot placement.
#4 Gold, I hate...mostly because I am a lefty and I dont trust myself flicking out over the road. Favors a righty with a good long hyzer Blue, good hole...must birdie
#5 I wont call it a two, just my preference. Love the gold pad...soooo many different routes to take
#6 I want to ace realllly bad, have come quite close from either pad. Another hole with a number of different shots to choose from
#7 Play for par unless you can bomb it
#8 Needs to (un)grow, I think it will turn into a really nice hole once it's trimmed, cut, napalmed
#9 Plays great from any angle
#10 Gold is probably one of my favorite holes, gotta birdie it
#11 Ive donated a disc or two in the brush, but cool hole. Big arms have advantage
#12 This hole has grown on me a lot! I like the 90 degree turn and the possibility of playing up and over the (vacant) soccer field for up shot. Risk reward hole
#13 Loooooong and straight, play carefully if there is anyone on the soccer field. BUt I have played to hole a number of times with people there and they has been zero interaction other than ooo's, aaaah's, and people talking about the game....POSITIVELY
#14 Birdie hole...and also the first ace upon completion of the course by my boy Zack
#15 Get through the gauntlet of trees and a nice hyzer upshot to green
#16 Birdie
#17 Birdie
#18 Pad position can make you scratch your head, but thats only because most people are used to bombing off the pad, rather than on their third shot.

That is just my quick .02 on each hole and how I view them. I think the course is great, the park is awesome, and I have never hit a log jam on the course....though likely could have created a couple while looking for discs on #8 and #11. Oh well, I don't enjoy losing discs.,..but it motivates me to improve and think more about placement.

My opinion of the course and how it plays has really grown on me after playing it a number of times, I hope to see you guys out there some time! If we want to "beat it in" we have to up the traffic!

Buzz, give me a heads up when you are looking to have work days and I will market it a little bit to the locals and the masses. IF we push them out far enough we can spread the word more efficiently and hopefully get a decent amount of people willing to help out.

I'm going to finish my beverage...SNNNNEEEEEAKY PETE is manana!!!

 

[BrotherDave]

I'm going to finish my beverage...SNNNNEEEEEAKY PETE is manana!!!

Chit, I forgot this was coming up. Buzzz, would you be upset if I canceled our SPC round tomorrow so I can see if my ol' Wilmington homey D-Tuck needs a caddie for tomorrow?

 

[BuzzSharpe]

Oh, no problem, Dave. I was taken aback when I saw that Sneeky Pete has snuck up on us! If I weren't so dirt floor poor right now, I'd be there in the morning to register and play!

 

[BuzzSharpe]

Good Insight & Question, BC

From the very beginning, tee placement on 18 was a quandary. Originally, it was set allll the way back into the corner at the tree line and the farm field. It was Wiggins, Jr's only real negative concern about the layout the day we did the walk-through and demo. We put it where it is, to get it more away from the temptation hazard of the street, but not so that it would become the shorter tee. It was always a given that a pad was going to be exactly where 18 Blue is. And I really didn't want that as the Gold pad. As for which tree is Mando, I know it when I'm there, but, sitting here at my desk...? It's like the second or third one..it's not the one right off the front left corner of the pad.
Good eye in seeing the straight line of sight, that is supposed to make you want to heave it as hard as you can right at the target right from the tee. But, as it is design verboten to intersect another activity area, especially like a paved street, we designed this to be a hole where you have to delay distance gratification by placing your tee shot so that you get to let it rip on your next shot(s), as Mike Avillion recognizes. That way, it is still birdieable, even with a supposedly wasted drive. It just makes it harder, which is the whole point of an 800'+, uphill, finishing hole. I am going to take another look this weekend to see if that gold fairway needs any additional branch pruning.