Toughest course you have played

[mashnut]

^ I see where you're coming from with Summit. It might be one of the toughest courses under 4400 ft, but the title "Toughest course you have played," conjures images of epic, really takes something out of you disc golf courses: Renny Gold, Toboggan, Leviathan longs... courses that punch you in the face and steal your lunch.

I don't think of "keep your putter off the trees" courses, no matter how hard it is to shoot par on them.

I agree that it's not even on the scale overall, I just brought it up as a candidate for toughest by length.

 

[Bugz36984]

Ive only played 35 courses, and the hardest hands down is Idlewild longs. Brutal...

 

[dukdukgolf]

I dont think longest = toughest. Alot of people have an easier time throwing 2 350ft shots to a 700ft wide open pin than 2 100 ft shots through brutally tight woods to a hole thats only 200ft.

Toughest to me would have to look at how many trees/obstacles, how much OB, how tight the fairways are, how thick the rough is and then Length.

 

[Will Burke]

For me hands down Idlewild.

I haven't played many tough courses but during a the course of over 4 hours in tournaments this course can wear you down mentally and physically. I'm use to playing courses where I'm thinking about what needs to be done to get a four or five but hole after hole this course seems to never let up. When your third shot is a pitch out on more than one hole it gets frustrating. I've only played 2 tourneys here but it's great watching some of the epic blowups unravel on this course.

 

[Tolbert]

Iron Hill Gold. for those interested SSA 72, and thats without OB and mandos all over the course. The gold layout is also a permanent layout, not a temp tourny one. Come play anytime

 

[yearofrolling]

I hacked my way through The Bear, up in Highbridge, last summer.
That was pretty tough. We stopped keeping score...

 

[sidewinder22]

Orange Crush toughest overall physically, and mentally, I barely made it out alive. Of course it didn't help that I played Whispering Falls, Woodshed, and Whipping Post the day before all in nasty humidity with 100+ degree heat index.

Iron Hill is long and challenging, but not that physically tough and much fairer than Orange Crush. Nockamixon is also long and challenging and physically tough, but I thought it played pretty fair.

 

[jongoff09]

I know we're mentioning lots of great high-par courses here (and rightly so), but do you guys sometimes find the deuce-or-die courses (at least in tournament play) to be infinitely more frustrating?

Easy when the discs are flying just right, mentally tough when you're hitting early trees or missing putts that you know you should be hitting.

Absolutely not IMO. The high par courses are much more frustrating because you can execute two perfect shots on a hole (say the drive and a 30' putt), but still make a par or bogey because of an errant approach. On a par 3, a mediocre drive can still get you a birdie because of a perfect putt from say 30', but on a par 4, after a mediocre drive, you will likely have to make a great approach just to give yourself a chance at a 30'er for birdie. Or, you could have two perfect throws, miss a 20' putt and feel bad with just a par. That's not mentioning how much trouble you can be in when you have a bad drive on a par 4.

I have been to Selah Ranch on 3 occasions and have played each course half a dozen times. The focus required to play a well designed par 67+ course is incredible. Playing poorly on those courses is much more frustrating during the round than a par 54.

That's the kind of golf I like though. I love the challenge, and will gladly come back for another beating by a course that fairly dishes out high scores.

 

[tampora]

I'd like to cast another vote for Diamond X in Billings, Montana. I've never feared for my life while driving a disc before, until I played there. If I had the agility of a mountain goat and the stamina of an athlete, it might be a different story. Rock climbing for 4 hours in the scorching sun really adds a new level of difficulty to disc golf.

It also didn't help that the local we found to show us the course was playing at a breakneck pace.

My 2nd place winner goes to an unknown course near Walcott, North Dakota, called the CowPie, which is only up for 1-week-per-year for a private tournament. Words cannot do this course justice, so I'll stop here. Soon I'll be able to share a hole-by-hole flyby video with you all.

 

[Craig639]

Diamond X - Extreme elevation, wind, and downright nasty greens
Hidden Lake, Augusta MN - Maybe Minnesota's toughest course with some tight fairways
Patterson Lake, Dickinson, ND - For abundant OB and tight fairways
Highbridge - Bear - For nastyness
Justin Trails - Big Brother - For tight fairways


These toughest courses are also some of my favorite courses!

 

[Darkgreen]

For me the toughest so far have been Blue Valley long here in KC and Mont Du Lac outside Duluth and for me toughest means most physically demanding. There are tougher courses as far as what shots you need or how technical a course is, but that's skill set dependant type tough not physically demanding tough.

Blue Valley kicks my rectum on the regular b/c I'm out there at least once a month. Length and elevation conspire to break the will of mortals out there. I usually play the front 10, which takes you back to the parking lot and is tougher than most other 18's around. Occasionally I'll play through 16, and leave the 2 1000 footers across the road alone. But it's only when I'm really hating myself or just have too much time to kill that I attempt all 18. Even my dog gives up after 10. She'll follow me reluctantly through 16, but after that she'll usually just wait at the car.

Mont du Lac had been hit by big floods when we went up there last year. Huge muddy gorges were carved out where you can tell there used to be a ski run, which is what it is in the winter. Navigation was darn near impossible, b/c of the damage by floods, holes having been moved b/c of said floods but not marked in any way or on any map, and the extreme elevation. Multiple top of the world type shots were fun, but all we could do that day was get up and down that course, get a beer and go to bed.

Mont du Lac, my home course. Things have gotten a little better there since last year. Better signage and some new holes.

I'm surprised more people in this thread haven't mentioned Mont du Lac. I guess where it is at makes it kind of a hidden gem.

 

[Cgkdisc]

Giants Ridge maxed out is probably Minnesota's toughest course combining both SSA (59) and being on a big ski hill. Hidden Lake is close around 58 SSA. The Kaposia Gold temp layout has posted the highest SSA in MN at 63. Mont du Lac comes in around 54 SSA.

 

[_MTL_]

No one ever mentions courses with pars in the mid 50s because people don't understand what hard is.

I think the Darkside in spotslyvania is one of the hardest courses out there - it's a par of 56 and SSA is around 55 or 54.

 

[what'shisname]

Diamond X is easily the hardest course I've played. So much fun too, though.

 

[discNDav]

1. Renny kicked my ass in a casual round in 2006.

2. Leviathan - hated the tightness and lack of landing zones (it was my 3rd course that day)

3. both Paw Paw courses are insanely tight in places.

4. Seneca all longs in 1998 in the Mid Atlantic Am Championship. After the 1st round (short tees) I was in the lead group, after 4 rds I ended up in 32nd place.

I have not been to any of these recently.

Honorable mention: Idlewild between the middle of 5 through 8.

I'm keeping Iron Hill and Nocky off this list since I believe the fairways on both are fair.

 

[smyith]

I know we're mentioning lots of great high-par courses here (and rightly so), but do you guys sometimes find the deuce-or-die courses (at least in tournament play) to be infinitely more frustrating?

Easy when the discs are flying just right, mentally tough when you're hitting early trees or missing putts that you know you should be hitting.

i think deuce-or-die courses are only tough in tournament situations, especially for PRO and ADV divisions. One missed putt could cost you the whole tournament.
But when you're just considering the course vs you factor, a deuce-or-die course would never be in the discussion.

It seems like we have two separate definitions for Tough going in this thread.
1) Difficult to navigate, physically demanding, etc.
2) Difficult hole layouts, nasty rough, skill demanding, etc.

I personally would consider #2 to be the proper definition for a tough course. Where as #1 would be an exhausting course.

2. Leviathan - hated the tightness and lack of landing zones (it was my 3rd course that day)

the one and only thing i disliked about Leviathon Black tees was the walking to the black tees themselves.

 

[tbird888]

It seems like we have two separate definitions for Tough going in this thread.
1) Difficult to navigate, physically demanding, etc.
2) Difficult hole layouts, nasty rough, skill demanding, etc.

I personally would consider #2 to be the proper definition for a tough course. Where as #1 would be an exhausting course.

The first thing I thought when I saw the title was more along the lines of #2. I think a combination of the two is just right though because, by nature, what makes #2 tough should include the terrain that brings #1.

I've played courses before that beat me down with just the golf (Idlewild) and courses that beat me down because of the terrain (Golden Hills - RIP). It wasn't until a month ago that I played a course that did both (Stoney Hill). By the time we got to the last hole, I had trouble climbing the mountain (what it looked like to me at that point) to retrieve my putter.

On a side note, smyith I haven't forgotten about our project. I've just been really lazy lately.

 

[smyith]

On a side note, smyith I haven't forgotten about our project. I've just been really lazy lately.

me either. just so hard to not play and work on that. haha.

 

[beeyang78]

I will put another vote in for West lake. Out of all the tough courses that I've played, including Big Brother, Highbridge Gold, and some others, it was the toughest mentally and physically. Water comes into play so much and there is a lot of elevation change.

 

[Monocacy]

4. Seneca all longs in 1998 in the Mid Atlantic Am Championship. After the 1st round (short tees) I was in the lead group, after 4 rds I ended up in 32nd place.

I have not been to any of these recently.

That was the old (18-hole) course, right? The new 27-hole course is sweet (but still a bear in the longs).