VA disc golf courses

[Drew]

although i am down in florida now, i started playing dg in va and that is still where i have most of my experience. Just wondering what people think of burke lake park in fairfax va (my first course ever) and loriella park in spotsylvania county (my old home course)

I thought that burke lake was a great pitch and putt course with beautiful trees and a good course to begin on

Loriella was a great and very challenging course at least for me. the long field holes had nice elevation change making for difficult shots, and about half the course is in the woods. I thought this course was pretty long with some tight woods holes. In general i thought that it was well cared for and well designed. please let me know what you all think about it and other va courses.

 

[Rickg1]

Loriela is still alive and kicking. Alot of the teepads have been improved. That is one tough course when played from the back tees to the back pins. Burke Lake IS a nice pitch and putt.

New Quarter in Williamsburg is a REALLY nice course. Great variety of open/wooded, long, short, elevation changes, scenery. Ends with a 700+ footer.

Sherando, near Winchester is nice. For being at the base of the mountains, there's not alot of elevation change, but a good mix of open and wooded. Most of the holes aren't toolong.

Walnut Creek near Charlottesville is one of VA's better kept secrets. Lots of elevation change, lots of woods, a few holes in the open, and a lake comes into play on several holes.

I'll continue with a few more VA courses after I get home from work.

Rickg
Spotsylvania, VA

 

[Drew]

thats great to here loriella is still doing well. i used to play ther a few times a week with my friends when i went to mary washington college in fredericksburg. i remember trying to play pratt park in stafford just over the rt 1 bridge if you go north through down town f'burg, but it was overgrown we didnt make many return visits. i was told that it was at one time an excellent course. do you know if it has been worked on, or if it was at any time a nice course to play.

 

[some call me...tim?]

I live on the opposite coast, but am originally from VA, so have had the chance to play a couple courses there when visiting my friends and family. There's one in Newport News that's pretty nice, a good mix of open and woodsy shots, immaculately maintained, dual teepads (the teepads themselves are actually colored, white and red cement which is a nice touch.) The course was fairly crowded when I played, but nothing outrageous. I think it's supposed to be a pay to play course, but there was nobody to collect money when I went, and didn't seem to be an issue to play for free.

And I had the chance to play New Quarter park this summer, that's an AWESOME course. It looked pretty new when I went, all the baskets were nice and shiny and the teepads all looked new. Again, immaculately maintained, dual teepads on almost every hole, beautiful scenery (some of the holes are next to old Civil War earthworks) and when I went, we were the only people on the course. Beware of ticks and chiggers though in the warmer seasons--I'd forgotten how prevalent they are in the southeast after being pampered on the west coast and paid the price. I think I found 3 ticks on me and got eaten up by chiggers all over. :x All in all though, a great course, definitely in my top 5 that I've played.

 

[Rickg1]

VA courses continued:

Pratt is still up and running. It's one of the oldest in VA. The first 4 baskets were put up in 1978. It's in pretty good shape now. Only number 7 and 14 are overgrown to any extent. There are two alternate holes installed for 2 and 3 for when the parking lot is full and the originals can't be used. The course has good elevation changes and plenty of wooded holes. The teepads need work.

Greene Co. park is just north of Charlottesville. Not alot of length, but plenty of trees. Teepads could use some work.

Hawk Hollow, a private course in Spotsylvania, is an excellent course. A few really long holes, lots of elevation changes, water, tunnel shots and a few cow patties to avoid. The Hawk Hollow Open, held the last wknd in October, draws alot of good pros.

The Grange, another private course in Spotsylvania: Sunnyside is a good course. Holes 2 through 8 are in the woods and the course overall will test all your skills. Good elevation and a variety of holes from 191 ft to over 500.
Darkside: Like the name implies this is one TOUGH course unless you can throw perfect 300+ ft shots through 6 foot wide gaps on every disc angle. A par 54, the course record is -13, and a $1000 bounty was put on the record for the VA Open this year.
Tiki course: A fun par 2 putting course at the Grange.

That's it for my VA experiences.

Rick Graves
Spotsylvania, VA

 

[roadkill1]

Darkside: Like the name implies this is one TOUGH course unless you can throw perfect 300+ ft shots through 6 foot wide gaps on every disc angle. A par 54, the course record is -13, and a $1000 bounty was put on the record for the VA Open this year.

Not to get off on a tangent but Skinner's 41 shot on the Darkside in my mind is the most amazing feat in the history of disc golf. Shooting even par 54 is some very solid golf but 13 under is really super human. Brian had 14 birds on a course that really only has 4 or 5 "birdie holes" so not only did he get every birdie hole but also deuced many tough par holes as well.

 

[Rickg1]

Went to Richmond and played their courses last wknd:

Dorey Park: Nice elevation changes. Not very long. Most of the holes are in the woods. Could be tougher from the back tees, but I couldn't find half of them.

Gillies Creek: Pretty short. Very difficult to play if you're unfamiliar with the course since the baskets are pretty close to one another in some places. Not much elevation change. Not in the best part of town.

 

[Rickg1]

Yeah, I hear that round was the highest rated round ever at 1117! I would have loved to watch that round!

 

[some call me...tim?]

I'm going to be going back to VA for christmas and I was wondering if anyone had suggestions of a course to play. My hometown is in the rural, eastern part of the state (not the eastern shore though), so it'll be a little bit of a drive in any direction. I'm about 1 1/2 hours from Richmond, and about 1 1/2 hours from Norfolk as well if that gives you any idea (about 30 min. north of Gloucester). Like I say, I've played the Newport News course, and New Quarter Park, and I hope to play NQP again. I was wondering though, are any of the other courses in the relative vicinity worth travelling to? I'd love to check out the Grange, but I think that'd be a little out of the way for me.

 

[roadkill1]

Yeah, I hear that round was the highest rated round ever at 1117! I would have loved to watch that round!

Here's the link to the results of that event
http://www.pdga.com/tournament/tournament_results.php?TournID=4707&year=2006&include_ratings=1#Open

Rounds 2 & 3 pros played the darkside. There were 39 rounds shot above 60 including a few over 70 by players in the open division. Look how out of place that 41 looks. Note that Mike Moser had set a new course record with a 1071 rated 46. That is until he discovered Skinner bested him by 5 strokes that round!

 

[Drew]

timbuk, do you live near zuni?sp? and i think smithfield? only ask cause i had a friend from there, but spotsy will not be to far if you are willing to drive a bit, and loriella park is close enough to play as well, and they are both work a look.

 

[mike]

i plan on being in the newport news area around Christmas....how many courses are within 45 minutes of their?

mike

 

[didihitatree]

There's one at Newport News Park and New Quarter Park in Williamsburg, both of which have been mentioned above. You can probably get to Bennett's Creek Park in Suffolk in around 45 minutes, it just kinda depends on the traffic.

I can provide some more info. about the Richmond courses, since that's where I play:

Gillies Park-- This is the more popular course, and the disc golf club does a nice job with it, I suppose. It's the more "fair" of the two Richmond courses as the basket placements have been thought out and the local DG club takes good care of it. Part of it is just an open field near a highway. As someone mentioned, it also runs by a neighborhood that isn't great. It's not dangerous or anything and there's always a lot of people playing but it's just kind of "blah" to me.

Dorey Park-- This is where I prefer to play. It's through the woods and though the tees are short (especially the whites) they sometimes don't make a whole lot of sense. There's lots of holes where you'll throw it and smack a tree halfway down the course, pick it up, throw it to the hole, par. Not terribly exciting or challenging for the disc golf purist. It's really more of a nature walk through the woods that happens to have baskets in it, rather than a DG course. Which is a plus in my book. If you're like me and you like the idea of taking a hike through the woods as much or more than playing DG, this course is a lot of fun.

 

[some call me...tim?]

timbuk, do you live near zuni?sp? and i think smithfield?

No, those are both down by the NC border. I'm from a little town called Kilmarnock. If you look at a map of VA, there's 3 peninsulas in the Chesapeake Bay, we're pretty much on the bottom tip of the northernmost one. I think as the crow flies, I'm actually closer than your friend in Zuni, but being out in the country, we don't have quick access to them newfangled "fast" roads. :?

didihitatree: What about the Duncroft - Castle Point Park, have you played that at all? If so, anything notable there?

mike: What dates are you going to be in Newport News? I'm going to be there pretty much for the entire week before christmas. If you're going in the area then, let me know if you want to meet up for a round. And BTW, my 2 cents, even though the Newport News course is really nice and probably closer to you, I think New Quarter is worth the extra drive. I'm really looking forward to having a chance to play it again...I'm just hoping the weather won't be too miserable!

 

[Rickg1]

Played Pohick Bay in Fairfax County last weekend. All the holes are less than 300'. Some play longer because of elevation. There's some good elevation changes. Lots of woods. Hated the Mach I baskets. They have about a 3 inch deep tray and these had really light chains. It was really easy to get bounce outs. Once, I hit the pole near the bottom of the tray and the disc bounced straight back at me! This was from about 6 feet, and I didn't fire it at the basket. Just a light toss. Except for the baskets, this is a really nice pitch and putt course.

 

[Koronin]

Did you play the Fling-A-thing? That was my first tourneyment and I played terrible, got an 82 and a 73 for a dismal 155. Was 3rd out of 4 or 5 in the intermediate division.

Yes, pohick has very old baskets and it's a very poorly maintained course considering they want $2/day to play there. I didn't even know there was a concrete tee on 13 until it was cleared away and I've played there since July

Played Pohick Bay in Fairfax County last weekend. All the holes are less than 300'. Some play longer because of elevation. There's some good elevation changes. Lots of woods. Hated the Mach I baskets. They have about a 3 inch deep tray and these had really light chains. It was really easy to get bounce outs. Once, I hit the pole near the bottom of the tray and the disc bounced straight back at me! This was from about 6 feet, and I didn't fire it at the basket. Just a light toss. Except for the baskets, this is a really nice pitch and putt course.

 

[Rickg1]

Yep, I played Advanced Masters on Saturday, and you did better than I. I shot a 157 for 24 holes. I would bet I missed at least 8 makeable putts in each round.

Rickg

 

[Rickg1]

Oops, that would be for 2 rounds of 24 holes. A 157 WOULD be pretty bad for 24 holes.

Rick

 

[Koronin]

I live 5 minutes from that course and it was the first I ever played last summer. I putted pretty good but I got nailed with 1 missed mando and 2 OB's and it went downhill from there in the first round with my drives.

I'm going down to Loriella on saturday the 16th unless the weather is poor, will be my first time down there. I haven't been able to see much info on it, even through the NVDG site, just a map. Any thoughts you have about it would be good.

Cheers,
Jeff

 

[Rickg1]

The tee colors are reversed on this course. Red are longs, white are shorts. If you wanna play long on the first, go to the whites and look about 30 yards directly behind you. The longs are tough, and some of the pins are already in the long: Nos. 2, 3, 7-12, 14-16 and 18 are long. In this configuration there are 7 holes that will at least PLAY longer than 300' and two of those will play over 400' from the short tees. From the longs, all but 5, 8, 13 and 17 will play over 300, with about 5 holes playing over 400'. No. 6 is 487' in the short, where it is now, but it is downhill. That being said, I've only seen about 6 people reach it with their tee shot. The red tees are often hard to find, but the whites are easily found. Most of the tees are large and filled in with stone dust. The baskets are in very good shape, some of the benches aren't. No. 11 is across a pond, and I think it's about 230' to carry it from the whites. The tee markers are missing there, but the tee area is just in front of and to the left of the bench. Keep your eyes open going from 2 to 3, and 8 to 9, and 13 to 14, those are the easy to miss holes. Tell ya what, if you don't mind playing with an old fart(47), I'll give you the tour. I've been playing about 18 mos., so I'm not that good, but I love the game. Just let me know when and I'll meet you there.

Rick