Well I’ve done it now

[thirtydirtybirds]

My wife and I close on a new house this Friday. Honestly, we are stealing this property at the price, though it does need some work. The house sits on just a hair over 13 acres, 80% wooded, with a 70'x70' or so pond, and two streams that join together. The land is a bit wet, though this is the most rain MD has gotten ever this past year so it's hard to tell how wet it typically is. Along with restoring the pond and stream to support fish, and catching up on the existing landscaping that has grown in a bit too much, a 9 hole course is high on my list of outdoor projects.

The woods are thick, overgrown, full of laurel and downed trees, and rocky. It's going to be quite a lot of work! My wife has approved the purchase of a tractor suitable for clearing brush, plowing, mowing, and moving timbers. This will make things somewhat easier I hope. My idea so far is to move stone and logs to border the fairways once established, rent or buy a chipper to process additional downed trees not suitable for firewood or furniture, and chip the really wet areas and possibly greens. I'd like to eventually get 9 heavy duty portables to go on the course, I do like to move the pins around 10-15' here and there to change things up. I've made one expedition in to try and start visualizing the layout, but nothing even close to an idea yet. Only thing I know for sure is I want a pond carry shot, and a pin where the streams meet. It's a nice peninsula there where the streams come together and would make a vicious green.

Anyway, here I am at the start of it. Bright eyed and bushy tailed, with all the ideas in the world. This March will be time to get to work, I'll keep you guys posted.

 

[Badger45]

Congrats on the purchase! There will be a lot of hard work, but having a course in your back yard is going to be fantastic.

 

[DavidSauls]

There are a couple of threads here, full of fools like you.

Us, I mean. Us.

Congrats on negotiating to buy a tractor.

 

[thirtydirtybirds]

Ha! It wasn't even that hard to get the tractor approval! All it took was 6 inches of snow and the question "do you really want to have to shovel this driveway with me?" She was looking at prices before I was.

 

[JuanA]

You're living my dream. Congrats on the purchase!

 

[thirtydirtybirds]

Well closing got moved to next week. In the mean time I took a few photos of potential hole 1. Right down the property line, flat to fade downhill maybe 400' to a pin tucked in to the woods on the left.
Other pic is the pond, water level is a bit low, hoping to raise it up about 3'.

 

[fish58320]

I envy you... that part of Maryland has such good terrain for potential courses.

 

[Noill]

It is beyond fun to have your own course... good luck!

I'm a little jealous... my course is in and now I just have the grueling yearly maintenance to fret about



...and of course your tractor. That is so helpful... I use a utility quad and trailer...and lots of manual labor

 

[elmexdela]

i have a great friend out in MD

im serious about stopping by in under 5 years

make this great ill swing by talk some **** and throw less that 300

you by gunpowder at all?

 

[thirtydirtybirds]

By the gunpowder river? No not really. MD is fairly small though so I guess it depends on what you consider "near." Can get from the mountains to the beach in half a day here.

 

[RootsDiscGolf]

My wife and I close on a new house this Friday. Honestly, we are stealing this property at the price, though it does need some work. The house sits on just a hair over 13 acres, 80% wooded, with a 70'x70' or so pond, and two streams that join together. The land is a bit wet, though this is the most rain MD has gotten ever this past year so it's hard to tell how wet it typically is. Along with restoring the pond and stream to support fish, and catching up on the existing landscaping that has grown in a bit too much, a 9 hole course is high on my list of outdoor projects.

The woods are thick, overgrown, full of laurel and downed trees, and rocky. It's going to be quite a lot of work! My wife has approved the purchase of a tractor suitable for clearing brush, plowing, mowing, and moving timbers. This will make things somewhat easier I hope. My idea so far is to move stone and logs to border the fairways once established, rent or buy a chipper to process additional downed trees not suitable for firewood or furniture, and chip the really wet areas and possibly greens. I'd like to eventually get 9 heavy duty portables to go on the course, I do like to move the pins around 10-15' here and there to change things up. I've made one expedition in to try and start visualizing the layout, but nothing even close to an idea yet. Only thing I know for sure is I want a pond carry shot, and a pin where the streams meet. It's a nice peninsula there where the streams come together and would make a vicious green.

Anyway, here I am at the start of it. Bright eyed and bushy tailed, with all the ideas in the world. This March will be time to get to work, I'll keep you guys posted.

I'm starting on my course right now, this crazy amount of rain Tennessee is having has made my course a little damp as well, but I know the land well and it should not be a problem in the future. Good luck on building the course, and congrats on negotiating with the wife. I am building my before I get married.. Don't tell my future wife how much it cost. hahaha

 

[thirtydirtybirds]

Tell me about it. The land I have is wet to begin with, and all the rain this year has made it downright swampy.

I've been heavily focused on the house lately. Juggling what is needed to move in to the new house, and the work I need to do to get the old house ready for sale hasn't left me a lot of course time, and the weather sucks.

BUT, I did manage to get a few ideas together and put a couple baskets out. I have 3 or 4 playable "holes" right now I'm experimenting with. I do t want a brutally hard course. The more I think on it, I want a good handful of ful holes, that are difficult, but getable. Party golf, so to speak. The type of layout that can be played by experienced and inexperienced players alike, in between grilling and hanging out. So to that end, here is what I have so far.

First pic is a drawing of one possible hole. A risk reward type of shot, 280' or so down the tunnel or 330' or so out to the clearing then at the pin. The pond is approximately 70' across, and there is a creek about 10' before it. The pin is pretty close to the water right now. Not exactly a beginner hole, but the option to go out wide is there, and it's just too good a hole to not at least consider it.

Continues next post...

 

[thirtydirtybirds]

The next series of photos is of a currently playable hole. About 300' downhill, with a big dogleg right. The pic from the pin, and the shipping container look back at the tee. The other photo looks from the tee down. Pretty open off the tee, then a gap about 2/3 down the fairway at the start of the bend. Fairway is more open than it looks from the tee, and it's downhill so it's fairly easy to put a nice ace run at it. I missed about 6" right earlier today with a champ Leo. Gone be a fun one!

I have other tee areas for both holes right now. Each gives a different look so right now it's a playable 3 holes, with the hole in the drawing above not yet playable. The current temp tee is from where the outside line comes out of the trees to the clearing. A short hyzer with plenty of water danger!

It's not much yet, but it's a start. This spring I plan to really explore my land and come up with some more ideas, and hopefully grab a couple more baskets to mess around with.

It's a start!

 

[thirtydirtybirds]

Dang photos turned sideways on me! Sorry, trying to load from my phone as my computers are packed away for the time being until we finish moving.

 

[DavidSauls]

I'm starting on my course right now, this crazy amount of rain Tennessee is having has made my course a little damp as well, but I know the land well and it should not be a problem in the future. Good luck on building the course, and congrats on negotiating with the wife. I am building my before I get married.. Don't tell my future wife how much it cost. hahaha

Yeah, on the bright side, you'll discover any problem drainage area before you put holes in.

(Unlike the public park that installed a course during a drought, only to learn....)

 

[DavidSauls]

BUT, I did manage to get a few ideas together and put a couple baskets out. I have 3 or 4 playable "holes" right now I'm experimenting with. I do t want a brutally hard course. The more I think on it, I want a good handful of ful holes, that are difficult, but getable. Party golf, so to speak. The type of layout that can be played by experienced and inexperienced players alike, in between grilling and hanging out. So to that end, here is what I have so far.

You're your main customer; build it to your tastes.

My brother and I built a course, a hole or two at a time, and along the way put in a number of decent temporary holes. We knew we wouldn't keep them, but they required minimal work and allowed us to string along some play until we got around to building more permanent holes.

 

[InnocentCrook]

I've been heavily focused on the house lately. Juggling what is needed to move in to the new house, and the work I need to do to get the old house ready for sale hasn't left me a lot of course time, and the weather sucks.

Been there, done that. It's a tough spot to be in. The things that need to get done aren't as fun as all the things you've been dreaming and pondering on as it relates to your course.

We bought our land and the "barndominium" (metal building with apartment inside) before we had even considered selling our first house. I was 95% complete with a pretty extensive remodel when we bought the property which left me scrambling to finish the remodel to get it on the market. The thought of 2 mortgages terrified us but we were prepared to carry both for 6 months if necessary. In the end, the old house sold in about a week and our worry was for naught. After the old house sold I had to start another project in the new barn apartment. In order to add a second bedroom for our 9 month old (now 5 already! Where does the time go?) I had to knock down a wall and steal some space from the garage half of the building. Before the barn apartment expansion was even complete we found out we were having a 2nd kid and decided to just move forward with our original plans of building a proper home on the site. I don't feel like I've had much time to rest since 2014 but I can't imagine it any other way.

I was lucky in that of the acreage we bought, the areas around either side of the driveway (1/2 mile or so in length, about 5-6 acres of mostly cleared space) were generally pretty decent off the bat to put in a few "park like" holes so we'd have some stuff to play. We didn't cut any trees down for the first six months of ownership. We just mostly walked around, found interesting areas whether they be because of terrain, trees, or anything else that caught our eye and made a mental note of it.

Good luck and enjoy the ride!

 

[thirtydirtybirds]

Thank man, it's been a grind keeping it all sorted. Hit another delay with the plumbing in the new house today, couple of pipe fittings had gona bad and one pipe was never connected. When I went to de-winterize the plumbing it made quite a mess. Luckily it's all fixable, no big issues, but still. After having to get the power company come and run new lines to the weatherhead, completely new HVAC system which includes having to rob some space from the master bedroom to fit the blower up there, and trying to keep moving on getting house 1 ready to sell, I was really hoping the water would just turn on and be fine.

Wishful thinking I suppose! I've got 3 very playable holes right now, 6 if I go backwards when I'm done. It's enough to distract me when I'm taking a break. More to come.

 

[DavidSauls]

It could be worse. When we bought our land, I was living and working an hour away, and it took me almost 2 1/2 years to get roads installed and a house built. All I could do was commute to the land on weekends. Though more than a few times, in good weather, I slept in my van on Saturday nights to be there a little more.