AS one of the course designers told me, the goal by Worlds (2011 i think?) is to have an alt pin or tee on every hole of White, Silver and Blue, since Red seems all set. I believe they truly will accomplish this, and am curious to see what the courses look like by the time the tournament is here.
Playing all 4 courses back-to-back in the same day, it was tough, and tough to pick which one was my favorite, since they were all so good. Silver and Blue were both great, however, I think the crazy water holes (9-12) here are what tip the scales slightly in Blue's favor, plus the fact that it isn't as ridiculously long as silver, nor does it beat you up as much. (we didn't even play from gold tees on silver, either, to compare)
LEMON LAKE MANIFESTO
(This is me extrapolating alot, not to be taken as pure fact, but you'll find that the shoe fits)
To accurately evaluate these four courses (this body of work, if you will), its important to note what order they were built in. Here's how I interpret it. First came the Red course, compact and concise, in a section of woods off in one corner of the park. It was wooded and technical, and it got used.
Then, once they got the green light to start building more courses, they built the Blue course next to and across the street from Red, bringing the Lake into the picture. This time they chose to do longer, more open holes, wicked water holes, and some more terrain, three things Red lacked. They shot for making a course a bit longer and a bit tougher than Red, and succeeded.
Then came the building craze. They decided to step it up another notch, with an extremely tough course, like Wisconsin staples Highbridge Gold and Justin Trails Big Brother. The championship course, the flagship, the one that the Pros will talk about. Thus Silver was born, with the eventual goal of adding Gold tees as well to truly elevate the difficulty to the next level.
Meanwhile, they saw the need to add a course for newer players, to get never people into the sport, and introduce them to disc golf, while still providing challenge for the more experienced. And then there was White.
So, Lemon Lake has a remarkably diverse range of courses, both in style and difficulty
White->Red->Blue->Silver->Gold
It shows remarkable vision and foresight, on top of superb course design, to manage such a project, and pull it off so well, and for that, I commend everyone who had a hand in this project and continues to improve upon it. The best part is they are NOT done building courses here, either. Not even close. This place is gonna explode onto the scene once they have Worlds here.
The way I see it, you have two choices:
1) Wait till Worlds and you'll be hearing about Lemon Lake from everyone, including Top Pros
2) Go to Lemon Lake now, and BE the one in the know, telling everyone else about this place.
You've got to check this place out for yourself, its worth a weekend just to play here.