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Thresher National DGC - N. Newton

1/25/2015

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January 19, 2015
5:01 PM
Temp: 62
Winds NW @ 13

Mostly Sunny
DGCourseReview

Thresher National is located on the campus of Bethel College. The parking instructions put you by the tennis courts and holes 6-9. After parking, basket 9 is close and can be used to warm up. I had some difficulty finding the first tee and have modified the instructions on dgcoursereview.com to help a bit more. I’ve uploaded pictures of the maps and rules to dgcoursereview.com which may be helpful transitioning to the back 9 because the sign for Hole 6 is missing.


The first 5 holes are in a large area between buildings. None of the holes actually go between buildings and instead crisscross the park area. There are a number of sidewalks to cross which makes playing a bit more difficult when students are present. Holes 2 and 3 go back and forth and cross over the fairway for Hole 5 which runs perpendicular to them. If there are multiple groups throwing, you’ll need to be aware of them.

It is a relatively short course with six of the holes being under 300’. There are no OB rules posted so I played cement, including sidewalks, on the front 9 and roads on the back 9. There are a fair number of trees on the front 5 which kept the course interesting because decisions had to be made. Hole 9 starts by throwing through a hole in a hedge row of trees with a road running parallel with your throw. It’s one of those courses where someone at my skill level has a chance of a sub-zero round and maybe and Ace. I know this because I shot -01 and Hole 8 almost gave up my first Ace, but the disc slid off the chains on the left side.

I enjoyed this course and it kind of reminded me of a smaller town park course. Everything is new so the tee signs were easy to read and the baskets in excellent shape. I live within a half hour of this course so I’m sure I’ll be on it again. By the time I was done, the wind had calmed to 7 and temp dropped to 54. It was a beautiful spring evening in January!

I updated this course in dgcoursereview.com and mapped the holes in the UDisc app. ALERT: You need to know the map in the UDisc app shows Tee 1 in a parking lot with cars and in reality that lot is gone and they have planted grass.



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West Branch Park DGC - Goessel

1/25/2015

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January 19, 2015
4:15 PM
Temp: 64
Winds NW @ 13

Mostly Sunny

DGCourseReview


West Branch Park is in the middle of the south end of town. It’s a very small park with a picnic area, some playground equipment, a tennis court, a basketball slab and some rest rooms. All 9 baskets are easily visible because most of them are close together. You’ll need to be careful of people when throwing into #1 and at #2. The baskets are in very good condition, have numbers on them and appear to be buried about a foot low.


Tees don’t exist so I threw from the right side of the basket (looking at my target) just outside the wood chips which were spread with a 3-4 foot radius. I threw from basket to basket which means I started on hole 2 having found basket 1 and not wanting to walk back to basket 9.  It is a putter and mid-range course. I updated the distances in dgcoursereview.com and the UDisc app. They range 56’ – 312’ with 3 holes under 100’ and 3 more holes under 200’. In order to make it a bit tougher, I ended up making obvious things OB like yards, road, sidewalk, cement pads, etc.

This is another course that if I lived pretty close, I may play it once in a while, but it is not a destination.  


I updated this course in dgcoursereview.com and mapped the first 3 holes in the UDisc app.
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Solomon City Park DGC - Solomon

1/25/2015

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January 19, 2015
1:45 PM
Temp: 63
Winds NW @ 18

Mostly Sunny
DGCourseReview

Solomon City Park is in the middle of town on the main East/West street. It’s a very ‘busy’ park with lots of structures and activities including tennis, horseshoes, stage, rustic house, playground equipment and more. The easy observation is when people are present, you have to be extra careful. The course’s 1st, 2nd and 6th holes run along the perimeter of the park. The other 3 holes go right through the middle. The baskets are in very good condition.


I grabbed the map from dgcoursereview.com which was helpful in finding a starting point. Tees don’t exist so I approximated them based on this map. It is a putter and possibly short mid-range course. I updated hole lengths in dgcoursereview.com with distances ranging from 164 – 283. I ended up shooting -03 and probably should have been -05. Hole 6 provided me with my first near Ace, but ended up coming in just a bit low.

If I lived pretty close, I may play it once in awhile, but it is not a destination.  

I updated this course in dgcoursereview.com and mapped the holes in the UDisc app.
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Brown Memorial DGC - Abilene

1/24/2015

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January 19, 2015
11:25 AM
Temp: 50
Winds SW @ 8

Sunny
DGCourseReview

This course was a bit difficult to find, but a review by DisCat13 on dgcoursereview.com was helpful. The instructions there were for those coming in the front door and I snuck in the back coming from Herington and taking some back roads. The key is to look for the two shelter houses close together because Tee 1 is sitting just east of the north one.


Once I got onto Tee 1 I had trouble spotting the first basket because there is no signage. When I looked down, there was a metal plate in the back of the cement tee pad with the par and an arrow pointing towards the hole. Since it was a par 4 I made the assumption it was a ways away and threw in the direction the arrow was pointing. Once I started walking my eyes found the basket. After that, I started looking for cement pads that took me around the perimeter of this area of the park. Although the tee pads were cement, they were short and I found myself starting off the back. This was an issue, because the ground was wet and it was muddy behind most tees.

I found this park has a lot of trees, but I wouldn't call it heavily wooded. There are plenty of chances to hit wood and go a totally different direction. There are also a lot of gravel ‘roads’ in this area. Since there are no rules posted anywhere, you’ll have to decide if you will consider them OB or not. Hole 2 takes you by a shelter house/grill and if there are people there, this hole will be difficult to complete. I had just finished hole 6 and when I looked back, a car had parked on a little road that happened to be in the middle of the fairway.

I would agree with others that it is fairly technical. I liked that on every tee I had think about where I was going to throw and what kind of throw I needed. There was always a path to be found, but sometimes the basket was hard to find. Check out the picture on my home page and see if you can find the basket! I kind of liked the finishing hole. It was a good distance, with fairway that narrowed a bit to get through, and then the basket was tucked back into the trees. For a RHBH thrower it meant an anhyzer to finish.

I enjoyed this course and wouldn't mind stopping by again. The temperature bumped up to 58 and the winds bumped up to around 15 and switched to the NW.

I updated this course in dgcoursereview.com and mapped the holes in the UDisc app.
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Herington DGC - Herington

1/24/2015

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January 19, 2015
9:25 AM
Temp: 30
Winds S @ 4

Sunny
DGCourseReview

Shortly after I started playing this sport, I thought I’d heard this course wasn’t worth playing except for the big tournament held here the first weekend of April every year. (The 2015 tournament will be March 28 due to Easter.) Because of that, I never thought much about making the trip up here other than to visit Discs Unlimited and pick up some new plastic.


The park is not real large and on this nice holiday, there were no other people around. The next thing I noticed was a lot of non-natural structure. There is a playground set, a small venue for performances, a swimming pool and a skate park. For the most part, the course avoids these things well enough for them to not be an issue. Hole 1 goes around the playground equipment and then the course skirts the outside of the park for the most part.

Overall, the course is fairly short as it stands. I’m not a long thrower, but with the average hole length at 289 feet, I should be looking at birdies or birdie attempts on most of these holes. At the same time, I liked the fact there are no gimmie holes because either the tee was compromised or the basket was protected. I wasn’t sure about OB so I played the obvious such as water, roads, ball field and playground equipment. The finishing hole is nothing special, but I did take a liking to hole 4 where you have to go up a ledge and through a hole in the trees.

I was kind of bummed there is no map for this course. I stopped at Discs Unlimited before hitting the course and the best they could do was tell me where Tee 1 was. Once I got started, it was pretty easy to find my way around. There were signs, but some were defaced or washed out by the sun and weren’t helpful. The thing that saved me was the uDisc app I use to track my scores. Someone had mapped out all 9 holes in it which showed distance and locations for tees and baskets. The Tee sign for Hole 9 was missing, but the pole was there. Hole distances are also available at dgcoursereview.com.

 I’m very glad I stopped to play this course and would love to play it again. I’m going to make a concerted effort to get up there the end of March to play the annual tournament.

I updated this course in dgcoursereview.com.
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Tabor College DGC - Hillsboro

1/22/2015

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Update March 15, 2015: This course is scheduled to close because the building project is scheduled to begin later this year.

January 19, 2015
7:43 AM
Temp: 34
Winds NW @ 4
DGCourseReview

I did my undergraduate work at this college back in the mid to late 70's. It was then some students started using their frisbees to throw at trees and calling it Folf. I gave it a try but throwing a frisbee like you were on a beach didn't work so well.

Fast forward 35 years and how the sport has changed. In 2011, Benjamin Wiens worked to get three baskets installed in part of the campus not used a lot. There are no tees so I played basket to basket. I picked a spot about 10 feet from each basket, marked it with my cart and threw from there starting in the NE corner of the park.

Holes 1 and 3 are fairly heavily protected by trees making birdie putts a bit long. The 2nd hole is on the corner of the block protected by street and sidewalk on two sides. The throw down is along the street, which I considered OB with trees defining a narrow fairway. Precise drives will set you up nicely.

Hole 1: 220' (from basket 3)
Hole 2: 338' (from basket 1)
Hole 3: 415' (from basket 2)

It is one of those courses where playing is good if you're passing by and need to stretch your legs or just want to throw some plastic. It is not a destination, unless you're like me and have attended there or have some other project like PlayKansasDGC. If you have any inkling to play here, you need to do it sooner rather than later. The park is slated for a building project and I don't know what will happen to the baskets.

I updated this course in dgcoursereview.com and the UDisc app
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    I'll write a review here on each course I play and also one on dgcoursereview.com. My views will reflect the fact I'm in this project for the journey...

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