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Lake Lovewell DGC – Webber

4/25/2015

March 18, 2015
12:00 pm
Temp: 46
Winds SE @ 12
Mostly cloudy
DGCourseReview

It’s kind of surprising how a course never appears as I might imagined it would. My expectations of this course were very low. I imagined busted up baskets in tall, un-mowed grass hidden in shrubby trees.

Instead, what I found was a wide open area with a few trees and a playground. The area was mowed and the trees were planted with some order. I couldn’t see all the baskets but the main area was wide open! This was going to be better than I had imagined.

I parked on the east side of the area next to the Walleye Point restrooms. As I got out of my truck, I looked around and decided to take the closest basket and start playing to the nearest basket that would take me around the perimeter, counterclockwise

As I'm playing the first few holes, I notice the baskets are all pretty low. I’m guessing they are probably a foot lower than normal. They are all single chain rounded wide outside.

A few course observations:
--- Hole 4 poses the first challenge. It's from the SW corner of the big, open park going down through some trees and some bushy area. It’s not real long, but can be tough to get to at 210’.
--- Hole 6 is kind of cool. It goes ‘uphill’ through some trees. The basket is not real far, 202’, but you can't just haul off and heave it either. You’ll have to have some accuracy.
--- I think right where I started and doing the counter clockwise thing is the right option. It seems to flow quite well.
--- I can kind of see paths where they have mowed from one basket to another
--- I also think that playing it backward would be a great way to turn it into an 18 hole course.

Lovewell Lake DGC doesn’t qualify as a destination course, but if I was at the lake, I wouldn’t hesitate to go throw a little plastic.

These distances are from the East most basket running counter clockwise around the park and were acquired with a wheel.

Hole 1: 270’ NW, wide open except for one tree you have to go around
Hole 2: 195’ S, close to playground, two trees close to basket
Hole 3: 323’ slight dogleg right towards evergreen trees
Hole 4: 210' down hill, through trees, straight south
Hole 5: 245' slight dogleg right to the East along the little ridge
Hole 6: 202' up over the little ridge, slightly right at end heading northeast
Hole 7: 260' ESE back down over the little ridge, basket is little lower than tee
Hole 8: 219' back up over the little ridge, straight shot to NW
Hole 9: 247' slight dogleg close to tee, picnic table close, to the NE, basket out in open

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Chautauqua Park DGC - Beloit

4/5/2015

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March 18, 2015
8:45 am
Temp: 39
Winds E @ 10
Mostly cloudy
DGCourseReview

Here I am in Beloit at Chataqua Park getting ready to tee off…finally! It's taken me about 25 minutes to get everything ready for the first course of Day 1 on my third trip. It’s a bit chilly and I’ve got gloves/hoody/stocking cap on to get started.

I had a little trouble finding Tee 1 until I found the map on the side of the building at the entrance of the park. I have a printed map, but the building gave me a solid landmark. Like NCK1990 (DGCourseReview), once I got started, it flowed pretty well. Before you go, you should print the map from DGCourseReview.

My first impressions of the park included a good amount of trees, not a lot of elevation, and the infamous river did truly exist! I'm looked forward to seeing how it plays out.

The first hole (295’) is tree lined (tunnel) with 7-8 large trees on each side with about a 20-25 foot wide opening down the middle. It is flat until you’re almost to the basket when it goes up 10-15 feet towards the road/bridge.

The second hole (310’) is similar to the first, but the path through the trees is wider. The lowest branches are about 20 feet high. Basket two is kind of hidden behind a tree. It is straight down the tube and it's behind the rock circle with the memorial and the two flags

Hole 4 is the river shot and the reviewers on DGCR were correct when the talked about it being a tricky/tough shot. The tee box is right next to the river and the distance across the river is not really a problem even for me without a big arm. Getting past the trees can be a problem though! The throw off the tee box is probably a better opening for lefties with a tighter opening for righties. The difficulty is the trees lining the river in front of the tee box not to mention the trees on the far bank. My goal was to get through the tree opening and end up under the bridge where there was an opening. Unfortunately, I had a bit of a late release and caught tree branches just to the right of the bridge on the far side and my disc met its fate in the water below. I did spend a bit of time looking with no luck.

The basket for 4, holes 5-8 and the tee for 9 are all on the north side of the river. There is only one way over. The ramp on the south side is long and you don’t want to make the trek more than the two times you need to.

I found a couple of minor issues with Hole 9. The tee is real close to #8 basket and they probably should have readjusted one of those two. The other issue is finding basket 9. There are two placements for most of the baskets and as I discovered, the gray color of older baskets against the gray of the trees can make the baskets hard to find. I played 9 tee to basket 12, but didn’t discover that little problem until I was over the bridge. I didn’t make the trip back over to re-throw!

Hole 11 runs along a road. For a righty, it's a big hyzer around trees and a softball/baseball backstop. For a lefty there are more trees which require less of a hyzer and more of a straight shot. The basket is placed behind the backstop. This could be a messy hole if people are using the field.

It wasn’t until I was well into the course I discovered some tee pads have distance and hole # on them. Most of them don't and it looks like they have just been worn off and not repainted.

Standing on the tee for Hole 14 I wasn’t real impressed. It's long and narrows as you go towards the basket which is on the back side of some tennis courts. There is a road that runs tight and trees in the middle which makes it difficult. It can be done, but I’m thinking there's probably a better way of doing this hole especially if there are people utilizing the courts.

Like I noted on Hole 9, the gray weathered baskets make them hard to find against the gray trees. A lot of baskets are parked close to trees.

The finishing hole is not real long, flat for half way, and ends up going up hill pretty good. The difficulty is the four trees that provide a ‘wall’. Either you go low and don't get there or you have to go way up high (tomahawk). Probably a big anhyzer would work best but I don't have an arm for either of those two options.

Quick review of the course: I like it! It had a lot of holes that made me think and I like that in a course. The river shots added some diversity to an otherwise flatter, tree infested course. It reminded me a bit of Oak Park in Wichita which I play a lot. I’d definitely like another shot at this course! When I finished it was 43 degrees with winds at 11 from the SE and completely overcast.

A side note: A guy that works at the park stopped me and gave me a disc that belongs to Fluty after noticing I was from Wichita. He had lost it last year at a tournament and even though they talked, they never connected so I was able to bring it back to Wichita and get it back to its rightful owner. It also gave me a chance to talk to the worker about disc golf. He had never played even though he worked around the course.

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Lake Lovewell DGC – Webber

Chautauqua Park DGC - Beloit

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