Trip 6 wasn’t really a trip… Well, it was, but the purpose was for my nephew’s wedding in Kansas City. I was fortunate enough to have a chunk of Saturday free before having to be at the wedding. My son-in-law, John, was in the same boat so we grabbed the discs we brought with us, just in case, and headed out.
 
There were a couple of 9-hole courses, on the Kansas side, I needed to check off my list. We were going to play Lenexa DGC and Harmon & Santa Fe Parks DGC (Prairie Village). They are both shorter 9 hole courses located in city parks.  Before hitting the first course we found a Waffle House for breakfast. I hadn’t been to one in years and John had never been and it did not disappoint! Afterwards, we hit up Dynamic Discs and Disc Golf World before heading back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding.

Trip 5 started off on the cool side with overcast skies. I was hoping it wouldn’t be another Trip 4 with all the clouds and rain. Starbucks was the first stop, as always, and I enjoyed a good strong cup of hot coffee on the drive up to Council Grove.

You never know what you’re going to get in a smaller town park course. I guess I should stop being surprised at some of the fun I can have in those courses! Council Grove was no exception. Having checked out DGCourseReview, I had an idea of the layout with no map. Holes 1 and 2 went as planned and then it got ugly… They had moved some of the baskets out from between the ball fields and I was struggling to find them. After some walking, I found some baskets/tees but not hole 3. Then I saw it. I walked right by the tee on my way to basket 2 and didn’t even see it because I wasn’t expecting it. Holes 4-6 played in the trees and were a nice break from the openness of the others.

Next stop was the Pomona Lake Course. It is a short course tucked into a small parcel of land with some trees. Although not greatly challenging, it did have some fun holes like 6 that had a huge evergreen shrub in the middle of the fairway and you couldn’t see the basket or 5 which had a fairway along some trees and the basket tucked into some tall evergreen trees. The day I was there, they were pulling the rings/chains so they could repaint them…they needed it!

I went around the lake to the Wolf Creek Park. Based on the description and pictures I’d seen, I was looking forward to it. It used a lot of tall native grasses off and on through the course and starts on a hill top for elevation. I knew right away I could have trouble because of the tall grasses. I made it to hole 6 before it got ugly…750’ hole with the first two thirds of the fairway about 10 feet wide and the grasses from 5-7 feet tall on each side. It was much narrower than the pictures. I lost two discs on that hole even though I knew right about where they went in and how deep. I took a 10 on the hole because I threw my putter straight in front of me until I could get out of the fairway. I lost my putter on Hole 7 which was more of the same. Overall, it was a pretty nice course, but a few holes ruined the fun for me.

I took a break at Breck’s Green Acres restaurant on the SE corner of the lake. The sun had come out and I was ‘stinkin’ it up’! I took a few minutes to change some clothes and sat down to a salad and chicken buffet.

Then it was off to Baldwin City to play the city lake course…with its tall grass!! Fortunately, it wasn’t as tall, but I managed to lose a disc there too. While a few of the holes had water in play, I had a more enjoyable time. Having just lost discs, I played a bit on the safe side. The course is on the SE part of town and you won’t accidently run into it. There were some people fishing while I was there.

It would have been nice to have called it a day, but I had one course left. It was a private course north of Baldwin City about 15 minutes by back roads. I feel very fortunate to have played it as the owner has stopped letting people on. Evidently I had caught him in Dillon’s when I called and on a whim he invited me to play when he heard about my journey. It didn’t hurt that he and 3 buddies were playing that night at 6:00. I got there just in time and even in my tired state, I had a great time! He had just finished mowing the area and his good buddy and he had just rearranged the course. They hadn’t played there in several months and so I got a new look at an old course and it was awesome. It was high on the north and south sides with a low area running NE to SW through the middle. Lots of mature trees and at the same time there were clear paths to each hole. I was pooped when we were done, but sat around on their deck and visited for 45 minutes enjoying the evening. I must have done OK, because he invited me back! I will definitely accept that invitation.

It was a long day…36,000 steps worth. I grabbed some food, a hot shower and crashed. I decided not to set an alarm and drop one course for the following day. The guys had all said that Eisenhower state park was a lot of fun and I was determined to enjoy it!

Friday dawned and I didn’t see it until after 7:00! My first park of the day was in Ottawa where I was staying. I had played it a few of years ago when it was only 9 holes and didn’t think I’d ever come back. They expanded it and have started hosting tournaments. It’s pretty open, but they do a pretty good job of using the trees that are there. It could benefit from some more trees. They were mowing the day I was there and it needed it. It appeared by all the dead grass already there, they don’t mow too often.

The last big course of the trip was Eisenhower State Park at Melvern Lake. As I drove into the park, three deer wandered across the course. It plays close to the lake on several holes and a boat dock and huge parking lot split the course into two parts. The first think you notice is how well taken care of it is. They were mowing the day I was there and on Hole 17 I talked to a guy who said they mow 400 acres every week. The second thing you notice is the HUGE tee pads. They were 5’ wide and 12’ long. I couldn’t run out of tee pad no matter how hard I tried!! Yes, it had tall grass, but it was much shorter than the others and the fairways were mowed much wider.  It had a good mix of distance holes, it used a variety of terrain features and there were some tough short holes. Hole 15 dropped down to an inlet and then back up and around a corner of trees to a basket. Lay up or throw long! There were trees guarding the tee side of the inlet so if you laid up too close you had more problems. I took some extra time to enjoy this course with some rest between holes. What a great time and I hope I can play it again in the not real distant future.

I always look for local restaurants when I trip and had made contact with the owner on Facebook. Lunch today was at the Miracle Café in Reading. If you remember, this little town almost got wiped off the map in May of 2011. They have done a good job getting the town back together. I had a great time visiting with the owner and the food was very good! Unbeknownst to me, the owner’s son is dating the daughter of Phil, a guy I throw with on a weekly basis.

My last course was the little one in Reading. Fortunately, it wasn’t busy because the park is really ‘busy’. Lots of short holes with a lot of newly planted trees. If there is anything going on, you probably won’t be able to complete the course. When the park isn’t busy, it’s a nice little ‘get out and stretch’ kind of course. Plus some great food at the Miracle Café!

My last stop of the day was in Emporia at Dynamic Discs. Always try to stop in when I’m close. Having lost 4 discs, I thought I’d be making some purchases. I came out empty handed. Either they didn’t have exactly what I wanted or I decided that I wasn’t going to replace one I lost.

Summer has quietly slipped away and I have to report next Wednesday. Before that happens, I really need to scratch an itch! I was hoping to rope a buddy into going on a Saturday/Sunday trip. It didn't work out so I'm jumping in the truck tomorrow morning and heading out on my own. A benefit will be the temps which are supposed to be cooler than the weekend. When you're on courses all day, that is a GOOD thing!

One of the courses, Fuzzy Pony-Long Course is private. When I called to see if I could get on, Dave said they were playing it the day I was going to be there! I did quick rearrange of my schedule to meet theirs and it's going to be a lot of fun!

Here's the schedule:

The biggest trip yet happened last week when I headed for NW Kansas. The plan was to play 14 courses in 2 ½ days. Reality says that was one course too many as I ran out of gas 6 holes into the last one. I’ll be going back to Ellis to play there again.

The weather was threatening the whole trip. The only time I got rained on was while I was driving between Oberlin and Colby. It rained where I wasn’t and at night which made for some messy playing at times. My shoes were wet a lot and I was glad for all the extra pairs of socks I brought along.

This journey is meant to enjoy the courses I find. They will all have their own flavor and most will not be suitable for professional competition…but that’s okay, because I’m playing them for experience! Here are some of my general thoughts on the trip and you can head on over to the Course Blogs for more detail on each course.

Thursday, June 11, I stopped in La Crosse (9), Ransom (12), Wakeeney (9) and Hill City (3). All of them but Ransom were neatly trimmed and appeared to be used by the city. La Crosse was a nice park and had a cool tunnel shot on Hole 8. Ransom had not been mowed recently which could be directly related to all the rain we’ve had this spring. it has a lot of potential if someone would take interest in it. Wakeeney is a fun little leg-stretcher course if you’re on I-70 and need a break. Hill City’s 3 holes didn’t offer me much hope, but when I got there, I would have liked to have gone around several times.

Friday, June 12, I stopped in Almena (9), Norton (18), Oberlin (9), Colby (9) Goodland (9) and Sharon Springs (9). I stayed in Norton for the night and made the short drive to Almena to get started. It was a small park and the holes crossed each other a lot. Norton was one of my favorites on the trip with its trimmed park and 18 holes. I’m describing it as a mini WaterWorks (KC). It just doesn’t have the length. Oberlin’s course is actually in a state park NE of town. It was trimmed and quiet. Colby has old baskets and hadn’t been trimmed in a while. They were out with the mowers but the grass was so wet. Goodland was SW of town about 15 miles. It was an adventure getting there on the dirt roads after the rain. The roads got a bit dicey, but I wasn’t going to be denied. It uses a lot of native tall grass. Sharon Springs looked real iffy at the start, but turned out to be pretty decent.

Saturday, June 13, I stopped in Oakley (9), St Francis (9), Atwood (18) and Ellis (18). I spent the night in Oakley so I hit that course early in the morning. They were setting up for a big car show and I was glad to have gotten it in before they got started. It was a drive to St Francis, but there was a reason. I was picking up a buddy, Ty, who was attending a wedding there to make the trip back to Wichita with me. I played that course while he was at the morning wedding. I met a Bill and Chris who played a round with me which added a lot to the course. It was lunch and then to Atwood. The course plays around a lake and was a lot of fun. There were some pretty tight fairways on the backside. Ellis looked to be very challenging, but after 6 holes I found my energy level way down and was also tired mentally. We decided it was a course better played when we were fresh so we called it a day and headed home! 

It's summer time, so it must be time to hit the road! I'm heading to NW Kansas for 2 1/2 days of throwing 14 courses. I'm going to have the pleasure of picking up a buddy of mine who is going to be in St Francis for a wedding and get 3 courses in with him. For the first time I'm going to try doing a little intro to each course on Periscope. If you don't have the app it is for both Android and Apple. You can follow me: @DiscChaserDoug (Twitter and Instagram as well). Can't Wait!!