Four New Courses on My Way to Sunriver – Tonn’s Travels

Today was a day I had circled on my calendar for the past few months. Driving over to Sunriver, Oregon to attend my SBDC Fall Directors Conference with the Directors from nineteen other Centers across the State of Oregon, as well as staff from our network headquarters. I always come away refreshed from those conferences, bringing new ideas and new information home with me! But it also gives me a chance to look at my map of unplayed courses in UDisc…seeing what opportunities there might be to add a few new courses to my collection.

I thought that today should be the day to play the highest-rated disc golf course in Oregon that I hadn’t yet seen: Waterloo DGC in Waterloo, Oregon. I had perfect weather to play a lot of disc golf, and the course did not disappoint! It is my type of course design, with lots of fussy/narrow lines off the tees that must be hit in order to post a good score on the card. Lots of trees, and smaller bits of elevation change around the fairways and baskets.

By the time I made it to Hole 14, I caught up to two players in front of me who were searching for a lost disc near the fairway. They asked if I wanted to play through, but I told them I wasn’t in a hurry and would be happy to help them find the disc…which ended up being under a plant in the fairway. We then got to talking, and we played the last few holes of the course as a threesome.

One of the guys I played with was named Jeff Hemmerling. Jeff said he is a bit of a course collector, having played more than one hundred courses around the region. I used the opportunity to sing the praises of DGA, as well as tell him about my role on their team. He then teased me, faking a little bow and saying: “I’m not worthy” (a la Wayne’s World), LOL. His buddy playing with him was named Jared, who originally came out to Oregon from Nebraska. So at the risk of sounding a little immodest, I also told Jared that the last time I had checked? I had played more disc golf courses in Nebraska (106) than anyone else in the sport. After I said it, I worried that he might think I was a little full of myself. But I only mentioned it to let him know that I had seen/played most of the courses on his home turf. Which we both thought was pretty cool! Two guys from Minnesota and Nebraska, comparing course notes on courses in the Midwest in Oregon. I ended up shooting a -4 (50) at Waterloo, for an estimated round rating of 1029. A pretty awesome experience, all-around.

After finishing up at Waterloo, I headed over to the VERY private, VERY beautiful Camp Tadmor. I had reached out to Camp staff days earlier, since the course description said that players are not allowed to simply show up, looking to play a round. Erik Tuneberg, the Camp’s Director of Guest Services, said that if I could come after 1:00pm today, they would let me play…as they had some groups on the property until that time. I happily agreed.

After getting through the entry gate via instructions Erik had provided to me, I made my way to the parking area near the Hole 1 tee. Then as I started my round, Erik came over to talk with me. Making sure I am “good people.” We had a good conversation, and I told him how much I appreciated the opportunity to check out the property. Some of the eighteen-hole course had become a little overgrown, but there were still a lot of fun shots to be had! Hole 18 was definitely my favorite. Erik said the only rule for playing the course was that if I threw my tee shot on 18 into the water, there was NO SWIMMING ALLOWED. 🙂 After finishing my round, I told him that I got my deuce on 18 to wind up shooting a -3 (51). Or a -21, if you use the posted pars. But either way, DGCourseReview.com said it was good enough for an estimated round rating of 990.

Finishing up at Camp Tadmor, I decided it was time to get greedy and try to sneak in two more courses over by Sisters and Bend before having dinner with a colleague. The first course was the nine-hole Black Butte Ranch DGC in Black Butte Ranch, Oregon. A VERY “swanky” (is that a word?) private community where people seem to have one heck of a lot more money than I do. 🙂 I wasn’t one hundred percent certain I was allowed to be there. But there were no signs formally saying that I couldn’t be at that park, so I decided to take my chances. I ended up shooting a -2 (25), for an estimated round rating of 1019. The course was okay. Nothing great, nothing terrible. Just your typical nine-hole recreational course. But I was mostly happy for the opportunity to get another +1 in my Courses Played Collection.

My final, hurried round on the day was at Hyzer Pines at S.O.A.R. in Sisters, Oregon. I never did find out what S.O.A.R. stands for. If anyone reading this knows, I would love a comment to clue me in! 🙂 I was too busy making my way around the course as quickly as possible, trying to make it to dinner in Sunriver. I had fun, as it is another very technical course design that suits my playing ability well. I ended up shooting a -2 (52), for an estimated round rating of 971.

All told, I managed sixty-three holes of disc golf at four new courses on my way to Sunriver. I am tired tonight, but I am happy. Since moving to the Oregon Coast, finding time (and quite honestly, new courses to play) has been MUCH more difficult than it used to be. Plus I’ve wanted to check out all four courses for more than a year, so being able to finally cross those courses off of my Oregon disc golf bucket list feels great. Dinner and conversation was great too! But now it is time for sleep…so I can get some good work done at the conference tomorrow.

Magic Number = -35 (2,035 Courses Played)

ABOUT DEREK

Derek Tonn is a member of the DGA’s Ambassador Team. His company, Mapformation, LLC, has been DGA’s partner in the development of disc golf tee signage since 2012. The longer our two companies have worked together, and the more Derek has gotten to know all the great folks at DGA, the more he has wanted to formally sing the company’s praises. The more he has realized that “Steady” Ed’s (the father of disc golf and the modern-day Frisbee) vision for the sport and his company perfectly describes his own interests and priorities related to disc golf, and the more Derek has recently been encouraged to share his story.