Aah. Today was the day I’ve been waiting for on the course collecting front for over a year. NINE NEW COURSES to make a decent dent in my Courses Played Collection! And after ninety holes of disc golf, along with rumbling back to the place we’re staying a little later than usual? I thought it might be easiest to share a list of the courses I was able to play today, then talk about a few of the highlights (and lowlights). But first, the list of courses:
1. Jackson Safari DGC in Jackson, Minnesota -2 (53), estimated rating of 928
2. Harris DGC in Sibley, Iowa -8 (19), estimated rating unknown
3. Graettinger DGC in Graettinger, Iowa -1 (26), estimated rating of 821
4. Fonda DGC in Fonda, Iowa -1 (25), estimated rating of 855
5. Alta Community Park in Alta, Iowa -4 (23), estimated rating of 913
6. Meridan DGC in Meridan, Iowa -3 (24), estimated rating of 900
7. Puddle Jumper Park in Orange City, Iowa -2 (25), estimated rating of 905
8. Rock Valley Rotary in Rock Valley, Iowa +2 (29), estimated rating of 892
9. Alvord City Park in Alvord, Iowa -8 (19), estimated rating of 986
One of the highlights of my day? FINALLY getting to play Jackson Safari DGC, which opened the year after I moved to coastal Oregon. I really liked this course! I thought Bill Swan did an excellent job with the design. And if I were living in southwestern Minnesota? It is a course that I would definitely want to play multiple times per year.
Another highlight of my day was seeing the tee signs I designed (for DGA) still looking great at Alta Community Park and Puddle Jumper Park (shown above). It’s always fun seeing signs I’ve designed “in the wild” around the country! And the tee signs in Orange City, in particular, are of a quality that DGA can and should be using to sell a lot more sets of signs around the planet. For anyone interested in learning more about the tee sign services of DGA, you can visit: https://discgolf.com/disc-golf-tee-signs/
The biggest “lowlight” on the day was seeing the aftermath of some recent storm damage to the course in Graettinger, Iowa. 🙁 You could tell from the signage and conditions of the course (other than storm damage) that a LOT of love and care went into the creation and upkeep of this course. Several of the holes were still playable without much noticeable damage! But a few holes, like Hole 6 (photo above) shows how much work needs to be done to get that course back to being its former self.
Another personal lowlight was my losing my ProLine Tempest, one of only four discs I could pack in my carry-on for this trip, in the Pond on Hole 5 at Rock Valley DGC. I purposefully tried to aim far left of the basket, to make sure I wouldn’t go into the pond off the tee! But when I let the disc go, a big gust of wind knocked the disc down several feet, it turned a bit to the right WAY too early, and “splash.” Sigh. I’ve been teeing off on longer holes with that disc for a couple of years. So now the rest of this trip, I’ll only have two ProLine Squalls and a ProLine Rogue, which I am trying to learn. I guess this will be an excellent opportunity.
Losing that Tempest will leave a mark. It’s like leaving an old friend in Iowa. But there is nothing I can do about it, so I’ll need to focus on the positive of getting nine new courses played on the day. It’s been a LONG time since I could do that. Pretty cool! Here’s to hoping I can get a few more courses played before it is time to head back home.
Magic Number = -96 (2,096 Courses Played)
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.