After finishing up with two days of work at Vertical Horizons Treehouse Paradise (such a fun experience), I mercifully headed for home today. Getting a few days of having only my normal work routine in Coos Bay before my next couple hundred miles on the road. While I had fun? I am also exhausted after crisscrossing the State of Oregon for much of the past week. Though while I was heading up Interstate 5 toward Roseburg and eventually home? I needed to use the travel day to check out four new courses for my collection.
My first stop on the day absolutely knocked my socks off! Lake Selmac DGC is easily the best course I have played in southwestern Oregon. I’ll qualify that statement by saying I have not yet had the privilege of playing the 27-hole Whistler’s Bend near Roseburg, which I hear is top 2-3 overall in Oregon! But for now? Lake Selmac holds my #1 spot in the region. Probably in the top 7-8 courses I have played statewide. Maybe even in the top 50-75 courses I have ever played! High praise from me…as I don’t hand out “In Your Favorites” designations in DGCourseReview.com easily. But it was an absolutely amazing eighteen-hole course.
The course had great tee surfaces, and technical tee shot after technical tee shot, before FINALLY giving you a chance to air out a long drive on the Hole 18 tee. But I am at home in the trees. That is disc golf, to me. Weaving in and around narrow alleys from tee to basket with an absolutely money disc such as the ProLine Squall. I excel in those situations, and my round at Lake Selmac was no different. While I only managed even par (54) on the 5,341-foot course? Due to all of the tight technical lines on the course, that was good enough for an estimated round rating of 988.
Coming off that unexpected high at Lake Selmac, I played eighteen holes at Glendale City Park. For how good Lake Selmac was, that was about the number of To Dos that are needed to improve the disc golf experience at Glendale. Overgrown fairways and C1s/C2s, uneven tee surfaces, no tee signage, etc. It was difficult to navigate and easy to lose a disc. I shot a -13 (41) for an estimated round rating of 954! But it wasn’t much fun…particularly factoring in a couple of holes placed too closed to playground equipment. Equipment that was occupied by a half-dozen 10-12 year olds, all practicing all of the new swear words they had recently learned and wanted to practice around one another this afternoon (sigh).
After being underwhelmed in Glendale, it was back to knocking my socks off in Myrtle Creek! I had attended a meeting recently where a city official from Myrtle Creek had been bragging about what an awesome disc golf course they had in their community for residents and visitors to enjoy. Every community sort of sees its course(s) through rose-colored glasses…particularly when they haven’t seen (m)any other alternatives to what they have. But hats off to this city official, as he wasn’t lying.
I had a LOT of fun playing Millsite DGC! A 3,070-foot nine-hole course nestled along the edge of the South Umpqua River, the person who designed this course knew what they were doing. A couple of the holes came a little close to one another from a safety perspective. But I’ll forgive them for that, since I imagine that for the volume of traffic that is on that course at the same time likely doesn’t create many potentially dangerous situations. I ended up shooting a -1 (26) at Millsite, for an estimated round rating of 1005. But the important thing was how impressed (and surprised) I was with another course in our region of Oregon.
After feeling exhausted after a hard week, I thought about turning for home at this point. But I was SO close to three other courses in the Roseburg area that I have yet to play! So I decided to muster the strength for one more course, the eighteen-hole Riverfront Park DGC on the West side of town.
I wasn’t as impressed with the course as I was with Lake Selmac and Millsite, but it was solid/okay. A little rough around the edges in spots (hard to find a few tees, some safety issues on a couple of holes that were too close to one another, etc.). But a reasonably quick/fun eighteen holes. By the time I got to Hole 16, however, my body was done. I had a ~60-foot approach shot on that hole, and my disc pitifully went about 50 feet left of the basket…without any wind or tree strikes. My form/accuracy was gone. So after limping through the rest of Holes, 16, 17 and 18 to finish with a -4 (50) and an estimated round rating of 956? I decided to wave the white flag of surrender and head for home. Which was okay, as another +4 in my Courses Played Collection was rock-solid.
Magic Number = 15 (1,985 Courses Played)
How it All Got Started: Tonn’s Travels >>
A main purpose of this blog will be to share information, helpful tips and tricks (everything from health and fitness to methods for saving money while you’re out “bagging courses” of your own), and ideas for better, safer course design. But I am also hoping to inspire others with my passion for the sport, via the stories I can share about all of the interesting experiences I have. All of the interesting people I meet. All of the amazing courses I am blessed to have the opportunity to play. If I can inspire even a handful of individuals to get off the couch, get “out of their bubble” or “security blanket” and explore more of this big, beautiful planet we all call home? Then I will consider this effort a success.
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.