Here's the situation: I have a 2-hr meeting in SLO Saturday morning, so I'm driving to SLO from North San Diego County on Friday, and back to SD on Saturday.

I'll have time to hit a few courses on the way up and back. Which ones would you recommend? I've played La Mirada, HB and Oak Grove recently, so I'm looking for other alternatives.

Play Pasadena if you can...

ElDo, Evergreen, and Santa Maria.

Make Santa Maria the "must play".

What time are you leaving Friday? If it's in the morning, play ElDo on the way up and then play Santa Maria. You want to get out of ElDo before the Santa Barbara traffic builds up, so if you aren't leaving until noon-ish, then head straight for SM.

If you are looking to play different courses, hit Whittier on your way back.

How about ElDo/Santa Maria on Friday, and then Sylmar/Whittier Narrows on Saturday? Or you could try and do Goleta/Sylmar/Whittier, but there might be enough daylight for that.

No, he said between S.D. and me, so Waller is right out... :D

PM me if you want to play El Dorado with key local. ;)

I must agree that waller is a must...very fun its 27 holes with everything you could ask for in a course (though its no DeLaVeaga)...I live in SLO and sinshimer park while it is improving and I like the course doesnt have much potential. Atascadero (just north of slo about 10 min) is a little more technical than waller a little shorter and "my home course." Im not sure if you have already left but PM me if you are thinking of playing near SLO maybe we can throw a round (its some times nice to have a guy who nows the course).

Thanks for the suggestions. We were able to make use of some. We had time, sunlight, mileage and appointment constraints, so we couldn't make all of the suggestions work. Here's what A.J. and I did:

Friday - We started at HB, getting there around 10am. A.J. had never played there - its been 10 years for me. Much as I remembered, with lots of open shots around eucalyptus trees, a little elevation change.

After a quick lunch we headed up to El Dorado. Slo called just as we were pulling up, and he met us for the back nine. He was a great host - filled us in on some local history and background. We will definitely be back, as it is a beautiful park with lots of big trees. I need to work on my low drives in order to score better.

We were nearing Friday L.A. rush hour time (and sunset) so we decided to try a few nearby 9-holers. The next stop was Liberty Park in Cerritos. There should be more courses like this one. Nicely landscaped and maintained, and a short layout. It was the only course we played in the two days with children playing. A.J. was able to get a few 2's, which lifted his spirits. I almost aced #6.

The sun was disappearing. We headed west to Carson, and found Private Anderson Park. We couldn't find the other two courses in Carson, but then we had left the driving directions at home. This is a very short 9-holer around the perimeter of a small, one-block-square park. Lots of other activity in the park, so light plastic is a good idea. We played the first two holes and were having trouble finding the third basket when a staff person from the after school program offered to help. He also wanted to play along. Deondre said that it wasn't too often that non-locals visited thatn park to play DG. We had a fun round with him. I think that park would be a good choice to receive some free discs and an EDGE demonstration. That was our last round of the day - 200+ miles needed to be driven!

Saturday - I finished my presentation at Cal Poly and we were free to throw! We found Sinsheimer Park in SLO around noon and commenced to playin. Its an OK 9-holer, but we were frustrated by a few things. The grass was very tall, so we spent a lot of time searching for discs in the grass (note to self, bring only red and orange discs to this course). Also, the tee signs had incorrect distances on them, and no maps. I continually "under-clubbed", foolishly believing the signs. In the future, I'll trust my eyes. It looks like the local club is active, as they recently installed some cool benches at each tee. Next project - tee signs!

Lunch on the road was next, as we drove to Santa Maria and Waller Park. This park is fantastic! Not just because of the DG course, but it also has basketball and volleyball courts, a skate park, a dog park, soccer arena, and lots of picnic facilities. Oh yeah, and 27 fantastic DG holes! A great, fun layout. I particularly enjoyed the first seven holes. I was a bit frustrated at the number of blind shots and hard to see from the tee baskets later on, but I enjoyed the layout. W played the last several holes with some locals, who were a lot of fun. I think one of them was Brian, from pickyourdisc.com.

Our final DG stop was in Lompoc. We stopped at the Days Inn in Vandenburg Village and played the short 9-holer on their grounds. It was pitch and putt, but a great idea! You don't have to stay there to play, just stop by the front desk and they will have you sign a log sheet. I think we will stay there some time in the future on our way up the coast.

After that it was sun down, and we drove straight through home, getting in around 10pm. A quick two days and 99 holes.