I could not find a thread like this so I will start a new one. There has been a thread about the worst disc, what about a worst course. I also figured it would be shorter then a best course list. This is not supposed to be a direct slam on the designers of the course, the poor quality could come from events that happend after the course was put in, or weather conditions in the area of the course. Do not list the course just because you did poorly on it, or that it was hard, just reasons why it is a bad course.

Please list the Course name and location and the reasons why it is a poor course to play. Here is mine.

<font color="red"> Bowers Park; Tuscaloosa Alabama. </font>

18 Holes, with 15 in deep mosquito infested woods. Started out with 11 Mach III's and 7 posts, now is down to ~6 Mach III's and 12 posts. Most holes in the woods are varying elevation and approximately 300-350ft in length. Most are dog-legged right, forcing turn-over shots for RHBH players. Fairways are typically only 3-4ft wide for the entire length of the hole. Natural ungroomed teepads. Shule off of the fairways is nearly unnavigatable. No decent directions from 1 pin to the next tee pad. We ended up walking 200 meters down a trail to realize we were going the wrong way.

In general, an unpleasant course to play. We stopped keeping score after 5 holes, and figured we shot near 80 for the round. The only time I will go back, would be to show someone else the misery of futile design. It was designed by local college students. And if they were to take a bulldozer and carve fairways, it would be a decent, if not good course.

Omaha park in Rapid City South Dakota is hands down the WORST course ever. It's situated on a 5 acre(maybe) piece of land. The basktes are at least three times the size of a regulation target :p. No doubt built for "frisbees" and not golf discs. I mean you could lay down in one of these things! Anyway, i would recomend to never go there! Rapid City does have a new nice 18 hole(mach 3) course though. :D

Downers Grove, IL.
9 holes, average length 200'.
The course is laid out like a question mark so you finish at the place in the park farthest away from your start/parking lot.
One of the holes is 70' across a depressed retention area that never has any water.
You can count on one hand the number of trees that come into play.
And three or more of the baskets are taken out for sledding during the winter. It's a nice little hill that the course doesn't even use.

Someone (maybe Gary Lewis?) must have done some work at Downers Grove, because back in 1998 or so, there were only 7 baskets in the ground, and two of those were damaged.

Scottish Hills, Cary NC
9 Holes
Avg length 139 ft.

3 of the baskets are missing.
The other 6 have plastic chains that do not catch your disc. Not even worth the trip there. Hands down the worst course I've ever played.

I would have to put my vote in for either

Saginaw or Coppell Texas.

At least Coppell is not listed on the course directory.

Dr. Lawless Park, Cassopolis, Michigan

Average hole length: 140’ - ?
18 holes - alledgedly

The utter shame in this course is that out of the acres and acres that this park encompasses, the course “designers” picked the most mosquito and tick infested section to plant 18 baskets spaced 130’ to 150’ apart. The potential for a fantastic course is tragic compared to what is actually in place because there are large tracks of unused land within the park with semi-wooded rolling hills.. Bring a cell phone because if you throw an errand disc here and go searching amongst the thickets you’ll probably get hopelessly entangled. If they don’t get you the lime-disease-carrying ticks will.

-DaveB

One of the fellows a year/two head of me in school DIED aged 13-14 from a Lyme disease-carrying tick; it's no joke.

Mars Bluff in Florence, SC is my worst so far. 9 holes with only a couple over 180 ft. 1-3 are pitch&putts, then a silly little 3 hole criss-cross "wooded" section that anyone with 0.1 acre of woods in there backyard could create. Then an impossible anhyzer shot thru an overgrown chigger field. Ends with 3 boring open shots with no danger. Just a dull, boring design, nice baskets though.

Worst course I've Played: Buena Vista Park, Del Rio, TX. The park is in a seemingly bad neighborhood and it is overrun and not kept up at all. Plus it gets to 115 degrees there in the summer. Just unbearable!

There is no such thing as a bad disc golf course. It's just that some are better than others!

Word! There's a course in San Berardino County which is totally flat, has no obstacles save over the fence, and has holes 70' or so apart...lame? It's possibly the best thing going, if you're in a wheelchair, like many of the denizens there. :)

The following courses have the ignominious distinction as the worst I've ever played out of 128 total in my lifetime. Is it a coincidence that they are all nine-hole courses? :confused:

Willow Park, Bennington, VT - This park is set in a beautiful space on a hillside overlooking the town of Bennington, VT and the surrounding mountains. Adding to the setting is the view of the 300� Battle of Bennington monument, visible from many holes. The park is quite hilly and a few of the holes play over some severe elevation changes. The signature 3rd hole is 310 feet long and plays off a ridge down an elevation drop of more than 30 feet.

Unfortunately, that is about all the positive that one can say about this course, because it�s one of the most dangerous one I have ever seen. Many of the nine holes play directly through, or over, children�s playground equipment, a skate park, around a snack bar and restrooms, and right next to a baseball field. My group played on a Saturday afternoon and had to wait to throw several times because of the number of children, including small toddlers, on the course. The ninth hole required play around, or directly over, a skate park and through people watching a softball game. Normally I am of the opinion that any disc golf course is better than none at all but this one is a lawsuit waiting to happen and should be removed immediately before someone gets hurt. I am mystified that a parks director could allow such a travesty of a design.

Earl Township Park, Shanesville, PA � A Boy Scout project, this 9-hole course is set on a completely open hillside, with knee-high grass everywhere. 20 foot wide fairways have been mowed into the grass, and the holes range in length from 150 feet to 339 feet, although the latter is downhill and easily reachable. The tee signs for each hole are located within, no lying, 15-20 feet of the basket of the previous hole. With the exception of hole 8 which runs along the park boundary, there are exactly 5 trees on this course and they are all on hole 3. Off the fairway was brutal, I was lucky in that I lost only one disc on a mulligan shot. I was also fortunate to pick only one tick off me. WCP is probably around 20 for these nine holes. Every single hole can be deuced, although hole 7 is 250 and straight uphill, and without a flat tee area, plays more like 350. It's obvious that whoever put the course in consulted absolutely no one who knows anything about disc golf. As it stands, all I got out of it was some putting practice and some major tick paranoia.

Wehr�s Dam/Covered Bridges Park, Orefield, PA � Another nine-hole Boy Scout project, and again, it's obvious that whoever put the course in consulted absolutely no one who knows anything about disc golf. The tees are unmarked 4x4s and the baskets are also unnumbered, and with the exception of hole 2, the entire course is best played with an Omega SuperSoft putter. Hole 2 is wide open, slightly uphill, and about 350 feet long, but the rest of the holes are each no more than about 150 feet long and play through a steep wooded incline too close to a baseball field, with the last two holes playing directly and dangerously down walking paths.

Miramar Park, Seabrook, TX � This nine-hole course is simply one of the most dangerous layouts I have ever come across in almost a decade in the sport. The first five holes play blindly down walking paths. From the tee pad, the thrower has no idea whether there are pedestrians, joggers, bikers, etc. up near the target. As I was playing the course, a group of about 20 people rode through on bicycles. They came around a blind corner so fast I was lucky my disc did not strike one of them. At least they had helmets on; the elderly couple that followed on foot did not.

It appears to me that this course was installed without contacting a single disc golfer or consulting anyone about a design. Any experienced disc golfer would have immediately recognized the hazards of the current layout and would never have agreed to it. If the course and the park grow in popularity, I do not consider it needlessly alarmist to venture that it�s only a matter of time before they have a serious injury.

The tee signs for each hole are located within, no lying, 15-20 feet of the basket of the previous hole. With the exception of hole 8 which runs along the park boundary, there are exactly 5 trees on this course and they are all on hole 3.



With only 5 trees on the course, it was pretty 'clever' of the designer to place tee signs within 20 feet of the previous hole to add some additional vertical obstacles for more challenge... :eek:

Mars Bluff in Florence, SC is my worst so far. 9 holes with only a couple over 180 ft. 1-3 are pitch&putts, then a silly little 3 hole criss-cross "wooded" section that anyone with 0.1 acre of woods in there backyard could create. Then an impossible anhyzer shot thru an overgrown chigger field. Ends with 3 boring open shots with no danger. Just a dull, boring design, nice baskets though.



I played that one when out of town. I was wondering if someone else would vote for it. 9 hole course, 1500 feet!!! The highlight of the FIVE rounds that I played in just over ONE HOUR, was when I nailed #9 (longest, 270-foot hole) with my putter two rounds in a row (although no ace to show for them!). I then made up safari holes, (> 400ft) and found it to be much more fun.

Runner up: Ft. Wayne, IN Are those disc golf baskets?!? No trace of life in the beautiful summertime weather at 6 pm. No signs, maps, or any help. It had potential but really sucked.

1. Rowlette, TX - course basically in the middle of a floodplain, bunch of easy par 3's. Just walking the course is miserable not to mention the ridiculous water hazards there. 9 holes

2. The course in Lufkin, TX - not only do you have to throw across a playground, tennis courts, and park patron; the course has missing baskets as well. 9 holes

Swingin DBs - Moncure NC - no fairways, homemade crappy baskets - a hole that crosses a highway.....

9-hole course in black mountain, nc.
longest hole is about 250', and is the only one not situated 10-15' from the creek that runs through the park. we spent more time trying to get our disc back than playing. this was also established to be a rec. players course, which leads to a lot of lost disc. hurricane francis tore it up some, and makes a couple of 100' tee shots tough, due to all the big debris w/ no clean up. oh yeah, hole 1 doesn't exist.

Ouch - Two of my designs on the worst list.

While both of these are tiny courses, neither would have made my worst list. Unfair, unsafe and unrealized potential are three factors I would use when considering poor designs. Black Mountain may have slipped into the unsafe category due to the floodwaters eroding the greens to within 15 feet of the creek, but few if any, of the targets were within 30 feet of the creek when the course was first installed. Hopefully, the course can be rehabilitated when the land on the other side of the creak becomes available and the debris is removed.

For those who have played Mars Bluff, I am professionally curious - How would you have designed the course differently? As a designer, I want to make sure that each course is as fair and fun as it can be.

Take care,
Harold

I only have one course I think has design flaws. Expo Park in Aurora, CO. The course is situated on a nice open park with holes from 195' to 402'. The problem is that a lot of the holes are very short when they had the space to make them longer. There are only two holes you need a driver on. Also, 10 or more of the holes run adjacent to streams and lakes, costing rec players over 500 discs in 6 months (well thats how many I've found anyway). Overall I just think the course is too short. By making the holes longer, it would be far more interesting.

the black mountain course has been changed due to erosion, flooding, and wind damage, which resulted in a course in poor condition. I wasn't trying to criticize the design, for the amount of land is pretty limited, just the conditions. it has potential, especially if the other side of the creek can be used.
by the way, i believe you designed two of my favorite courses;
barnett park in kinston, and castle hayne in wilmington.

I like the idea of this thread, it can teach us a lot. But, one of the lines of thought seems to be "too short for me, so it's bad". Do you also get on the kiddie swings shaped like animals, then complain when your legs hit the ground?

A 150 foot hole may seem short to you, but for a raw beginner, it's a long way away. There are women and kids playing who are lucky to get a disc to go 30 feet in the direction they want it to. Leave these short courses to them.

Also, boy scouts installing courses is a GOOD thing, but as these examples point out, we need to encourage them to get help from people who know how to avoid making a bad course.

To legitimize this post, the only course I didn't bother to throw a disc was covered in four foot grass, only mowed in a five foot radius around the hole, with no clues as to where to throw from. It's supposed to be fixed now, so I won't mention the name.

My vote goes to Crookston in Fletcher, NC. It is a mostly wide open and flat 9 hole course with most of the holes longer than 400'. Since I can only throw 300-350', they are all tap-in threes. The bigger problem is that they do a poor job of mowing so that most of the round is spent hunting for plastic in tall grass after throwing the disc as far as you can. Personally, I prefer throwing on a practice football field.

that course in fletcher doesn't leave much to the imagination... all long, mostly straight shots in a wide open field, with a few tucked pin positions. its a good course to stretch your arm out, and tighten up your approaches, as well as your wind game. they cut the grass now.
that course has made me better, and doesn't belong on this list.

by the way, i believe you designed two of my favorite courses; barnett park in kinston, and castle hayne in wilmington.



I'll second this notion. Barnet Park in Kinston, NC is an outstanding course, and from the long tees, a real challenge. A good example is holes 2 and 4 which are superb par four holes. I love the elevation changes, especially the downhill holes 3 and 16. I liked basically every hole at this course, with the exception of the 160-foot hole 6 with its 3-foot wide fairway.

that course in fletcher doesn't leave much to the imagination... all long, mostly straight shots in a wide open field, with a few tucked pin positions. its a good course to stretch your arm out, and tighten up your approaches, as well as your wind game. they cut the grass now.
that course has made me better, and doesn't belong on this list.



Just because a course makes you better, that doesn't mean its not a lousy course. You would have gotten better than Cookston made you had you spent the time you played it bombing drives on a football field and throwing approaches to the goal posts. (Football fields are nice since you can easily gauge your distances.)

yes, hole 6 and 7 (before they cut some stuff down) were by far the 2 worst holes

don't really have a football field to go play on....
besides, the scorecards they provide you with, as well as the posted distances on the tee signs, provides an adequate estimation for how far you get it. mulched teepads, Discatchers, big park, nice features...
based on the previous post about other courses, i don't think crookston belongs on the list, but everyone is entitled to his/her own.

:mad:N. Richland Hills, Tammy and Sue Brown Park. ( i think thats the name, ) 6 holes est. Feb. 2005 Round tee pads, 200 ft. and less. 3 acre park used. In there, is a playground, walking path, horseshoe pits, washer pits, and each teepad, is about 20 feet from previous pin!!! HEADACHE!!! I have tried to contact them , with no results!! We need a good course over in these parts! GO WATAUGA! I love getting the kids involved, but, this course is rediculous.! "meister"

Theres a new course in NRH Chickenmeister?????

6 holes?

directions?

i would like to play it sometime just to add another course to my list.

The Worst Course in Oklahoma is the Lake Murray Lodge.

I made a trip there one day and there is 9 saucer baskets in 1 acre of space. The first 3 holes are all under 80 feet. I did have 7 aces that day tho. ;) That could be the most aces ever recorded in one day but I can't even claim it since the total length of the 9 hole course is about 1500 feet

Hey, I like that little course at Lake Murry, every time I am in the area, I take the 10min detour and play the 5min round with my putter.

I almost lost a disc one time on the longest hole on the course at 180ft.

But yea, when you get to hole #1 and its 50ft you kinda go, "is that it?"

What about Fin and Feather Lodge. Another very fun, very short course that you only need a putter on.

At least at Fin and Feather the tee signs require 3 digits to show the hole distances.

Hole 1 is a very tough 104 footer.

Oxford Circle Park, Davis CA

Real short, fairways right on top of each other, pedestrian traffic, playground, lots of small kids, and very obvious drug trafficking. At least the homeless people were able to show me the course layout and recommend a good place to eat in Davis, definately the best thing the park had to offer.

I like the idea of this thread, it can teach us a lot. But, one of the lines of thought seems to be "too short for me, so it's bad". Do you also get on the kiddie swings shaped like animals, then complain when your legs hit the ground?

A 150 foot hole may seem short to you, but for a raw beginner, it's a long way away. There are women and kids playing who are lucky to get a disc to go 30 feet in the direction they want it to. Leave these short courses to them.

Also, boy scouts installing courses is a GOOD thing, but as these examples point out, we need to encourage them to get help from people who know how to avoid making a bad course.

To legitimize this post, the only course I didn't bother to throw a disc was covered in four foot grass, only mowed in a five foot radius around the hole, with no clues as to where to throw from. It's supposed to be fixed now, so I won't mention the name.



Steve, you must be channeling my thoughts! I don't think length alone is a valid complaint, precisely because of the need for places for new players and kids to be able to play.

I have played some wonderful short courses where all I needed was a putter to play, but where the distance would be challenging for a child or a new player using a $2.50 Wham-O disc.

This is one reason why we have so few juniors and women playing our game - we make too many courses that are too long for them to play (enjoyably).

Now, in order to validate the thread, I nominate Liberty Park in Las Vegas. When I attempted to play it last July, most of the holes did not have visible tees or tee signs, and most of the baskets were un-numbered. We wasted an hour walking around trying to autopsy the course, and figure out where the holes were. In my opinion, poor markings are one of the worst sins of a bad course.

Now, in order to validate the thread, I nominate Liberty Park in Las Vegas. When I attempted to play it last July, most of the holes did not have visible tees or tee signs, and most of the baskets were un-numbered. We wasted an hour walking around trying to autopsy the course, and figure out where the holes were. In my opinion, poor markings are one of the worst sins of a bad course.



i have to agree with that statement.

if it were not for a course map that I had, I never would have found the holes.

That is one reason I haver never played there again. When if Vegas, play Sumerset, the homies there are cool and welcome out of town players everytime I have been there. (I have even had players drop me off at my motel so I did not have to call a cab :D

Hey rizbee, That used to be MY phrase! (about the beer). Then of course I cleaned up my act!!! :DPIZZA: and all others. N. Richland Hills Course is at Davis Blvd.and N. Tarrant Parkway. Go w. on N.Tarrant to 2nd Subdivision entrance on Left. Follow to Park. Bring Phantoms, Thunderbolts, AviarXDs, 86 Molds,perhaps a Stingray,for those 200 ft. rollers.And of course YOUR GUMBY! :cool:Call me if you want to play it. 281-LAWN Oh yea, bring helmets! "meister"

Thanks ChickenHauf

I have'nt heard from #17684 about his worst course in Oklahoma ;)