One of the occasional challenges of course collecting is showing up at a park hundreds of miles from home that UDisc or Disc Golf Course Review say has a course to enjoy, only to find that baskets have been pulled for the season. Or in some cases, permanently. And with locals not always being good about updating the conditions of courses on those various directories? It can waste hours of time, not to mention lots of money/gas.
Today felt like a little karma or payback for my patience during some of my previous wasted trips…as a connection of mine on Facebook, Paul Homstad, let me know that a course his dad had designed was about a half-hour away from where I am currently staying while I help a family member prepare to sell her home. The course, located at North Winneshiek Middle School (a bit South of the Minnesota border and a bit North of Decorah, Iowa), will likely close approximately three months from now, as that school is apparently being permanently closed. So Paul told me I should try and sneak in one more course for my collection before it is added to an ever-growing list of courses out there that have gone extinct.
I arrived at the school this afternoon to find a map of a ten-hole layout that can be played as an eighteen hole course (playing the holes in reverse order after “Hole 10”), but I could not locate baskets for Holes 3, 4, 8 and 9. Good tee signage and a course map made it relatively easy to know where those missing baskets should have been (using the nearest tree or fence post as my target on those holes), so I quickly made my way around the course. But playing it as an eighteen-holer, with no tee signs for Holes 10-18 (and Holes 11-18 not on the map), made me think that it should formally be considered a nine-hole course…so that is what I decided to add to both UDisc and DGCR’s directories.
I am hoping to have time to sneak over into southwestern Wisconsin to play several courses in the coming week! But it was nice to sneak in one more formally-semi-secret course while I had an afternoon free today. Every course counts! And if not for Paul, I might have forever missed the opportunity to check this one out before it disappears forever.
Magic Number = 509 (1,491 Courses Played)
About Tonn’s Travels
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 our “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 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.
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