Its that time once again.... Whats NEXT?

[dg]

Well, I do beleive that the last few tournements that I have been to are showing us that disc golf is definatly growing.

They had to make a hole 19 at Conroe just to be able to hold all the cards. We think we had 8 go from the GT area.

I also think were gonna see a bigger Houston crowd at the island than we usually do. Hopefully the Cajuns are coming down too.

We've done a good job on promoting DG in our area over the last year or two.

We got Klein up and running, which I beleive is bringing new players to the sport.

We have our own little Tyrrel Bass, or big Tyrrel Bass, which I will probably hang out quite a bit this summer.

And the Wynfree's are doing a good job with league, getting like 25 of us together on a weekly basis.

Disc golf is definatly growing, and I dont want it to stop.

I would definatly like to do something towards expanding or changing our DG options this spring/summer/fall.

Although I would love to see a course in Wuthering Heights, and 18 new baskets in Vidor, we need money for that. Although I do plan on finding more sponsors for a new course this summer... I'll keep my fingers crossed.

We could even build a new course at some park thats just waiting for someone to see the potential.

I also think that after the tournament, although I have a feeling there me be some people who really dont like this idea, we could modify the island.

The one thing that Pleasure has that you cant find for 100 miles, no not mosquitos, elevation.

I dont see why we dont use it to its full potential, designing each hole to maximize up or down slope.

Just my brain spilling, anyone who wants to clean it up be my guest.

Lets keep this topic going for a while, maybe we can come to agreement on something before the summer.

[the_lung]

I think y'all know what my thoughts on the subject will be.

The technology of the sport and the ability level of the players are evolving. I read on Houck's website that Pleasure Island was designed to be the "short course" for the Worlds. And that was in 1994! Disc golf is also slowly starting to warm up to "golf" notions. We can learn a lot from our ball golf cousins about how 'drive/putt' golf offers so many less options that 'drive/approach/putt' golf.

On the other hand, I have seen courses with a limited amount of land and terrain available try to push it and end up with a course that no one enjoys. Even though getting more elevation involved would likely increase the fun factor on many holes you may want to consider whether it makes other holes suffer or bring congestion/overlapping into play. If you try to turn Pleasure Island into something like Tyyrell Park, you may end up with a course no one wants to play.

Another factor to consider the historical aspect. While reports differ, Sedgley Woods in Philadelphia is thought to be the 2nd oldest course in the world. They have kept the original tees and design for this course mainly for the historical preservation, and also to satisfy the number of lid throwers that still use the course. The original design has the classic design flaws such as tees within 20 feet of nearby poleholes, crossing or adjoining fairways, inappropriate length of holes (short) but the nostalgia of the course outweighs these flaws. I didn't write it before, but I actually thought it was kind of neat being able to play the exact course that was used in PDGA Championships ten years ago!

Just some thoughts from an outsider to consider...

[Tomwin]

I would never agree with changing the Berry's treasure course. That's the course i learned to play on and it hasn't changed all that much since it was put in other than Hole 7 being moved back to the alternate spot for difficulty, Hole 8 being moved back to the alternate spot (I found the original slot a while back), Hole 12's original spot getting lost then the alt spot getting sunk in mud. Half of the tree on hole 15 is missing now compared to how it originally was, and the tee signs are pretty worn out.

But hey, it's still pretty much the original design, flawed as it may be. Still the only course to ever have the pro worlds played on it 2 years in a row.

Thats some of my thoughts on it anyway so my vote is to keep it how it is. I'm not against saving up to add trees or foliage if the city would let us, or fixing up the tee signs (taking them apart and cleaning them) or whatever.

[Sportznut]

I have to agree.. That is the course where i found disc golf. So many memories of rounds and players that i have played with, Watching the pro's play there at the worlds. I would hate to see it changed. Lung, Houck didnt make Berry's Treasure as the short course for the '94 worlds, We were playing therein late 90 or early 91. Unless he had the forsight to think he could get the worlds there 4 years later.... I say put the focus on a new course, where NEW DGers can be introduced to the sport and when they get more involved and find out the history of our courses, They can then say that they played the same course as Climo did .... My .02

[the_lung]

Lung, Houck didnt make Berry's Treasure as the short course for the '94 worlds, We were playing therein late 90 or early 91. Unless he had the forsight to think he could get the worlds there 4 years later....

Houck wrote here: (http://circularproductions.com/cd_ponderosacircle_r.phtml)

Berry's Treasure, the original permanent course on the island, was the token "short course" of the four, and Kisselppoo Crossings was the token "tight course..."

So you are right that he didn't design it, but it was still known as short, and this is back in the day when the Tracer and the Eclipse were the longest distance drivers! :lol:

[Sportznut]

Tracer and eclipse.. Hello my scorpian was the disc of choice... I even have that one time distance record holding disc called the Pheonix... Ouch...

[AveSatani]

i think we should leave the original pins (A pins). But i think we should revive the B pins and think about C pins - a third course for tourneys. There is a lot of space out there and switching it around to different pins gives out-of-towners a fair chance against locals at tourneys. But then again i suck at every local tourney even though the pins are the same!!!!!

[dg]

my only reason for mentioning the change was to take full advantage of the hills that are out there

I wish there was another place with elevation so that could put one there

Of course, we could put a target course in a neighborhood using rooftops as elevation

[dg]

by the way, if anyone wants to play the island, im going out there on Thursday around 4pm

come on out if you need any lessons :lol:

i will teach you what not to do