02-18-10
Drove down to Sunrise, FL to get another walk-around at the land that will become Oakland Park Blvd passive park. 7 of the 9 holes pretty much worked but #2 & 9 had to negotiate existing trees as well as trees that I will place. I had to get another look to see where the natural alleyways were. Most of the good naturals are unusable because that area will be a designated “wet-land” and will be roped off as OB.
The course will be a short rec course because there isn’t room for more. I think longer tees might be found but will not be permanently placed because most people playing the course couldn’t make the shots from longer without endangering walkers or other disc golfers.
Practiced throwing shots in a field to get ready for this weekend’s tourney in Miami, but mostly to avoid rush hour traffic in S FL. I stayed with some disc golfer buddies (Ania & Paul. Both of whom are lovely folks but have last names that are completely unpronounceable) who live about 500 yards from the PGA National course.
02-19-10
First thing in the AM I went to PGA Nat’l to try out the new config.
The first hole is the very embodiment of THE WRONG THING TO DO!
The tee aims directly at the maintenance building and the basket is about 20 feet behind the chain link fence at the back of the building. The 2nd tee is in the putting circle for hole #1.
Holes 2,3,4 were OK. The tees for 5 & 7 were too close. If someone takes a long run up for #7 (I did) they would be starting on the 5th tee. If they were concrete tees, they could just do what Stan McDaniel did at Squirrel and make an “L” shaped tee to accommodate throws for two different fairways from the same spot. If you’re going to do something goofy, at least be deliberate about it. Stan can’t actually help being deliberately goofy.
A public restroom building was in the putting circle of #9 as well. I can’t believe someone got paid to design this course. Even more unbelievable is that this course at PGA NATIONAL! These guys have the PGA’s showcase golf course and they build a rinky-dink disc golf course like this.
A mile or so away is a solid waste management mound that has turned into a park. I saw it from the turnpike and had to take a closer look. Wow, this place would make a spectacular course, but they already have mountain biking trails in the area that I would most like to see as a dg course. But I did meet the director of parks and rec while there and I hope to work with him in getting some disc golf courses on those SWM properties when they convert to parks.
Next, I went to a church course, which had crossing fairways and some home made baskets that looked something like a dg target but didn’t even remotely act like one. I hit 3 huge birdies on my first 3 holes, each putt finding the sweet spot but the basket wouldn’t catch them. After that, I just threw the holes and didn’t’ really care about putting out since it didn’t seem to matter.
Then down to Kendall Indian Hammocks park. I was too late for dubs so I went out to play one of my least favorite courses of all time, K2. The course that gave Steady Ed his fatal heart attack.
Between the parks dept not allowing anything to be cut or even trimmed and the course designer not giving the first consideration to safety and in some cases, flight lines, the course is one of the worst I’ve played. If Ocala’s Greenway is Florida’s most potential unrealized, then Kendall Indian Hammocks is Florida’s most potential unrecognized.
A ridiculous percentage of baskets are within 10 feet of OB. Throwing over roads and fences is standard. If you have to wait for traffic to throw your drive, the hole needs to be redesigned, PERIOD!
Randy Beers and his Asian cat, “Mi Yao” were kind enough to open up his home to several of us in town for the tourney.
02-20-10
I hit about 4 or 5 40’+ putts per round on Saturday, but I was miserable due to my intense dislike for these two courses. I had signed up for Masters but everyone moved up to the open division. KC lead after the first day. 8-time Florida Tour champion, John E. McCray trailed closely. I was way back on the 3rd card.
We went to a little get together at Bruce Rickie’s place, which was voted “best back yard” on the Florida Tour a few years back. He has a nice bricked area with benches, a dock, a couple of hammocks, a rope swing that goes over a lake, and a killer cat walk that goes up his banyon tree.
02-21-10
I decided that I had to mellow out and just play the course despite the fact that my designer side was screaming each time I stepped up to a tee. I didn’t hit a single putt outside the circle on Sunday, probably because my intensity was just gone. I can’t play quality disc golf if I just don’t care. I couldn’t play with a smile on Kendall if I cared in the least.
I ended up 5th in the open despite a couple of early blow-up holes. John E McCray passed Climo and won the open division for his 100th PDGA win (8 am-92 pro)
I drove out to Big Cypress Seminole reservation, got my cabin and got some greatly needed zzzzz’s.
02-22-10
We had pretty much decided to put the rec 9-holer in the RV park. The available areas were limited. I walked all over it and started to formulate a plan but there wasn’t enough space to do a proper loop.
Around 4:30 pm the guy in charge of the RV park showed up and we talked about what I hoped to accomplish versus what was actually available.
Lots of bottle-necked areas and several retention ponds that are dry now but the RV park manager and superintendent claim that, during the rainy season, they hold water long enough that before they dry up, they have fish in them. Might not be the best fairway option on a rec course.
Bottom line, too many RVs and too little space, combined with people crashing chains, whooping it up and harshing the geriatric patron’s mellow. So we moved the project down the road a 1/4 mile. Should be a LOT more work up front but a better product in the end.
Tomorrow: More romping around in the woods. Hopefully we’ll find that this area doesn’t get too flooded during the rainy season.