The Disc Golf Streak, Days 1799-1801 (Charlotte, NC trip)

Days 1799-1801

Since the girls had band camp this week we decided to take a trip down to Charlotte, NC and see what their courses had to offer. Charlotte (according to uDisc) is the #3 ranked disc golf city in the US . . . ahead of our own Cincinnati which is ranked #8.

We planned a lot and walked a fine line between wanting to see everything and overdoing it . . . so we threw Bradford and Hornets Nest when we got into town on Tuesday, then Winthrop, Elon Eager Beaver, Renny Gray and Torma Town on Wednesday, followed by Nevin, Kilborne and Reedy Creek on Thursday. Also fit in a stop at Another Round disc golf shop.

We had a blast. The courses were fun, most of it was technical wooded style golf. The weather turned out perfect . . . we went from forecasts with >50% chance of thunderstorms each day to basically perfect (and reasonably cool) weather all three days.

We both liked Nevin best -- it was like Idlewild in the sense of requiring golfing strategy but it was almost entirely wooded -- nearly the entire round was played in shade. We recognized holes here (and other courses) from having watched tournament coverage so it was really neat to throw the same holes and see how they played. My favorite was Hole 16 -- a 425' downhill dogleg right . . . as we got ready to throw a walker was coming up and he stood and watched while Danny laced a perfectly anny'd backhand 350' down the hill and he couldn't believe what he saw. It was real nice moment.

His favorite course to throw was Eager Beaver . . . we played the super short tees and dubbed it Baby Beaver. After throwing Winthrop and before going to Renny we needed the easier change of pace and he was so happy throwing it. A good reminder that courses of different lengths and skill levels are always needed.

Hornets Nest was great the first day since we've seen it on film quite a bit. I think Hole 17 is probably the hardest hole we've ever thrown. Before that we both made the super skinny gap on Hole 15 so that was fun too.

While Nevin was tops, we both had Torma Town as our 2nd or 3rd favorite course that we played. It is such a cool concept . . . they took land at the end of a suburban cul-de-sac and built a course (with a primative clubhouse on it). The course is well designed and fun, and has a great feel to it. League night was just starting when we arrived and the players were extremely friendly and helpful with navigation and course recommendations. And we liked that there were a combination of open and wooded shots and the open shots were often the "over the valley" variety because who doesn't like to watch a disc fly? I loved the shot through the base of the power stanchion since it was open *and* required you to hit a line. And while there was rough around I didn't feel like it was in the way of a reasonably skilled player (unlike Renny).

Winthrop was cool to see, although the course itself wouldn't be any big deal if the USDGC wasn't there. But it is, so it was fun to visit and see and throw the holes in person. It's not really well maintained when the USDGC isn't there . . . but it was still neat to see.

All of the courses were very good to excellent (I also loved Bradford), but I think Nevin, Hornets Nest and Torma Town stole the top three spots for us.

I suppose we have it good in Cincinnati, but I am jealous of Charlotte. They have more of the type of courses we enjoy throwing and the courses are pretty much maintained in excellent condition. It was pretty close to perfection. And throwing nine courses in three days with Danny was a dream come true.

Lots of pictures on this trip:

This one goes first because I think it sums up the trip best so it will be this diary entry's cover photo (ha ha)