Course maintenance is a much-needed thing …
Please don’t think otherwise.
If you’ve ever helped install a course or played one that’s freshly in the ground, you get it. It takes years for a disc golf layout to feel comfortably worn. Without the time and foot traffic required to beat things into submission, golfers deal with thorns, dangerous tree limbs, rocky walking paths and difficult course navigation. Human intervention speeds up the process.
But I’m NOT talking about that kind of stuff …
I’m talking about hole-defining trees.
Take the infamous “Kentucky Gap” at Idlewild Disc Golf Course in Burlington, for example. There are tens of thousands of wooded disc golf holes in the world. And in spite of how difficult the Y-shaped tree might make carding a par or birdie, the second I see it, I know the location …
And now you will, too.
Remove that sucker, and all you’re left with is a hole like any other on the planet …
Tragic.
Believe it or not, there are sorry enough souls within the D.G. community so twisted they do just that: They’ll chop down a tree they feel makes a hole unfair, when all it really does is provide a welcomed challenge for the rest of us. For them, the enjoyment and natural beauty of the course takes a backseat to the training wheels they need to navigate it – and you and I suffer.
That one tree on your home course with a half-million disc dents in it?
She’s a thing of beauty.
As I see it, the only way any “problematic” tree should be made into mulch is when it gets one dent too many and either falls over on its own accord or poses a hazard to disc golfers.
And if God wants to do some tree-trimming via an ill-fated bolt of lightning, go for it …
Regardless, put the hacksaw away – he doesn’t need your help.
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I’ve never personally experienced that and I can only imagine how upset it’d make me. Coming from someone who tends to hit all the trees, it’s part of the challenge/fun. One of my favorite holes at my local course has a medium sized tunnel (nothing out of the ordinary) with a couple of tall diagonal trees about two thirds of the way down forcing you to throw low. Hit them and you’re likely in a little creek with steep banks looking at a 75-80 foot putt with poor visibility. I maybe park one out of fifteen, but when it happens it’s the best. Take even one of those trees away and it ruins the character and challenge. I really hope I never see it.
It takes a special kind of scum to chop down the types of trees you’re describing, ShimmyD …
Best rest assured: They exist. Haha.
Happy hucking!
Very glad to see this perspective. Trees like this should be welcomed as a fun mental challenge, part of our wonderful sport. IMO natural obstacles should always firstly be considered integral to the course layout.
Of course!
Thanks for chiming in, TKunneke – couldn’t agree more!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahMMI3WtYp0
I don’t use any social media besides commenting on here and youtube. This has to be shared though. Figured you guys could help out. Thanks
Bahahaha …
You didn’t make this, did you?
Do you know who did?
Nice find!