Cincinnati

[airspuds]

Headed to the Virgnia,  Ky,  Cinci area

got time to play one course

any suggestions  ?

[airspuds]

stayed in florence, ky

played boone woods


3.5 miles from hotel

nice 18  hole course

should have played in Independence but didnt have time

saw reds beat brewers

go white sox

[Ryan B]

Hey man are you still in Cincy?  The best course, in my opinion, is Mt. Airy.  It is, surprisingly enough,  in Mt. Airy Forest, a pretty big forest on the near west side of Cincinnati.  It is the best course in the region. Very fun and diverse.  Better than anything that I have found since moving to Chicago.......

[airspuds]

stayed in florence ky
had time to play boone woods park
3.5 miles from hotel
next time mt airy is on the list for sure

[discndav]

Banklick Woods in KY is an awesone course in the Cincy area. Mt Airy is also great. Don't bother with Winton Woods.

[shawn]

Go over the border to Burlington and play Idlewild.. 

[Bruce Brakel]

We just got back from Cincinnati for a tournament and some family golf. 

Harbin is an o.k. to good course.  We played it three time, not because it is that good but because we played it once on Saturday before the tournament on Sunday.  It compares to Lombard, with much steeper elevation changes and no pond.  Lots of cut grass, very little schule, scattered trees.  Two par 4s and 16 par 3s.  The course routing is very easy to follow by the way they cut the grass [like Fairfield] and the wear patterns.  Good basket to next tee separation.  Sensible course routing.  Duece or die disc golf.  Harbin is not worth stopping for if you have time to play Mt. Airy just five miles away.  It is a good course but Cincinnati has some great courses. 

Banklick Park was a great course for beginners and a fun course for any skill level.  Banklick Park is now Lincoln Ridge Park.  If you are following the PDGA directions and pulling a trailer, it would be useful to know that.  Banklick is a delightfully hilly course, like Flip City, but with a lot more wooded holes.  Maybe there were two holes where elevation change was not a factor.  And the course designer understood the "walk up, throw down" course design approach.  The wooded holes had reasonable fairways.  The creek was wide and flat, and did not come into play for reasonably good shots, so it was not a disc eater.  The pond did not really come into play either.  The basket to next tee separation was dangerous in a few places, but the course was not too busy and the locals seemed to be polite about that.  I think it was 23 par 3s and a par 4.  Deuce or die disc golf for advanced players.  Very easy to follow the course routing.

Idlewild is everything its reputation held it out to be, simply one of the best 18-hole courses we've ever played in the 14 states and provinces where we have played, right up there with Renny in Charlotte.  It was being reseeded when we played it so some of the long baskets had been pulled.  We decided to play short tees and short baskets on the holes with choices because we were pretty tired.  It has great elevation changes, lots of par 4 holes and a few par 5s, especially if you play longs and longs.  There is a creek that winds through the course that creates interesting o.b. but does not really eat discs.  The pond is a disc eater if you play the long basket on that hole.  There were three island greens where the front side of the green was defined by a creek.  The rest of the green was defined by a low wall so anything inside the wall was inbounds once you were across the creek.  All of the creeks have bridges.  A lot of attention is being paid towards erosion control, including creating crushed limestone paths on some holes and between the holes to concentrate all the traffic in one area.  There were only a couple of avoidable negatives: there were a few holes that just did not have a fairway.  I'm used to that, but I'm in the "Every hole should have a fairway" camp, especially long holes.  From one hole to the next on the back nine, the improved path and most direct route from basket to tee took you right across the middle of a fairway from a hole you played a while back.  There should be a warning sign there, if you have to do that.  The PDGA directions to Idlewild are incorrect.  Idlewild Road is Jefferson Street in downtown Burlington.  Right on Jefferson, follow it out of town as it twists around and becomes Idlewild Road. 

On the way home, after Idlewild, we looked at Boone Park and it just was not enticing enough to get anyone out of the car.  Contrary to the advice of the parks and rec lady, there is not really enough room to turn around in there with a trailer.  Ten back and forths later and we were out of there.  And, by the way, I backed the trailer into our narrow driveway on one try this time, so it's not like I'm a clutz with a trailer.   

It started raining so we skipped some of the closer courses that the locals had recommended.  The rain quit just south of Dayton so we played Englewood Metropark in Englewood, north of Dayton.  The PDGA directions are fine, but if you don't have them, the disc golf course is in the East Unit.  [There is plenty of room to turn around in the west unit!]  The course is totally playable, contrary to the PDGA directions.  I suspect the course was still in progress when the description was written.  This is accurate, "Under mature trees next to a lake. Mowed fairways on rolling hills ... ."  This course is very compact, with every hole being within 600 feet or so of the parking lot, and yet there are no issues with hole separation.  It is actually nice, at a strange course, to almost always be in eyesight of the car, but it takes away some of the mystery of the course.  The course is fun and well designed.  The elevation changes are moderate.  The lake does not really come into play but it comes close to two holes.  Traditional par three disc golf with two hard 3s.  Worth stopping if you have the time. 

Note to moderator:  If you have way too much time on your hands, Cincinnati is mispelled Cincinnatti on almost every post here.   

[tacimala]

Idlewild quickly made my top 3 after playing there this weekend!

[pdga#7648]

Big Boone, Banklick, Mt Airy and Rapid Run were the courses I played in that area in the 1995 AM WORLDS.
Banklick a very fun course, but Mt. Airy had to be the best. Bring an xtra arm, cause your going to need it if you stop here. The GREEN MONSTER was over 650' with THICK, THICK rough. Took a 3 on it, and was only 1 of about 20 to 3 it all week.
2010 Am Worlds might be played in Cinn I heard. Will be interesting to see the scores 15 years after I was there to compare how much better our disc golfing buddies are becoming.

[Bruce Brakel]

I heard 2010 Am Worlds was going to be in "central Ohio" by which I assumed they meant Columbus and there abouts.  If so, the 2011 Brent Hambrick should be a nice event for the touring pros. 

[Bruce Brakel]

If you like the Cincinnati courses, you'd probably enjoy both Hickory Hills in Traverse City, MI, and Boyne Mountain in Boyne Country, MI.  Kira and I might go up to Hickory Hills this weekend for their B-tier. 

[pdga#7648]

speaking of Hickory Hills, the one in Iowa is outstanding. Sits beautifully on a lake, with hole #5 being it's signature hole. A must see for any golfer.

[SIUFrolf]

I 2nd Bruce on the MI Hickory Hills.  It is a beautiful course with lots of elevation.  i forget what hole it is but it's about 620 and the hole is probably 100 or so feet below the tee with an awesome view of the Grand Traverse Hotel and the Grand Traverse Bay.  Awesome course.

[CEValkyrie]

Carrie and I are headed out on our 10th Anniversary Trip. After dropping off the dog I plan on playing Idlewild on Wednesday late afternoon. Going to be a hot one! Can't wait to see the course! Hoping to get up at dawn to play Brent Hambrick in Columbus before she awakes  . While in Hershey prior to the Dave Matthews Band concert i'm playing Pinchot State Park. It has 2 18 hole courses. After the concert we are heading to NYC. Cake Boss, Central Park, Times Square, & SOL here we come!

[buettgdj]

I went to idlewild over the weekend while visiting my brother. What a great course and in great condition.

[CEValkyrie]

Idlewide is everything it has hyped to be. What a tough course! It's absolutely sick! I hope to have a review on DGCR soon.

[CEValkyrie]

Idlewide is everything it has hyped to be. What a tough course! It's absolutely sick! I hope to have a review on DGCR soon.

Review is up on DGCR. Check link on my signature.

Yesterday morning I went to Gifford Pinchot State Park in Lewisberry, PA. There are 2 courses there. The Quaker's Challenge is one of the hardest course i've played. It played thru a mature forest at 7,945ft and gets very little play. I threw a Roc on most holes just to keep it in the fairway. I knew this was going to be a ballbuster stepping on #1's tee. 242ft up the hill playing like 450.  Hole #9 was sick! 355ft down a tube aeasily rnd eached with a Roc.

[Bruce Brakel]

We did not play long-longs at Idlewild because we all had tired arms by that point in our trip, but I totally agree with your review.  The mix of holes there is amazing.  You never can guess what the next hole will be.  It is like a box of chocolates!     I agree that you'd really have to play the course several times to totally appreciate it. 

Our guide was explaining to us that they did so much tree and brush removal that pretty much everything out there is intentional.  If a fairway seems too narrow, they meant for it to be too narrow.  If that tree made you rethink your shot, they meant for you to rethink that shot. 

Did you understand on the three holes where the basket was on the other side of the creek surrounded by a low wall that everything outside the wall on the far side of the creek was o.b.?  I thought that was a cool feature. 

Another nice feature is the crushed limestone paths down the middle of some of the narrow fairways.  What they've found is that if you direct traffic onto a narrow path during the rainy, muddy parts of the year, people will take the path and the fairway ground cover can get established.  Then people just get used to walking on the paths and the fairways stay a lot greener year around.  We played the course during the muddy season and really appreciated the dry walk on some of those holes. 

I've played a lot of disc golf in a lot of states and Idlewild is my number one course in the non-ski hill big par category.  I'm glad you had an opportunity to play it, and expand your imagination for what disc golf can be.

[CEValkyrie]

Idlewide is everything it has hyped to be. What a tough course! It's absolutely sick! I hope to have a review on DGCR soon.

Review is up on DGCR. Check link on my signature.

Yesterday morning I went to Gifford Pinchot State Park in Lewisberry, PA. There are 2 courses there. The Quaker's Challenge is one of the hardest course i've played. It played thru a mature forest at 7,945ft and gets very little play. I threw a Roc on most holes just to keep it in the fairway. I knew this was going to be a ballbuster stepping on #1's tee. 242ft up the hill playing like 450.  Hole #9 was sick! 355ft down a tube aeasily rnd eached with a Roc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5jfPL9TLmI
Pretty nice video of Pinchott. Cement tees should be done soon.