central Florida

[Chainmeister]

I will have a  brief (long weekend type) trip to the sunshine state next month. What is even better is that I have spousal clearance to bring my bag with me.  We will be in Vero Beach.  I have found that Wickham park in Melbourne is the nearest course.  Has anybody played it?  I see that there is an A tour that been played on that course.  All I know is that 18 is a water hole that looks like the safari hole we have at Bevier going to the 8th basket. The basket is not nearly as far.  However, it looks like close to 200ft of carry over a pond.  I am bringing some dx plastic for that shot since I am no guarantee to fly the pond with my big arm.

We are flying into Orlando.  I might have a chance to play a course there before we drive to Vero Beach.  Which Orlando course would be best?

Can't wait to wear shorts on a course.

[mirth]

I'd contact Mike @ Sun King to get his recommendations. I know he's active in the Florida tour...

[damonshort]

We are flying into Orlando.  I might have a chance to play a course there before we drive to Vero Beach.  Which Orlando course would be best?

Barnett Park is a fun course, about a 20 min drive from the Universal Studios area. The neighborhood supposedly has a bad rep but I didn't notice anything when I was there about 5 yrs ago.

There's some water there but I don't recall having to go over it.

I played another course around there; I think it was Turkey Lake, but Barnett is better.

[Guest]

Melbourne is fun, but VERY windy and can be crowded.
-jimklem

[kyle]

If it's not too long of a drive I'd head over to Clearwater and play Climo's home course. A few of us drove up there from Fort Myers last January and it was well worth the trip.
It was the first time I ever saw alligators on a course...

[Chainmeister]

Got a chance to play Turkey Lake in Orlando and Melbourne.

Turkey Lake is in a very nice park that costs $2 for a person or $4 for a car to get in.  There is an assortment of activities such as camping, picnicing, fishing  etc.  The disc golf course has 36 holes.  I played 23 of them.  They seem to be in the process of relocating holes to make room for the new ones. It was not marked all that well and I spent a lot of time walking in circles trying to find the next hole. The discs sure don't skip off the sandy terrain.  I was 7 up after 23 and most of you know my game.  An intermediate player would be even or better.  Its not a very hard course. 


Melbourne is a much nice and much more challenging course.  There are very good signs marking the holes.  They have alternate pin placements.  Most of the holes were in the long position.  I think about a dozen holes had alternate pins and they were set for the longs on almost all of them.  I was +9 and thought I played pretty well.  PDGA lists the alternate distance at about 5900 and I figure this is what I played.  I can see where the course can be windy but it was pretty calm when I played.  It started to drizzle on 16 and turned into a gale by 18.  I wanted to play another 36 but it then rained for the next 24 hours.   18 is a cool little water hole with about 180 ft of carry to a pin 240 ft away.  Didn't lose my disc but blew the duece putt.  The shorter holes have fun routes around palms and other Florida type flora.  I didn't quite carry it on 8 and thought I lost a new dyed Orc.  However, the bushes are very easy to search.  Also, they are easy to throw out of.  I was able to find the disc and lob overhead for an easy par. 

Saw only a couple other golfers at Turkey Lake but saw a handful of groups at Melbourne.  I had been at both courses pretty early in the morning.    It was nice to play in shorts.   

The guy we were visiting is a caddie at a ball golf club in Vero Beach.  He was fascinated by the concept of disc golf.  I will try to get him out next time.