road trip

[esau]

gonna take a vacation in august sometime, and thinking about taking a little disc golf road trip.
i visited ann arbor recently and had a kick ass time. looking for a similar trip in terms of travel time and quality courses.

right now im thinking of going to des moines.

whats some of the better trips you guys have taken? any suggestions?

[Bruce Brakel]

The Michigan West Coast makes a nice trip.  Jon, Charles and I did that once.  There are good courses in South Bend, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, and Ludington plus some other courses I have not seen yet.  There are lots of state parks on the Lake.  If you have more time, further north there are good courses near Traverse City.  If you are thinking of that route I can suggest some courses. 

There is nothing like a quick dip in the lake when you are hot and sweaty.  The shore is sandy on the Michigan side, not rocky. 

[esau]

that would be great, name away...
i remember hearing about a course in MI with a basket on an island?

[Bruce Brakel]

Basket on an island is Fitzgerald in Grand Ledge.  Not sure if the hole has two baskets, long and short, or if one is a temp.  Grand Ledge is out of the way for a West Coast trip. 

[CEValkyrie]

Have you been down to Peoria?
Pekin, Morton, Bradley, ICC, Washingtong, Eureka, & Canton

Des Moines is loaded with courses.

Hiighbridge Hills Sporstcomplex way up North in WI.

I need to get out to the Quad Cities but i've heard there are some great courses. I've only played Eastern.

You can't go wrong heading to MI.

[whofarted]

gonna take a vacation in august sometime, and thinking about taking a little disc golf road trip.
i visited ann arbor recently and had a kick ass time. looking for a similar trip in terms of travel time and quality courses.

right now im thinking of going to des moines.

whats some of the better trips you guys have taken? any suggestions?

look, disc golf is fun but vacations are priceless.  if you really want to enjoy a vacation it should involve some night activites too.  what i would recommend is if you have a week go to Toronto and back. 

First day - get out of the Chicago area and start driving on I-94.  Kalamazoo is a great place to stop - they have a great brewery that has good cheap food too, and plenty of disc golf courses around there to play.  I would make KZoo your first nights stay, or two if you like it. 

Next travel day - keep easy bound on I-94 going through Detroit and go into Canada, via the Canadian Highway 401.  Windsor is worth a day if you are over 19 - beer, casinos, and some of the finest gentlemans clubs in North America!     You can get a cheap hotel there for about 60 Canadian (42 American or so), just make sure you get your room early!

Next travel day - Stay east on 401 and stop into Niagra Falls, get lunch, get back on 401 and got to Toronto, Ontario.  Lots of disc golf there and along the way.  Toronto is nice, clean, and cheap as far as big cities go.  Its there NY - you can have a fun time till 4am!

From there you either head back the way you came or cross into the states at Niagra.  Either way, if you dive from Toronto back to Chicago directly it is only a 10 or 11 hour drive at most, so you can do this in a very short period of time and still see alot of cool stuff along the way. 

[Mike S]

I like it

[smyith]

me and a buddy went up to highbridge last year and it was AWESOME! we had a great time.

michigan west coast trip would be a good thing too. I have played Ludington and its a great set of courses. Even if you don't like the courses just going up there to swim in lake michigan is worth it. the beaches and lake are nothing like the chicago side. bruce what courses would you suggest playing, next time i'm going up to my grandparents i'll make time to hit some of them up. fyi i'll be going up rt 31. thanks in advance.

[esau]

gonna take a vacation in august sometime, and thinking about taking a little disc golf road trip.
i visited ann arbor recently and had a kick ass time. looking for a similar trip in terms of travel time and quality courses.

right now im thinking of going to des moines.

whats some of the better trips you guys have taken? any suggestions?

look, disc golf is fun but vacations are priceless.  if you really want to enjoy a vacation it should involve some night activites too.  what i would recommend is if you have a week go to Toronto and back. 

First day - get out of the Chicago area and start driving on I-94.  Kalamazoo is a great place to stop - they have a great brewery that has good cheap food too, and plenty of disc golf courses around there to play.  I would make KZoo your first nights stay, or two if you like it. 

Next travel day - keep easy bound on I-94 going through Detroit and go into Canada, via the Canadian Highway 401.  Windsor is worth a day if you are over 19 - beer, casinos, and some of the finest gentlemans clubs in North America!     You can get a cheap hotel there for about 60 Canadian (42 American or so), just make sure you get your room early!

Next travel day - Stay east on 401 and stop into Niagra Falls, get lunch, get back on 401 and got to Toronto, Ontario.  Lots of disc golf there and along the way.  Toronto is nice, clean, and cheap as far as big cities go.  Its there NY - you can have a fun time till 4am!

From there you either head back the way you came or cross into the states at Niagra.  Either way, if you dive from Toronto back to Chicago directly it is only a 10 or 11 hour drive at most, so you can do this in a very short period of time and still see alot of cool stuff along the way. 

wow, thnx a lot man... have always wanted to go to toronto. had a trip planned a while back but it got cancelled.
maybe ill take 2 weeks and do west michigan and toronto ^^

on a side note, do you drive a purple VW? if so, think i ran into you at anna page on saturday. you sold my friend(who was being a loud abnoxious dick at the time cause the course owned him) a gatorade as we were about to begin our 3rd round. he was a tall, curly haired individual. you were talking to someone about how they shot a +8 i think. if so, nice to not really meet ya.^^

we went to this mexican place for lunch, i forget what it was called, but it was delicioso!!!
definately gonna go there after the tourney.


@brett
i have not been to peoria, me and the boys were gonna try to turn that one into a one day road trip soon.
enjoyed the latest pdga radio ep, nicely done...


maybe a 2 week vacation is in order where i hit:
des moines
west michigan
toronto
peoria
quad cities
madison

semi possible

[Bruce Brakel]

The three Ludington courses and Flip City are the courses you have to play. 

I would have to check with someone on Fremont and Whitehall. 

In the Kalamazoo area I like Coldbrook and Robert Morris.  Oshtemo is pretty good.  Timber Ridge is supposed to be really good.  Timber Ridge is pay-to-play and you get a discount if you show your PDGA card.  There are other good courses in Kalamazoo but I have not played them.

In Grand Rapids Earl Brewer is fun.  It was 36 holes last I knew.  Riverbends is o.k. but the pond eats a lot of discs. 

If you go the distance, in Traverse City Hickory Hills is pretty awesome.  If it is a sunny day, would you take a few pictures from the top of 18 looking down the fairway at the city for me?  Boyne Mountain looks like it is no more.   .  There are a lot of other courses near Traverse City but Hickory Hills is the best. 

Definately skip Lawless.  Muskegon stinks.  You can play it if you have a wind from the south.  Otherwise it really stinks.  Paper mills. 
-----------------

If you were doing the Toronto thing, hit the K'zoo courses and Jackson Community College.  Rolling Hills in Ypsi is pay to play, but a really fun course.  Kelsey and I played it a lot in the spring when there was no one at the gate.  If you have not played the Detroit courses, Hudson Mills, Kensington, Cass Benton, Riverbends and Stoney Creek are all excellent courses.  Addison Oaks is a shadow of its old self since the redesign.  Man they destroyed that course.  But it is still good.  It's just that it used to be one of the best courses on the planet, back in 1992.  It revolutionized disc golf course design.   All of these are pay-to-play except Cass-Benton.  HM, Kensington, and Stoney are all part of the same park system and a day pass would get you into all four, but are you playing 96 holes of golf in a day?  That's a lot of golf.  I can't do that anymore. 

The Ohio border courses suck, Lambertville and Temperance. 

I cannot tell you anything about the Canadian courses.  I think most of them are disappointing, dull and uninspired. 

[mirth]

toronto island was cool, but that was before I had really played a lot.

[whofarted]

on a side note, do you drive a purple VW? if so, think i ran into you at anna page on saturday. you sold my friend(who was being a loud abnoxious dick at the time cause the course owned him) a gatorade as we were about to begin our 3rd round. he was a tall, curly haired individual. you were talking to someone about how they shot a +8 i think. if so, nice to not really meet ya.^^

`

oh man, i guess you could call my vw purple but i much prefer it to be a blue-ish tint    yea, that was me.  jeez that was a hot day - one could hardly blame your friend for being iritable.  best of luck at the tournament - i'll try to remember to bring some pics of mine from a similar trip to show you - very good times!

[esau]

on a side note, do you drive a purple VW? if so, think i ran into you at anna page on saturday. you sold my friend(who was being a loud abnoxious dick at the time cause the course owned him) a gatorade as we were about to begin our 3rd round. he was a tall, curly haired individual. you were talking to someone about how they shot a +8 i think. if so, nice to not really meet ya.^^

`

oh man, i guess you could call my vw purple but i much prefer it to be a blue-ish tint    yea, that was me.  jeez that was a hot day - one could hardly blame your friend for being iritable.  best of luck at the tournament - i'll try to remember to bring some pics of mine from a similar trip to show you - very good times!

haha, ive got a 'dark purple' saturn that i insist is blackberry. most ppl dont believe me

[whofarted]

haha, ive got a 'dark purple' saturn that i insist is blackberry. most ppl dont believe me

here are some pics that feature both western shores of michigan and kalamazoo.  theres a bit of commentary by my buddy neil on the first page.  basically the pics take you through an early morning walk to lake michigan >getting settled in kalamazoo >umphreys mcgee show at the bells brewery >day after >drive home.  there was a couple two doors down from us that must have been living in this hotel we were staying at.  the guy looked like a well aged harvey keitel and the woman looked like skeletor from the cartoon he-man (but looking back on it, she was a mirror image of the landlord from the scene in Kingpin).  we joked about getting a candid shot of them but them but it never happened.  it a good album - hope you enjoy em...

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AYs3DRu0bNWP3

[BigE]

got to love the umphreys/golf trips. now thats a good vacation

[Mukey]

she was a mirror image of the landlord from the scene in Kingpin

[Bruce Brakel]

Cass Benton,

Kira and I played Cass Benton today, pro tees.  It has been awhile since I played a round five over, checked on the internet, and found out that 4 over would have been higher than my rating.  I think I could play Cass Benton every day for a year and shoot par once.