Fountain Hills (Jan), Las Cruces, NM (Jan), Marana Rock (Jan)

So I don't know about y'all (Rob esp.) but I've been playing some quality...ish...disc.

Erik Sather and I got a couple rounds in 2 weeks ago (the date of the AZ Cardinals taking down the Philadelphia Eagles in Tempe, no less) at Fountain Hills sweet course in Fountain Hills, AZ. Perhaps Erik will post some photos? He has a much better camera than I do. He is a better, bigger man with more discs than me. Or, well, he had more discs than I did. He put at least 4 into the water these two rounds. In his defense, this course is hard. Water is in play on probably 12 at least of the 18 holes, and is always in view, so you have to think about it. I lost my best driver on hole 11. It sucked. My sweet 172 gram beast. O Beast, where hast thou gone? The water. The deep deep water that is hard to penetrate with our sad vision. So this round was a lot of fun (beautiful, sunny, but about 1000 people trolling around making you think about hitting them with every drive. Also a problem).

First up is Erik approaching on 16 (maybe 18).

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Erik driving in Tales-From-the-Darkside-Vision on hole, maybe, 7:

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I actually got very few shots of him actually in the water. I guess I lack the killer instinct that great documentary photographers have, or so I hear. Here's one of him coming out of the water, though:

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Erik, however, has a photo of me inching my way out on a concrete wall to try to get my disc on hole 1, but I can't seem to find it. It's so sexy.

This course is very good. Really bitchy with the water. A lot of holes are very well designed, especially considering the landscape of the course (aside from the water and the 300' fountain) is not very interesting. I'd give this course a 3.2/4.0.

In case you're interested, the only other really worthwhile course in the Phoenix area is Buffalo Ridge. Erik and I met to play there a month or so back and it's stellar. The opposite of Fountain Hills in that it's very wild, desert-tastic, with lots of elevation change and blind holes. These two can make a pretty good day of disc golf. No photos yet however.

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So a week or two later I'm reading at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, NM, and I bring my discs because I read online that NMSU has a course with 18 baskets. It lists the major obstacles as "wind" and "length." There's a good pizza joint in downtown Las Cruces and not so much else really happening there. But I show up on Saturday morning at 9:30 to play a couple rounds. It's hard to find your way around, but it's nice landscape, if a touch samey. A crapload of creosote bushes and then a good bunch of yuccas. Big sky here. Lots of space. Lots of light so the first photo is bizarrely dark:

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One thing you realize very quickly on this course is that all the holes are extremely long. Many you can't see from the tee box—they just disappear into the distance. It's tough to find your way around if you haven't played it before, but if you work at it, you'll find holes sooner or later. There are a number of nice touches, like arrows made from scrap metal on the ground showing you the way to the next tee. I like that. Could have used more of them. It takes me 2 hours to play a round and so I don't have time to play the second round, which is too bad. I have to look for probably 9 baskets, so I double back and walk a long way. But some holes are very pretty:

I throw my sky blue orc a lot on this course because I lost my sweet beast. O beast, again. I will have to buy more of you.

So after I finish up my round, I realize there are maybe 2 holes less than 300 feet. I look again at the listing on the PDGA course directory, and here's the numbers: # of holes < than 300 feet: 0. # 300-400 feet: 7. # 400+ feet: 11. Total course length: 8353 feet. That's pretty insane. An average good course is maybe 5500 feet. This course is bomb after bomb. It gets a little samey. Luckily holes 16 and 17 both involve some elevation change, a welcome break from the bomb shots. 16 is a 250 footer (I'm pretty sure) that is blind: you throw from an elevated tee more or less into a crevice on the left that leads down to the basket. It's a lovely little hole. More like this would have been great. There's space for it (this hole was on the edge of a huge crater). I'm not sure why they don't use it more. Maybe for the future? Or maybe this is just designed by huge arms. I don't know if you can see in the image, but here's a shot from the armpit of the crevice down to the basket. My drive rests about 2 feet from the basket on the right:

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Just past the basket, on the way to the next tee, we see what disc golfers make of Ms. Blige:

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Overall, this is a decent course. 2.4/4.0. It could easily be made into a 3.0+ course with more variety and less reliance on distance. Admittedly when you throw in a huge field of yucca and creosote, there's only so much you can do. Worth a play if you're in the area. Wear long pants. Not a lot of thorns, I thought, but lots of bushes. And when I changed shoes for the drive home I found probably 15 thorns stuck in the soles of my shoes. Do not underestimate the desert. Track your shots. Bring your drivers...

And I'll leave you with one more photo, from a round with Jeff and I playing at Marana Rock a couple weeks ago. Both our discs, 6 inches from each other, in an evergreen. I think this might be a metaphor:


So, Rob and others, you know, the best way for you to get in some quality desert disc photos is for you to get y'all's asses down heah. 75 today and lovely.