Waseca County Courthouse Park – Tonn’s Travels
It has been roughly two months since work and my health have allowed me to enjoy one of the things I love most in life. I am absolutely nearing the point when I need to make some serious changes in my professional and personal life in effort to get back in control of properly taking care of my health. But that LONG series of posts and counseling sessions aside (I’ll spare you)? I can make a positive dent in that direction this coming week, as I am back in an area where I have dozens of disc golf courses I have not yet been able to play. I’m sad, missing that big blue Pacific Ocean! But while I am back in the land of heat (or cold) and mosquitoes? I am going to play as many new disc golf courses as I can.
This afternoon was my first opportunity to play a new course on this trip, and it was a doozy! Waseca County Courthouse Park near Waseca, Minnesota. An intimidating 9,877 feet of wooded bliss over eighteen holes, which is an average of 549 feet per hole. And if that weren’t difficult enough? The course is currently a swampy, muddy mess. As most of Southern Minnesota has been dealing with well over one foot of rain the past few weeks. And given the fact that I was able to pack all of one pair of shoes and three DGA discs in my one piece of luggage? I needed to be extremely careful in how I approached each of those shots.
This course was an absolute BEAST! Legitimite par 4s and par 5s all across the property. And with lots of casual water and muddy areas 3-4+ inches deep? It took me over ninety minutes to play. My most positive observation about the course would be that the sheer length and difficulty of the course makes it unique across the region! There are other courses that might have 1-2 similar holes (of similar length) over eighteen holes. But eighteen of them? CRAZY hard!
If I had any mild complaints about the course (besides playing in a swamp…although record rainfalls are certainly not the course designer’s fault), it would be that players are essentially playing eighteen of the same hole. Sure, there are some holes that are over twice as long, while there are other baskets that can be reached off the tee. But it is a lot of the same shots. The same lines thrown off the tee. And given the HEAVILY-wooded property, it is going to take hundreds (and hundreds) of hours of upkeep annually to keep that course playable. Without a big volunteer crew and/or a big budget in the county parks department to maintain? This is going to be a course that will be difficult to play and enjoy via needed maintenance (that isn’t getting done).
I cannot remember the last time it took me 76 shots to complete eighteen holes of disc golf! But I felt good about the round, particularly due to the lack of footing and needing to shoot over/around downed trees. DGCourseReview estimated my round as having a 949 rating, which I thought was about right. I made a couple of mistakes, but I also got a couple of lucky breaks. And since I average around a ~955 most of the time I’m playing? A 76 is about what I would have expected.
Tomorrow, if I’m lucky, I should get to cross one of Cale Leiviska‘s designs off my To Play List. Wish me luck!
Magic Number = -45 (2,045 Courses Played)
ABOUT DEREK
Derek Tonn is a member of the DGA’s Ambassador Team. His company, Mapformation, LLC, has been DGA’s partner in the development of disc golf tee signage since 2012. The longer our two companies have worked together, and the more Derek has gotten to know all the great folks at DGA, the more he has wanted to formally sing the company’s praises. The more he has realized that “Steady” Ed’s (the father of disc golf and the modern-day Frisbee) vision for the sport and his company perfectly describes his own interests and priorities related to disc golf, and the more Derek has recently been encouraged to share his story.