This is not my first time playing disc golf in Colorado. On one of our driving/camping trips about seven years ago, my wife, who has less of the camping bug than the rest of us, flew out to meet us closer to our destination. In this case, she flew to Denver, and we picked her up for the more interesting parts of the trip: devils tower, the black hills, Yellowstone, and the Tetons. On the way to the airport, I had played a park in Estes, and it was ok. I don't always get to play the best course in each state. Often it is whatever is convenient.
On our current trip, we are now heading home to Austin from the black hills, but taking a slightly different route that goes through eastern Colorado. We had planned to stay at a state park just outside Sterling, Colorado, but when we got there we found the lake to be less than desirable, and the place was nearly treeless. So we bailed out of a prepaid campsite and continued south. But before hitting the highway again, we stopped at the disc golf course in Sterling.
It was an interesting little course, or at least the first seven holes that I played before my wife and son showed up with the car fueled up, and fast food that was now getting cold. Many of the holes were interesting to play, even if the design brought too many picnic tables, and other opportunities to hit unsuspecting non players with an errant disc, into play.
The second hole was cool. I had overheard a couple of locals suggesting the wisdom of laying up short of a creek. When I got to it, I thought I could clear it easily, but choose to lay up based on prior experience with hazards on unfamiliar courses. And boy was I glad I did. The 'creek' was more like an irrigation ditch, and it was full with muddy water, so there would have been no chance for recovering the blizzard boss that has been flying so nicely for me on this trip. Had a great second throw, threading some big trees, but missed a forty foot putt.
I also really enjoyed hole six. It was made more interesting by a couple of dumpsters that had been placed right in the middle of the fairway by a park employee who was obviously not a disc golfer. I never located the basket from the tee, but went ahead and drove around the dumpsters, and when I got to my disc, I found the basket nestled tightly between three smallish trees. Very tough, but I managed to squeeze a forehand shot between them, which came to rest six feet from the pin! Those who know me have heard me call my forehand shot 'not-yet-ready-for-prime-time' and it is true still, but I have been working on it.
All in all, it was a fun little diversion from a road trip, and any disc golfers living in backwater Sterling, Colorado are not totally deprived. Sadly, I did not take any photos, so I'll embellish this post with something after I get back to home base and am not posting from a dinky phone app.
Update, July third:
We ended up spending the night in a hotel, which throws off the camping vibe a tad, but was greatly appreciated by the wife and son. Anyhoo, I ended up with a final chance to play Colorado on the way out next morning, at willow creek park in Lamar, Co.
Wow, was I ever glad we did!! I got an inkling how fun it might be when I spent a while looking for the first tee, having been dropped off by the one pin, only to discover it was an over 500 footer! This was a much more fun course than the last one. There were still holes that played a bit close to people, but the layout was much more logical, and the distances were challenging, unlike a lot of nine hole city park courses. The trees both added to the challenge and were in a few cases just really beautiful. I'm going to add some pics when I've had a chance to look them over, but here's a teaser
