I got to head out this past weekend and do one of my favorite things in the world. It was a pretty nice day out, so I checked with my friend to see if he wanted to play a round of disc golf. We agreed to meet around 12:45 so him and his son could play a round with me.
I'm going to include this post in the #wednesdaywalk community sponsored by 
I've been playing disc golf for close to 25 years. I used to play a lot more than I have recently, but I am hoping to change that. I have some friends who are interested in getting started and I think that should get me out on the course a bit more.
This course in particular starts out in the woods before moving to a couple of open holes on 3 through 5. After that, you head back into the woods. I tried to capture some shots along the way so you can get a feel of the course.
This is the walk from hole 3 to hole 4. If you look close you can see a big pile of mulch to the right side of the photo. They do a really good job of putting that down so you know the path to follow to the next hole. They also use it for the "fairway" many times.
Here's a better view of the mulch in case you cared!
Oh, I forgot to mention, I am also including this post in the Outdoors and More Scenery Contest sponsored by 
Although the paths are in fairly good condition, there are some sections like this where the bridges or stairs look a little worse for wear. These paths usually lead to some of the "bonus" holes on the course, so if you are just playing a straight 18, you often don't use many of them.
There are three or four holes on the course that are tight corridors like this. If you squint just a little and look really closely straight ahead, you can see the basket that we were trying to get our discs in.
It never fails I usually end up in the trees on the left side of this hole.
Despite being in the middle of Michigan, there are actually a lot of elevation changes on this course. In the picture above is one of the raised tee pads for another one of the bonus holes. On the North West side of the state you get some crazy courses that go up and down the ski hills.
Those elevation changes are brutal. It makes it look like your disc flew a lot further than it really did.
This is my friends son throwing his tee off shot on one of the back holes. As I said, I have been playing for 25 years or so. My brother in law got me into the sport and I just took off running from that point on. It was a few years after I started playing that I got my friend into the sport.
He eventually got his son into the sport and now they have been playing a ton. I think they play together pretty much every day and you can tell the difference it makes. My friend can out drive me 99% of the time now and his son can "park" his disc right under the basket on pretty much all of the holes. It's impressive.
His son even has a PDGA (Professional Disc Golf Association) number and has played in a couple of tournaments.
Here his son is putting into the basket. This hole is on the back stretch of the course and it is the point where you make the turn and start heading back towards the parking area.
In case you have never heard of disc golf before, that is the basket. It's the ultimate goal for your disc. You tee off anywhere from 200 to 400 feet from the basket and work your way towards getting your disc into said basket.
Just like real golf, there are different kinds of discs that do different things. Specialized drivers, midrange, and putters are quite common. Most serious players carry around a bag of at least 20 discs so they are ready for any given situation.
Here you can see how one of the discs is stuck in the chains of the basket. It wasn't mine. I did horrible on this hole if I remember right!
As you make the turn you have to walk along the railroad tracks for a short time before you turn back into the woods to play hole 13 or 14 I think it is.
Eventually, you head back along the pond that separates hole 3 on this course. I took a selfie with my friend Spencer at the pond. Notice I am wearing my 21e6 shirt that my other brother in law gave me. In case you don't know, it's scientific notation for the maximum number of BTC that can be created.
Hole 3 has two tee pads. One makes you throw over the pond, and the other is for less skilled players who tee off along the side of the pond. I've tried to throw over the pond before and I don't have the arm for it. I ended up losing my disc.
I thought sure my friends son was going to drive over the pond (I think he could if he wanted), but he instead teed off from where we did along the left side of the pond. The problem is the water is nasty and even if you use a disc that floats, you still have to go out in the water.
I have seen posts on Facebook about people going into the pond and coming out with dozens of disc, but I don't think they ever found mine. There are likely hundreds in there.
The last couple of holes run along side the front two holes and take you back towards the parking lot. It's a lot shorter than I remember with many of the holes being 300 feet or less. It's a pretty area though and it has some wooden bridges over a creek that runs through the park.
It's pretty green right now, but as things fill in through the summer, it becomes quite lush and it can sometimes be easy to loose a disc in the undergrowth. I've had a couple of times I almost lost a disc on this course, either because of the water, or the shrubbery.
Here is another one of those bridges running over the small creeks/ditches that run through this portion of the park.
There were some sections of the course that were pretty muddy for us. Which is kind of surprising given we have been in a bit of a mini drought this Spring. We haven't gotten anywhere close to the rain that we normally do this time of year. It sounds like we aren't going to for the foreseeable future either.
Finally, this is one final shot of my friends son teeing off. If you look really close, just to the right of center about halfway up the screen you can see a small white horizontal dash in front of a couple of trees. That is his disc flying towards the basket which isn't visible through the trees.
I ended up finishing the course 18 over which isn't really horrible. Actually, I don't feel like I played that well. I must have par'd more holes than I realized because averaging one over on each hole is not too bad given this was only my second time out this year.
Just for comparison though, back in 2021 when I played this course, I finished 13 over. That was in the middle of July, so I had no doubt played a bit more at that point in the year than I have so far this year.
It took us about an hour and a half to play the full 18 which isn't too bad. Try to play around of 18 that quick in real golf!
I hope you enjoyed coming along on this walk with me and seeing some of the scenery from the middle of Michigan!
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All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or 