Thoughts after playing Unger!!

[listen4chains]

I agree that there is potential, i just think the design right now is lame, not very cool to put holes 10 feet from a lake, that must have been Davey Mac's plan, so more people would lose their discs, and hopefully, buy his brand as the replacements

Once there are amenities, such as bathrooms, and the flooded areas are not a problem, and baskets are nowhere near the water to the extent they are now, maybe then I would enjoy that course more.

UNTIL THAT HAPPENS, IT IS [my least favorite] even BLUEBIRD IS BETTER!

[tyler23]

Hey, I take offense to that statement I play Bluebird all the time. Mostly just play the open holes for practice beacuase I live 5 Minutes away. Unger is my favorite course around besides SP but its like an hour drive for me.

[listen4chains]

Yes, it is sad that a 9 holer is BETTER than a NEW 18 holer.

Only reason I say anything about Bluebird is it is designed poorly as well. But, on its WORST DAY, IT IS STILL 100 % BETTER THAN UNGER!

Any course that has so many of the same shots, and several that will have the potential for you to lose a disc because the basket is less than 20 feet from a LAKE is [not cool] end of story.

A good hole has at LEAST two different pathways to the basket, and give a player options besides hyzer left or hyzer right. I know that there were more options than just going around a lake, and putting baskets so close to a lake that they can obviously see has flooded the prior year, is just beyond me. If you tell me that I am wrong for saying that, you cannot handle the truth, I guess.

[REDARMY]

i agree that the course could have been designed better (i.e., farther from the floodstage), but jesus, grow a pair.

having so many tough holes and so many holes close to the water makes it a CHALLENGE.

love your sig by the way...

[dehaas]

i definitely think the course is a challenge too. it all comes down to risk vs. reward. if you don't wanna lose your disc to the water, play it safe and lay up. i don't know anything about that park, but if that lake is known to flood every spring, it seems like a mishap in planning some of the holes then. i like the current course layout right now, but if certain holes are unplayable for weeks on end, it might be worth it longterm to redesign the course. a redesign will probably take the water out of play, and i can't imagine the course will be as difficult afterwards, but if the course ever wants to get used for a pdga sanctioned tournament some changes are in order.

[dischead]

Lets quit picking on unger. Do people read the earler post or just respond to the last couple ? Read back and you would see all the answers. Its been said " Its a new course" , "Its a baby that will grow up" From the beginning it was said the original lay out would be looked at and according to feedback nessasary changes will be made.Instead of compaining and pointing fingers we should be thankfull we have all the courses we have in the area. You wont see alot of work going on in this heat or this time of year. Its also been said it takes time to tweak and develope a course .In the mean time enjoy the other courses and be thankful That our club is always active in these new projects. And thanks to gateway Dave for his time and designs, all the course managers , club officers, and to the people who care enough to pick up a little trash along the way. Sure its competative but its also alot of fun .

[listen4chains]

My criticisms aside, and for which I apologize if they have offended you somehow, because it is better than nothing, and if you like it, and it is close to where you live/work, and you also think it is better than playing nothing, good for you, and keep on playing it... IF you can get in there, and its not flooded, and the lake isn't flowing past the basket, that is....

Well, that is why all the criticisms are on here... what is the point of having it, if you cannot play it when you want to, and are able to, because of design flaws that make it unplayable at times???

Having to cancel or move tournaments, or refund league money, or have to turn around to drive to another course and you live far away is not good, sorry but that is the truth of it.

Hopefully, change for the better is coming, I would be glad to have nothing but positive things to say about Unger park in the future...

[irwinje]

I agree with Ron on this one.
StL DGers are pretty lucky in that they have nice courses with concrete tee pads at most of our corses.
The club considered The possibility of flooding before the course went in, but when we have an offer of 80 acres on the table it is hard to decline.
Additionally, the parks dept has told us that the Meramec has only come over the spillway (on 17's fairway) 5 times in the last 13 years. And, it was rare that they had to close the course for said flooding.
2008 and 2009 (so far) have seen an increased amount of rainfall so I think that this is uncharacteristic of the river/park.
The last time it flooded, June 19th, the water came alll the way up to hole 18's basket so a simple re-design will not solve the flooding problem. And, as it stands right now, the parks dept is not interested in giving us the land off the back parking lot so we'll either have to make due with what we have, or accept the fact that this may very well be a 6 mo/winter course.
In the meantime I like Mike's advice to "grow a pair" that's funny. Unger will make you a much much better player. It might just cost you a half dozen or so discs to do so but don't complain because the course is hard and you might loose a disc. You can play it safe, but it will be harder for you to compete against skilled players if you don't "go for it."
For the rest, we appreciate CONSTUCTIVE criticism, like "I think hole 5 needs to be redesigned since it is always so close to the water line." or the like.

[rondisc]

ET you are learning, lets have all of these conversations in 5 yrs. Yes we will not do much work there till the fall and winter. Hopefully these vicious rain storms will be less vicious in the next few years. Most likely not, but come play this winter when more work has been completed. Remember 5yrs to make a gem of a course, not 6-8 months.

Peace,

[STARFIRE]

I would hate to think of this course as a winter course. If you can only play it in the winter then it loses all of it's beautiful water, scenery, summer days, good times atmosphere....Although I do like the thought of that lake being completely frozen. I love all of the water holes especially 11!

Once again it goes back to catering to that small percentage of players who enjoy playing this very challenging course. Alternate tees or something for the noobs. We can not keep basing all of our ideas on this small percentage of disc golfers.

If we had a new 18 hole course goin' in that was more beginner friendly along with Unger than there wouldn't be one post on here from me. We just have to think about expansion and the best way to do it. Installing a new course is great, if there's only 5% of players that are willing to play there, it's not so great.

I know we have a well established disc golf scene around here...but we still need to keep moving in a forward motion for the sport of disc golf as a whole and getting new players involved is probably the best way to do that.

Do we actually plan on using this Championship course in any sanctioned events? If not, what's the point of having this "gem" sittin' there in a pile of coals. Even in five years, how much can be done? Are we going to construct bathrooms and different amenities that disc golfers could enjoy? Probably not...those things seem so far away from actually happening...just seems like a waste of time/money.

I'm sure there's plenty of property in St. Charles and other towns. Why'd we invest this money and effort into a run down old park. I'm sorry but that's what it is and tee pads and benches will not make that park look any different. Sure it'll be a nice course but do we really want a nice course on crap ground...let's find a better place or start working on another course that will actually get some use.

Think about risk vs reward in a different sense. You're risking all that time and effort and what's the reward, a course that will be playable 6 months out of the year. Another risk is losing newcomers that could've rewarded you had there been a more beginner friendly design in place.

I still love Unger though, do not get it twisted.