Tournament Update
Now that Chattooga Belle Farm’s Disc Golf course has been installed and several players have played the course, we’re 100% on moving day one of the SC Doubles Championship to the farm.
The first round day one will be Best Disc. That’s where you and your partner will play as singles and take which ever player’s score is best on each hole. Round two on day one will be Tough Shot. That’s where both players on a team will throw off of each tee. The team you’re paired with will then decide which of the two shots you will throw your second throw from. Intermediate teams and mixed teams will have shorter tees on seven of the holes.
Day two of the tournament will be at Shaver Recreation Center in Seneca. The morning round will be Alternate Shot. If you make the putt, your partner will throwing the next hole from the tee. The afternoon and final round of the tournament will be Best Shot. That’s where both teams will throw from the tee and then will take the best of the two throws and throw from there.
Chattooga Bell Farm is in Long Creek, SC and about a half an hour or so from Shaver Recreation Center in Seneca. Chattooga Belle Farm is a pay-to-play operation with a round costing $3.00 to play. All day passes will be $5.00 and a season pass will be $25 or $30. The farm is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 8am to 5pm. It will also be open to for Disc Golf on an honor system soon.
Of the known full rounds played the best score so far has been a 57. I shot a 62 with two deuces. Another group played Saturday and reported rounds of 49 and 52. We learned after they played that holes 10 - 13 were not properly marked and I’m not sure if those holes were played the way they were meant to be played.
Some of the tee pads will move to left, right or back from where they currently are now. Most of those changes will occur over the next couple of weeks. The changes won’t make the hole play significantly more difficult they’ll just either add a small element of danger or frame the hole differently.
The short tees on holes 3, 5, 6, 9, 11, 12 and 15 will also be marked within a couple of weeks.
July 12th, 2010 at 18:51
I am glad we have a new course in the area to play. However, I am extremely disappointed that you have chosen to exclude Sertoma from the doubles tournament. I know that you want to showcase this new course, but from your post above it sounds like the course is not ready. If you are still talking about moving tees and pins after the tournament then why play there. If you must play there why not split day 2 between sertoma and shaver. Sertoma may not be as long as shaver, but I feel it offers a better variety of shots and holes than shaver. Also, sertoma is a much better maintained course than shaver with less debris and downed trees everywhere. There are also less bugs. The US Doubles tournament in charlotte uses multiple courses on the same day. It would be a shame to exclude such a nice course as sertoma.
July 13th, 2010 at 08:18
Thanks Dave for your thoughts on the tournament. A lot of thought and consideration has gone into the decision. Living in Walhalla and Sertoma Field being the course that I play most often, I too, will miss having Sertoma be part of the tournament.
Shaver Recreation Center will always be included with the tournament as long as the City of Seneca continues to support the event. Over the past three years the City of Seneca through their tourism grant program and their advertising budget have supported us with close to four-thousand dollars in sponsorship.
Chattooga Belle Farm will be fully groomed and ready by the end of the month. The consideration of a redesign is based on how the course will flow and the planned addition of up to four more hole around the U-pick orchard.
As we move forward the idea of utilizing Sertoma Field, Chattooga Belle Farm and Shaver is something that will be considered for next year.
Thanks for your comments and I hope you play in this year’s tournament.
July 17th, 2010 at 03:19
I’m also pretty disappointed that we will not be using Walhalla this year. I’m like Dave in the above post that I am excited about having a new course in the Upstate to go to, and I’m envious that there are so many now for the upstate club, but trying to get a brand new course ready in time for the doubles almost seems to not make sense. I know that we are still a month away, which does give plenty of time, but I guess that if the course does not get fully completed, we do have Walhalla to fall back on.
Thanks for all your hard work Adam, and no matter what I’ll be playing!
July 17th, 2010 at 20:11
Danny - Chattooga Belle Farm will be ready to play. They’ve been mowing this week and will keep the course mowed regularly. I think once you get a chance to see and play this course, you’ll feel we made the right decision on playing day one at Chattooga Belle.
On the thoughts of Walhalla versus Seneca…I understand the feelings of Seneca and Walhalla. The Walhalla Park and Recreation do a fantastic job keeping the course in shape while GODG does a majority of the course work in Seneca. Seneca has given us close to $4,000 through tourism grants and sponsorship over the past three years. If we want to exclude playing in Seneca we will also will be doing much smaller players pack and funding of the tournament.
Thanks for your thoughts.
July 18th, 2010 at 08:54
Actually I enjoy Seneca as much as Walhalla. I thought that the combo of Seneca/Walhalla was almost a perfect compliment to one another. You had Walhalla, a shorter technical course with a few open holes, and then Seneca, a longer but still technical course. Most every shot last year needed to be how accurate you were, not how far can you throw. To score well, you had to be precise. I’ve not played the farm course yet, but will try to get up there and practice at least once before doubles. But from the pictures, it looked as though it was a bit more open, which will depend more on how your distance is. If the farm course is open, then you will have an open course, and a technical course, which should be a good combo.
Sadly, one of my favorite places to play is Walhalla, so I’m just sad to not be playing it, but there will be the Sept 18th tourney this year, so I’ll just have to wait until then.
Thanks again for everything Adam….you really do a fantastic job!
July 18th, 2010 at 13:16
Danny - yes, there will be a one-day C-tier in Walhalla. While Chattooga Belle Farm is a long course, placement will still play a role as most basket positions have apple trees near by or a row of apple trees. Elevation is also an obstacle.
I look forward to seeing you in August.