Daylight saving time just began and it’s time to start planning out your disc golf year. How many tournaments are you going to make this year? Hopefully, along with a few majors, maybe you’ll hit up a new course or two? Maybe this will be the year you finally get to play Idlewild, or get out to Pasadena and play disc golf’s very first course (Hahamonga). Wouldn’t it be nice to tour like the pros do and play 45 weeks a year; traveling around the globe playing all the best courses? Sure it would, but let’s be honest, only the blessed few will ever get to know that life. And if you have a day job, kids, a spouse who doesn’t play disc golf (or appreciate your interest in it), or if you’re still in school then long disc golf vacations are next to impossible. Alas, maybe next year.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t get out and live some of your disc golf dreams right now. You may not be able to make every NT event on the schedule or take four months off to tour and play, but you can still take a disc golf vacation or two and here are a few options if you need to take the family along.
The Disc Golf Vacation
If you’re looking for a place to go with your family and it’s important to have a “vacation” feel, here are a few ideas:
Photo: Facebook
Selah Ranch – Talco, Texas
Located two hours north and east of Dallas, this privately owned property can boast two incredible disc golf courses designed by John Houck. Swimming, fishing, and a beautiful setting ideal for wooing a disagreeable spouse.
Learn more: SelahRanch.com
Sandy Point – Lac Du Flambeau, Wisconsin
Located in the northern woods of Wisconsin two and half hours east of Duluth, MN, this disc golf experience has private state of the art cabins and a 27-hole course. Swimming, fishing, hiking and lots and lots of disc golf. Highbridge Hills disc golf complex is just an hour away.
Learn more: SandyPt.com
Horning’s Hideout – North Plains, Oregon
Located an hour West of Portland, Oregon, this complex has three very challenging courses. You’ll also find frequent live concerts, hiking, fishing, swimming, a massive ostentation of peacocks, which wander the complex freely, and whatever other mischief you can muster.
Learn more: HorningsHideout.com
Seven Springs Mountain Resort – Seven Springs, Pennsylvania
Located one hour east of Pittsburgh, this resort is built for the vacation enthusiast. The course is fair and fun and there are enough activities for everyone in the family.
Learn more: 7Springs.com
Cape Henlopen Disc Golf – Cape Henlopen, Delaware
Located two hours south of Philadelphia or two hours east of Washington, DC on the eastern Delaware coast, this destination is perfect for the family that needs a beach. The course isn’t the hardest to play but it’s on the beach! It’s one of the few courses in the world that can brag that it’s on the beach AND can offer non-tent housing. If the family wants the beach and you want disc golf, this is perfect compromise.
Learn more: DeStateParks.com/park/cape-henlopen/
Smuggler’s Notch – Jeffersonville, Vermont
Located two hours east of Burlington, Vermont. This resort is opened year round with activities ranging from first class downhill sking (winter), hiking and, of course, disc golf. The course is beautiful and a great way to spend a weekend. Don’t forget to stop at Ben and Jerry’s factory on the way there.
Learn more: Smuggs.com
Sipapu – Vadito, New Mexico
Located an hour north of Santa Fe on a ski hill. The course plays up and down a mountain. It’s rustic and beautiful. The resort doesn’t offer much for the kids unless your kids are big fans of hiking and fishing, but it’s still a destination vacation.
Learn more: SipapuNM.com
Honorable Mention: Hiekkasarkat – Kalajoki, Finland
It’s in Finland, so if you can make it here, your financial problems are probably slight. This course plays through a complex of vacationing Fins. It’s also on a beach and is incredible challenging. The resort offers every entertainment distraction you can imagine. The up side… during the summer the sun doesn’t go down allowing for 24 hours of disc golf and sunbathing.
Learn more: KalajokiResort.fi/en/
The Disc Golf Camping Trip
If you can do your thing without needing a hotel room and you’re willing to camp out, here are some excellent camping disc golf destinations:
Farragut – Athol, Idaho
Located twenty minutes north of Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho, this camping hot spot offers three challenging courses.
Learn more: ParksAndRecreation.Idaho.gov/parks/farragut
Photo: PDGA Media
International Disc Golf Center – Appling, Georgia
Located an hour northwest of Augusta, Georgia, it is the nerve center of the PDGA with the Hall of Fame, and the executive offices for the “business” end of the PDGA. But it also hosts three of the very best courses in America. Camping is available in the park but not AT the courses. Home to the PDGA Championships.
Learn more: ColumbiaCountyGA.gov/index.aspx?page=2680
The Lodge – Pawhuska, Oklahoma
Located an hour and a half north of Tulsa, Oklahoma this privately owned destination boasts two awesome courses and the friendliest hosts in disc golf. (Just ask Avery Jenkins what he thinks) The courses have hosted an NT and are used for the Dynamic Disc Tour Finale every year.
Learn more: TheLodgeAtTaylorRanch.com
Flip City – Shelby, MI
Located 45 minutes north of Musekegon, Michigan. This course is another privately owned destination with another amazing course which has to be seen in person. It is ranked among the best courses in the world and if that course doesn’t offer you enough challenges, there are ten more super challenging courses within an hours drive.
Learn more: FlipCityGolf.com
The Blockhouse – Spotsylvania, Virginia
Located an hour north of Richmond, Virginia, this destination has two great courses and by far the most laidback camping you will ever experience. Great golf, great hospitality and the very best of the mellow laid back chill you want in a disc golf camping experience. Please note, at the time of publishing, the Blockhouse is currently closed.
Learn more: BlockHouseDiscGolf.com
The “High End” Disc Golf Vacation
If you have larger dreams and you are willing to put forth the effort and money. And if you can get an invitation, this is by far the best disc golf vacation available:
Photo: Facebook
Fly Boy Aviation – Whitesburg, Georgia
Located an hour southwest of Atlanta, Georgia this private course is almost as hard to get permission to play it as it is to play the course under par. The course is located in an incredibly private upper class housing development and the residents appreciate their personal space.
How private is it? Well, let’s just say that everyone who lives there has their own plane in their garage. You MUST have permission to play this course. Walking on is not allowed.
If possible, stay at the bed and breakfast run by the owner’s parents (who live onsite). The aesthetic of this experience is second to none and it’s a perennial contender for one of the best courses in the world. But again, you must get permission!
How do you get permission? You have to know someone who knows someone. It’s that awesome of an experience.
Other Must Play Courses
To celebrate other disc golf destinations, which have gone out of their way to create worthy disc golf vacations for it’s visitors, here is a list of other worthy places to visit.
- Twin Parks Country Club, Austin, TX. Location of the Vibram’s Player’s Cup.
- Blue Ribbon Pines, Minneapolis, MN. One third of the Minnesota Majestic.
- Jarva Disc Golf, Stockholm, Sweden. Home of the Stockholm Open and the European Masters.
- Maple Hill/Pyramids, Leicester, MA. Home of the Vibram Open.These courses are a half-mile apart so they’re really one full experience.
- Crystal City Disc Golf. St. Louis, MO. Disc golf in a cave. Two courses. WITH water! Courses are rough but hey… you’re playing underground.
- Woodland Valley, Limerick, ME. Two courses in rural Maine just north of Portland.
- Angel Fire, Angel Fire, NM Another mountain course north of Santa Fe. If playing ski hills is your thing, this play is for you.
- Phantom Falls, Pine, CO Listed as one of the best courses in America. You must get permission to play. It’s a tough course (remember, the higher the elevation, the more stable your discs will be).
- Nantucket Disc Golf, Nantucket, MA. It takes patience to work out the details, but once you’re there, the course is wonderful. And if you’re going to make the effort, you might as well camp out and play it again in the morning.
May all your disc golf dreams come true.
15 Comments
I could add about 100 courses to this list, but some of the highlights worthy of being here IMO:
Highbridge – camping and lodging options, endless supply of great courses – number one dg destination area on my list.
Ozark Mountain – 3 incredible courses, camping on site – number two destination area
Justin Trails – camping and B&B, two stellar courses.
Rollin Ridge – camping, sick clubhouse on site, 4th rated course in the country
Mont du Lac – camping, 2 awesome courses, bar on site
Base Camp Adventure Lodge – Unique rugged course, sleep in a primitive navajo Hogan!
Paw Paw – 2 great courses, clubhouse, and camping
Wildcat Bluff – 1 sick course, camping on site
I believe at least y’all should have either wai poli on Maui as disc golf vacation or wailoa big island (Hawaii island) both places as awesome yearlong disc golf vacation spots
The Black Course in Moundsville, West Virginia at Grand Vue Park is a championship level course in the hills of WV with amazing views and plays over 9000 ft. The park has cabins for rent and also has other attractions such as zip lines and a pool made for fun for the hole family!!!
Hi Guys. Thanks for the feedback. All of your suggestions are great and I have been to a few of them and agree with you, they are great places to visit. I am familiar with most of the locales you mentioned and with the exception of one (Highbridge) most of the locales didn’t meet our criteria. In choosing locations we had to imagine the most surly and hard to please spouse, with the most unruly children and then we tried to imagine where we could take them to please them and our need for disc golf. Thus the high end nature of most of the disc golf destinations. I was shocked to discover how many disc golf destinations there really are in the world. And with this list, we just wanted to give the top selections in the article.
I went to the West Virginia complexes and enjoyed them. They were installing new zip lines when we played there, but I was with someone who was deathly afraid of heights and she wasn’t even willing to throw hole 18 because of the view so we skipped the zip lines.
We had a similiar issue with our time in New Mexico and Colorado. Some of the courses are on mountain sides and that made our visit rather tense. I’m not big on snakes, which made a lot of the courses in Montana a bit of a struggle.
Great article. I’d add these:
1. http://www.chattoogabellefarm.com/farm/ Pick nectarines, apples and peaches while playing. Can’t beat it.
2. http://www.dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=1809&mode=hi enjoy some Memphis blues and BBQ and play disc golf on an old prison farm turned park.
I thought for a second that you didn’t include Highbridge Hills because it was too obvious, and these are just alternatives, but it seems that is not the case. Any reasoning behind this omission? I”ve been to a handful of the destinations on this list and nothing comes close to Highbridge for a number of reasons (number of courses, quality of courses, camping and/or lodging).
Other than that, really enjoyed the article and selection, can’t wait to play some of the courses that I have missed!
No mention of the Lake Tahoe basin? 9 courses and any outdoor activity you could imagine? Strange.
What Mike said. Tahoe has a bunch of good to great courses, and fantastic options for non golfers.
I used to travel a lot for work and it gave me the opportunity to visit disc golf courses throughout the U.S.
The best course I’ve ever played is close to my home in Conifer CO. Beaver Ranch needs to be on this list – it is better than Phantom Falls and you don’t have to make an appt. Plus, they just added three new holes! http://www.dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=2488
The next best course I’ve played is the North Georgia Canopy Tours course. Extremely well-signed and nice layout. You even get to shoot in an old chicken coop!
http://www.dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=4459#
Smugglers Notch is less than an hour from Burlington (unless there is a snowstorm).
Smugglers Notch is less than an hour from Burlington (unless there is a snowstorm).
Hey happy campers, Mississippi is the place for you. almost every state park in MS has at least one disc golf course. Most of the courses have water and lush vegetation. Check this out, you will not be disappointed.
been in Montana 20yrs and haven’t seen a snake- yes they’re around but sightings are rare imho…
with extremely varied courses MT is a disc golfers paradise, include in your vacay a visit to Yellowstone, rafting, world class fly fishing, hunting, hike epic trails or ride them on a bike or horse- then hit up a craft brewery or hotsprings afterward – it doesn’t get much better for the non-golf activites than Montana… must play course include diamondX, Bohart Ranch, Blue Mountain, timberbeast, LibbyDam, Spiritwood and Priest Pass (temp)… look up GCF.com for local chatter and events and to post any questions…jharr 22729
Small correction – Woodland Valley (Limerick, ME) is home to 3 great courses: Black Bear, Grizzly, and Kodiak. Kodiak is a recent addition and is truly a professional grade course.
Did you guys know that there are other countries in the world that play disc golf.
Might I suggest Queenstown gardens course in Queenstown, New Zealand. The adventure capital of the world. Home of the bungy jump and New Zealand’s disc golf Mecca. Our course has played host to over 1 million people in the last 20 years. It’s not uncommon to have 500 people a day throwing plastic during summer. Mind you, it’s not dark until 10pm. Check it out