January 22, 2010 - Round with Ben at Black Mouse
Black Mouse is a course on the side of a hill, filled with huge redwood trees behind San Lorenzo Valley Middle School. It is a fun, strange course. You park in the Middle School parking lot, walk through/around a soccer field and into the woods. There are no signs anywhere that there is a disc golf course here. After you walk 100-150 feet into the woods, you see a sign announcing the course and a tee pad.
From there, the course winds up, down and across the steep hill side. There are very few markings on the course. Luckily, Ben has played the course a number of times and he knew where to go. Some holes had concrete teepads, some tees were just bare spots on the ground.
This is a short technical course. None of the holes are very long, but there are lots of tight shots around trees. Often, the baskets are not visible from the teepad. The target will be tucked behind a grove of trees or maybe over the crest of a hill. Most times that I have played the course, there has been almost no one else playing. The whole course has a magical feeling deep in a redwood forest.
I have only played the course 4 or 5 times and I have never played very well there. I think I get intimidated by the narrow fairways through the trees. I tend to throw with less power, trying to get more accuracy and I usually shank the throws into the trees.
Also, the course is considered a left-handed course. A right-hand backhand throw tends to fly straight and fade to the left at the very end. Many of the holes have straight narrow fairways and then the hole turns to the left at the end. The opposite direction of a right-hand backhand throw. However it works well for left-hand backhand throws, hence a left-handed course. Most course designers try to create an equal number of right-handed and left-handed holes on a course, but not this course. A friend of ours helped designed the course and guess what? He's left-handed! Surprise, Surprise. :-)
I started the course in my usual manner, shanking drives into trees right and left. About half way through the round I settled down and started playing pretty well. I even ended up with 3 birdies. A fun round with Ben.
From there, the course winds up, down and across the steep hill side. There are very few markings on the course. Luckily, Ben has played the course a number of times and he knew where to go. Some holes had concrete teepads, some tees were just bare spots on the ground.
This is a short technical course. None of the holes are very long, but there are lots of tight shots around trees. Often, the baskets are not visible from the teepad. The target will be tucked behind a grove of trees or maybe over the crest of a hill. Most times that I have played the course, there has been almost no one else playing. The whole course has a magical feeling deep in a redwood forest.
I have only played the course 4 or 5 times and I have never played very well there. I think I get intimidated by the narrow fairways through the trees. I tend to throw with less power, trying to get more accuracy and I usually shank the throws into the trees.
Also, the course is considered a left-handed course. A right-hand backhand throw tends to fly straight and fade to the left at the very end. Many of the holes have straight narrow fairways and then the hole turns to the left at the end. The opposite direction of a right-hand backhand throw. However it works well for left-hand backhand throws, hence a left-handed course. Most course designers try to create an equal number of right-handed and left-handed holes on a course, but not this course. A friend of ours helped designed the course and guess what? He's left-handed! Surprise, Surprise. :-)
I started the course in my usual manner, shanking drives into trees right and left. About half way through the round I settled down and started playing pretty well. I even ended up with 3 birdies. A fun round with Ben.
posted by Steve @ 9:32 AM
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