The second part of the tournament season has begun and I have a tournament next weekend at Farragut and one the following Saturday at the Timber Beast course in Troy, MT. I haven’t played any courses in Montana so I decided to scout out the course and create my shot list for the drives.
The weather is still on the warm to hot side of the scale, but you just have to get used to it. Since I started to use metal vacuum insulated bottles, it’s been easier [and more enjoyable] to stay hydrated. Luckily most of the course in covered by the trees and there are enough benches to sit on in case you need a little break. A cart of some sorts also helps when you need a place to sit.
The first handful of holes play along and near the Callahan Creek that empties into the Kootenay River. There is little danger of landing your disc in the creek and judging by the water level… even less danger losing it at this time of the year.This is the green of hole 3’s basket in the A position. There is a lot of undulating terrain all over the course. There isn’t any notable elevation change, so this type of terrain gives the course some extra challenge to land your disc smoothly on the ground.This is the fairway for hole 4 with the basket located to the right, after the drop in terrain. This is a good example of a challenging but fair fairway.Hole 6’s green is probably my favorite in terms of overall feel and look. The A position is in the right of the picture and I believe there is also a B location to the left.This is hole 10’s tee pad in the long position. My first two drives were ok, but a bit right. I grabbed my new lighter weight Grym and gave it a better effort.As the disc was flying, flipping up to flat, riding straight, with a little fade to the left… I was chanting “there you go” over and over as I knew it was a great throw.A great detail is the bright rope they have attached at the bottom of the baskets so you can quickly measure the edge of Circle 1.I decided to run back to the tee pad to measure the throw. It wasn’t as far as I thought, but maybe one of my best golf drives given the distance and the fairway it had to travel through.The north east side of the course has a train track that borders the course. In the 3 hours I played, there were only 2 trains that past by.Hole 13 is another picturesque fairway. Hole 14 has two tee pads. I am taking the picture from the farther pad and there is a mando to the right on the skinnier tree in the center of the picture. My one and only drive hit the mando tree and kicked right almost landing on the track.
It would be crazy to have a train run over you disc after your drive… but what a story it would be to tell.This is the fairway for hole 16. If I took my best line and the best disc flight, I think the disc would have been parked. Those two actual drives were around the end of Circle 1and gave me a good chance at a birdie.
I can now unbag my Montana disc golf pin and add it to my Idaho, Washington, and California pins. It would be nice to at least collect pins for Oregon, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming… which are the remaining states that surround Idaho. And for good measure… a pin for Canda… eh?
Overall it was a fun day checking out the course. There is a good mix of between short and long holes with the majority being on the shorter side. Most of the holes have a challenging, but balanced fairway. The one hole that didn’t seem to make sense to me was hole 12. There is a tiny gap that allows a more direct route to the basket, but it seems a bit gimmicky to me. It also may mean that I am scared at attempting tiny gaps just off the tee pad.
It’s a fun course to play and I look forward to more rounds in the future, especially on the upcoming tournament!
Looks like a great place to play and sounds like you got a good trial run there and found it to be a favorable course! On another note, I must say the composition of your photos were top notch!
Looks like a great place to play and sounds like you got a good trial run there and found it to be a favorable course! On another note, I must say the composition of your photos were top notch!
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