El Dorado Park in Long Beach, California

I went a little further up the highway this morning to Long Beach to play El Dorado Park.  This is an 18 hole,  par 3, course located inside a city park between the library and the tennis courts.  It is a very pleasant course, not too challenging.  The course is mostly flat, nice grass and large, shady trees.  Only a few other players were on the course today, so I pretty much had the course to myself.

I met an older gentleman, Phil Penn, who does some work on the course.  He was nice enough to point out the tee pads and the baskets for me.  The tee pads are all concrete with signage.  The baskets on the front nine are Mach 3 and the back nine are DISC Catchers.  A very clean park, no litter, lots of trash cans but no benches.  It was such a nice day and I had lots of free time so I played it twice.

The holes are about average length, a par can be made on each hole without too much difficulty.  I did not make any birdies but only had about two opportunities.  I did make a few more bogeys than I should have. The Santa Ana winds started to kick up, causing my discs to fly all over.  Several of my approach flicks just kept on going 50-60 feet past the basket.

Like the Huntington Beach, this one reminded me of Zilker.  Neither course had any rough to speak of.  I wonder how the players here would react to East Metro or Roy G.   The only hazard on the course is getting your disc stuck in a tree.  There are no rocks on the ground,  Phil keeps a softball in his bag to throw.

Lots of these purple trees blooming.

Huntington Beach Central Park in California

This week I am in Irvine California with a lot of free time, a perfect opportunity to play some disc golf.  Today I played the Huntington Beach course which is about 10 miles from where I am staying.  This is nice, clean, challenging course with some beautiful trees.  This is a pay to play course with a nominal green fee of $2 during the week.  Most of the holes are pretty flat, a few holes have some elevation to contend with.   A good mix of wide open shots and technical shots around trees.  The tee pads are rubber and the baskets are mostly Mach 3 with a few Disc Catchers.  Some of the baskets are a little high.  All the holes are a par 3.

Weather conditions were typical Southern California weather conditions.  Sunny with highs in the lower 80's.  A little breeze was blowing but not enough to be a problems.  There were quite a few players for a Wednesday afternoon.  I almost hit someone a couple of times with my drives.

The first few holes seemed pretty short, I birded holes #1 and #2.  I thought this course was going to be a push over.  However, the holes got a little longer and more technical and I did not get another birdie.  I did bogey a few.

This is the second oldest permanent disc golf course in the world.  I hooked with a local player, Jesse, who played with me and guided me through the course.  I'm glad he did because I would have had a hard time finding where the next hole was or where some of the baskets were.

I would compare this course to Zilker Park.  It is a little tighter, with the fairways adjacent to one another.  The holes distances, terrain and mix of open to technical holes reminded me of Zilker.  I may try to play it again before the week is over.

Sorry the pictures are not really in order.  I am not using my normal computer and I played the course twice and jumped around the second time through.

Number 2 basket.  Big drop off behind it

Number 3 tee pad (really number 4 because of course changes) 

Nice little pond at the park

Jesse driving.  There are horseback riders over the fence

Me driving on #18.  One of my better drives

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This basket was a little high