Cabin Course at Flying Disc Clubhouse

@bphillsthe3rd

19

I played the Cabin Course @ FDC this past weekend and was blown away. It’s not only a fun disc golf course but just a super-unique place. *My pre-round experience: From the moment I drove up, I was blown away by the property - which includes a cabin (clubhouse) sitting at the top of a hill overlooking a pond and an 18-hole disc golf course built around it. After parking, I walked in and immediately was greeted by the head of security - a friendly dog named Murray. After giving Murray a quick pet, I recognized one of the owners (Tony) from the YouTube videos and proceeded to check in with him and fill out a waiver. Signing the waiver is required to play, but also serves as a membership to the course which is pretty cool. After chatting with Tony a bit about the course, and confirming the bar would be open until 9pm so I could grab a beer after the round, I headed out to hole 1… *My on-course experience: Since I arrived fairly late in the afternoon (4pm), I played the shorts to ensure I could get a full round in before it got dark. I assumed since I was playing the shorts, it would be your typical pitch and putt shots but it’s much more than that - offering significant elevation changes and a great variety of shot shapes and clever basket positions. The tee pads (turf) and the hole signs are great. The front 9 works its way around the side of the hill the cabin sits on, with several holes requiring precise tee shots to avoid roll aways. My favorite hole on the front 9 (and maybe the whole course) was definitely #5 - which is a 275’ foot downhill tunnel shot to an island green. Yep… That’s right - 275’ foot tunnel shot to an island green. How fun is that? Tony fully credits his wife Gill (the other owner) with the design of that hole. Hole #9 brings you right back to the clubhouse in case you wanted to grab a beer at the turn, which I think is always a great design for courses that have a bar or are by a brewery. Hole #10 is another great hole, which runs alongside the pond and gets you started on the mostly flat portion of the course. This half of the course takes you around the pond and leverages various small shallow creeks that wind through the property bringing water into play on quite a few of the holes. You can immediately tell how much thought, time, and effort has been put into the course by the immaculate foot bridges that have been put into place. The back 9, despite being mostly flat, isn’t easier… it’s just different… which I really enjoyed and think adds to the experience. If anything, it’s more of a purest layout - where the rollaways aren’t in play like they are on a few of the holes on the front 9. One thing that stood out to me, which was confirmed by Tony after the round, is that they deliberately left some trees in place alongside the pond on hole #10 and hole #17 which “should” catch most discs that miss a line and catch a hard kick off a tree towards the pond. Again.. This just points to how much thought was put into both the course and layout design. As far as a favorite hole on the back 9, it’s tough to say… I really liked #16 - which is a 215’ foot tighter and almost dead straight tunnel shot, as well as #17 - which is a 210’ foot wider tunnel shot that bends to the left at the very end. That said… #18 is probably up there as well and would definitely be my favorite had I played the longs. For people who like to throw bombs, the long tee pad is a 360’ foot par 3 across the pond up the hill back towards the clubhouse (+ 15’ foot in elevation) with a basket cleverly positioned just below the back porch of the clubhouse. I can only imagine how exciting of a hole that is during a tournament or on a busier day with a crowd watching. The short tee pad on #18 is much more friendly, sitting along the side of the pond (taking the water “for the most part” out of play). *My after-round experience: After dropping my bag off at the truck, I walked back into the clubhouse and had a couple of beers. They’ve got a wide variety of local beers on tap, as well as a variety of other beers ranging from IPAs to seltzers and a lot of non-adult beverages. As stated above, it has a bar/lounge with a pool table and a pro shop with about anything you’d want - super family friendly. FDC (Flying Disc Company) merch is also super cool, so I snagged a couple tee-shirts and some coozies. I spent around an hour or so enjoying the beers and talking to Tony and Gill - who are both awesome and the kind of people I’d be close friends with if I was local to the area. Even if the disc golf wasn’t awesome (which it is), the clubhouse and the owners are enough alone to make the visit to this place. *Summary: - Pros: See above - Cons: Not closer to where I live unfortunately. - Rating: 5 stars; Only the second time I’ve rated a “place” 5-stars on UDisc as it is a perfect blend of fun disc golf and experience. - Category: Although this place isn’t a brewery, I rated this as if it was.