This inaugural Course Design Conference May 3rd-4th, 2014 will bring together several of those veteran designers you have come to know and maybe some newcomers you haven't. Some session leaders will be John Houck, Harold Duvall, Chuck Kennedy, Pat Farrell, Brian Giggey, Tim Kopacz, Allen Colp and Steve West. They'll lead both indoor classroom and outdoor course tour sessions with help from some up and coming designers from around the country and maybe overseas. Presenters are members of the 175-member Disc Golf Course Designers (DGCD) group founded by Steady Ed Headrick, John David, Tom Monroe and Chuck Kennedy. More on the DGCD below.
John Houck's current article in discgolfer magazine clarified that we're really talking about "risk versus reward" instead of the more common phrase "risk and reward" in course design. In a similar way, disc golf is "players versus courses" where course designers serve as proxies to try and make sure their courses challenge players.
Chuck Kennedy with review and assistance by John Houck have created a new article about making sure your course is appropriate for the intended skill level. A preview is listed below and the full article is available at:
One of the first steps in disc golf course design process is to establish the skill levels a design will be developed for. One of the last steps is to validate whether that design turned out to be appropriate for those skill levels. Designers have created many courses over the years where the intended skill levels were at least loosely defined before starting – broad terms like pro versus am were considered. It’s gotten even better since ratings came on the scene ten years ago. This made defining skill levels a little more precise using ratings ranges like Gold, Blue, White, Red and Green for different sets of tees and pins.
