Dineen Park, Milwaukee

I uploaded the text for this post as we drove past downtown Chicago at 8:,22 am on Sunday, July 29, 2007. (One and a half hours into the return trip.) The uploading of images is slow with my wireless card, but I will be sending in several, below, as connectivity permits.

The Dineen disc golf course was originally a par 3 ball golf course, turned into a public park. So it is more open than most of the courses I am familiar with, and that gave me problems because I am used to perceiving distances and angles in a more closed environment, with fewer options for approaching the target. For example, both Pete May and Rob Lee use a very effective hyzer curve drive on throws up to ~300' in length. They are very accurate, but only work when there are no obstacles on the right-hand approach. (Like a lot of the holes at Dineen.) I, on the other hand, throw much straighter toward the basket, but the straight shot takes more energy to go the same distance (I think.) and is less forgiving if you don't precisely hit your line. (I know!)
Above is the lead card, Saturday morning during the semi-finals at Dineen. Left to right, Rob Lee, Terry Calhoun, Chuck Hornsby, and Pete May. Note my great disc golf cart! I purchased it for $15 at a yard sale in Ann Arbor on the Fridy before the worlds. If you look closely near the bottom of what you can see of the umbrella pole, you will recognize Ken Climo, in bobble-head form. Terry Miller, the worlds TD, has a number of sets of bobble-heads (Climo, Barry Schultz, and Des Reading) left. They are available on his website, Lifetime Disc Sports
Six days earlier, Ben, Sheila, and I had practiced Dineen. You can see below, that despite being a very open course, there are enough trees to provide decent challenges on approach and for putts. In the first image, Sheila made this putt (above) on Hole 3.

In this image, Ben misses his putt on Hole 4.
Finally, here Sheila is standing on the tee for the ~500' Hole 8, typical of the Dineen longer holes. Very wide open with primarily the distance, the wind, and some slight elevation changes as challenges.
Dineen is a beautiful course, and as Pete noted, the designers did an excellent job of keeping the playground areas, water, and pathways out of play - resulting in a great job of mixing disc golf with other public activities.

Just before we left Ann Arbor, Ben had noted a news article about our neighboring township, Pittsfield, purchasing a par 3 ball golf course to turn into a park. That township has, in the past been interested in disc golf, but the properties it owns have some environmental issues as well as clearing and construction cost issues. We'll be at the first public meeting about the uses of that park this fall!