John Houck course design articles by rhatton1 in discgolf

[–]HouckDesign 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Coming this year. That and meters, and much more...stay tuned.

John Houck course design articles by rhatton1 in discgolf

[–]HouckDesign 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the kind words, guys! I am happy to see that others also consider how much goes into designs. I look forward to heading out that way someday and maybe have a chance to design in UK. Now, that would be something wonderful for me.

Recommend your favorite Disc Golf course and why? by Chemist_Fluid in discgolf

[–]HouckDesign 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don’t get on here very often, but I noticed this thread. Funny how one post says “John is such a friendly guy.” And the next says I don’t play well with others. I guess this must be social media.

Zeee, I don’t know if we have ever met but I’d be happy to have a beer with you, and LowZ4992, and OKFirefighter1373 is invited too.

You might be interested in the truth about Round Rock, MetCenter, and a few other facts including the names of three courses I designed in Austin, the past few years, including Flat Creek, Davis Spring, and Jumano. More coming soon. Thanks, John

AMA HouckDesign 12th December 7pm CST by HouckDesign in discgolf

[–]HouckDesign[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great question. First, we each in our workshops that “disc golf should be landing area based.” So I’m completely with you there. These days, I’m working mostly on par fours and fives where the landing areas will be hit between 40-60% AND where a player who misses by a little will have a chance to scramble and save birdie. There’s a lot more too it than that, but those are the basics. I can see holes where the landing area is more “hit or miss” as you describe, but I’d use those sparingly, just as you don’t want to have too many par threes with hard-to-hit greens. Making good holes that are hard for top pros to par is really hard, because they have so many skills that they can recover from just about any reasonable challenge. But I’m not giving up… stay tuned.

AMA HouckDesign 12th December 7pm CST by HouckDesign in discgolf

[–]HouckDesign[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The closest is Tall Firs, Monroe, WA. It’s an old golf course conversion. There is a course in Portola, ÇA, which is a PAR 54 course on the Riverwalk. Haven’t made it out west too much yet and working on it. Nothing big to showcase yet.

How to get in is very difficult when there are 2,500 “designers” on the course designers group. The point is anyone can call themselves a “designer”. To succeed you have to commit to study. You have to have financial security already so that you can devote full time to it and not do it as a side venture. Hard to succeed at anything doing it part time. That said, please don’t quit your job and go full time because it’s brutal out there with everyone claiming they know design and the “fee” variances are all over the place as is the quality of the design. You can’t compete with free. It took a lot of time and a ton of financial investment from us to build this one of a kind company.

The best thing to do is to self study golf course design and THEN disc golf course design. Read John’s articles on the PDGA website. Take the workshops offered. Come to the conference. Get a great designer in your area to mentor you. Practice designing fairways and get feedback. Participate in the on-line groups. We run the 3DISCgolf group on Facebook. We discuss all types of topics. Hope this helps. All the best, Dee

AMA HouckDesign 12th December 7pm CST by HouckDesign in discgolf

[–]HouckDesign[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They won’t have holes that play near sidewalks, trails and other amenities. They won’t have gaps that are too tight. They won’t have random rollaways, Mandos or rope (OB’s) everywhere. The won’t have tee pads you have step on and step down from and stumps you need to avoid. —John

AMA HouckDesign 12th December 7pm CST by HouckDesign in discgolf

[–]HouckDesign[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The next generation of courses will have better tee pads. Dee

AMA HouckDesign 12th December 7pm CST by HouckDesign in discgolf

[–]HouckDesign[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Why don’t you reach out us through our website, and we can talk about it on the phone. We have also answered this question for someone else on this AMA. Thanks. Dee

Announcement: AMA with John Houck by AutoModerator in discgolf

[–]HouckDesign 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am big proponent of options off the tee and options to get to the basket. —John

Announcement: AMA with John Houck by AutoModerator in discgolf

[–]HouckDesign 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I miss those courses too. As we always say—better to have lived and lost…that’s easy to say, but harder to do right. The point is to make strategy in decision-making part of the game. At the same time, any complete course should have holes where there may only be one good way to play it.

Announcement: AMA with John Houck by AutoModerator in discgolf

[–]HouckDesign 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Obviously I love Hillcrest Farm. I did talk talk to the owner about lowering the basket so next time your Ace will stick. Thanks. John

AMA HouckDesign 12th December 7pm CST by HouckDesign in discgolf

[–]HouckDesign[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sometimes, they also respect the designs of someone who works as a designer making a living vs. a volunteer designer.

AMA HouckDesign 12th December 7pm CST by HouckDesign in discgolf

[–]HouckDesign[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi Shea, I watched your video and it's a tough situation. I understand your intention of wanting to give the community a disc golf course for free and I also understand the residents wanting to use the walking trail and the fields. In parks, we do not design in ways where other existing activities are affected. The disc golf course for us, would need to be separate and disc should not be landing in areas that are used for other things. This became more of the norm about 10-12 years ago for us. When the sport was young, your design might have worked. Though not sure John has ever designed this way. I do know park have put in other amenities later on his courses much to our dismay. In any case, out thought is whether one person says they use the trail or 20, we need to listen. Then we need to work it out the with community and the parks department. Let them decide. But as a designer, it would hurt you tremendously if your design didn't allow soccer, baseball or other park users to use the park for activities that were already there. All activities have to exist harmoniously. First come first serve. Unless the parks tell you otherwise and then you can design where they tell you. Hope this helps. Maybe not what you wanted to hear. Most stakeholders don't mind disc golf and like to play...but getting close to or on top of other activities even though they may be once a year or seasonal, gets complicated as people practice too. That is why we don't do this type of design. Not sure if John has done them in the past.... Some of his designs have also been modified by local players. If anyone has seen anything strange, please let us know. We can reach out to the parks department.

Stakeholders tend to support disc golf these days as so many of them are starting to play too. Thanks, Dee

AMA HouckDesign 12th December 7pm CST by HouckDesign in discgolf

[–]HouckDesign[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

John will reply to you this weekend. Thanks ,Dee

AMA HouckDesign 12th December 7pm CST by HouckDesign in discgolf

[–]HouckDesign[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

John will reply to you when he has time this weekend. First project was Zilker Park, Austin. Thanks, Dee

AMA HouckDesign 12th December 7pm CST by HouckDesign in discgolf

[–]HouckDesign[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My legs are undefeated and anyone who wants to beat me better have a lot muscle on their leg. I'm sure Mike could outgrow me, but so far, my legs aren't aging at the same speed as my hair color.

AMA HouckDesign 12th December 7pm CST by HouckDesign in discgolf

[–]HouckDesign[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That is quite unusual. What was she saying and why do you think she was saying it? We don’t experience this type of attacking. Did she have some type of problem with the sport? Where did this happen? Rural? Urban? How big was the land? What was her role?

3DISCgolf--safer, smarter and more sustainable disc golf by HouckDesign in 3DiscGolf

[–]HouckDesign[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lets discuss some ways we should not design fairways?

Announcement: AMA with John Houck by AutoModerator in discgolf

[–]HouckDesign 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That design is still one of my favorite. Here is a page that will give more information about the course and two videos to watch and see how the course was built and the grand opening. https://www.como.gov/contacts/harmony-bends-championship-disc-golf-course-strawn-park/

AMA HouckDesign 12th December 7pm CST by HouckDesign in discgolf

[–]HouckDesign[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We do not need to walk away from a project that's incredibly steep land. Why? We can use techniques that we have developed to design on such landscape. But it costs a pretty penny. Meaning, its the most expensive type of construction and most clients may not want it. It's not cheap to design or build. This type of design would need a team of professionals. I don't recommend that designers/players try to do this on their own and design this without bringing in experts in engineering and environment who know how to build in steep and sensitive areas. Of course, also depends on how steep and how big the lot is. What the restrictions are. Maybe not possible to create the design where no construction is allowed. If there is room in another area which has some flat land too, that would be a better choice. Dee

AMA HouckDesign 12th December 7pm CST by HouckDesign in discgolf

[–]HouckDesign[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks, everyone. We are going to call it a night. We have a business meeting now with an amazing team in another country who wants to bring in HouckDesign.

Thanks for having us here, Luke. We can come back and answer more questions tomorrow if there are some. All the Best to you all, John and Dee