Fairway Finders Disc Golf

Ranking my European Disc Golf Summer Courses🥇🥈🥉

Going to be picking my favourite holes I played just like I did with the TDU courses. The top courses I played whilst over in Europe are: Krokhol (World #1), Ale White (World #2), Ale Yellow (World #11), Uspastorp (World #23), Ymergårdens (World #41), Häfla Bruks (World #54), Järva (World #43) and The Beast at Nokia.

All par 3s to choose from for Hole 1 🫤

🥇Ymergårdens Par 3 123m

A straightforward hole with a slight up and down elevation change. Woods type fairway but with beautiful green grass. Simple and elegant.

🥈Uspastorp Par 3 89m

The more 'grand' feeling of the uphill tunnel options - the other being Ale Yellow. I put huge value on the first basket being easily visible from the tee where possible on permanent designs.

🥉Järva Par 3 96m

Baskets were in the blue position while we were there. Again, similar sentiment to the holes above - I tend to prefer straight par 3s to begin a permanent course that may be someone's first introduction to our sport.

Not a particularly exciting start with very similar Par 3's to choose from. I believe Krokhol's Hole #1 has a too higher shot difficulty due to the mounded green - with many pros opting to lay up for par.

Ranking the TDU '24 & '25 Disc Golf Holes 🥇🥈🥉

Hole 10:

🥇Spa Park: Just a really nice technical downhill par 3. Awesome tee change this year. You see some fantastic mid shots as players attempt to control the speed on this shot.

🥈Oratia Orchard: A nice sidehill and shape of the hole means a player would love to have both the forehand and backhand combination to attack this one. Solid.

🥉Inglewood GC: The team here have matched my design philosophy perfectly with this risk/reward island shot. A larger safer landing area and a tighter area close to the basket.

And I'm sorry Paradise 'Snakey' fans. 🐍 I've been bitten by taking too many double bogeys on this hole to have an ounce of appreciation for it! 🤣

Ranking the TDU '24 & '25 Disc Golf Holes 🥇🥈🥉

Hole 9:

🥇Spa Park: This U shaped Par 4 has a lot going for it. The view. The unique fairway shape. One side of the fairway OB, one side rough (natural OB) is a favourite design element of mine in how it works risk and reward e.g. Do you push the OB on the tee shot to make the angle easier going into the green?

🥈Bella Rakha: This Par 3 is quite the bonus birdie. And that makes executing the shot all the more rewarding. I'm a fan of a mix of both easy birdie fest courses and tough courses on tour where par is good (like this hole) - not that anybody asked.

🥉Inglewood GC: I was worried I was going to skunk 🦨 Inglewood with no features, but this solid Par 4 makes its way in.

Personally, I'm not a fan of ball golf greens as features on disc golf courses. And this layout focuses on flowing with ball golf which minimises the creativity. I agreed with a lot of Aaron Gossage's views on his practice round. Personally, I'd like to see some more veering from the permanent layout to add more interest to the design in tournaments.

Back to the hole, what a view of the Mt Taranaki in the background of the elevated basket - but is the basket too high and introduces too much luck with spitouts?

Front 9 done. A whopping Par 35. No rest for the wicked. 😅

Ranking the TDU '24 & '25 Disc Golf Holes 🥇🥈🥉

Hole 14:

🥇Brooker Ave: Really giving my props to this course more than I'd expect. The landing zone required on the tee shot to line yourself up with gap is one of the best examples of a well designed landing zone on the tour. Then a nice wee tunnel shot - or options to get creative if out of position.

🥈Spa Park: It's nothing special - but I take no issues with any of the design. It's a Par 3 that is unique to the rest of the course and has a couple different ways to attack it.

🥉Bottle Lake: Again, nothing special but one of the stronger wooded holes on the course with no major flaws. Loses to Spa Park as it doesn't particularly stand out when compared to the rest of its course.

Paradise 14 probably has the most potential - just got to clear up the gorse on the hillside.

Ranking the TDU '24 & '25 Disc Golf Holes 🥇🥈🥉

🥇Redwoods GC: The natural backdrop at Redwoods was outstanding. Not anything particularly fancy about this par 5, but gets the job done with a little bit of shot shaping.

🥈Bella Rakha: A touchy wee downhill shot on Simon's stunning property.

🥉Brooker Ave: Another one of its more technical holes. Again the fantastically defined green really elevates the hole.

I might be on track for a 'perfect' Par 72 at this rate. 🧮

Ranking the TDU '24 & '25 Disc Golf Holes 🥇🥈🥉

Hole 7:

🥇Oratia Orchard.A plethora of fantastic options for hole 7. What wins out? A beautiful downhill putter/mid shot every time.

🥈Spa Park: Am I a sucker for a beautiful huge panning turnover backhand driver that must have perfect angle control to land on the side hill? Yes.

🥉Redwoods GC: Watching the full flight of the booming flexing tee shots are what so many people love. Just a shame players had tricky run ups on the tee that may have inhibited the eagle chance. 🦅 The second half of the hole was a little boring.

Nearly put the par 5 at Bottle on the list but decided that was a little biased. Thought it had fantastic score separation despite the chance of eagle for the crazy arms. If only it had a pretty green fairway.

Ranking the TDU '24 & '25 Disc Golf Holes 🥇🥈🥉

Hole 6:

🥇Bella Rakha: Arguably every course needs a wooded straight shot. My TDU combined 18 now has one and a fine one indeed.

🥈Spa Park: It's back with a par 3 with some nice features. An 'over the valley' type shot will be enjoyed by all. A peninsula-esque green should be appreciated by most.

🥉Oratia Orchard: Not too dissimilar in design to Spa Park's 6th. Perhaps a little more technical and creativity inducing. Just not quite as clean and aesthetic.

Ranking the TDU '24 & '25 Disc Golf Holes 🥇🥈🥉

Hole 5:

🥇Brooker Ave: The run of par 4's taking my top spot continues. My favourite hole on the course. Was great to see something short and technical at Brooker. A wood chipped and well defined feature green is the cherry on top. 🍒

🥈Bella Rakha: Towering trees creating a well defined gap and a challenging shot shape for this Par 3. A few harakeke surrounding the green means you know exactly where this course is. 🇳🇿

🥉Oratia Orchard: The final nod goes to the Orchard. One thing that I've come to really love over my disc golf years is a well themed course. So a tunnel shot down two rows of fruit trees - a mandatory inclusion for a course in an orchard.

Ranking the TDU '24 & '25 Disc Golf Holes 🥇🥈🥉

Hole 4:

🥇Spa Park: Angled fairway creating risk/reward, peninsula green and the mighty Waikato river in the background. Some may say it's the best hole in the country.

🥈Redwoods GC: The best water carry in New Zealand. Need I say more?

🥉Paradise: Do I average a double bogey on it? Yes. Is it a little rough around the edges? Absolutely. But the demands of the shot just feels so unique and I'll always give points for that. Probably a hot take putting it on the podium.

Bottle Lakes 4th I expect will morph into a fantastic pro par 4 one day. I also very much enjoyed Brooker Ave's Hole 4 - which was the hardest hole at Nats I believe. Both unlucky to make the cut.

Ranking the TDU '24 & '25 Courses 🥇🥈🥉 Hole 2

1st Spa Park: Had a quick chat with .lawson.1971 at Nats about the change to the new elevated tee and how much I loved it. The elevated tee allows the disc to fly and makes the course more fun and a greater watch. It may have made the hole a bit easier - but a tougher hole doesn't always mean a better hole. I do agree it would be great to somehow add a little difficulty to the approach shot though.

2nd Bottle Lake: A par 4 where being able to throw both ways is advantaged. For a righty ideally you go backhand gap shot off the tee then forehand hyzer into the green. The slightly angled fairway creates a risk/reward on how much distance you try leave yourself into the green and how much harder you're willing to make the tee shot for yourself.

3rd Brooker Ave: 6 holes in and I've chosen 6 par 4's! 😬 The landing zone with the fairly technical tee shot really makes this hole for me. Perhaps my favourite hole on the course. The shaping of the old sections and their gardens defining the landing zone and the green really make the hole for me.

It was tough to pick 3rd for me this time round. Brooker edged out the 100m+ tunnel shot at Paradise and the downhill forehand at Redwood GC with the 4 huge mature trees defining the green. Did I pick right?

Ranking the TDU '24 & '25 Disc Golf Holes 🥇🥈🥉

Onto Hole 3:

🥇Spa Park: The best course in NZ starts with the turkey. Like hole 2, has the downhill tee shot paired with the short approach. Whilst it was great to see the basket pushed back this year, the second shot still played quite easy for the top part of the field who shredded it. Any ideas on how to change it?

🥈Redwoods GC: Does anyone like uphill holes? Probably not. But having a couple of uphill shots is necessary for a balanced course. So the best way to do it may be to combine it with a downhill shot like Redwoods GC. And eaglable par 5 too which I always like to see.

🥉Bella Rakha: My first par 3 to feature with the downhill shot over the orchard to get to the basket. The symmetry of there being a 'clear row' in the orchard for both the righty and lefty hyzers to sweep into the basket also was a nice touch.

No room for the picturesque par 5 at Inglewood in the top 3 for me! 😬🗻