How far is to far to Disc Golf

I live in North Dakota, if you are going to play in a tournament that isn't in your home town its a minimum of a 100 miles one way to play. In a weekend we may travel over 700 miles just to play a tournament. Heck there are those that do it just to play another course besides there own. I started this game in Middle TN and 700 miles could get you more courses than you can throw in a weekend.

So what do you consider to be to far and How many tournaments do you play in a Year.
To me 1000 miles is to much and I play in at least 6 to 8 tournaments a year. Don't forget that we have a very short season up here.

[eric beich]

I would think it would be more dependent upon financial responsibility's.
I traveled 5 hours = 200+ miles to play my first " long distance" tournament a year ago and it didn't seem far at all to me.

didn't know anyone or the town at all, but I had a blast.

I've purposefully gone on trips to play courses farther than that, just not for a tournament at that point.

I would gladly travel further to play if I could afford to do so.

I played maybe 4 tournaments last year. hopefully more this year. if not, it means I am living in a shelter,haha.

[Lotto]

"too"

[The FORCE]

what a dic4

[Derek Tonn]

Mars or Jupiter. Come to think of it, Jupiter. :-)

Seriously though, I don't have it QUITE as bad as what you are describing here in SW Minnesota. However, I haven't had a single PDGA-sanctioned tournament to play within about 75 minutes of my home since moving here 5+ years ago. Rather than complain though (well, not TOO much, lol), I've just been working my rear-end off to help get others like me (SW Minnesota) get to know each other better and schedule more events in the area. It's been pretty successful so far, as we've now been doing around two tournaments a month with about 25-35 people attending each event.

The events still aren't PDGA-sanctioned (heck, they haven't even qualified as a Minnesota State Tournament (MST) event). However, they are FUN...which is the name of the game.

Maybe start a Ning site like Terry did with this site. That's what's been really helping us in Southern Minnesota (www.smdga.com), and after using Ning the past year, I think pretty much ANY disc golf club could greatly benefit from setting up a site for themselves as well.

Good luck!

[Steve West]

Jupiter course:

http://www.dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=1254

[Pure Disc Golf dot Com]

I'd drive from Portland Oregon to Portland Maine. It's all about the trip man. Golf is just the treasure at the end of the road. I put 28,000 miles on my Subaru this year playin all over the west coast. I drove I-5, up and down, top to bottom, 4 times this year. Probably not how many miles Calhoun did on his trip but it was all a blast.

Andrew Ric

[Ken Long]

It maybe one thing driving TO a tournament with the excitement and all, but remember...you have to drive back (that is if you are planning a day trip). I do not like traveling hundreds of miles to play on a course and coming back the same day. Takes the enjoyment out of the Safari. Spending the evening is much more pleasant. In one day...I would travel no more than 90 miles at the outset.
K.

[Tino "SilverBack" Medina]

I dont htink you can limit yourself by distance. If you want to play a certain event, you go to it. Of course you have to be able ot afford it and all the logistical crap that comes along with "travel" but thats what life is for. TO be able to sit back and say, "yeah, I did that" or "we went there". It's all about experience brother. I havethe most fun on road trips so I would not limit my fun or experiences by the distances to travel.

[Chas Ford]

250 miles is my limit for a one day trip. I'll travel 500+ but I'll make it an over night venture. I've played in excess of 30 events each of the past four years.

[Chuck Kennedy]

If you don't plan to move, then getting more courses and events nearby, including those you run yourself, would seem to be part of the solution. Your season doesn't have to be any shorter than our 365-day schedule in Minnesota. We have four leagues running all thru winter, several Ice Bowls and a few other events. Our 2009 official state schedule shows 80 plus events already and countless other ones that haven't gotten on there yet. Derek mentioned the grassroots efforts in SW MN which maybe could be generated in your area.

[mark ellis]

Discgolfscene.com claims there are 42 public courses within 50 miles of my home in Brighton, Michigan. Still, there are tournaments worth driving to. Next weekend I'm driving to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for the Big Freeze (formerly the Real Ice Bowl). My gps unit claims it is 7 hours drive one way. The gps may not have proper respect for Chicago traffic.

Ken Long is right. The drive back is the hardest part. Pad Timmons and I drove non-stop (except for gas) from Texas to Michigan and even taking poetic license with the speed limits, it still took 25 hours.

With the right traveling crew a road trip can be very fun. Once I went to the USDGC (Michigan to South Carolina) with Scott Stokely and Joe Giebel. They both appreciated the same juvenile, sex and human excrement jokes and had about 9 hours of them memorized. Maybe more but the trip was only 9 hours so I'll never know. Thank goodness, not even the car radio could drown them out.

Driving to the World Championships in Northern, Northern, Northern, Wisconsin two years ago with Geoff Bennett and Jeremy Swan, Geoff decided to leave his wallet (with all of his $$) in a Burger King along the route. Once he could no longer pay gas money we were forced to boot him out but we generously agreed to cart his luggage to the tournament. Hitchhiking builds character, I'm told. But get this, the person who found it, mailed it to his home, $$ intact.

One of the best road trips was to the Wisconsin Team Tournament at the fabled Sandy Point Resort during the years that tourney was held. Team Michigan had 12 members and we caravaned. We could have taken fewer vehicles but then we could not have packed adequate grain beverages for the thirsty crew. Since we planned on winning the event (and often did, even once that pesky California Team somehow got invited) we did not want the celebration to run dry. The road trip back is much more tolerable when you win.

[Nascar Dave]

I fly to Denver and rent a car, then drive another two or three hours up into the mountains just to play golf. Worse yet, I do it almost every year, some years there were only three of us, last year there were six of us, the most was eight people.
We usually rent a condo or house in a resort area and then just see how many courses we can play in a four to five day span. Usually drop about a grand with everything included, but man is this a great time. We've been doing it since 2000 and I don't think we'll stop anytime soon. Some really cool memories too.
Furthest I've ever driven for a tournament was the Big Arms over the Brazos in Lubbock, about seven hours each way. On the way back, someone had the idea to play UNO, we had one hand between four people that last over three hours, lol.
I've taken trips to San Antonio (5 hrs), Houston (4 hrs) and Wimberley (4 hrs) to play tourneys, but man, Texas is a big state.