Madras disc golf course has shadowy doppelganger

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Friday morning was one of those pinch-me-I-get-to-do-this-and-call-it-work mornings.

I get a lot of those kinds of days when I get to spend time outside. On Friday, the pinch-me morning included a couple of hours of playing disc golf with my friend Scott Elliott.

We met at the wee hour of 7:45 a.m. for the 45-mile drive to Madras, with two outdoor activities on the itinerary. My car was loaded with plenty of discs for both of us, along with our skateboards. We planned to get in a few runs as Madras Skatepark, one of Central Oregon’s best skateparks, built on H Street in 2005 and spruced up last year with repairs and fresh concrete where appropriate.

After a skate session with friends who’d driven from Terrebonne, Elliott and I set out for Juniper Hills, a course set up, as the park’s name suggests, on a scenic, juniper-laden hillside east of town.

I’d forgotten to look up the address and figured I’d get there by feel, dumb luck or some other magical method. Usually I’d call my wife at work to Google the address for me, but Elliott had his iPhone.

There was a method to my dumbness: I’d played here 5½ years ago, with my now-former colleague Ben Salmon, and figured I’d just remember where it was. Fortunately, Elliott’s more capable phone guided us east down B street to the park.

As we entered, we drove past a playground, approaching what looked from a distance as if it could be a dead-end, only to spy a small sign pointing the way down a gravel road to an actual cul-de-sac of a parking area. You might feel as if maybe you’re driving somewhere you shouldn’t be, but just ignore that feeling.

From there, we could see the first basket at the base of the hill and set out walking in that general direction, locating the first tee a short distance left of the basket.

After that, it was the usual plastic-on-tree violence of our discs battering junipers. That and the search for discs, up to and including knocking them from branches, are hallmarks of most disc golf experiences I’ve had.

But there were also a few throws that glided smoothly and, surprisingly, around the trees, which sometimes seem as if their sole purpose is to knock your disc from the sky.

The well-designed course is fun to play, with just the right mix of obstacles — trees, hillsides and bends between tee and basket. The tees are easy to locate, not always the case when playing on an unfamiliar course.

You already know I had only vague memories of what would be in store for us here. That includes not remembering offhand whether it was a nine-hole or an 18-hole course.

Well, it is and it isn’t.

What I mean is, officially, it’s nine holes. However, there’s a very cool, if slightly more challenging, user-made back nine. The existence of this shadow back nine sort of dawned on us slowly as we played the front nine, noticing, on each of the metal and chain baskets that serve as the holes in disc golf, pieces of tape with handwritten instructions guiding players to the 10th hole and beyond.

Follow the drawn-on arrows and surprisingly accurate instructions such as “70 paces down hill,” and you’ll find your way to the back nine’s rudimentary tee boxes, generally made with logs, pieces of wood and rocks. The holes have even been given names, inked directly onto said logs: For example, one long downhill drive is nicknamed “What a downer.” Existing baskets from the front nine serve double duty on the back nine.

There was no one else out there for most of our game, though toward the end, somewhere in the distance, I thought I heard hear the telltale rattling of chains.

Having the course essentially all to ourselves, we didn’t walk away with a strong sense of how chaotic, perhaps even dangerous, players criss-crossing the back nine while others are playing the front nine could be if several parties were out there simultaneously. Presumably, if you head there on a weekend, you might want to remain alert/wear a helmet. Consider yourself “fore” warned.

Given the number of disc courses around Central Oregon, it might be another few years before I get back there, but with its tranquil setting and views of mountains and buttes, Juniper Hills is tough to beat.

— Reporter: 541-383-0349, djasper@bendbulletin.com