After several days of being on the road, we decided to spend a day in Sioux Falls.  After a relaxing morning, we headed for Tuthill Park to play a round of disc golf.

We pulled into the parking lot and could see baskets, so we knew we were in the right place.  We didn’t realize that there are two parking lots, the one we were in and another at the top of the hill.  We saw what appeared to be a practice basket, which is usually a good sign that we are at the start of the course.  That was not true in this case.  We wandered around for a minute, looking for the first tee before asking someone where it was.

The size of the concrete tee pads shocked us.  They were so big it was difficult to figure out where to stand on them.  They would be perfect for our disc golf buddy, Louis, as he is very tall and usually has to start his windup before stepping onto the pad.

The first two holes play across the field.  The third hole is across the field, with trees on the right, and ending in a grove of trees.  My second shot landed at the edge of the treeline.  I was ecstatic when I landed a distant and difficult shot for par.  I have been attempting that shot for some time now and usually don’t make it.  Chris always points out what a specialized shot it is, so he was excited that I made it as well.

The fourth hole is an uphill drive with a horseshoe bend to the right.  It is a blind shot from the tee.  There is a brush line at the edge of the clearing past the basket, with a steep downhill drop just behind the bushes.  It took a while to find Chris’s disc.  I was worried that he had overthrown it and rolled down the hill, but it turned up just inside the brush line.

We were surprised at the fifth hole when there was suddenly a bicycle right next to us.  We didn’t realize a bike path runs through the course, very near some of the baskets.

The sixth hole was a lot of fun.  It throws down a steep hill with the basket off to the right at the bottom, 642 feet to the basket.  From the signage, it appears this hill is also used for downhill sliding.

In addition to the facilities at the beginning of the course, there is another bathroom in front of the eighth hole.

Holes nine through fourteen play across and around a large field.  They are all out in the open, so a nice chance for more powerful throwers to show off their distance abilities.  The tenth, eleventh, and fourteenth holes play next to the river, but you would have to throw an egregiously errant shot for the water to come into play.

The fifteenth hole plays parallel to the road, which you cross to get to the sixteenth.  Sixteen is an uphill shot to the edge of the woods, and then you follow a path right behind the basket to get to seventeen, which is an uphill throw to a basket hidden behind a tree.

Finally, cross the road at the crosswalk and go down the stairs into the woods to find the last tee.  This one is a smaller pad and throws across a lot of brush with undulation into a clearing at the top.

Normally, we park near the first basket to end up by the car when we are finished.  Once we found the first basket, we didn’t feel like moving the car, which worked out as we could refill my water bottle mid-game.  After we played the last hole, I walked back down the big hill while Chris rethrew the hole.