Suicide Flats with a Tour Guide Named Marcos

As we pulled into Hart Park near Bakersfield California, we had to choose between two disc golf courses.

The Hill at Hart Park promised a grueling round in the hot southern California sunshine and the promise of beautiful downhill shots with scenic views. Suicide Flats plays through the valley below with water in play at three holes, mostly open shots and large sycamore trees for shade. We opted for the flats, and what we thought might be a more leisurely round.

At hole 2 we pulled out the Udisc app to help us find the tees. With relatively longer fairways (435 feet on average), and some distance between holes, it wasn’t easy to find the next tee. Luckily for us we ran into a local named Marcos, who offered to guide us through the course.

Where the uDisc app uses a blue dot to help us find the next teebox, we followed Marcos around the course while he gave us suggestions on routes and some history about the course and the community.

The course winds through a large multi-use park and is well maintained with the help of an informal group of locals (the Hart Park Country Club). The players keep up on trash and sweep the tee pads. Marcos would like to organize more formal club events in the future.

When we finished our two hour round, we met with some players who were gathered for a doubles round before the Deaf Sharktooth Showdown tournament. The players had come from all over including Californa, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, and more — coming from around the country to play bi-monthly events as part of the Deaf Disc Golf Association. Robert Trudell was the tournament director. Many thanks to the players for answering all my questions, and thanks to Stumptown disc golf foundation, as we were able to donate a Stumptown driver for the event.

Our next stop is Death Valley National Park.