(2.824 Rating) A pleasant shorter wooded course.
- FUN FACTOR - A 4,200 foot birdie fest course. Recreational players are going to love the shorter distances and mild technical wooded holes. 950 rated players will likely average 8 to 10 down. Metal is going to get smashed here way more often than normal.
- RAW BEAUTY - Personally, this was my favorite part about the course. It was just such a pleasant walk through a brief meadow and then lots of woods. No diabolical stuff, just a wholesome and gentle landscape that'll make yourself at peace with the world. Overall, I scored the beauty here almost 75 percentile.
- NAVIGATION - No course map posted on site yet for my visit. However, if you can find hole (1), getting around on the rest of the layout shouldn't be too tough. Lots of intuitive transitions and the couple could-be tricky spots had a navigational sign pointing in the direction to go. I think I only looked at my map once.
- BASIC AMENITIES - Chainstar baskets and reasonably sized concrete tees.
- BEGINNER FRIENDLY - I brought my brother-in-law and nephew with me for this round. The lengths may have been a bit too long for the kiddo, but everyone had a good time. It probably helped that I retrieved their shanks in the woods though. But, I just wasn't going to leave one of my discs in Michigan.
- LOCATION - Almira, as of this review, is currently the second closest course to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park, and it's the reason I ended up here. I had never heard of Bear Dunes growing up less than 150 miles away. So it seems Michigan has been keeping its secrets well from Wisconsinites. What an absolutely amazing place.


So-sos:
- HOLE VARIETY - Average. The first two holes are vanilla warm-up holes. After that it was generally simple wooded play with a couple breaks back out into the open. I don't think one wooded hole is much over 250 feet long. I was throwing putters off tees routinely. No par 4s, water plays or big elevation changes. I think more could have been done to make the wooded portion more appealing to a wider range of skill levels.
- AMENITIES AND EXTRAS - Beyond the basics, the amenities and extras are not here yet. No extra tees, alt basket placements or practice basket. I saw only one sitting area by tee one and the restrooms are a bit of a walk in a different section of the park
- LOW REC CHALLENGE - For Intermediate level players like me, and other higher skilled players, the challenges presented here are not earth shattering. Some of the wooded holes are way too short and simple. Seven holes are sub 200 feet long. One felt like a jump putt and was not satisfying at all. Again, I wish more had been done to appease higher skilled players.

- OVERGROWTH - The woods portion of this course is still rather raw with vines and underbrush flanking the beat-in fairway cut. I wouldn't be surprised if there are ticks and poison ivy in there, although I didn't see any. The conditions were nothing horrible like I've seen in the deep south's wooded courses, but it was noticeable among the courses I've played up north. There are also a couple prairie grass holes that had waist tall grasses. Having to search or losing a disc is possible, although it's only a modest risk.
- TEE SIGNAGE - Too simple in my opinion. Just a hole number and distance. The wooded holes could use a description of the line on the sign.

Almira is a really nice course in general. It finds that perfect middle ground of offering respectable rec level challenges that won't scare many beginners away. Perfect for small town leagues and players looking to have a low key fun time. Overall, I think this one fits well among the courses that I've scored between a 2.75 and 3.0. It's one that I would play routinely if I lived within twenty minutes. Not a destination level course, although most players will not be disappointed by the simpler play here when looking to squeeze in an extra round on an excursion to the region. This is still a young course with minimal infrastructure in place. With some minor tweaks, amenity adds, multiple tee adds and some alternate basket locations, I think a low 3.5 in my books is a possibility.

Almira Township Park is a large multi-use complex just west of the village of Lake Ann, MI (approximately 25 minutes away from Traverse City). The park as a whole offers most of the usual amenities you might expect. Other township services like the office and fire station are also located on site.

Almira Township Park DGC is located in an area of the park behind the fire station that appears to be dedicated to disc golf only. The front part of the course plays through a mostly open field on rolling terrain, and the back sections are in a moderately thick forest that slopes gently downward towards the more remote sections of the park. The elevation changes aren't extreme by any means, but enough to make it a little more interesting on several holes.

The course looks well maintained. The tee pads are all concrete, large, and appear brand new. New since my first visit in spring 2021 are nice tee signs with the distance, par, and a map of the hole. All 18 Chainstar baskets are also in perfect condition. These baskets were plenty visible on the sunny spring day that I played, but they may be more difficult to see in the fall on the wooded holes. There were also several Next Tee signs where needed.

There is a good mix of hole designs here. There are several holes that bend to the left early in the course, but it seemed like enough right turning holes later on to balance it out. The wooded fairways are all tight but fair. All of the holes have at least a couple of trees, or some elevation between the tee and basket. Some holes that stood out for me were:
- #2: Open hole throwing over a grassy "valley". The valley slopes down to the left, so if your RHBH drive hyzers too much it will be tough to get back up the hill for par. Listed at 348', it is the longest hole on the course.
- #3: First hole in the wooded part of the park. This one is 251' down a gentle slope and bends slightly left. Hit your line and it's an easy birdie opportunity.
- #18: The last hole asks you to hit the tightest gap on the course - a tunnel shot between trees located maybe 75' or 100' from the tee. Then it's clear the rest of the 243' to a basket on top of a small hill.

#1 and #10 tee pads are each close to the parking lot so it's easy to play only the front 9 or the back 9 - a plus especially for beginner groups and families.

#1 (and only #1) has a long tee that makes it a 520' hole if you want to air it out more. There is also space to use that long tee pad for a driving range, throwing kind of next to the hole.

As mentioned above, this area of the park appears to be disc golf only. A couple fairways are close to each other but overall I think the course is pretty safe.

There are two permanent outhouse buildings on the course.

For better players, there isn't much distance here (only two holes longer than 300') and while there is a little bit of elevation change, it's nothing extreme. If you can throw for distance the main challenges here are just accounting for wind on the open holes, and hitting some hyzer/anhyzer lines through the trees on the wooded holes. A veteran DG'er could easily shoot under par here on his/her first round.

There are some fun holes here but nothing that really stands out as signature material.

There is a "Tee #1" sign pointing towards the long tee for hole #1, but no sign pointing to the shorter tee which I believe is really the official tee. Better signage directing you where to park and find hole 1 would be a nice improvement.

A practice basket and kiosk/course map would also be nice, and there is plenty of room for one.

There were still plenty of small stumps in fairways when I visited, these are a bit of a trip hazard.

Overall this course exceeded my expectations. It is accessible enough for beginners to enjoy, while still having enough challenge and variety to keep intermediate level players interested.

Unless you need to air it out a lot to have a good time, you will probably enjoy your round here. This isn't a destination in itself, but if you are local or visiting the area to play other courses my recommendation is: come check it out!

UPDATE DECEMBER 2021: Played the course again and tweaked some verbage above. Better tee signage has been installed since my first play back in May. I did not change my rating now, but with a couple of finishing touches like the kiosk, practice basket, etc. I might consider a 3.5. There isn't enough distance or "wow" factor here for me to consider a rating higher than that, but this is a nice option for locals or visitors looking for a relatively easy, enjoyable round. Also good for non-DGers and families.