I'm so glad that Clinton Lake State Park put a DGC back in! If you were unfamiliar, there were two separate 9 hole courses that were pulled due to multiple stolen baskets. The old listings are here:
http://www.dgcoursereview.com...3&mode=ci
http://www.dgcoursereview.com...0&mode=ci
Both old courses were 'meh'. I tend to be rough in my ratings. I would have rated them 1-1.5. This new course combines most of the best holes of the previous two and makes it work even better. Solid 2.5 to me, could go up to a 3 or even more if ammenities are put in such as benches, garbage cans, and we'll see how well it is maintained long term.
When I played the previous 2 courses, especially the wooded course, they were not maintained. The fairways were ill-defined. A lot of them did not have an actual route to take other than over the top of spruce trees. This new course has clearly defined fairways. They took the old ones, cleaned up the fairways making them manageable width, yet left some challenges with it.
If you go off the fairways, you will be PUNISHED by the spruce trees that hide discs too well.
When I first saw the tee boxes, I thought, 'this is not going to work'. I was surprised on how well they did work. The footing was solid. It did not feel like I was teeing off on quicksand or awefull wood chips. It did give enough of a movement that I would think it would be easier on the knees, etc. They were plenty long and wide that there should be no fear of falling of the elevated tee pads unless you take ridiculous long run ups. I was pleased with how they work.
I will play this course quite a bit during winter and spring before ticks become a potential problem.