Pros:
- Exquisitely maintained. Some of the best I've played. Fairways are mowed and the course was spotless in terms of trash and the like when I was there. Garbage cans and benches on many holes. Even the couple woods hole had lush but mowed grass fairways. It was like a ball golf course.
- It's really a very pretty, scenic area. In a different sort of way then walking through the woods is scenic, but honestly I was kind of struck by it. It's off in rolling meadows and farmland, but it's quiet and secluded and full of wildlife. We saw hawks and sandhill cranes flying overhead during our round.
- Nice use of elevation.
- Nice variation in distances. Some ace runs, some spots to pull out the distance driver.
- Great tee signage
- Two teepads at every hole and three potential basket locations.
- Very intuitive layout. Won't get lost here.
- There aren't many wooded holes, but hole 12 (the first woods hole) is honestly one of the prettiest disc golf holes I think I've ever played. Island hole is also fun.
- Disc Golf only area
- Approachable. Good course for newer players or if you're tired off getting your butt kicked by the tougher area courses.
Cons:
- The main con to this course is it's a little bland. While they try to mix it up somewhat, there's too many instances of throw straight down the grass fairway to the basket in the field. They do compensate a bit by playing with elevation and there are a few (very nice) wooded holes but on the whole not enough variation/obstacles.
- $8/day is too rich imo. Now, it's clear that it's well maintained, so maybe I shouldn't complain about the price, but I would suggest playing multiple rounds or also hitting Token Creek (pass is good for that course as well) to really get your money's worth
- It's pretty easy, which isn't really a con to me (since there are harder courses nearby if you want them) but may be to some.
Other Thoughts:
Capital Springs, being the other Dane County Parks course, is the sister course to Token Creek. In the same way that Elver invites comparisons to Hiestand, CS invites comparison to Token Creek. In that context, while it doesn't have many of the cons that Token Creek does (noise, navigation) it also does not have many of it's pros (length, 27 holes). To be quite honest however, I had lower expectations for this course and it pleasantly exceeded them. Especially after Hole 1 (one of the blandest on the course, a straight throw up a slight hill wide open fairway to an unprotected basket) I wasn't expecting as much, but the holes slowly improved, particularly on the back 9. The woods holes are gorgeous, I wish there were more. But there's still some variation and they worked with what they had. It's also worth noting that there are many young trees/saplings that have been planted on this course. Perhaps in 10-15 years some of those wide open fairways will have some more obstacles and challenge. I would also mention again how well maintained the course was - very nice. You also don't have as many instances of disc eating rough that you do with Token Creek. I also enjoyed the beautiful, quiet setting, and the smaller crowds, despite the close proximity to the isthmus/downtown (also a plus in my book). Unfortunately, one cannot rate this course without comparison to the other "big 4" 18+ holers in the Madison area (Elver/Hiestand/Token Creek) and in comparison this one is probably 4th. However, there were still many things I really enjoyed and really only 2 cons, that being the lack of variety and the price. I really wanted to give this a 4, but I just couldn't with the deciding factor being what you get for $8. Maybe if it was free it would be a 4, but I settled for a 3.5 (more like a 3.75 if I were allowed). Still, a fun little 18 hole course, great clean setting, and I will be back plenty.