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Deer Lick Park reviews
19
0
A Nice Little Course in Need of Care 2+ years
Reviewed:
Updated:
Played on:Aug 14, 2020
Played the course:once
Pros:
The layout of this course is a lovely, mostly par-3 challenge.
-Woods: Though some holes have unappealing park views, there are some holes out here with beautiful forestry. (3)-(4), (7)-(8), and (14)-(16) are a charming environment to play.
-Terrain: Along with these woods, there are plenty of other park features that make this a great choice for disc golf. Creeks come into play from (12)-(15) and gentle hills lend interest to most of the holes.
-Star Holes: A couple here could make a list of my favorite par-3s. (7) is a very challenging 400' left turn through the thick woods, (13) is straight and shortish but funnels down to a creek, (14) plays with a lake view on the left, trees on the right, and a right-to-left downslope, and (15) works downhill from the field into the woods with a creek-guarded green.
-Shot Shaping/Gameplay: The 14 holes I played here showed very good diversity and reasonable challenge. It's mostly par-3s, but there are varying levels of tree cover, fairway bends, and distance. There are thick woods technical challenges, a couple of pretty open drives, and some holes with a change of biome part way through. Other than (12)-(13), no two holes feel the same. In its heyday, I think Deer Lick would easily be a 3.0 and pushing 3.5.
-Woods: Though some holes have unappealing park views, there are some holes out here with beautiful forestry. (3)-(4), (7)-(8), and (14)-(16) are a charming environment to play.
-Terrain: Along with these woods, there are plenty of other park features that make this a great choice for disc golf. Creeks come into play from (12)-(15) and gentle hills lend interest to most of the holes.
-Star Holes: A couple here could make a list of my favorite par-3s. (7) is a very challenging 400' left turn through the thick woods, (13) is straight and shortish but funnels down to a creek, (14) plays with a lake view on the left, trees on the right, and a right-to-left downslope, and (15) works downhill from the field into the woods with a creek-guarded green.
-Shot Shaping/Gameplay: The 14 holes I played here showed very good diversity and reasonable challenge. It's mostly par-3s, but there are varying levels of tree cover, fairway bends, and distance. There are thick woods technical challenges, a couple of pretty open drives, and some holes with a change of biome part way through. Other than (12)-(13), no two holes feel the same. In its heyday, I think Deer Lick would easily be a 3.0 and pushing 3.5.
Cons:
Badly in need of better care.
-Overgrowth: Dreadful in parts. (6), (9), and (10) are virtually unplayable, being mostly engulfed by weeds taller than me. A lot of the other holes could use underbrush cleared for both gameplay and comfort, and possibly a small tree or two removed on some of the woods holes.
-Altered Layout: At some point, a couple of the holes got moved. (UPDATE: Just figured out it was the "redesign" in 2016. Unfortunately, neither UDisc nor old course maps have been updated anywhere I have seen.) Using UDisc, I couldn't find (1) or the teepad for (2), so I started at (3). (3)-(9) were fine, and then I never found the teepad for (10) despite locating two baskets numbered (10). At this point, I discovered that hole (1) had been moved to make way for a retention pond, with the new tee near basket (10) and the basket closer towards basket (2). After playing this hole (never did find a tee for (2)), I backtracked to the baskets for (10) and located hole (11), which was also several hundred feet off from the UDisc layout. The rest of the course was as previously. Note that the course map here on DGCR begins at hole (12).
-Navigation: Even disregarding the undocumented layout alterations, there are some flow issues. After the first 9, remaining holes are bunched up. (10)-(11) are next to each other, but then it's a long and uncertain walk to find the hole (12), then another go-with-your-best-guess to find (15) far across the street from (14), and another non-obvious straight walk 400' from basket (17) to tee (18).
-Parking: Due to ongoing construction, there isn't parking very near hole (1). Your best bet would be to start at (11) or (12).
-Overgrowth: Dreadful in parts. (6), (9), and (10) are virtually unplayable, being mostly engulfed by weeds taller than me. A lot of the other holes could use underbrush cleared for both gameplay and comfort, and possibly a small tree or two removed on some of the woods holes.
-Altered Layout: At some point, a couple of the holes got moved. (UPDATE: Just figured out it was the "redesign" in 2016. Unfortunately, neither UDisc nor old course maps have been updated anywhere I have seen.) Using UDisc, I couldn't find (1) or the teepad for (2), so I started at (3). (3)-(9) were fine, and then I never found the teepad for (10) despite locating two baskets numbered (10). At this point, I discovered that hole (1) had been moved to make way for a retention pond, with the new tee near basket (10) and the basket closer towards basket (2). After playing this hole (never did find a tee for (2)), I backtracked to the baskets for (10) and located hole (11), which was also several hundred feet off from the UDisc layout. The rest of the course was as previously. Note that the course map here on DGCR begins at hole (12).
-Navigation: Even disregarding the undocumented layout alterations, there are some flow issues. After the first 9, remaining holes are bunched up. (10)-(11) are next to each other, but then it's a long and uncertain walk to find the hole (12), then another go-with-your-best-guess to find (15) far across the street from (14), and another non-obvious straight walk 400' from basket (17) to tee (18).
-Parking: Due to ongoing construction, there isn't parking very near hole (1). Your best bet would be to start at (11) or (12).
Other Thoughts:
I like a lot of Deer Lick's personality, with fun shapes in a relaxing environment. I do not like holes that have been abandoned to nature, missing teepads, and long and unmarked transitions. I've settled on Reasonable for the moment, in light of the fact that there are unplayable holes interspersed throughout the course to make it a pain just to play the good ones. Someone needs to clean up and put in a nice course map, and Deer Lick would be a very fine place to play.
-Amenities: So-so. There are all concrete tees (except on (1)-(2)). Some holes have good tee signs with maps and distances, but other holes have no tee signs. DISCatchers are a plus. There are a few navigational aids on the holes that haven't been affected by layout changes, but no help at all for other confusing transitions.
-Old Listing: If you want to read some solid reviews, check out the old listing for the course. The "redesign" prompting the relisting was pretty small, and you can get a good idea from the many more people who played the course pre-2016 what it's like (other than the current maintenance issues). https://www.dgcoursereview.co...&mode=revis the link.
-Amenities: So-so. There are all concrete tees (except on (1)-(2)). Some holes have good tee signs with maps and distances, but other holes have no tee signs. DISCatchers are a plus. There are a few navigational aids on the holes that haven't been affected by layout changes, but no help at all for other confusing transitions.
-Old Listing: If you want to read some solid reviews, check out the old listing for the course. The "redesign" prompting the relisting was pretty small, and you can get a good idea from the many more people who played the course pre-2016 what it's like (other than the current maintenance issues). https://www.dgcoursereview.co...&mode=revis the link.
5
0
Sobeefus
Experience:
14 years
8 played
1 reviews
not what it used to be 2+ years drive by
Reviewed:
Played on:May 27, 2017
Played the course:2-4 times
Pros:
Some great holes to really let it rip, good mix of in the woods and out.
Cons:
Rather confusing layout no real map available.
Other Thoughts:
I played this course several years ago and remember it being very good. I love the throw at hole 9 out of the woods and across what can only be described as the surface of Mars.That however can't make up for the terrible course markings and utterly confusing layout. The tee for hole two was non existent and had to be skipped (we looked for 15 min before giving up). We also had to walk AGAINST the basket more than twice to find the next tee. This course definitely needs some work before I recommend it to any one. I will say though, while I told my buddies that yeah I hated having to throw over rubble and climb over rocks and other debris I secretly loved it. So yeah the course has that going for it.
