Interesting course that plays a little differently than most due to the extreme hills and elevation changes.
Best signs in the business. They show elevation change plus distances for the entire hole. You can identify your landing zone on par 4s and see how far it is from the basket.
Open and natural fairways.
Seems to use available land to its best.

Just a bit blah.
The excitement here is what happens when the disc hits the ground because without perfect landing angle the disc will go "bye bye"
Very popular park. I haven't run into too many people hanging out on the fairways but it does happen.

Have you ever had a new housing development in your area that, when you drive by it, looks a little out of place and that it doesn't naturally fit there? That's kinda the vibes I got here and I had never been here before.

Can't think of any signature holes.

I really like it. If you made the entire course flat, it would be the most boring course on Earth, but the sloped greens and elevation change really make it stand out.

Nice variety of holes and shots.
Excellent use of elevation and terrain.
Great scenery.

Paths between holes get very slick and dangerous when wet.
Lots of people using the park unaware of being in the middle of a disc golf course.

Devou Park is a great addition to the Cincinnati DG scene. The course is well designed and features a nice mix of intermediate level holes and difficulty levels. Other reviews have described the course extremely well, so I'll just elaborate on a few holes.

#4 has a fairly well used path crossing the fairway in the landing area for your drive. Groups should have a scout watching for pedestrians and individuals should check the path before throwing.

#12 is a tunnel shot that can brutally punish a kick to the left. It's pretty common for discs to roll down a very steep hill (even for Kentucky) and across the ajoining road with no good path down or up.

Near hole #9 (about 200 yards up the road) is a gorgeous overlook with views of the Ohio River and Cincinnati. It's worth speding a few minutes there as a half-way break or before or after your round.

I only began playing disc golf a decade ago, and felt blessed that the Greater Cincinnati area had the 'Big Three', plus a whole assortment of courses from beginner level difficulty, to great recreational level courses, to a half dozen courses suitable for monthly tournaments. With the new addition of Devou park, we now have an embarrassment of riches. It is definitely one of the top five courses in Kentucky in terms of variety, fun, challenge and, well, el-e-VA-tion!

You will get a workout on this course, with hole 12 possibly being the only truly flat fairway, and even then, this one is risk-reward: run it off center, and kick WAY down through the trees and rough left, or play it 'smart'? 1, 8, & 15 are the only ones I can think of that guarantee a 'gently sloping' shot (with a few others being so ...IF you keep it completely on the intended fairway, and don't catch an edge and roll away). The vast majority will have you controlling your ranged downslope shots, powering up the hills, or crossing a couple of gorgeous valley shots (I really enjoy 7 & 14 for these designs).

The challenge level is really good for that 'sweet spot' of skill level between Rec and Intermediate (where I've found myself for my 'career'). The top players in town can create quite a few great deuce opportunities, and shoot well under course par, but if you're in decent shape, even lower-level players can really enjoy this challenge.

Tee pads are well scaled for the distances involved. Bright blue Prodigy webbed baskets* catch well. And the signage may be the best in the region: the great hole layout maps (remember to glance at the 'next tee' direction) include topography lines for elevation, hole distances appear to be very accurately measured, and the signs let you know exactly how much the fairway rises or falls overall (so you can apply the 3-in-1 rule to hole 18, where the 547 feet plays exactly like a 703 foot hole should, owing to the 52 feet of cumulative rise ahead of you!)

If you're coming to the area just for the disc golf, you now might want to plan the better part of a week, just to get in the 'must play' courses (Idlewild, Lincoln Ridge, Mt. Airy, Johnson Hills, Osage Grove, Stonelick Lake, and further north, Caesars Ford and Echo Valley), with Devou, you'll be guaranteed an exhausting and memorable time, especially of you want to bag another dozen or so of the area's courses that rate out as 'worthwhile' or better.

I rate courses on safety, fun, and then challenge, and can only think of one spot I had safety concerns: hole 4 throws to, and over a paved path, with a hillside and pine blocking your right side view off the tee. They do have a pedestrian caution sign, but those are generally useless... The course has already had a lot of foot traffic, compacting the soil, which can become muddy and very slick on the steep slopes. There is talk of building some stairs in the half dozen places they're well-advised (or NEEDED), but you might want to try a more level course in the area during the rainy season.

They do have a few awkward transitions to be aware of: after 2, turn right and go a couple hundred feet to get to 3. After 6, go back uphill left, then after seven go WAY uphill left to the path and the 'island' hole 8. You walk across the park drive to your right to play 9 & 10 in a loop, then come back to 11. After 12, it's best to carefully cross 7's green to the bottom of the hill. After 15, it's another steep slope down and across the drive, then up to 16. After 16, it's steeply down to 17's tee, and then, around left, and up a rise needing stairs to get up to 18's tee.

Except for a space for 5 or so vehicles beside the road, parking is either below the stone shelter near hole 2's tee pad, or possibly at the other end of the park near hole 9, so this might be a course with some serious hiking for staggered start tournament play.

This may be a pro or a con to others, but I think it's a little bit of a waste to have TWO practice baskets so close together on the walk to 1. I'd suggest relocating one of them over near 9, so players can opt to start there just as readily.

*After a fifteen-year span of community players wondering when Devou would get a permanent course, and a solid year of effort by the small crew that actually got it done, the baskets were finally installed this fall, and the course had a grand opening, only to have 2/3rds of the baskets vandalized and stolen. The park and the community got things replaced and WELDED in promptly, but it left a sore feeling for a course that doesn't deserve that kind of abuse.

The second week of January, 2023, the vandals bent and damaged 15 of the welded baskets. Please come out and flood this course with players, whether there is a target or not. Get inside C1 and count a putt good, even if there's no basket. Might show them we mean business more than they do!

Last day of March, 2023, in the rain, at night, the vandals used bolt cutters to meticulously cut away all the chains, then bashed the cages again. They've now put in more effort than most players put in course work. Come play Devou. Never stop playing here. The vandals will some day grow old and die, still watching the hundred rounds a day go on and on. Let's do this!

Tons of variety, advanced level planning and construction. Open and wooded holes, hills on the majority. Adequate size, level teepads

Opportunity to think and experiment. Not all holes play the way they first appear and many have different options. In "other thoughts" I provide a hole-by-hole that when combined with the photos of the course, will help one imagine the layout.

There is a bit of a walk to get to the next tee pad some times, but you'll be pleasantly surprised when you see where you get to throw from and what you throw at.

Didn't see a real parking lot near hole 1. A couple roads you can park alongside, but if that's all full, there's a big lot up at the top of the hill by hole 9.

Watch out for evergreen ground creeping vines. They're everywhere, impossible to eliminate and may try to trip you up while you're shuffling through the rough.

Fallen tree debris in a couple areas makes searching for errant discs tough.

Paths are steep in spots and can be muddy, so shoes with deep blocky tread will help prevent slips.

1. Make it out of the nest of pine trees and it's smooth sailing in the open for about 300 to a basket that's slightly to the right and slightly uphill.

2. Uphill tunnel almost 400 with a landing zone half way up the hill. Second shot can continue straight, but needs a hard right finish. Other option is there is a well defined hyzer route- clearing and grass to throw over, but at the top of the hill, there are trees and telphone poles to contend with.
Take a right on the blacktop walking path for hole three

3. A shorter downhill right turning hole. Some branches you gotta stay beneath, a green that slopes down to the left and wind that may blow to the left make forehand with an OS disc a good choice.

4. Longish and a little uphill, a fairway of pines and mowed grass. Try to throw over top of the red sign with a slight right turn. For the approach, pick the set of spruces you wanna split.

5. A short downhill with a bit of a low ceiling and a gap on the left for FH and a gap on the right for hyzer

6. Another short downhill with some rough to the left and right of the basket. Sloped green might skip a forehand way down the hill, so a backhand putter anny seems like the play to me.
Go back up the hill a little and take the path to the left for hole seven.

7. Picturesque downhill straight tunnel through some woods with a bit of a low ceiling and a touch of uphill at end before basket. I found I wanted a little more OS of a disc than I guessed at first. To get to next hole, walk back toward the teepad a little and I think to the right. Go uphill then take a right on the blacktop walking path. 8 will be on your left from there.

8. Bout 250 and slightly uphill. No obstacles, just an island. More island behind the basket than in front, so better to throw a little long. Fail to get it in the fence, and drop zone is a opening at back side of fence. Go to the right and uphill across road to find nine.

9. 300 over grass to a green that is wooded on the left and right and slopes downhill to the right. A low straight throw with a left finish will get you in there.

10. 225 slight uphill and a bit to the right with one tree that hangs out over fairway and limits ceiling while the treeline disallows hyzers . You need turnover, but breeze may be blowing right to left making it tough. Fun hole to throw every disc in the bag.

11. 300 slightly downhill with treeline on left and three trees in grass to the right. Aim a low straight hyzer at the last oak and it may fade in by the basket.

12. 250 Narrow flat ground tunnel shot thru woods that demand straight. Some room at the beginning to get a hyzer flip going but it narrows down to about 8 feet.

13. 325 but plays longer uphill through woods
Just aim at the triangular gap. Second throw, try not to land short and right of the basket. Fallen branches, vines, downslope to a winding creek make it a tough place to look for discs!

14. 275 Straight shot over a mowed grass valley thru a perpendicular row of trees on the far hill Stay beneath and between them with hyzer finish for a no sweat putt hopefully

15. 450 Longish slightly downhill hyzer with tree line to left. Fine to keep it a little wide. Straight with fade will make for a hyzer upshot through a gap into the woods for birdie bid.

16. Easiest one. Short, straight, slightly downhill. Control shot with a putter avoids the woods that are left, right, and long of the basket.

17. 250 over grass with hill/cliff that limits usage of right side of fairway (you're below the cliff, you won't fall off.) Three trees in middle of the fairway you can throw between or over as they're small still. Will get more challenging as the trees mature.

18. The bigger angrier cousin of hole 2. 500+ uphill. Blast the initial tunnel with a big drive that has straight with left fade action. Aim straight at the white birch trees with intent to fade left of them. If your drive was good, second shot is steep uphill and open until stand of trees framing the basket.

I'd love to own a house in the neighborhood that borders the course

Any course which provides a venue to allow people to be together and get exercise like this one does is wonderful.
There were some fun holes. Several that i remember
are #2 - steep all up hill par 4 (requires 2 good uphill shots thru tight tunnel to get par).

one hole was an island hole - those are always fun about 225 ft slightly uphill.

The 500+ ft par 4 was a good challenge
as were 2 holes that required precise tunnel shots:

1 downhill (#7 iirc) long tunnel shot
leading to pin on sloped uphill

and
a hole on back 9 which was tightest tunnel on course.

Another one on back 9 S curved thru some trees
up hill slightly and down to right and then left turn up the hill to guarded green. Good hole. great design.

#18 was also a good challenge up hill longer hole.

not sure i remember any course having this many elevation challenges. So that part made for some touchy downhill lines and longer uphill shots.

Certainly not a beginner course. Very hilly. Could tell for most part where next hole was based on the path being beat in.

Wonderful to have such varied holes within a single course which allows players of all skills to enjoy some holes on a course.

Tee signs were great showing distances and elevation differences. Also distance in increments along a particular hole as well. Nice job on that aspect.

Definitely would play it again.

Several of the holes (#1 #17) seemed to be just straight 250-325 ft type of shots which did not offer much of a challenge but that may depend on skill level.

i saw at least 6 different grps of players looking for discs. Possibly due to vast skill level of players but need to be aware of how the many of the holes slope away near pin or have fairways sloping away.

slight con (given the # of baskets 12 i think that were stolen). Some baskets could use a next tee pointing type of sign. (just a point for future improvement)

Many many kudos to the people who got the 'new' baskets installed to replace the ones that were stolen. Your work is greatly appreciated indeed. You all provided a tremendous amount of fun and joy to many people this weekend as well of to the thousands who will play this course in the future.

i would not play some holes on this course agressively without a spotter in my grp. There are too many greens that drop off on back side.
e.g. one drive on #6 which i thought i saw land in fairway evidently rolled about 80 to 100 ft down the slope into brush.

another hole on back 9 my fhand drive sailed at least 50 ft past pin down into brush and thank goodness a fellow in our grp helped spot on that one as pin is blind off tee.

iirc after #6 players needs to remember to go way up to the left side of #6 fairway to get to #7 tee after coming down the sloping hill to right to get to #6 pin
many grps missed this.

Possibly putting next tee directional indicators on each sign on tee box might help some.

All in all though job well done to course designers.

It's a shame that this review comes on the heels of fourteen of Devou's baskets being stolen, but I think that right now it's important to try to make what we can out of this situation. Even though the course isn't playable at the moment, I'm going to publish this review anyway because showing everyone how much we love this place is the best thing we can do. So, with that said, let's talk about Devou Park.

Excuse the horrible pun it the title. I realize I haven't written a review in over a year now, but, wow, what a course for me to come back to and talk about. The Greater Cincy area offers some of the best disc golf in the country, and Devou is only another reason for locals to brag about that fact to anyone they meet. Located just across the river, Devou offers everything that Cincy was in need of. The course still has that Cincy vibe while at the same time standing on its own two feet. I've heard it compared to multiple different courses in the area now: "It's like X but there's more Y," or "It's a cross between A and Z." I think the fact that no one can agree on what it's most similar to shows just how unique it truly is.

The variety offered at Devou is fantastic, with no two holes ever feeling repetitive. There are holes that are shorter, holes that are longer, others that are uphill, downhill, narrow, open... you name it. While all of this is great, the aspect of the course I am personally most excited about is the elevation. While Cincy has very few courses that are "flat," Devou dials the hilliness up to eleven, at least compared to the rest of the area. Rollaways are going to be pretty common, as a decent number of the greens are, to put it mildly, slanted. If you play in the area often, you'll find yourself questioning whether to run a putt or not much more frequently than you're used to. I'd also like to apologize to the poor people I saw trying to use their pull carts the other day. It looked miserable. Make no mistake, this is a hike, so bring lots of water.

Devou does a near perfect job balancing challenge with fun, and I found that whether a hole was difficult or not had little bearing on how much I enjoyed it. This is due in large part to the fact that pretty much every single hole is an absolute blast, while at the same time offering something very different than the one before it. The holes are all unique in their own right, and each has its own individual place within the fantastic cohesion of Devou. There are a few gimmies, but the majority of holes feel good to birdie. Even the shorter ones usually have some aspect to them to make them a bit less stale. This could be an island green, a drop-off behind the basket, or a tight gap to hit. While trickier, all of the difficult holes are still gettable, which make them that much more tantalizing. The only downside to this (but, honestly, an upside too) is that you're never going to be fully satisfied with a round out there. There are always going to be the ones that you should've gotten, if only you hadn't missed that putt or hit that tree. And, shocker, that's going to keep you coming back.

Aside from a few issues that I'll touch on later, the course feels pretty dang polished considering it opened less than a week ago. There are certainly still remnants from course work that signify its infancy, but many of the awkward hanging vines and limbs present at a lot of new courses are nowhere to be found. The tee signs are some of the best I've ever seen, which feature the distance, elevation change, and a line that shows how far you need to throw to hit optimal landing zones. To see what I mean by that, check the UDisc photos featuring some of the tee signs. I'm sure DCGR will have some soon too. The tee pads are adequate length and have pretty, white rocks around them. Quick tip, the rocks are perfect for your hands. Pick some of them up and rub them around for grippy chalk that rivals most dry bags I've tried.

Hole 13. Yeah, yeah, I know, par doesn't matter. But it's the definition of a tweener hole and, for me, that's something I just really don't like. It's uphill, but it's tough for me to call a 312-foot hole a par 4. It's certainly twoable if you have a good drive, although you'd have to make a sixty-footer or so. For some people, having a tweener isn't a problem. However, every other hole feels justified in its par, and 13 really just doesn't.

Devou is great, but it isn't by any stretch a championship layout. There are only four par 4s, with the longest clocking in at 508. This course offers a lot, but distance isn't really one of those things. While it doesn't at all feel like it needs the distance to be great, just be aware that this course will hardly ever let you rip on something. There's also not really a signature hole. Like I said above, pretty much every hole is fun, but nothing immediately jumps out to me as having that "it" factor like a lot of the signature holes at courses around here do. Again, maybe that's a good thing, but I feel that it's worth mentioning.

Some of the navigation right now is a little rough. When going from 12 to 13, there is a path behind and to the left of the basket you're supposed to take to avoid getting hit by disc golfers on hole 7. However, it's so steep and awkward that it's honestly safer to walk across 7's green. Just make sure that you keep your head up and check that you're not walking while someone is throwing. Additionally, some of the paths haven't had the chance to grow proper grass yet. Since the course is so hilly, these can be a bit slippery and dangerous, as can the gravel by the teepads. It was pretty dry the other day when I played, and I have to imagine it's only worse when wet. Notably, watch your step on the paths from 7 to 8, 11 to 12, and 17 to 18, as well as the teepad gravel on 4 and 18. Also, just off of 18's teepad there is a ground hornet nest, but it is marked with pink flags. Look out for it, walk around, and you'll be fine.

Coming out swinging, Devou is another fantastic addition to an already stacked Cincy lineup. While the baskets being stolen is certainly unfortunate, the amount of people playing earlier this week is testament to the fun and enjoyment that Devou will provide again once this is remedied. I'm sorry if you weren't able to get out and play before this happened, but I can assure you that it will be worth the wait. One thing that I appreciate about this community is how much everyone just freaking loves what we all do, and that means that a setback like this brings us together so much more than it separates us. Enjoy the rest of autumn's nice weather, and thank you once again to everyone who helped make this course a reality!