Oxford, MI

Dogman's Den

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2.425(based on 6 reviews)
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3 0
glassila
Premium Member
Experience: 13.3 years 129 played 13 reviews
2.50 star(s)

Average course, could be a lot better 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 18, 2017 Played the course:once

Pros:

- Very beautiful setting, loads of trees which I love, the fairways are mowed and fairly wide.
- Good "next" arrows showed where the next tee pad for every hole.
- I really liked the way the course flowed, although there were some long walks between holes. Once you get 6 or 7 holes in, you don't really see any other holes that you have played.
- There are some cool and challenging holes on this course which is somewhat RH forehand friendly.

Cons:

- There were too many "S" shots and there was one ridiculous right to left shot (hole 10) which created an "L" hole. Overall these holes felt too gimmicky for my taste.
- The rough should really be cleaned up. There were a lot of branches and trees that had been cleared to make the course lying just off the fairways (drag that stuff far away!)
- The tee signs were average, showing hole distance with a white line/arrow for flight line - the white line did not match the actual hole in a few cases.
- The hanging basket, (# 8 I think) was missing.
- The natural tee pads are getting dug out and rutted on some of the holes.

Other Thoughts:

I enjoyed playing this course. It helped that I joined up with a couple of other people which provided extra eyes for finding discs and allowed more aggressive throws.
It was 100% dry when I played, but I could see this being a mess after heavy rains or in the spring.
I scored Dogman's Den a 2.5, but I could see it becoming a solid 3.5 with two or three killer work sessions.
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4 0
rdblake01
Experience: 5 played 5 reviews
2.00 star(s)

New Course - Needs Work 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Mar 24, 2017 Played the course:once

Pros:

It has a lot of challenge for short throwers. It doesn't require the ability to throw 350 to hit a few birdies. There are both forehand and backhand holes to get through the course. Being new, it was very empty and easy to play quickly. This course stands alone, so you don't have to worry about being close to a picnic or other use area.

Cons:

It is WET. I realize it is spring, but this course is basically in and around a swamp. It is also fairly woody, and i banged a lot off the trees.

Other Thoughts:

Wear boots, it is muddy and very mucky in areas. The woodchip pads are slippery when wet. It is in a swamp, so come summer, wear lots of mosquito repellent, maybe even 100% deet. I can see this might get better in the summer and be drier, but it is going to take a few years to get to the 3 or 4 star level.
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2 0
MisterJ
Experience: 8.2 years 36 played 22 reviews
3.00 star(s)

Decent New Course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Nov 27, 2016 Played the course:once

Pros:

Aesthetic - There is a little creek running thru many of the back 9, the thick woods are nice, the cairns are well placed and add a nice backdrop at hole 3, I like the look.

TeePads/Baskets - First time on woodchips for me, and I didn't mind. I am a BIG FAN of the hanging basket hole, I couldn't hit that thing the way I landed, but it was so fun Putting from all around.

Signage - It's all right, above average. Reasonably eye-catching, includes distance, hole #, hole layout.

Variety - This could go be a con as well. FH and BH shots required. Easy water in play, very technical shots with very tight windows and tight runs, so tight that you need to make right angles. Short and one moderately long 430' run. However, no elevation, no real water risks.

Congestion - I was here in November, there were a few sets of people, but easily skipped over the slow group, and never saw the others.

Fun - I would say I had more fun at the start, the variety more so and longer runs in the first 2 to 4 holes. But the next 10 were so technical and I just wanted to throw, I felt bottled up, confined. It was fun, but not as fun as others in the area, and this park is out here a ways, even for people in the Northern suburbs.

Locatability - Easy to find the park and 1st hole. We did get tripped up finding the next hole a couple of times because we didn't expect to have to walk across the fairways and backtrack and sometimes there wasn't a "Next" arrow sign. Like after hole #1 we found #17 in the path clearing to the right, but don't go that way, follow the road. It is pretty easy, most of the time you'll see the next Tee Sign or there will be a "Next" arrow sign.

Cons:

Challenge - I struggled with pro or con for challenge. There is challenge. No elevation changes. As of yet, there are good lines to throw as though they were designed in like other courses like Holly Woods or Seymour Lake so if you get a good drive, not a lucky drive you're getting a birdie. The challenge like others says, S curve runs, or throw a wall of trees in front of the basket so you must have your disc come back.

Maintained/Bugs - I went in late November, no bugs, and I can't say they would have to maintain leaves, but.. This place was overly moist and muddy. It's a park, I get it. But we go out a lot. Drainage probably wasn't considered, but it's not the end of the world. We didn't lose a shoe, its mostly the walk between holes.

Other Thoughts:

What's holding it back from higher rating - Hole Design. Looking for a good line that doesn't run into a wall of tree's so you can drive and sit next to the basket within 15 to 30 feet and not be obstructed for a birdie shot if you had a nice drive.

Kid Friendly - My son liked it, and there were other kids here. They liked that each hole was short and very wooded so their drive was closer to their dads.

Older/Less Active Player Friendly - not sure on this, there is a long walk between some holes, and the muddy nature may cause some problems.

Rookie & Average Player Friendly - The short drives might make for some fun, and give them a chance to work on the technical shots as long as they don't get frustrated with all these trees and difficult S and L shots.

Pro Player Friendly - I think a pro may like aspects of this course but may get frustrated at some of the tree placements or lack of tree removals. And also the length of the overall course (i.e. length of holes in all).
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4 1
franman27
Experience: 14 years 174 played 10 reviews
3.00 star(s)

I liked it 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Sep 27, 2016 Played the course:once

Pros:

Fairways and landing areas are cut back enough that it's not an exercise in bushwhacking. it's not an open course but I wouldn't call it tight.
I like the way the really short holes are set up so it isn't an easy throw.
The cairns on #3 are a neat touch
Well marked, hard to lose your way.
Low branches trimmed back on trees in fairways to make it a little more open.

Cons:

By far the biggest is the fact that you have to walk into/across fairways to get to the next tee, it was not crowded the day I played so no problems but it has the potential to be a big problem.
A bit of mud when we played and there hadn't been much rain.
No course map on DGCR
lots of little trippy stumps.
Woodchip tees weren't to my liking, uneven.

Other Thoughts:

The S shaped fairways are different, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. People complain about easy holes and hard holes, hey, play the courses you like and play the holes the best you can, I don't like 800 foot holes but that's just because I don't throw long, doesn't make the course bad.
I found it to be an interesting course and I've played a lot of them, I'll be back.
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8 1
TimSyl
Experience: 17.7 years 172 played 35 reviews
1.50 star(s)

Disappointed 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Sep 11, 2016 Played the course:once

Pros:

A couple decent holes (2, 18). Some okay ace run holes.

Cons:

Really poor design. Many double dogleg 270-280' holes. Realize I'm not McBeth, but not too many people can make a disc "S" through some of these holes. The land they had to work with COULD and SHOULD make for a good course, designer failed. The hole with the hanging basket (8), is poorly designed. The 158' hole, don't recall the #, is embarrassingly bad.

Other Thoughts:

Was really looking forward to having another course to play near Lake Orion when visiting the stepkids, but I'm not sure I'll go back to this one.
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8 0
kw83028
Experience: 14.3 years 79 played 25 reviews
2.50 star(s)

New Course. Rushed Design 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Sep 4, 2016 Played the course:once

Pros:

-New course in the area to play
-Nice property
-Brand new Discraft Chainstar baskets
-Teesign info is minimal, but the distances seem to be good
-Couple benches and trash cans spread out.
-The amount of rough that was cut out is actually impressive.

Cons:

*This is a brand new course, so some of these cons could change as the course beats in*
-Teepads: dangerous, uneven woodchips
-Teesigns: hole layout lines are pretty goofy and a lot of the time are not indicative of how the hole actually is.
-No porta-potty
-Navigation: quite a few spots to get lost. Keep an eye out for tree colored arrows hanging on trees.
-Overall flow with the amount of land that they had wasn't that good.
-No 9 hole loop
-Mostly a pitch and putt course, only 4 holes over 300ft.
-The (backwards) walk from 2-3 is long and dangerous, as you are walking directly back into and down the #2 driving zone
-The walks from 11-12, 13-14, and 15-16 are all walks where you have to walk backwards into the fairway that you just got done throwing on.
-The path from 15-16 steps you blindly out of the woods DIRECTLY into the driving lane of 16. I almost took a drive to the side of the head. It was that close.
-I did not like the hanging basket on hole 8. If you're going to have a gimmick such as a hanging basket, it should be placed on a hole that is prominent and accessible. Hole 8 is a tiny blind spike hole where the beauty of a hanging basket is completely lost.

Other Thoughts:

I know the locals will hate me for this review, but I try to keep it real. A 2.5 rating says "Decent/Typical" and there is nothing about this course that would make me think it is higher. I think you either love this course or you hate it. Most of the people that I've talked to that like it, just like it because it's another option, they don't care about design and such.

Yes, I know the course is new and will get beat in, but that can't fix a ton of design flaws. I have heard that they only had 4 months to design and build, not sure if that's true. The news articles all summer kept saying "Championship Level" and "Top-Notch". It is far from that, especially with only 4 holes over 300ft.

In my opinion, I should never have to walk backwards across other fairways just to get to the next hole. This course has 4 of those. Unfortunately, for me, when there's that much danger, it is a HUGE negative.

There are definitely a few holes that are well designed and will be very fun when the course beats in. There will definitely be a ton of aces at this course since anybody can throw a putter or mid off of 3/4 of the holes.

There are a lot of long walks between holes which makes a 4900 foot course take a long time to play.

It will be interesting to see how it holds up in the wet season. There are definitely quite a few low areas that had mud.

Overall, I was very disappointed with this course. It was hyped up quite big in the community and didn't deliver for me. I know a lot of people will like it since it's so short and on the easy side, but with Seymour and Addison so close, I don't see myself coming back very often.
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