Flat Rock Disc Golf Course in Lancaster, Ohio is a scenic and well-maintained 18-hole course. From Route 33 East get on the business loop and make a left at the first light, Coothpath Road. Drive for 2.2 miles and make a right on Rainbow Drive. Stay on Rainbow Drive for 3.2 miles and turn right onto Stringtown Road. The entrance to the park will be on your right, exactly 1.5 miles ahead. The park name, on the sign, is Keller Kilns Nature Park.
The parking lot has ample parking for the course and from the lot you can see the port-o-jon. The first tee is located past the port-o-john, near the benches.
Near the first tee pad you will see a log bench and table to sit your bag on. These features will be found throughout the course, the benches are at all of the short tees. The tee pads are rubber. I have played rubber tee pads before and the other didn't really seem as slick as these are. The first time I played here it had recently rained so I chalked it up to the tee pads being wet. I have since been out to play and even though the course and tee pads were dry, they were still a little more slippery than I would like. A lot of times I found myself throwing from beside the tee pad, but I'm not sure if they are really slick or if I am just not use to them and have problems with them myself. Just be sure to a feel for them before you try to rip drives off them and you should be okay.
Hole 1 at this course is pretty unique and a nice way to start the course. The basket is on an extreme hyzer (LHBH), making it quite challenging for a RHBH player and even a RHFH shot is hard to cut around this corner. The fairway is bordered by tall grass on one side, the far side, and heavy woods on the inside. While right handed players should be able to par with no problems getting there in two would be difficult without a fairly long putt so just try to play it safe and not take anything more than that. Left handers, backhand, could get it fairly close to the basket, with birdie being reachable for exerienced players.
Hole 2, short and technical, starts near the edge of the woods, and plays down a hill and into the woods. The fairway is fairly tight, but with the right shot a birdie can easily be picked up here. Holes 3 through 5 are all on the short side, and moderately to heavily wooded. While these holes are shorter, that doesn't neccessarily translate to easy. The trees are fairly thick and elevation comes into play as well. A bad bounce off of a tree or roll down a hill can put you into the woods and rough leaving you with a lot of work left to do.
After hole 5, head towards the treeline and out of the woods. The tee pad for 6 will be just outside of the trees. Hole 6 has an open fairway that is bordered by moderate woods on each side. If you keep it in the fairway, there will be no problems, but the rough on each side can be thick and does a good job of hiding discs. Keep an eye on your throws and you should be fine.
Holes 7 through 11 all play out in the open. While a couple of the open holes on this course are similar, most of them, especially holes 9 and 11 have some great character to them and are also the longest two holes on the course. Hole 9, 358 feet, plays down a very large rolling hill. Its a blind shot so be sure to make sure its clear and let them rip, its a fun hole. Hole 11, the longest hole at 385 feet, plays across rolling hills with a huge grassy fairway.
Holes 12 and 13 start to bring the trees back into play. Hole 12 is more open with trees forcing the anhyzer/straight shot (RHBH). Some elevation comes into play here, and an errant shot can end up in the woods or in the tall grass.
Holes 14 and 15 are both heavily wooded. They are both great holes but the fairway for 14 creates more of a "poke and hope" type hole, where luck may have more to do with a good shot than skill. Just clearing out a tree or two could go a long way on this hole.
After hole 15 you continue past the basket to the treeline and out of the woods. This is the only place we had any issues navigating the course. To get to the tee pad for hole 16 head right once you get out of the woods and follow the treeline around until you see the tee. This hole is pretty self eplanatory, straight and short, as well as the flatest hole on the course. You do want to watch for the slope that is just past the basket, overshoot it and it could take off on you.
To get to hole 17 look for the path through the woods, shouldn't be hard to spot and follow it to the other side of the trees. The tee pad will be up the hill facing away from you. Hole 17 is somewhat of a ravine shot where you are throwing from the top of one hill to the top of the other. The fairway is bordered, on both side, by trees but it is pretty wide so there shouldn't be too many problems here.
Last but not least hole 18 is a blind shot over a decent sized rolling hill. From the tee pad the fairway goes uphill, flattens for a very short distance, then drops back down to the basket. Get the nose up on this one, or put to much behind it and your disc could really said on you. Just keep an eye out and maybe even have a spotter near the top of the hill.
Overall I really enjoy Flat Rocks and plan on playing it whenever I can get out to Lancaster. Its a fun, very well-maintained course and you can gell the folks that take care of it really put a lot of work into it. All of the little things/nice touches they have added really make this a great disc golf experience. The first is the log benches. Rustic and very visually appealing they are perfect for disc golf courses. Another thing to look out for is the downed tree/log just in front of the tee pad of hole 3. If you look at the ends of the log they have disc golf baskets carved into them. I thought this was a really cool idea, and things like this really add to the appeal of a course. Another added tough is the platforms on holes 4 and 8, if you climb up to the top you can see the baskets, otherwise these are blind shots.
All of these things, plus the fact that the course is pretty fun to begin with are what keep the rating of this course up. Its not the most difficult and it doesn't have the longest holes in the world, but it does have a great crew taking care of it, a nice variety, and like I said, its just downright fun to play. I would recommend this course to anyone thinking about making the trip out to play it, its definitely worth the drive or stop if you are in the area.