Has a mixture of flat lands, hills, and trees. The holes change up a lot making you utilize your different skills. A couple tee offs overlooking the city of Madison resulting in a great view.

Sometimes there's an abundance of people. It's in the city of Madison so on some days there will be other disc golfers or soccer players in the area. Best to go in the early morning to better avoid the crowds.

Probably the second best course in the Madison area but still a good course.

Only course in Madison that is open during most of the winter months. When it snows, the short tee pads are shoveled by the players. There is a random draw doubles Saturday league during the winter months.
There are a wide variety of shots that make this course great. Some long pins are more for RHBH throwers while the short pins are more for LHBH throwers. This does create variety and a whole different shot when the pins are changed. Examples are holes 1, 2, 4, 7, 16.
The long tees are very challenging. On a few holes, the long tees create a whole different shot. Examples are holes 7 and 9.

Not much wrong here. My biggest issue would be that it is too overcrowded. Madison needs more disc golf courses to help alleviate traffic from Hiestand. Pay to play should also help with overcrowding.

Overall, Hiestand is a great course that will be fun for all levels of play. Madison is a great place to be if you are a disc golfer. There are four outstanding courses in the area and more will be on the way soon. The Madison courses are going to be pay-to-play in 2013, but that will only help make the courses better. MADC has done a great job with course maintenance and course upkeep. Thanks for all your hard work!

The course offers a variety of holes and shots. There are many technical holes in the woods, some open holes, many birdie opportunities. The holes in the woods definitely require some technical and accurate shots, but are certainly fair. The lanes in the woods are quite wide with scattered trees in the middle of the fairways on many holes. This gives you the opportunity to chose between several different lane options and make the course quite unique. Trees definitely play a bigger role from the long tees. There are also a bunch of holes with nice elevation change, including 3, 15, 17, and 18, which offers a nice change of pace. Several holes, including 8, 10, and 17 have role away pin locations as well. Hole 3 is about 500 ft. downhill and is definitely the signature hole on the course. Personally, my favorite hole is 15. It's an awesome downhill hole with a wide open fair with woods on both sides. When it's calm, I love laying out a long, slow turnover shot. The maintenance of the course is also well done. I throw RHBH and the course offers many opportunities for throwing hyzers and anhyzer shots. It is a great course for both left and right handed players, regardless of whether you backhand or forehand. The city also does a nice job of moving around pin locations throughout the season, which makes for a nice change of pace. There is also a practice pin near the first tee pad, which is nice to warm up on.

The course is always busy. It also lacks quality landscaping to prevent erosion control, which makes many holes muddy after a rainfall. The signs could also be improved, along with adding some benches and more garbage cans.

I go to school at UW and this course is very comparable to the courses I play in Minnesota. The only odd thing is that everyone is Madison play the short tee pads, which was quite a change for me. I have played the course a few times from the long tees and it certainly makes the course a lot more challenging. I also can't wait until this course and Elver are pay to play next spring so that the things I mentioned in the cons section above can see some improvement. It will also help with cleaning up the course a bit and getting rid of some of the rift raft. The course has a lot of potential.

brilliant dg course! multiple pin placements. multiple tees. excellent elevation change. tons of trees. a mixture of short and long holes. happy grassy fairways.
really encompasses almost everything i look for in a dg course!

yes, it was crowded. we got there in the afternoon, and we were not alone. which is a small price to pay for an awesome free course.

2nd of 9 dg courses played on road trip that week. this was def one of the highlights

-Easily accessible area, right off of one of Madison's main roads.
-Well maintained.
-Some variety (see cons)
-Multi-pin placement changes the course every time you play, giving you a new challenge many times over.
-Good blend of long fairways, wooded challenge shots, uphill, and down hill.

-Very busy course
-Could use more of the park and have more variety.
-Lots of overgrowth on both sides of fairway make it hard to find stray disc.

I love this park, I typically try to go at night, when less people are present.
I feel as though they could have used more of the land to make the course vary in different areas.

It's hard to add to what the other reviews have said in either category, but I'll go ahead and try to keep it short.

> Nice, large, level red and blue tee pads.
> Decent Tee signs with accurate distances and reasonable display of pin placements.
> Multiple pin placements that look like they'd really offer a different game.
> Amazing use of the location, terrain and nature.
> Great variety of shots.
> Excellent mix of risk and reward by creative use of obstacles and topography.
> Clean and well maintained.

Like the previous review, there isn't much "bad" to say, just nit-picking.

> The course feels like the holes could be longer in many places, even playing from the blue pads. I'd have liked a few more holes where I could really let it rip.
> There were a few safety issues on the course because a couple of fairways overlapped tees for the next hole and I almost knocked another player out with a drive that went just a few feet out of sight... sorry.
> The blue tees could be placed at slightly more creative angles... but they're still very welcome on a course that already felt a bit short.
> I hate to be "that guy", but there were way too many players on the course that felt perfectly at home lighting up their joints in front of everyone. I don't mind the pot smoking at all, but DGer's have a hard enough time with negative stereotypes turning off the general public (and especially the parks depts.) without people going out of their way to reinforce that negative impression. Some jacka$$ even spray painted 420 in giant silver letters on a tree right in the middle of a fairway. Try to use a little discretion, jeesh.

I'm from way, way out of town and stopped through this course while visiting relatives. Very, very impressive. My home town may have a lot more courses than the Madison area, but this one is as good as any I've played. It is so obvious by how beautiful and just downright scenic Hiestand Park DGC is that the designer was given full reign to make this course and if they weren't, they did the best job ever of making good use. I love the way that each hole felt totally unique and in many cases, like I had just been teleported a hundred miles just by walking to the next tee because of the change of scenery. I don't know if the wind is always as much of a factor at this park, but it was really blowing when I played and made for a very hard game that blew any chances of a good score for me.
Getting some more length and a little more curve out of some of the holes, along with some Mando signs, would easily move this course into the 4.5 to 5 range for me.
Locals, cherish this gem and give respect to the MadCity Disc golf club for keeping it so nice.

- Am and Pro Level CementTeepads
- Multiple Pin Placements
- Practice Basket
- Tee signs
- Everything on the land is so well used. I think the designer must have had alot of freedom in the design.
- Hills, Drop offs, Woods, and Open are all well utilized
- Greens aren't as guarded as they are dangerous. Knowing when to layup saves big strokes.
- Pro teepads add a much harder challenge, altho not much difference from am pads as far as line to the basket.
- Power control and shot placement/angle are required
- Fun!!!
- Really works your mental game.
- Smart play gets better scores. In other words not a pitch-n-putt
- Some benches and trash cans
- Glide Disc Golf is a short walk from Hole #1

*I can't think of anything I really care about so I'll be picky*
- Could use way more trash cans and benches
- Better Tee Signs
- I'd like to see them make some slight alterations to make the hole more different from Pro to Am pads. Letting certain trees grow out more could easily solve this.

This is Madison's best course. Elver isn't far off though. Its appealing to all from chucker to Pro. Its a short trip from the interstate. If you only have time for one course when coming through PLAY THIS COURSE.
The short pads are more geared towards the REC and INT level players. The long pads are more for your ADV and PRO level players. The course gets a great deal longer on the Pro pads. This combined with the dangerous greens makes for some tricky golf. Scores can easily get away from you. Take your dueces when you can cause your gonna get a bogey or two.
I gave this course a 4 but think its capable of a 4.5 with the changes I mentioned in the Cons section.

- Course is set on and around a very hilly and wooded section of this large park. There are lots of other things going on here, but it seems well separated from the course itself. Holes are pretty evenly split between fairways bordered by rough/forest, and holes inside the woods.
- Some very tight and interesting lines to be found in the woods here, from both sets of tees. A couple RHBH hyzers and straight shots, but the majority are of the RHFH or anny variety. Tough tree placement off the tee, on the fairway, and near the basket demands very good accuracy start to finish. Elevation changes in here are used well, with some sharp downhills, some over-the-hill shots, and some uphills.
- Holes that border the forest also have great character, due to both elevation and proximity to the rough. Uphill shots include #1, with a smaller fairway, #4, with a RHBH anny (rough/rollaway on the right), and #17, a steep slope with a protected basket and a rollaway fairway/green. Downhills include a bomber on #3, with a creek behind the pin, and #10, a long shot with a sloping, undulating fairway and green. Good stuff.
- A few holes play out of and into the forest as well. #14's blue tee is nearly half in and half out, with rough waiting outside the window. Going back in, #5 has an excellent finish, a long valley hole that finishes up and right into a clearing in the forest.
- Good amount of sloping greens here, both from the natural terrain as well as some tough placements. #5's basket is on a built-up ledge on a hillside, and the hilliest holes are just natural rollaways, in a few different directions.
- Awesome mix of hole lengths here, from both sets of teepads. Plenty in the 300's and 400's here from the blues, with a few either which way. The short holes feel long with the craziest lines, and the long holes are of varying difficulty.
- Water on #3 is the only water, but it is in a good spot. Big arms can't go too far past the basket on this one.
- Good teepads, signs, and baskets. Navigation a bit tricky, especially at the intersection by #2's basket. When in doubt go right, more or less.

- Not many cons here. The one that stands out is the uniformity of the more open holes. Almost every single shot out here is straight, with a slight/medium right turn being very useful. There are elevation changes, and there are some trees to avoid off the tee, but otherwise it's almost point and shoot.
- Some of the holes are a little close to each other; look out for early hyzers from #5 when on #4. Also tread carefully by the intersection by #2's basket, a lot of traffic through there.

- Overall, I really enjoyed this course, from start to finish. Great variety going up and down the hills, into, through, and out of the forest. Some very interesting and tight lines inside the forest, complemented by lots of open hilly shots. Staying clean is important, with some very, very thick rough in all areas of the park. Probably a bit much for a beginner, I think everyone else would find challenge and/or fun here, no doubt.

Get To Try Some Good Rips
Challenging Holes
Lots Of Different Shots

Damn Long Grass
Busy
Trash Cans Full

This Course Is Awesome Just Wish They Would Mow Some Of The Long Grass So If You Have A Bad Shot You Dont Hunt For 25 Mins For Your Disc

This is a very fun course, and was my favorite of the three I played in the Madison area. It's got some nice elevation, with a good variety of uphill and downhill holes, including one fun downhill bomb. Most holes use the elevation in some way, and it really adds to the variety and fun factor here. There is also good variety of hole shapes, with a balanced mix of right and left turning holes.

There are two nice concrete tees on almost every hole, and they're in pretty good shape with enough texture for good grip. Several of the alternate tees changed The baskets are older, but still catch ok. The layout flowed well enough that it was easy to follow, and there was enough signage that you don't have to walk up too many holes to see where to throw.

The course has a few too many holes in the same length range if you play either set of tees, though if you want more variety you can mix up which tee you throw from. There isn't much late trouble, so approaches and putts aren't too interesting on many of the holes here.

This course was quite crowded when I played, and in talking too locals apparently that's the norm here. That meant parking was a bit of an issue with only street parking (including several spots in danger of drives that go long on 18). It also made for a slow round, many large groups were letting faster groups play through, but some weren't, and there were some large groups of beginners out playing that moved pretty slowly.

This is a fun ace run type course from the short tees, and a more challenging wooded course from the longs, making for good variety. It's a little crowded, but it's a fun place to play and has enough variety to keep it interesting. The short tees are great for newer players, with reasonable distances and a good mix of shot shapes to learn. More experienced players will find some challenges from the longs and will enjoy the elevation and variety.

This course is great fun for all players. Plenty of challenging shots, pro and am tees, signs, great variety of holes. This is my home course and the course that I first ever played on. It's what made me fall in love with the sport. Multiple pin positions make it so you're not playing the same course every time. A great free course with a disc golf pro shop right across the street.

This course is almost always packed with people. Parking can be quite difficult to find and it's very easy to end up sitting and waiting at a hole. The trees can be a little heavy on the sides at times so for a beginner who doesn't land on the fairway discs can be lost. However they are often found and if you put your number on it most people will call.

When I lived back in madison I played this course just about everyday. I never got bored and always had fun. This course got me and many of my friends started. It really is great for everyone beginners to pros.

Hiestand is my favorite Madison area course to play. If it was maintained as well as Token Creek this would be Madison's signature course. Make it pay to play!

This course has great variety. There are 2 cement tees on every hole but #3. The short tees are very beginner friendly playing at 4,700ft. while the long tees play at 6,450ft. SSA played 52.46 from the long tees during the 2009 Mad City Open. To shoot a 1000 rated round you needed to shoot 52 -2. This course offers a layout for all skill level players.

The course flow is great. It's not hard to navigate. Adequate tee signs.

There is some great elevation. It plays up, down, on, and across a large hill. The design is very good offering every type of shot selection.

There is a good mix of open and wooded holes. The wooded holes are very fair golf shots with some heavy rough to penalize bad shots.

Erosion and garbage. It's unfortunate the local player base cannot throw their garbage away. It really takes away from the great course they have.

This course gets heavy play. Erosion is an issue in several areas.

Make is pay to play! This will fix these problems.

This course is very popular and gets tons of use. Be prepared to be patient during prime time hours.

Make sure to visit Mike and buy a disc at his
Glide Disc Golf Store right across the street. He's a great guy. http://www.glidediscgolf.com

This course is a must play if you are in Madison.

Currently my favorite course in the Madison area. It's based on a big hill in the park which adds a lot of fun topography. It has a decent variety of holes favoring different throwing styles. Hole 3 is fun just for a nice bomber, if you're new make sure to take a right at the end of hole 2 or you'll be skipping 3 holes. This is something nice about the course though, as there are about 4 skipping points I can think of. So if you're running late or have a large group that won't let you shoot through, then you can just skip a couple holes. Glide being right across the street is great and Mike is just awesome!

It can get very crowded and sadly people don't always understand how to let people shoot through or break up a group of 6-8 into two groups. It can be confusing sometimes to navigate unless you go there a few times. Sadly many people like to litter even though there's a trash can at EVERY HOLE! The course is now pay to play, which I hope brings some good improvements, and might tone down the traffic a little bit. I personally feel it may not have ended up that way if people had been more respectful when it came to littering and graffiti, but there's nothing that can be done now. It's also too bad since now basically every course in Madison that's worth playing is pay to play.

Sorry about the above littering comment, but it just bothers me when people disrespect nature like that.

Hiestand is set atop a wooded hill all fairways have shrubs and trees bordering them...... when i played yesterday that had the alt. pin placements and played shorts.
#1 225' slight uphill with a left fade
#2 281' slight right fade moderate number of trees in fairway.
#3 369' down hill bomber.
#4 250' up hill
#5 320' right fade slightly up hill with the pin up on the retaining wall
#6 260' right fade moderate trees in fairway
#7 180' moderate trees in fairway
#8 276' up two sets of rolling hills
#9 215' few trees in fairway
#10 301' right fade
#11 208' straight shot few trees on fairway
#12 210' downhill moderat trees on fairway
#13 198' few trees on fairway
#14 259' wide open
#15 319' slightly down hill
#16 260' right fade few trees in fairway #17 236' uphill with a two tree defense round the pin
#18 259' left fade.
Pro tees will change the course quite drastically adding more than just distance. Pro shop across the street...

Busy course... gonna be sitting/waiting if its a busy day.. water fountain would be nice.....

Its a great course.... everyone should play... elver and token creek are close too... i play all these courses decent amount of times a year....

This course is a must play for every disc golfer. It's great for beginners and still fun for pros. The holes are so scenic and well structured that it's like playing a video game. It's the best course layout I've ever played hands down, and you can take a good run at the basket from the tee on nearly every hole. I had my hopes up coming to this course and it exceeded my expectations. Not to mention the "Glide" disc golf store is right across the street.

The am tees are fun, but they present no real challenge. I shot a -6 first time playing. Next time I'll hit up the pro pads. Also, this course can be a little crowded, expect people playing through or groups in front of you.

I've played a decent number of Wisconsin courses and this is one of my favorites, if nothing else, because it's uniquely Disc golf. Some courses are just parks that also have baskets, and some courses are meant to mimic ball golf courses, this one is the kind of course that defines disc golf. You take one look at it and realize that all it could be is a disc golf course.

Heistand offers play up, down, and around, a huge ridge in a city park and excellently utilizes the woods and open areas of the park. The park offers some terraced greens and elevated tees. Variety here is excellent with uphill, downhill bombers, across hill, tight woods, and wide open bombers all balancing left and right. Some memorable holes are the #3 downhill bomber, #6 and 7 wooded tunnels under a massive canopy of old oaks and maples, and many of the longer open holes that add immense challenge and distnace when playing the long tees (long tees here are WAY more challenging). The rough here can also severely punish you. Although there is a creek behind #3, it really doesn't come into play (con of no true water hazard).

Tons of glass and bums out there who vandalize and litter. Signs are often broken and do not indicate the many redesigned holes. The overall course design suffers from oldschool mentality that does NOT include risky greens. Almost all greens are wide open, flat, and minimal chance of a bad putt actually hurting you.

4.5 is possible, but the amount of traffic, garbage, vandalism, litter etc really distracts from losing yourself here. The wooded holes are pretty tight and under a canopy but don't require extreme accuracy. Plus it is only 18 holes and there is no water hazard, so a 5 was not possible. Heistand is a great course, probably the best all around in Madison and the closest to receiving a 4.5 rating. It has amazing vareity and balance, lacks very little, and would be well worth your time to travel and play.

What I personally like and how this course stacks up in my list of 18 hole courses:

1) Holes with good risk/reward. Fair, but harsh punishment for bad decisions or execution. == A (From the longs there are plenty of holes were I need to decide to go for birdie or play for an easy par. On my go-for decisions there is plenty of danger that will turn a desired 2 into a 4 or even 5. Nice! From the short tees, it is not nearly as good in this aspect.)

2) Holes that have rewarding birdie opportunities for me. I throw 300' accurately, 360' max. == B- (Half the holes on the longs are not realistic birdie opportunities, but too short to make par rewarding. On the shorts most holes are too short to be rewarding.)

3) More wooded than open - lots of variety of shots required caused by hole shape and topography == A (Great balance of right, left, up, down....with good variety of shapes too. Hole 3 is my favorite since it is the most fun....a downhill wide open bomb - with danger lurking in the form of water not too far past the basket.)

4) Natural beauty (Appalachian beauty preferred) and seclusion. == A- (Very beautiful and well maintained. If not for the city park feeling on 4-5 holes, I would be tempted to go A+ in this area - easily an A.)

5) Bonus points for multi-throw holes with defined landing zones, good risk/reward and multiple options to play them. == N/A

It's all about feeding the addiction, so I ranked this course subjectively based on my own "personal addiction factor". The grades above tell how well the course will draw me back to itself again and again and again. Since I have played a decent number of courses (125 18-hole, 64 9-hole as of mid 2009), my hope is that players/explorers who have similar addiction tastes will find my ratings list helpful as they choose courses to play and explore.

I fully expect others with different tastes/philosophies to disagree with me....that's the fun of things here. See my profile for my rating philosophy.

1) This course has a good variety in their holes. . . A handful of uphill holes, a few slightly downhill and some sidehill holes (where rollaways are possible) and one Big Downhiller. There are trees in play on most holes except the massive downhiller. There is also scrub brush on many holes that can eat your discs alive and if you throw into them you will get eaten alive by skeeters (And I do not mean the midrange discs).

2) Dual concrete teepads on all holes are nice and supposed multiple basket locations would provide this course with some varying play ever ime you went to play assumng the baskets get moved regularly.

3) Very well designed course for the property. This courses uses the elevation as a key ingredient to its success. It also uses the wooded areas on this course masterfully. Although there are no tight densely wooded alley holes, the trees are well placed and opening you must hit on a few holes that create the same type of feel as a tightly wooded course.

4) Course varies the shot required. There are a lot of left to right and right to left variations of holes. This makes the course tough on all throwing types . . . so if you can throw both ways sidearm and backhand you will be in better shape than a one direction thrower (like myself).

5) Baskets are in good condition and so are most of the concret teepads. They are large and allow you to find multiple spots to plant and throw your drive.

1) Maintenance is a little lacking. . . fairways look like they do get mowed regularly, but some trimming work could be done on some of the trees and scrub in play.

2) Teesigns would be helpful . . . they already have the posts so it is at least easy enough to find your next hole, but there are no signs with distances listed or hole layouts.

3) Could use some more benches for those slow Madison Disc Golf Weekends due to overuse of only 3 courses in the area.

4) I would like to see more mulch applied to some of the green areas to diminish the amount of mud around the baskets.

5) Course is not really beginner friendly because of the scrub brush areas lining many of the holes. The short tees make the distances ok, but there is still a lot of punishing trouble along many of the holes.

6) Looks like garbage could be picked up more regularly as there were full trash bags by most tees and half filled bags still in the baskets . . . fortunately however at least they have the baskets in place to diminish the amount of garbage on the course.

This course is similar to Elver Park in Madison in that it only would need a little more maintenance and infrastructure to make it excellent. I love this course for its variety and its design and use of elevation . . . but it is slightly lacking in maintenance. I would like to see some scrub trimming and washout area maintenance (They do a good job in helping to retain the washout areas by using timbers and gravel to fill in those areas to slow the flow of water runoff). They could however use some beautification projects to make the course look better than it does. Trim up some of the scrub brush . . . fill out some of the trouble green areas with mulch . . . add some more gravel to the washout areas to fill in the gulleys. I know these things are typically volunteer, but one good weekend of help from a dozen people would have this course in much better shape. It is still an excellent 3.5 disc rated course in my book. The extra work might make it a 4 disc rating.

-ELEVATION change used almost to perfection
-ripper holes, short holes, technical holes:variety
-pro/am tee pads that change the lines and the course
-beautiful
-right across the street from Glide disc Golf shop.
-super fun course
-cement tees in great condition
-trees, small and large. rough that is there to make you think about risk/reward.

-SIGNAGE-extremely poor and lacking: both hole info and directions to the next hole. MAJOR con here.
-restrooms

Once again, ANOTHER Wisconsin course that falls into the 3.5+ range that could easily be a 4+ or a 4.5 course, in this case. BUT this is a great challenging and fun course perfectly designed for the hill it is built around. LOVED IT!

First off this course is about elevation changes. It is built around and on a huge hill and uses it to the absolute best of it's ability. Long shots with the pro tees, shorter technical tees with the ams. Up hill shots, down hill shots, rippers, technical, lefty and righty shots. This course has it all, seriously.

My MAJOR complaint about this course is the absolute lack of signage. When we played (early May) there were absolutely no signs at any hole, only brown posts that indicated that there used to be signs, or maybe will be signs. No yardage, no numbers, no next hole locations. The latter played a part in trying to find some next locations. Some are just not that apparent. A lot of the baskets were in blind locations, especially on longer dog leg holes, so a walk up the fairway was a very common occurrence. Once in a while there would be a painted yardage on a tee, but this was inconsistent. If this place had signage it would EASILY be one of my favorite places to play. Maybe since it's a public course they have had issues in the past with vandalism but I didn't get a feel for that being the case here.

This is a MUST play course in the Madison/Wisconsin area. Be prepared for uphill walks, and downhill strolls...and for searching for waward discs in unforgiving brush and trees...but that's the risk/reward this course serves up.

battled between a 3.5 and a 4.0, but this course got rounded up in my book. Give me great signs and a 4.5 is right the corner.

UPDATE 11/09 SIGNAGE!!! some new signs with hole, number, pin locations, and next hole locations. A super solid 4 rating!

As I played this course, and thinking back on it, it really had a little bit of everything. Uphill shots, Downhill, both tunnel and open, some doglegs, even a shot over a tiny creek covered by ice that I almost broke through while crossing!! Now, having played Elver Park, Token Creek, and Hiestand, each once, and having rated them about the same I have to say that I prefer Hiestand over the other two.

While Elver plays through thick woods up and over a large hill, Hiestand plays through woods with more rolling hills, and thus more interesting elevation changes. ie- some holes go down THEN up, or vice versa, instead of just uphill, downhill, or along the hill. Though Elver is more wooded, this course has a greater variety of wooded and open holes. Also, #3&4 bring a little water into play, an element Elver lacks.

Though token creek is immaculately manicured, with multiple pin positions for every hole, Hiestand has some tighter fairways that are more winding (with more trees in the fairway), and has significant elevation changes, unlike token creek, which is relatively flat with mostly wide, open fairways.

During the spring and summer, several of the baskets here would be blind shots around corners and/or over hills, but since it is winter, many of the baskets are visible from the tee.

Every basket has a diamond-shaped reflective sticker on the top of the pole, which also makes them much easier to see than some raggedy, frozen flag would.

The concrete tees, which all looked in good shape, were sometimes icy when I played, but the tee pads were easy to see, and clearly marked, especially when the short and long tees are down different paths in the woods from previous basket, which is fairly often.

This course has dual tees on almost every hole, and playing from the short tees was quite challenging. The great news is that the long tees are even moreso, and many of them give significantly different looks at the basket than the shorts. Unlike some courses, which have short tees, and all long tees 30-60 ft directly behind them, (boooring), this course tries to do it right, and actually makes you want to play a round from each set of tees.

Another thing that's great about this course is how genuinely challenging it is (from the short tees). Its challenging enough that most people seem to play from the short tees all the time, which is quite impressive.

Also, its the only one open in the winter, so 12 months a year of playing Hiestand versus only 7 months of Elver or Token Creek makes this park slightly edge out the other two for the title of overall best in Madison, IMO. The fact that Glide Disc Sports is right next door doesn't hurt either.

Most of the wooden posts found at all the tees had the hole distance and par on laminated paper stapled to them, while some were missing. #3 post missing as well

This is not the most FTF course. There are several spots where you can get turned around, and skip holes. Fortunately for me, I had help, both from the wonderful people next door at Glide DG, and a local who I met on the course and tagged along with for the round.

I'm going back tomorrow, but I think I will need to play this course a few times, and get used to winter golfing, before I feel ready to try the long tees out.

As previously mentioned, the Tees can be icy, so it might be a good idea to bring a bit of sand to sprinkle on the nastier ones. Usually, the locals are very good about keeping them swept, but better to play it safe.