- fun, technical moderate/heavily wooded course
- some moderate elevation change
- good tee signs with full color maps and pertinent info
- fairly short but has a few longer holes mixed in
- flow and navigation are mostly straightforward with next tee signs
- good challenge from pond hazards on 17 and 18
- bonus "15B" hole means its technically 19 holes
- generally well maintained course with minimal rough undergrowth
- concrete tees

- pars are far too generous
- dead leaves could swallow discs in some places
- may be too difficult for newer players
- baskets are a bit weak at catching discs well

Holt's Summit DGC is a bit off the beaten path in the sense its not a destination course in and of itself and its not really in a major metro area. Most people will likely find this course when coming to play Harmony Bends and other Columbia, MO courses. While this course didn't blow me away, it's an excellent quicker woods course if you like tighter technical challenges under the trees.

As others have said, the pars are overly forgiving, but if that's the main con you have a pretty nice course. There wasn't particularly dense undergrowth, the fairways provided obstacles, shot shaping, and challenge, and the course was fun and easily playable solo in 1-1.5 hours. The pond hazards at the end were a nice addition and a bit of a surprise as you break out of the woods for a few holes only to be challenged by water carries.

Elevation change here does not rival Harmony Bends or other area courses but there is some incorporated well. This course does have a little bit of everything; uphill, downhill, doglegs each way, water hazards, and one open hole. Honestly, this course subjectively only felt like a 3.5 - 3.75 to me; for some reason it didn't blow me away as much as some others. However, as I write the review I don't think I can justify giving it less than a 4. It really is an excellent course with almost everything you could ask for.

Overall, it's hard to find many cons for this course. I wouldn't venture too far just for this course, but paired with other courses in Columbia and Jefferson City, this is well worth the trip and doesn't take too long to play.
Navigation is pretty intuitive if you follow the whole course linearly. If you start skipping holes to make shorter loops as some have suggested, you'll probably want the map.

If you are looking to camp nearby, there are a few options but some are closed earlier in the season. You can park on National Forest land completely free (and likely alone) at Round Prairie Interpretive Site which you'd never know existed if you didn't look it up. It's a little eerie since its so isolated, but probably only 15-20 minutes from this course and back towards the interstate.

I love this course. It is very woodsy for the most part, with rolling hills. Many short holes, with a handful of longer ones for good measure. There are two shots at the end that carry over a pretty pond filled with lily pads.

Tees are concrete, and have illustrated color signs. The baskets are classic yellow rimmed Discatchers. Layout is pretty easy to get around without getting lost. There is an extra hole after hole 6 if you want a 10 hole short loop. I wouldn't recommend it, because 10, 11 and 12 were some of my favorite holes.

The par is posted as 69 by the signs, but that is far too generous. It felt like a 57 or 58, and I see another user put it at 57 in his review. Novice players may enjoy the forgiving but inflated total, and going 12 under par on my first round at a course is always a boost to the disc golf confidence.

While this isn't the epic track that Harmony Bend is, the woods will keep fairway lines pretty compact. Birdie shots are out there, like hole 3 and 12. Other times a long drive with precision is in order, and being off a couple of degrees can mean bonking a tree and fighting your way through the rough. Holes 16 and 17 carry across the pond but they are not super high risk, with manageable distance and no close branches to deflect a tee shot.

I wouldn't really change much here. Aside from a reset of par to be closer in line to the norm, it is right on.

In the autumn the leaf litter could make searching for and possibly losing discs a larger concern.

There was an awesome red dog that joined us for most of the round. The tag on his collar said Zeus, and he was having a blast playing with may dog Charley. I did try to call the number on his tag, but the phone was no longer connected. It was really heartbreaking to watch him running after my truck as we left the parking lot. If my girlfriend wasn't there I would have likely brought him home to KC with me. I hope he made it home safe. It would be a sweet course to live on if you could get by with it somehow.

I wanted to go 4.5 rating for Holts Summit DGC. We also visited Joseph C Miller in Jefferson City and I kind of liked this one better, even though JCM was more versatile and challenging. I can't go above 4, but I think after Harmony Bend, this is my second favorite course in the area.

Short and sweet, a lot of fun but not without challenge. It reminds me of some of the South Carolina courses I really like; Earlewood in Columbia and Boyd Pond Park in Beech Island.

I shot 57 on the 1st and only round I played there, and was pretty happy with that. Going lower is definitely an achievable goal, and I would love to have a couple of more chances to get there. I had 3 dueces, 4 fours and a five.

I decided to play this course on a whim today when heading from Colombia to St. Louis. And boy am I glad I did. This course is excellent. I'm a sucker for woods golf and this place is right up my alley. You can tell right off the bat that you're in for a fun, albeit frustrating at times, round. You better bring your A game accuracy wise or you're in for a rough round.

The baskets are Monkey Traps. These sound vaguely familar to me. I believe I've played on them before but I don't recall where. Anyway, They are bright yellow which makes spotting them real easy in the woods. They catch OK. Not great but not the worst either. One pin position per hole.

Concrete tee pads on each hole. These are about your average sized pads. Plenty long enough, level and have nice grip to them. Perfectly servicable. One tee per hole.

Navigation was a breeze. Next tee signs throughout the course. Didn't even need to look at the map until hole 17 I believe. Good flow from hole to hole and it starts and ends by the parking lot.

The tee signs are nice too. They feature a basic hole diagram, hole #, pars for Rec and Advanced, distance, any applicable OB and even the elevation change. All the info you'd need. They have a bright yellow background on them too which helps to spot them easily.

The course has clearly been cleaned/cleared out since it was installed. I had my cart out there and it was fine. A few little bridges over creeks and ditches helped out too.

The fairways here are TIGHT. There are lines. They may be a little too narrow for some people's liking but it is fair. You'll need every shot in your bag to score well here. There's a good mix of left and right turning shots. There's uphill shots, downhill shots, 2 water carries on 16 and 17. It's got it all, even one mostly open hole with a dogleg left on hole 15. Great, great design. Loved it.

The course is free to play and permanent. This would be a fantastic winter course I'd imagine. I'd be here all the time if I lived nearby.

The baskets caught decent for me, but there's just something about them that irks me. I had one kick out I guess you'd call it. It was inexplicable. I've never seen anything like it. I don't know what it is, but I'm just not a fan.


Not a beginner friendly course. This would probably be a frustrating course for a lot of players. I loved it, but not everyone will.

I think a couple fairways could afford to lose a tree here or there, just to open it up a bit more. But not too much. Just a few spots. It's a little bit close your eyes and pray for the best on a few holes, even I'll admit.

I personally loved this course. It's like a baby Harmony Bends, and just a little ways away. If I'm ever back in the area this one will be high on my hit list. This was my second favorite behind Harmony Bends out of the ones I played in or near Colombia. It's not a destination worthy course by itself, but it pairs very well with the many other great courses nearby to make for a destination worthy place to plan a trip to. Loved this one.

FYI. course par is 57. In a tournament that will rate around 940. This place is no joke. I have not personally seen a 1000+ rated round here. It would have to be somewhere around a 48-49 if I had to guess.

I've updated my review now that I've played the course again in 2020 (and 10+ times overall). This course is amazing for the land they had and how it was used. It is a lot of walking up and down hills. Not cart friendly. You need all shots to score well here. I've seen 1000 rated players barely break par here.

Very Difficult...in a good way.
From the very first hole you know you are in for some solid swearing. Just look at it. Every hole has a line to the basket...yes even hole 1 and Hole 4. They just require ridiculous golf shots.

-I'm not sure what a previous reviewer was talking about with the navigation. I thought it was great. Clear paths to the next hole. Easy to find.

- Benches on several holes

-You will need everything in your bag. Even your driver on 1/2 holes.

-The Scenery. It was beautiful in the dead of Winter. I cannot wait to see the course in April/May.
* I've been back in the summer....It's great and even more difficult as the trees fill in!

-Leaves in the late fall/winter 1-2 inches deep blanket most of the course. Any disc that didn't land flat was buried. I spent 20-30 minutes finding my disk, about 3-4 minutes on each hole that was in the woods. Even if it was in the fairway.
- I played a solo round and I was wishing I would have had a spotter.

Stumps: There are many holes with 3-4 inch stumps down the fairways. It's annoying for several reasons.
1. Dangerous, especially in the winter
2. You can be royally robbed when trying to play skip shots when the stumps are covered in Leaves.
3. Hitting unseen stumps and turn your disc into a roller when it bounces up and that could be a disaster at this course with all the elevation changes.

*2020 update. Many stumps have been worn down or removed as I predicted.

Monkey Trap baskets:
OK I know these are a thing in the Mid-Mo -Southern MO - Ozark area. I have played 3 courses with these baskets and the baskets have reacted differently at each course. At this course the chains are LIGHT. I blasted my putt on Hole one right through. You will be chaining out all day if you don't hit center with some decent touch. Another course I played (and why I threw my Hole 1 putt with such gusto) with a slightly older version of these baskets (I assume) had chains that could've doubled as boat anchor chains. Vastly different reactions to the same basket. I'm guessing folks didn't like the earlier version so the manufacturer swapped the chains but now they seem a bit too light. I do love the bright colors on the baskets and the flags to help you find them.

*2020 Update* Ergh these baskets. I'm still not a fan. I am a fan of the bright color and flag.

I know it seems like I complained about the leaves and the stumps and the baskets but really those are minor. The leaves will hopefully blow away or compost by spring/summer which would make the stumps easier to see/avoid and the baskets are ok once you adjust your putts. Really this is a gem of a tight wooded course. I would love to throw a round with someone who can shoot this course 6-7 under. You really have to nail the 5-6 holes with clear paths to the baskets then hope you can hit your windows for the rest.

Shooting Even par is difficult if you have a decent putting game. what is difficult is avoiding the bogeys. The opportunity to hit early tree and go into dense rough is there all the time. The course has a few gimmie holes where a 900 rated player should be getting birdies every round. Couple that with inevitable tree hits and wala. I shot +1 6 Bogeys/5 Birdies. It was great fun and I had the place to myself.

*2020 Update* I've broken PAR by 1; I improved to a 56 from 62.

GO PLAY THIS COURSE! If you are in the Area and have not played this you are missing out.

Technical, difficult, exclusive to disc golf with no other park traffic.

New Clear cut fairways with a lot of stumps. Unclear direction and signs.

A young course that just needs some work with 5.0 rating potential.

This is definitely a wooded course requiring thought to each shot. I generally am not a wooded course fan, but I LOVED this course.
Had all the usual: good quality concrete pads, excellent signage, great flow to the course.
Great use of elevation.
Had at least two signature holes in my book:
#11 is a long hole with the basket positioned right before a drop-off- you miss long and you'll pay for it. and #12 is a short throw over a deep valley with the basket atop a hill supported by a 5 foot wall of 4 X4's.
The designers had nature to work with and did well doing so!!

As a new course built thru the woods, it still needs to thin out the fairways a bit. There was on tree on both 1 and 11 that needed to go for sure. As stated by previous reviewer, there are still a lot of piles of wood from the initial construction.
Flow-wise.... going from 15 to 16 was a bit of a challenge.

This was course #3 on a 4 course swing through Columbia/ Jeff City area and was by far my favorite of the day. Still needs some clean up and work on some of the would be creek areas (was dry today). As stated no pad for 16 yet.
With a bit of work, this moves to a 4 in my book easily.

Very technical course that requires you to pull out every different type of shot you have while using an extreme amount of control. Scores average in the upper 50s to lower 60s for intermediate players and better.

Course is only weeks old. Is still in the process of being finished but a B tier PDGA tournament was held there so it is playable. All pads are in. Some trees and brush piles yet to be removed.

When walking from 6 to 7, make sure to walk to the right as you approach 6's pin and head off to 7. If you were to walk off to the left looking for 7 you would find hole 7b it is an extra that may be implemented in the future.