(3.551 Rating) A hybrid park style course with a ton of variety.
- HOLE VARIETY - I thought the variety here was fantastic. There are some slight ups, slight downs, some valleys, blind plays, hook rights, hook lefts, modest bombs, technical mischief and even a couple easy birdie holes. Not much length to it, but seemed like at least 2 or 3 holes have a par 4 extension placement now. Hole (12) is one of the par 4s, and the way it snakes can really bite the player trying to get too greedy. Water comes into play a few times and elevation maxes out at about 25 to 30 feet.
- RAW BEAUTY - The first three holes out at Johnson Park was the star grouping to me. Three straight highly appealing valley shots. If beauty doesn't translate for hole quality to a player, the pucker-up factor on (3) surely will. I thought (8) looked great on approach, but some of this was subdued due to the fencing behind the basket. I enjoyed the look of (9) for two reasons. First the green, which was terraced nicely. Second, there was a wood carving of a face on one of the trees near the tee. I also liked (15s) raised placement using numerous large timbers. On the flipside, there was some relic large trash debris and even a bit of trash in the valleys. Overall, I scored the beauty aspect 75 percentile.
- CHALLENGING - The course felt like it was most ideal to MA2s but very much playable to MA3s and MA1s. The course generally favors technical players, but having on demand 350-foot power will be necessary to score birdies on several holes. I'll fathom a guess and say that even par will net between a 900 to 920 rated round in typical conditions.
- AMENITIES - Other than tee signage and tees (see cons), the rest of the amenities were good. Lots of alternate pin placements. I think about 75 percent of the holes have multiple placements now. Most tees have seating behind them, including many picnic tables. A couple holes have two baskets in place and I saw a few short tees as well. The baskets are Titans and in good shape. Shelters, picnic tables and probably restrooms are in the park as well.
- NAVIGATION - After finding unmarked tee (1), I had little issue finding my way around. Below every basket was a new directional cue pointing to the next tee's direction. I only looked at my navigational app twice, after (7B) and after (15). There are also a bunch of directional cues along transition paths as well. Unfortunately, the tee signage was not as good as the navigation, see cons.

The course desperately needs tee signs.
- TEE SIGNAGE - The tee signage at Johnson Park ranks into my bottom 10 percent among the 580 courses I've played to date. I'm baffled at how a course that appears to get a ton of play is failing at such a critical element, and for such an extended period of time. About half of the tees when I played it in late fall 2022, had no signage at all. The tees that did, had just a white vinyl sign with hand drawn sharpie distance and number. A course like this one, which has several blind basket locations, needs detailed tee signage. It could also use a course map posted near tee (1).
- TEES - The tees that were pavers (about a third) were good. There rest were not ideal, which was a mix of gravel, dirt, rubber and even a small turf tee on (7A).
- FORGIVENESS - I played here during the winter, so I didn't have to deal with the punishing overgrowth that flanks many of the fairways. It looked like it gets pretty thick in spots. There is also some prairie grass along a few fairways as well. I figure throwing one well off-line could lead to some extended searches and possibly a lost disc from time to time for those not willing to look endlessly. Hole (3) left, and long on (9) are another two bad spots to be, as water is lurking. I don't think the disc loss potential here is monumentally bad, but it seems like the chances of losing one are higher than at the average course.
- BEGINNER FRIENDLY - For the reasons noted above under my Forgiveness con, I don't think this is a good beginners course. I'm sure beginners have been brought here before, it's just far from ideal. Too many places to get into trouble.
- TIME PLAY - I'm a quick player, and it took me an hour solo on an empty course with no time spent searching. I could see much longer rounds occurring during the summer when the overgrowth peaks.

I really enjoyed this course, minus the signage snafu. It's got all the other bells and whistles of what I expect of a very good course and then some. Among the courses I've played in the Milwaukee region now, this is among my favorites along with Dretzka and Root River. Note, I have still not hit Estabrook, Madison or Brown Deer yet as of this review. It's got better than average Beauty, Challenge and Variety. Even the amenities are decent, except for the signage and tees. For those traveling to the Milwaukee area, I would say it's definitely worth checking out if the sub-par noted items are not a deal breaker. Among the local courses I've played, it reminded me most of Root River, but with more bite and more variety. As is, I'm going with a solid 3.5. Note, I took off less than a quarter point for the poor signage and tees, so even with these aspects fixed, I doubt I'd up it to a weak 4.0, but it would be close.