Lake Forest Church has installed a short little 9 hole course. It used to be a target style course playing in a loop to labeled 4x4 posts in the ground. Recently the church has installed 9 Axiom Lite baskets. Hole 1 starts on top of a hill to the left of the church, if you are facing the church from the parking lot.

At first glance the course seemed like it was going to be completely flat, but I actually found out that there was some elevation involved in the course, which helped create some fun shots. Hole 1 is a fun downhill shot with a decent amount of air room to shape your shot. Hole 3 brings risk/reward into play by having the basket on top of a berm. Hole 4's tee shot is a downhill throw from the same berm. Hole 9 is short, but plays uphill. All of these things add up to a surprising amount of elevation in play during a round.

The hole has a wide range of distances. I used a GPS and clocked the shortest hole around 75' long, making for a nice ace run. However, according to my GPS, the longest hole is over 400' long. This meant the shot would require a distance driver to reach the basket from the tee - at least for us non-touring mortals. Since I was using a beat up Aviar Big Bead, it took me 2 good throws to reach the basket.

Holes 7 & 8 play in an area cut out of a pine forest, across a couple of detention ponds. These holes were some of my favorites, and felt the most secluded.

As with many church courses, the course is going to lack amenities of other courses, such as benches, nice tee signs, trash cans, and restrooms.The course will also see weekly closures on Sundays until 1pm. However, the course is also effectively closed anytime the church is having a function that will bring cars into the parking lot, as Holes 3, 4, & 5 throw over the lot. If you choose to play here, bring a disc/discs that you don't mind tearing up.

Hole 1 throws over one of the entrance roads, but players should have more than enough time to see if cars are coming. Hole 6, plays along the same road, and an errant drive could end up in the parking lot.

There is some disc loss potential, mainly to the left of Hole 6's fairway. The rough is very tall, thick, and has a few thorns. It probably wouldn't be a guaranteed lost disc, but there is the chance. If you are playing with a beginner, it is likely best to have a spotter.

Holes 3 & 5 have crossing fairways, and all of the tees are right next to baskets. While this course will likely never see the kind of traffic to really highlight these issues - they are worth keeping in mind.

The Axiom Lite baskets look good, and will probably hold up decently well for a while since the course probably won't see daily use.However, they could probably be secured better.

Lake Forest Church has some fun shots and would be a great beginner course, but all of this is marred by the fact that 45% of the distance thrown on this course is done over a large, asphalt parking lot. The course was likely designed as a way to spend time with youth groups using cheap, generic frisbees. However, if you live in the area and are trying to bag a course and/or have a disc you don't mind tearing up, you'll likely find some interesting shots to throw at Lake Forest Church.

Having never rated a course with so much parking lot in play, I am torn on what to rate it. For now I am giving it a 1.0 rating. If the course didn't play over the church's parking lot, I would have given it a higher rating. Despite the redeeming qualities the parking lot holes had, they just didn't quite cut it for me. The rest of the course is pretty solid though.

Favorite Hole: 7