Pros:
Poor House Farm is a wonderful mid-range course. With some wonderful views and one long stroll through the woods, this was a fantastically delightful round of disc golf.
- The course has a great beginning, a picturesque middle, and a signature closing. As for the rest of the course? It all felt eerily similar, and yet, it's still fun.
- Holes #2 &3 are both upshot layouts, leading you up the hill where you'll spend the next 14 holes. #4 is an excellent hole: a slight downhill layout at 251 feet (short tee) with OB all along the left side. I had a great view of the sunrise over the fields from here.
- Most of the course plays in fields that are shielded by woods on both sides of the fairways. If you get off the fairway, you'll may be searching for your disc for a while and/or having impossible shots getting back onto the fairway. Normally that's a negative. Here it isn't simply because the fairways are extremely wide that you shouldn't have an excuse for missing it.
- Don't let the scenery fool you, though, on #11. There's an apple orchard running the left side of the fairway (it also runs along #14). In terms of narrower fairways, this is one of the tighter ones. Enjoy the great view of the orchard and the mountains beyond it. Just don't lose focus on your round.
- The wooded section of the course doesn't offer a lot of variety, especially on holes #5 - 10. It really felt like six straight holes where I was throwing a mid-range or fairway driver on each hole, with each one being a dogleg left or dogleg right. With those holes only ranging in length from 251 to 297 feet, you'll see why it'll start feeling repetitive.
- The wooded holes on the back 9 do offer a lot more variety. The terrain changes - more elevation is in play; there are tighter fairways; hole lengths vary more; and there's a greater emphasis on risk/reward tee shots. If you get lulled to sleep on the front 9, you better snap out of it, or you'll be in for a long back 9.
- Hole #17 was a fun, tight, short hole that looks tougher than it plays. It's a 211-foot tee shot over a narrow fairway to a slightly raised, small landing area. My tee shot landed on the wrong side of the landing area, but when I got to my disc, I realized I only had a 20-foot putt for birdie. This is a well-designed hole that's the precursor to the grand finale.
- I hate to say this course is all about one hole, but #18 is truly a notch or two above everything else here. When the future NBA star is dominating opposing players a foot shorter than him; when the future NFL running back is scoring 7 touchdowns a game on his varsity team, you tend to notice the disparity. What you have at Poor House is a sharp downhill, slightly dogleg right layout. The x-factor here is the thick, unforgiving rough that runs along the fairway. If you start your tee shot too far left in hopes of sweeping it back right, good luck finding a disc in that thicket. I've played downhill closing holes before that are steeper, longer, more visual. I've yet to play one with the risk/reward factor and high 'lost disc' factor as this one. It's the simple brilliance that makes this hole stand out.
- Course is completely isolated from the rest of the park. The setup of this park, and the walk towards the first hole is one of the most enjoyable, scenic setups I've played. You really get the sense of small town pleasantries with its design.
Cons:
The biggest negative here is the redundancy; the monotony; the redundancy. Holes #5 - 10 really all looked and played relatively the same. The thick woods, and wide fairways, created the same look six consecutive holes.
- There is a discrepancy on correct lengths from the tee signs vs the online maps. At times, the tee signs seemed right; other times it was the online map. Most of the times the two distances were essentially the same. Other times, they were far apart.
- The walk down the hill on #18 is a bit tricky. If the ground is wet, this walk could become adventuresome. Just be careful and wear good shoes. A lost disc and a fall on #18 would really put a damper on a round.
- It would have been nice to see more variety in hole lengths. One longer hole - a par 4 or par 5 - would stand out. Even a short, ace-run hole would stand out as something different.
Other Thoughts:
- My first round at Poor House is like watching the Usual Suspects for the first time. The entire experience is solid; but, the giant plot twist at the end lifts the entire experience. Now that I've played here once, I'm worried future outings will feel like 17 holes worth of Stephen Baldwin and Kevin Pollak, just to find out that #18 is Keyser Soze.
- This course was right up there with my favorite short to mid-range courses played. The fact you can navigate the course, and shot a good score, even without throwing any distance, is a nice change of pace.
- I played this course early the morning after playing Woodshed and Whippin' Post. Parks and Rec says the course opens at daylight. It was light out by 5:30 in the morning. Standing on the first hole, teeing off at 6:05 in the morning was a great experience. Finishing a round, and back in my truck by 7:15, now that's how you start a day!
- This is a course that you'll probably score a whole lot better the second time around. Once you figure hole layouts, expect big improvement. At least that's my rationalization my less than stellar round.
- I'd play this course again. For a 'simpler' course, this was a fun one. It achieved its goal of being an exceptional shorter course. I wish more courses were as well executed as this one.