Pros:
- Great atmosphere
- Well maintained
- Fantastic golf with excellent shot variety
- Circle tee-pads
- Great use of water features
- Just plain nice looking property
- Close to downtown Rochester and associated amenities
Cons:
- Tee-pads are crushed stone/gravel and prone to rutting
- Tick city during tick season(s)
- A bit lacking in on course amenities due to location
- The road in can be tough on vehicles (not a course con, but a fact none the less)
Other Thoughts:
Created by local designer and course guru Dennis Grzywacz of Acme Disc Golf, Salmon Falls reflects the love, sweat, and experience that has been poured into it. Set in the surprisingly beautiful woods of Rochester, NH, Salmon Falls DGC takes full advantage of the land with sweeping field shots, winding wooded fairways, and constant flirting with the Salmon Falls River. To get there is an adventure in itself, as the road leading into the course goes from paved to dirt, then from defined dirt road to meandering sandy path through a dusty wilderness. Dennis has placed marker signs to guide the way, but they aren't glaringly obvious and are at wide enough intervals that a first time visitor will begin to feel lost here and there. The sandy road is rife with divots and stones, so take it easy on your way in. Fortunately, as long as you follow the signs the club kiosk and parking area will present itself soon enough. Hole 18 will be apparent on the right side of the parking area and doubles as a practice basket when not in use. There is also an extensive field the is used for hole 1's fairway but that is large enough for out of the way driving practice as well. The field is left long during hay season and a central hub for bloodsucking arachnids during tick season, and as such is not always a convenient warm up spot.
Follow the signs to hole 1 and you're off to an excellent round (or two) of golf. From hole 1's open air bomb into the wood line to hole 17's punishingly long and tightly wooded lines, you'll get a little of everything in your coming round. Each drive is a unique look, and you'll have a blast trying to figure out which shots work best for you. While challenging, Salmon Falls is designed to allow multiple routes on each hole, and the large, circular tee pads facilitate this quite well. The flow of the course is well designed, and there is a good mix and distribution of the short, long, wooded, and open holes. Just when you start to tire of longer, wooded shots, SFDGC hits you with a short, more open par 3 followed by two tougher 3s that make you deal with elevation changes and tough greens. Tired of flirting with the water in the 12,13,14 stretch? Well no worries because it's time for the 500ft open plateau shot that stretches along the ridge that runs from hole 1's tee pad to hole 18's. Never are you playing more than 3 holes in a row that are at all similar, and it makes for a refreshing round.
Although the tee-pads have held up well, they're made of crushed stone/gravel and ruts have formed in some of them. Nothing devastating, but some drives will be affected if you take the most popular lines.
While it is usually content to lurk on the edges of the fairway or through a curtain of rough and trees, the Salmon Falls River is a common presence on many of the holes. Nowhere is the river more expertly used than on holes 12 and 13, which shoot out onto and then back from a peninsula formed by the river's 180 bend. 13 in particular is in strong contention for signature hole here with a daring par 3 that shoots over the river and uphill into the woods. It should be noted that Dennis and the locals are very good about retrieving and returning lost discs, and there's a better chance here of receiving your plastic back than at Bellamy Park or Squam nearby.
Anyone playing New England disc golf will know to keep a vigilant eye out for ticks, but Salmon Falls warrants a reminder. The secluded nature of the course combined with a proximity to clean water means that wildlife is prevalent. As such, so are the ticks that prey on said wildlife. When the field is long and ticks are in season, it's not uncommon to pick up 3+ of the little bastards by the end of the first hole. It's usually less bad in the wooded sections of the course, but not so much that you should relax your guard. I mention this not to scare anyone off, but to make sure that those looking to tackle the course in tick season are ready with countermeasures and vigilance.
When it's all said and done, Salmon Falls DGC is a prime course that will only get better over time. The land has an excellent steward in Dennis (and his Dad and canine companion) and looks better than the small crew of curators would indicate. A second set of equally challenging tees to help balance out any perceived "lefty" or "righty" bias is in the works, and eventual gold and rec tees have been discussed as well. The tees are cool while less than ideal, and the ticks can be a scourge, but in the end what it boils down to is that SFDGC provides excellent golf in a laid back, relaxing, New Hampshire atmosphere with good people. Do yourself a favor and take the ride over. You won't regret it!