Aesthetic-- plays through a large multi-use park. The area seems to be relatively DG exclusive but I believe the walking trails will be used by non-dgers as well as dgers.

Challenge-- This course is challenging fun. It may be short but it will truly test every shot in your bag. the lake shot on #3 is bitchin fun and even has a short tee for those less inclined to possibly lose plastic. another hole with a creek winding through it (#11?) has a short tee as well over the creek.

Teepads-- nice, big, level, in great shape. Concrete.

Teesigns-- basic, but informative. hole number, par, distance but no map given.

Baskets-- have seen better days but are still very usable.

Lengths-- there is such a variety of lengths here. #12 along the tracks is great but the club was burning brush in the middle of the fairway the day I was there.

Routing and nav-- reasonable. the map online was helpful and there are a few "next tee" signs around the course.

Uniqueness/water/elevation-- this course has some serious character. the water holes in the woods with the creek have some serious personality. Loved the hole playing down the creek and the one with the creek winding through it.

length-- it's a con as well. this course is quite short, especially after #13. most holes are 200 or less..

deadfall--this could be related to recent storm but there was a ton of dead fall (not leaves)

this was a very fun course and a very fast play..

+ Very nice setting for the course, complete with a pond to toss over, a stream to avoid in a couple spots, and a couple small hills to provide some necessary variety
+ There's an alternate tee for the pond hole, and it is fantastic for those who don't want to take the chance of losing a disc
+ Practice basket to get a few putts in before starting a round
+ Probably the most appropriately designated course pars of the region's courses
+ A few treacherous, unforgiving holes
+ A few holes you can make up a stroke on
+ The course "settles down" at the end and offers plenty of chances for birdies
+ Scorecards sometimes available at tee #1
+ Basic tee signs newly re-installed with hole # and distance
+ Newly installed navigational signage
+ EXPANDING (6 new holes, and at least one new long tee)
+ Tons of brush has been cleared and makes the course much more enjoyable
+ Baskets stay in place in winter

- Prone to wetness
- Vandals and graffiti
- Popular/crowded after 5pm most days

Freeland seems to be the region's favorite and most popular course. I once predicted that it wouldn't be for very long... Wickes is amazing, but with the course expanding to 24 holes, adding a couple long tees, re-installed hole and newly installed directional signage, and all the brush cleared, this course is earning itself a GREAT reputation. High hopes, I have!

Anyway, if you play it safe and hit your lines, this can definitely be a quick and fairly easy confidence-boosting course. Just don't over-complicate it. You don't need a "full bag" to play here. Drivers aren't even necessary, but helpful on two holes. That being said, if you don't hit your lines or miscalculate the landing point of your discs, you're gonna have a bad time. The rough is appropriately rough. A round can be ruined in one or two holes easily.

If you use this course to introduce players to the sport, encourage them to play it safe (forehand when the left is hazardous, backhand when the right is). Most of the holes are 250 feet or below (six holes are less than 200 feet). But even so, the trees will always keep you fighting, so it won't bore new players or be too easy for experienced players. The course is the most convenient in the area for short tournaments like the Vibram Birdie Bash, but might be too wooded for the Discraft Ace Race. One hint is that even though the layout doesn't appear this way, most of the holes can be birdied with straight shots. In fact, you could comfortably play this course with only a putter.

Another cool idea for this course is to play holes #1, #2, #3-long, then from #3's short tee back to #2's pin (pretty difficult and risky), and then move on to play #14-18. A very quick nine hole round that is especially satisfying when it's muddy since these holes don't feature the stream and typically are clear.

It does get crowded, especially when people get out of work, and is usually a bit busy on the weekend. The central location might make it a bit more popular than the peripheral courses. The local leagues are active and well-established, so that helps its popularity. Overall, it's easy to compare to the four other mid-Michigan courses. Unlike Freeland, you can bust a driver out for most of a round in Midland, which is slightly more challenging with longer wooded holes, but less fun and kind of boring. Sanford is the most challenging wooded course with seemingly longer wooded holes than both Midland and Tittabawassee, but it's not free and the course par is super generous. Memorial Park in Frankenmuth is where all of your drivers come out and distance is more important than accuracy most of the time. Wickes Woods in Saginaw is much more challenging and offers a wider variety of hole layouts. As of right now, it's the most diverse course in the area.

Thanks for reading!

- Located in a nice township park just off of 10 and right next to M-47.
- Course has good variety of RHBH and LHBH shots through the woods.
- Hole 3 is fun and provides the only hole where accuracy on your drive isn't as important as the distance on your drive.
- Good use of the landscape that is available. Elevation is used well (though there isn't a ton on this course).

- Navigation is difficult without a map, and is even somewhat difficult with a map. There are a lot of trails that go in and out of the course.
- A lot of tightly wooded shots. If you go too far from the fairway you can easily end up with a bogey or double bogey.

Worth a short trip to check out this course. If you are in the area I recommend Midland's course at Chippewa Banks as well (they are only 7 miles apart).

-good variation of BH and FH holes.
-technical and fairly tight for gamers.
-nice use of elevation in design of course.
-practice basket at hole #1

-can be a muddy mess at times.
-no signage.

as of 1-9-12, loop can be played in shoes. one of the other holes will probaly douche those shoes w mud tho, so throw straight.

Fun course with a decent variety of shots. Quite a few technical shots. Great place for a beginner to learn. Very easy to get to.

Lack of signs as well as being pretty busy are the two biggest issues. If you haven't played the course before, I highly suggest you follow someone or you will find yourself lost. I wish it had a couple more open shots and water hazards.

Very technical course, with varied terrain. Elevation changes, tight tunnel shots, and lots of trees stress the importance of disc control. A few holes let you throw some bombs, but a solid short game is key. Contrete teepads are a good length to get a decent x-step. A well kept course overall.

Quite muddy both times I played there. No tee signs or directional indicators to get to the next hole. A couple fairways are close to each other, so it can feel crowded when the course is busy. Dense foliage, so keep an eye on your disc if it heads toward the rough.

I'm looking forward to playing this course when it drys out, as I'm sure it'll be a more enjoyable experience.

After searching and searching for the Chippewa Banks park, I was pleased that finding this park was a breeze. It's very easily accessible from the north via M-47 off US-10.

The park was well kept and clean and the course was exceptionally well laid out. All but 1 tee had concrete pads. Holes of every type are well represented here, with the incredibly frustrating pinball-style wooded holes #1 and #2, a couple of wide-open holes, most notably #12 toward the railroad tracks, the scary water hole #3 (which does have an alternate tee pad that eliminates the water hazard but makes the hole a blind left around a big hill), and several holes with tight fairways and big penalties for missed throws. The few elevations changes on the property were put to great use, making for some beautiful signature holes in the middle of the course. The elevated basket on the side slope on #7 (I think) was a killer and the elevated tee on #8 left you hoping you didn't shank your drive onto the tops of the bushes in the rough below, plus water in play on #5 and #10 adds extra challege. The tight, straight #11 left me cursing after 2 drives landed way up in the trees to the right and the 3rd landed down in the ditch on the left. Ace opportunities abound on the last 4 holes with shorter distances and fairly obvious fairways through the trees.

The rough in most areas has been well thinned and trampled making errant throws not a total disaster.

All-in-all, almost every hole was memorable in some way and this has the makings of a top-notch course.

No signage of any kind was my biggest pet-peeve. No real course kiosk, no next tee signs, and no tee markers left us frustrated and grumbling much of the time. Other DGers helped point the way, but I hated having to interrupt their game to ask directions, and few things cheese me more than having to wander around looking for a tee pad. In fact, after asking directions from others yet again, I neglected to pick up my rare 150 class Monarch.....argh!!! While printing and taking the map helped to some extent, there are enough other 2-tracks and hiking trails throughout the park that routes to the next tee or basket weren't obvious.

It looked like one of the tee pads had to be dug up for the installation of new drainage tiles throughout the park. Finding it proved to be a real headache.

The "No Entry at any Time" sign on the pond really put a damper on my excitement for finally throwing over open water. I know my drive would end up short and a floater doesn't do any good if you can't wade out to get it! Boo.

This course definitely has the potential to be a 4 - 4.5 disc course. The course itself was fun, interesting, and challenging, but it takes more than just great hole layout to truly make the cut for me. Tee/next tee signage is a "must" and benches in key places would be a plus.

***Update***
A second trip through the course with some knowledge of the course layout was a MUCH more pleasant experience! We were able to concentrate on the fun and challenge of each individual hole without being frustrated by trying to figure out where the basket was and stressing about where to go next. The missing tee pad has since been replaced, as well. Hubby (his first time at the course) agreed, however, that had he not had us leading the way, he would have given up trying to find his way around by hole 4, and he's not easily frustrated by things like that.

This is a mostly technical course, with a few holes that are good for opening up. The tight woods and variety of elevation in the front 9 will keep your score high, but the back nine is bread and butter. It's a good course to practice tight skill shots with a little water thrown in.

It can be frustrating. I've played here more times than I can remember, but some of the holes have the ability to skyrocket bogies. The water over #3 is not for beginners. The course is low and can get very muddy and infested with bugs on some holes.

This is my hometown course, and I used to despise playing it. I've actually grown to like it more and more as my game improves. It's worth checking out if you're in the Tri-Cities.

Only been able to play here once a few years ago so I'm not an expert on this course. It was a real nice, fun place to play, even in November. No bugs, no leaves, no big groups, not super hot/humid. Just a partly cloudy day in the 40's with a light wind and and inch of snow on the ground.

PROS
1. Woods ~ Nice place to bring the mids. No boring wide-open and empty fields. Only a couple real tight spots to worry about. Couple holes require a cannon to shoot over like the pond/lake.

2. Good Variety of Interesting Holes ~ Lots of little hills and narrow alleys of trees mixed it up to make a real challenge for every skill level. Some nice elevated shots that you don't get at every other course. Teeing off one of the ridges down to the pin was a highlight for me. I also liked the foot bridges crossing the ditches.

3. Kid-friendly Park ~ The course was not extremely long, which worked out for our younger ones that can't quite make it through those 27-hole mega-courses. Playground and BB courts, Port-a-john etc on site too.

4. Good Use of Available Land ~ The park is a medium sized local park with most of the other activities near the front-end. The course maximizes the land allowed very well and is the perfect size for the community.

5. Location ~ There are a few other courses nearby to check out. This also helps the DG community to remain strong will helping reduce the enviromental impact from overcrowding at the course

It's been a while since I was here so these cons could be outdated or fixed by now...

CONS
1. No Course Maps Available at Park ~ We printed one from dgcoursereview and it saved us from getting lost. Thanks for the heads up.

2. Intimidating and Risky Shots Over Large Pond ~ Some people might lose a disc or two over the lake/pond. It was a little windy on Thanksgiving so we just played that one short. Heard a kid drowned there a year or two ago. Not worth it.

3. Nature Trails Through Course ~ There must be walking trails through the middle of the course. We were the only DGers there and we ran accross a few couples taking a stroll down some side-trails. Not really a con but they could've been hurt.

4. No Tee Signage ~ Tee signs were not in yet either. Luckily the map we got from dgcr saved the day for us again.

5. Slow Drainage ~ Standing water on the hole near the RR tracks made it a little interesting. A few places here and there were bad but most of the course was okay.

Would like to play here again in the summer on a nicer day and in better conditionsto so I can give this place a higher rating. Hopefully the cons will be fixed by then if they haven't been already.

Don't forget to print a course map and check it out sometime.

Great variety of holes with close straight shots, very tightly wooded, some water. One thing that this course has that many wooded courses don't is hills. There is more then just threading it through trees, you also have to throw over hills as well.

Some holes are so wooded that threading the disc through is many times a matter of luck.

Fun course and makes for a challenging game. Not for a beginner.

--This isn't like any other course you've ever played I can garuntee you that! Tittabawassee Trails is in a clean park with good maintenance. Every hole has nice concrete tee pads. The hole variety here is moslty wooded but has a few open holes aswell, also the woods arn't too overwellming. The land is utilized well for variety, you'll need all types of shots (I use a bigger selection of discs here than most courses).

Course Navigation--
No Signs, but if you print out the map you will be 100% fine, if you dont print a map it will be impossible to navigate if youve never played.

--Only thing holding this course back from a 4.0/4.5 rating is good signage.

Hazards--
Train tracks // Big bomb over pond on hole #3 // Small creek on hole #5 // small marsh (usually dried up) on left side of Hole #11.

--This is the closest course from Bay City.