Ypsilanti, MI

Water Works Park DGC

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2.195(based on 24 reviews)
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5 0
Stardoggy
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 12.8 years 1009 played 214 reviews
2.00 star(s)

Sketchy, but fun. 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Mar 12, 2016 Played the course:once

Pros:

9 hole course in a city park in Ypsilanti, MI.

Chainstar baskets, all in decent enough shape, even if a bit old. One pin position per hole.

Most holes had 2 or 3 tee pads. Most of them were simply further back, but also introduced additional obstacles.

Lots of mature trees all over the fairways, which helps to force lines if you want to score well. I thought the fairways were well defined and fair, but relatively challenging.

A decent variation of distance, even if the longest holes were a bit open. I especially liked hole 9's forced low shot. You'll really need to pull low, flat and hard to get close.

Water COULD come into play, but it would be off a horrible throw, or a really bad kick. Mostly, it's scenic...or as scenic as a scummy river can be.

Cons:

Natural tee pads, and most of them were in somewhat rough shape. Rutted, pitted, etc.

No tee signs, but the flow was generally good. There were a couple spots on the last few holes that you had to so some searching for the blocks in the ground.

I wish there was a nicer way to put this, but Water Works is a dump. Garbage everywhere and just a generally scuzzy feel to the place. Man, just piles of garbage.

I'll try to be as nice about this as possible, but the crowd here isn't exactly the creme de la creme. I was honestly a bit leery about leaving my non-hoopty vehicle in the parking lot. The people I talked to were nice enough, but it seems that the clientele here are the people that can't afford a car to get over to Rolling Hills.

Also, I don't know if I mentioned this, but man is there a lot of trash here. I'm pretty sure I saw a few bum dens, and I have to imagine some pretty nefarious dealings occur here after dark.

Other Thoughts:

While the golf here is relatively fun, it's hard to encourage anybody to go play here. Maybe late morning, after the bums have cleared out to go find their daily fix, and before the criminals have started their days.

This is the type of course that you only play if you're a local (like within two blocks), have nothing to lose, or feel like you must play every course in existence. I fall into the latter category, and while I've been to some pretty sketchy areas for throwing frisbees, this is pretty close to the top of the list.

Just don't go. Go hit Rolling Hills and have a blast there...or drive a little and hit some of the other great courses in the area.
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2 1
24chains
Experience: 26.7 years 78 played 4 reviews
2.00 star(s)

Pirates Bay 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:May 5, 2012 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

- Hardly played by the rest of the world, This little 9 hole sits in a seedy part of town yes but has potential to be a decent 3-star course with a little leg work. Open holes yes but wind comes into effect making even those not so easy on gusty days. Short in the wood holes yes, But water comes into play on some and will make you choose wisely.
This course is great to work on your tunnel shots and open field bombs.

Cons:

Two Words for this course..
GanG-Starr..
Seedy 'Hood - Check
Sketchy "Fishermen" on water holes - Check
Obvious vagrant campsites - Check

But this course is still a decent pit stop off the highway and a great place to work on short game and open field bombs.

Other Thoughts:

For a course long forgotten by the city it is the locals and leagues that are doing the work to get this park back into shape. We are taking the steps to correct the issues with tee pads and signage, course maintenance from the city is mowing when they can so it falls on the Disc Golfers to step up and help maintain the area. Pack in and Pack out your garbage and that will start to help out.
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5 0
AKormendi
Bronze level trusted reviewer
Experience: 25.7 years 65 played 27 reviews
2.00 star(s)

PRINT A COURSE MAP 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Nov 26, 2010 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

-Right by the Huron River
-Never busy
-Open to 10pm, suitable for night golf. I've played later, without harrasment, too. The park mostly gets ignored.
-Baskets in good condition.
-Woods fairways well defined, giving 5 short holes of reasonably challenging finesse golf.
-4 field holes give big arms a chance to spread out a little, providing much larger distances than you see on most 9 holers in the area.
-Scenic, when clean.

Cons:

-Dirt/grass teepads. Or today, mud.
-No signs for the field holes, if you want any idea where to tee off in the field, you'll need a course map. Woods tees easier to find. Short tees are not on the course map, but there is evidence of them existing at some point, and they can be found in the woods. Nonetheless, short tees easy to create in the field, since the holes are wide open.
-Very little intereresting about field shots. Obstacles hardly come into play.
-Park often used during the summer for non-disc golf activities. May render a couple field holes unplayable.
-Trash. Wind blows it in from residential areas on the bad side of Ypsi. Local players don't seem to respect the course, either. Not always bad, but frequently so.
-Burrs. During the right season, there are seas of burdock waiting to stick to your clothes and bag. Clear right now, though.
-Pretty much flat. Two baskets on very small hills, no height to throw off.

Other Thoughts:

This course has a lot going for it. It's got river. It's got space. It has some decent woods area.

It's never going to be a great course though.
It's too open in most of it, and too flat. But mostly, it just has too much competition. In any other area, this would be a serviceable course, and likely would have gotten attention from the local disc golfers to solve its problems. Its worst issue is the lack of teepads. Without a dozen great courses nearby, people would have come together to put concrete down, or at least have played it enough to pack the dirt down and show where they are. As it is, it's a mystery for a lot of it. This course has 5 really nice holes with 2-6, but hole 1 and holes 7-9 have you throwing across empty space with little to modify your approach. So as it stands, you've got very little exciting golf in an area filled with exciting golf in greater concentrations. Unless a giant hill sprouts up, or the park picks up some property on the other side of the river to make some exciting water holes (neither of which are likely to happen) this course just doesn't have the chops to compete with the rest of the Ann Arbor area's outstanding disc golf.

Still, if you're local, and bored, there's 5 good holes here that you probably haven't played.
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3 1
DiscGolfinTheD
Experience: 20 years 21 played 15 reviews
2.00 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:May 25, 2009 Played the course:once

Pros:

Nice layout with a mix up of holes, 4 in the woods, 5 in the field, Mostly open but the woods were fun to shoot.

Cons:

Beware the river although its only 1 hole, NO TEES! the hardest part about this course was the complete lack of tee boxes anywhere, Also once you get into the field its little hard to distinguish were the start spots and which direction the holes flow.

Other Thoughts:

I think if there was a little bit of upkeep mainly around just creating tees this course has the potential to be a fun day out, its not too challenging in the field due to no trees or other obstructions but the woods were fun to play thru.
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4 0
NEWBY1151
Experience: 19.9 years 100 played 39 reviews
2.00 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 12, 2008 Played the course:once

Pros:

Not busy,good mix of holes for a 9 hole course 3 or 4 holes are wide open the rest are in the woods,water in play on 2 holes but not only if you have a bad throw,

Cons:

I personally didn't really like this course I was bored pretty quick but I only played it once,no signs,course layout was a little confusing after #3 you have to walk back down the fairway to get to #4 I missed it and walked around for a while,some of the wooded holes had thick rough you could lose a disc,not very challenging,natural tees,wooded holes had dual tees that didn't really change the hole or the challenge,lots of bugs,9 holes,

Other Thoughts:

If I lived closer to this course I would use it for practice but I don't think I will be playing it again
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3 0
zatch_5412
Experience: 16 years 6 played 2 reviews
2.00 star(s)

Meh... 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 3, 2008 Played the course:never

Pros:

Half the holes are located in an open field, with the other half located in a small clump of woods along the Huron River.

A few of the wooded holes can provide a nice challenge.

Cons:

no signs for any of the holes and it can be pretty confusing trying to figure out exactly where you are supposed to shoot from, and what you're shooting at (Hole #7 appears to be missing a basket, with a large stick in the ground instead).

The holes in the open are really just baskets far away from a tee. No obstacles to navigate, and you have so much room you can pretty much throw anywhere and be fine. Maybe some people will like that, but I thought it was pretty boring.

Other Thoughts:

The amount of 3 leaved vegetation in the wooded areas left me constantly wondering what I was putting my hand into when going after my disc sometimes. Bring bug spray. Don't throw in the river on Hole #2!
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