Madison, WI

Yahara Hills DGC

2.95(based on 5 reviews)
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Yahara Hills DGC reviews

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13 1
Stardoggy
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 13.3 years 1038 played 214 reviews
2.50 star(s)

Another winter option 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Jan 12, 2017 Played the course:once

Pros:

18 hole course set up on and around the Yahara golf course, on the east side of Madison.

DGA baskets, all mounted well enough. One pin position per hole. They catch well enough, but are an older model, and they feel a bit smaller, as far as the chain setup goes. They're fine, though.

NIce use of the trees/small hills that abound from holes 5-14. Nothing crazy hard, but they're at least used well enough to provide some obstacles to throw around.

A little bit of water, but being a winter course in WI, it'll usually be frozen over.

Decent variety in distance, but mostly in the 250-300 range. Hole 12 is probably the standout hole, IMO. Nice longish (370 or so) anny type shot around the pond, with plenty of bailout area for the faint of heart.

Plenty of parking, and a nice kiosk at the start.

Cons:

$5/day, or included with the yearly pass. A little stiff for the person that doesn't have a pass.

The tee pads suck. Rubber and lumpy and yuck. The time could have at least been taken to level out the ground below the pads, especially in the disc-only area that houses most of the course.

Navigation is a nightmare for the first timer. If we wouldn't have had a map, we would have been screwed. There are posts in the ground, but no signs attached to them. In the back area, it's decently designed, but there's still a lot of baskets in view from a lot of the tees. Bring your map.

Other Thoughts:

If this were a full time course, it would be a 2.0 all the way. Being it's winter only, in an area that starves for winter golf, it gets a bump. I also assume some sort of signage will get installed, so I kind of give a pass there, as well.

Not a course I'll probably be back to, and if I lived in the area, I'd be at Birds Ruins for my winter golf needs 99 times out of 100. It's not terrible, and at least provides another option for locals.
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7 1
VictorB
Experience: 19.2 years 95 played 14 reviews
2.50 star(s)

New course, could use improvement 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jan 7, 2017 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

For Madison metro golfers, the big plus about this course is that it's actually open in the winter time! Although it plays around a golf course/driving area, the land is primarily dedicated to disc golf this time of year - the golf course is closed so you won't see anyone out there but disc golfers.

Decent use of the land, and for the small area they were given it was used about to it's maximum, and has a decent variety of shots to play from the tee. Not a long course by any means, which isn't necessarily bad for winter golfing since layering up means you probably won't be throwing as far. Hole 1 is particularly tricky with the distance, elevation, and the difficult landing area on the green.

Cons:

I'd really like to see rubber tee pads replaced with astroturf or possibly concrete. Permanent solutions like concrete probably won't fly just because a few of the tees are actually at the edges of the driving range, and the city probably doesn't want them there. Grippier tee material should be heavily considered in the future, since there's almost always moisture on the mats except in the coldest of conditions. The ground underneath is also very uneven and doesn't inspire a lot of confidence.

No trash cans or benches, but the course is short enough where neither should really be a problem.

Other Thoughts:

This is the first year this course is in the ground, and it's a winter time only course for the area so it wont' be available when the city/county parks open back up later in spring. Even if it was, better courses in the area would likely seriously limit the foot traffic at Yahara. Not a course that's going to really wow anyone and could use a few Quality of Life type improvements like safer tee pads, but it's an open course in Madison in the winter and that at the very least is a step in the right direction. Except for a couple of holes, it has a very 'basic' feel to it - a few trees here and there to throw around, a few water hazards to avoid, one or two holes well over 350' - but you could bring out a midrange and putter to this course and play it pretty well in my opinion.
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