Akron, PA

Roland Park

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3.745(based on 29 reviews)
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14 0
Ryal
Gold level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 6.8 years 216 played 182 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Roland Park For A Lark

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 18, 2022 Played the course:once

Pros:

+ Tee signs at every hole are clear and accurate.
+ Scenic and popular venue.
+ Play switches from mostly open in the first twelve to mostly wooded for the rest with plenty of slopes and hills all throughout.
+ Numbered baskets have color-coded 'next' arrows attached, but...

Cons:

- ...those arrows aren't always reliable as they tend to be more general nudges than specific walking directions.
- The tee pads are small and made of a variety of materials, with lumpy rubber making up the majority.
- Some serious copy-pasting of holes.

Other Thoughts:

I liked looking at hole13 because after twelve holes of mainly wide open fields, it was gratifying to see a small bounding valley filled with trees. When I first saw that fairway, I said aloud, "Now this is more like it!" And among those wooded holes, I liked the look of hole16 because it resembled some kind of outdoor royal atrium. I personally didn't like hole6. A narrow fairway snakes in between a huge watery OB area on the right and tennis courts with dense shrubs on the left.

As a whole, Roland Park is a great place to practice whatever kind of disc golf you enjoy. I'll skip to the end for a second and say that it gets a strong recommendation regardless if you prefer wide open or dense wooded fairways because both are present in roughy equal measure.

It might not feel like it, though.

The carefree, breezey wide open fairways screech to a halt after hole12. After one look at hole13's fairway, I knew that I wouldn't be returning to grassy fields again. That's good for me because I like foresty disc golf, but I acknowledge that many players out there might find the repetitive nature of the wooded holes to be tedious and played out. Those players might be happy to find out that some of those holes have fairways wide enough to accommodate more aggressive throws, but I would be lying if I said that some of those other fairways aren't ridiculously constrictive, concerningly slanted for a rollaway and somewhat irritating overall.

My favorite hole to play was hole18 precisely because the tree cover was so densely bonkers along that uphill heave. It resembled a life-sized game of pachinko, and I loved trying to sneak my way through it. Most of the other forested holes aren't like that, but they might grate against a player's patience with so many similarly wooded holes all in a row. You might dislike it for the same reason that I did like it.

I have my complaints, though. The infrastucture needs to catch up to the rest of the course. For example, something should be done about those tee pads. All of them are pretty tiny, and the flat thin rubber on the wooded holes take the shape of whatever rocks, roots and soil lie beneath. That's not safe or comfortable to use for wind-ups. I wished there were better guiding signage in between holes. Also, I guess two of the holes are out of play? During my round in mid-June 2022, basket9 was surrounded by lots of caution tape, so I felt discouraged from throwing, and basket11 was removed entirely. I suppose that means the course is undergoing a few updates, but that's a good thing, right?

In closing, yes, you will be satisfied with Roland Park. Some of the tree-filled holes might test your patience, the tees underfoot might make you nervous, and you might feel a little lost during your first playthrough. But the golfing itself presents twenty-seven holes of the kinds of challenges that most disc golfers could want. Up, down, fade left, fade right, and so forth. Roll up to Roland and see for yourself.

By the way, most of the tee signs say "Loyd H. Roland Park," but a few of them say "Ronald Boltz." Why?
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2 2
ditrynn
Experience: 3 played 3 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Needs new tee pads 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Mar 6, 2022 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Mix of open and wooded technical holes.

Cons:

Tee Pads are terrible. Slippery, undulating in some cases. This course would be one of the top in the area with new tee pads. Preferably tiled or poured but not rubber mats.
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14 0
HyooMac
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 6.7 years 415 played 380 reviews
3.50 star(s)

14 of 27 holes are very good! 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Feb 21, 2022 Played the course:once

Pros:

A 27 hole park layout that switches halfway through from wide open to very wooded.



+ The first 11 holes are fine, if not very memorable. They take advantage of elevation changes, but they're mostly wide open field holes. The two worth noting are #6 (playing uphill with a slight dogleg right through a tree gap, with OB early on the right), and #9 (directly across the pond requiring only 180' or so to clear it, but it's right there in your face)


+ Starting with #13, you're in deep woods, and the next 14 holes throw a wide range of tests at you: distance with accuracy, controlling elevated shots, doglegs and marked OB. It's really a different course - and I suspect repeat players just play the "back 18" layout on uDisc


Cons:

- The basket for #11 has been pulled by request of the park (it's a high tee throwing down into an area with car and walker traffic, so I'm guessing it's a safety concern). Signage says it will be fixed, but for now, there are only 26 holes


- Deeply-wooded hole #18 has a set of incredibly tight gaps (10' or less?) pretty much the whole way. The basket is hidden because you're throwing uphill. I walked the hole a few times, and I'm still not sure there's a throwing line to be found. It just felt like a poorly-designed hole in the midst of 15 really good ones


- Signage is great, and baskets are old but still catch. The real problem is teepads: the wooded holes feature rubber or natural, and they're uneven, old, and probably pretty slick when wet. They're serviceable, but they vary too much for holes that are this good. The "front 11" in the open park are poured. They're aging, and they're really short. Any runup at all requires a start a few paces behind the concrete


- A main walking path in the woods will come into play on a few holes

Other Thoughts:

~ Many of the holes feature Gold baskets and/or tees (the shorter layout is Silver). They didn't seem to make much of a difference on the open holes, but they really add to the layout (distance and accuracy - some late doglegs or angles) in the woods. The Golds make Roland really attractive for multiple plays


~ Roland Park is one of those courses where the overall rating is an average between the high and the low. The initial holes make for a course that's average at best (2.5 or 3.0, depending on your comparison set), and the wooded holes make a course that's so much better (a 4.0 to me, with a slight deduction for the tees). Regardless of rating, I really do recommend this course: there's "something for everyone", and the Gold baskets really add a lot for intermediate and up


~ Lastly: cart-friendly if you don't mind hills. There were very few places a cart can't go, but you're going to be pulling it up and down some pretty big hills
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9 1
jamespenn
Silver level trusted reviewer
Experience: 4 years 33 played 34 reviews
2.50 star(s)

A pleasant park course 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Nov 23, 2021 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

The holes in the woods are fun and difficult without being too bizarre.

Pretty easy to navigate once you find the first tee.

Hilly but no real severe up or downslopes. Easy to get around

Wasn't busy.

The last 9 holes are really excellent holes.

Unless you throw it in a pond, or way left on #27, you're probably not in any danger of losing a disc. At this time of year the brush on the sides of the fairways is pretty sparse so you can see where your disc goes.

I like that there are many options where to start and finish. You can easily start and finish at 4-5 different spots and be close to your car. You aren't trapped into playing all 27 holes. #1, #2, #5, #9, #10, #11, #12, #19 tees are all close to the parking lot.

Cons:

The tees are bad. Real bad.

Other than #2, the first 11 holes are just sort of sitting in a field with no real difficulty other than length.

The last 9 holes are really good holes, but there is a walking path through them that is tough to see sometimes, so you do need to check if anyone is there.

There are a lot of leaves on the fairways that your disc can slide under, so keep an eye out for that. It's easy to get to where your disc is only to have to dig around in leaves to find it.

Other Thoughts:

I live in Lebanon so I'm pretty spoiled with South Hills, Lenni Lenape and Jackson Park all within 10 minutes. Roland Park is 27 holes and is kind of a combination of all three of those Lebanon courses. The first 11 holes are mostly in an open field with some water hazards, which is like Jackson Park. Then you have 12-18 which are in some deep woods without defined fairways, which is similar to Lenni Lenape. The last 9 holes of the course are by far the best, through the woods but there are pleasantly wide playing corridors. If you keep the disc in front of you, it's not crushingly difficult, like South Hills. South Hills isn't a woods course, but there are enough trees that if you get off line, you've got some problems.

The main problem here are the tees. The first 11 holes have tees that are just too short. They are often perched on top of mounds so there is no real way to run up. You are pretty much just taking one step forward and launching it. They are cement, but they're old and slippery.

Once you get into the woods, the tees change to rubber mats, which are of a decent size, but they aren't level, they follow the slope of the ground, and it's often uphill. I wouldn't say this was necessarily bad, it did add to the challenge, but if you're going to be aggravated by tees that aren't perfectly level, then be forewarned.

I'd consider the first 10 holes to be a warmup, and then the course really starts on 11. The only really "bad" hole is #18 where there is nothing but a wall of trees in front of you. It's OK as a par 4 to the gold basket but playing it as a par 3 to the silver basket is playing Plinko.

The course has silver and gold tees and silver and gold baskets, although on a few holes, the silver and gold tees are at the same spot, and not every hole has two baskets. I enjoyed the silver tees to the gold baskets the most. There's more variety, and often the long par 3s to the silver basket become strategic but not particularly long par 4s to the gold basket. Gold tees to gold baskets is a serious challenge.

Be careful on the last hole, it's easy to go left and it'll take a while to find your disc if you do.

If they ever put in standard size, level teeing areas, this becomes a 4.0 course instead of 2.5.
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2 8
DCriola
Experience: 22 played 16 reviews
4.00 star(s)

lots of holes to play 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:May 4, 2021 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

So many different holes and shotsWide open and wooded

Cons:

Mostly wooded holes

Other Thoughts:

It's fun and there are so many holes you can switch it up each time you go play
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3 2
Bswetland01
Experience: 8 played 1 reviews
4.00 star(s)

One of my favorites 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 28, 2018 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Well maintained, many options (both short and long baskets and/or tees on most holes). Open on the front 11, wooded on 12-27. Good variation.

Cons:

Some thorns in the thicker wooded areas. Certain areas make it hard to find misthrown discs.

Other Thoughts:

One of my favorites. Front 11 open make it great for beginners, back 12-27 wooded and more technical for more experienced players. All around a really nice course.
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9 0
itsRudy
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 7.7 years 73 played 62 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Fun and Versatile Course 2+ years

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Apr 4, 2019 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

Roland Park is a 27 hole course (not sure why new sign says 18?) with the front 11 taking place on open grass and 12-27 taking place in the forest with good fairways. It's two courses in one and given the length, it might be preferable to play one or the other.

Nearly all of the forest holes have two baskets, silver (short) and gold (long). Around half have two tees, silver by default, and gold (long). Two of the open grass holes have two baskets (#6, #8), and only #4 had two tees.

There is a good amount of elevation on either side but walking up hills be more prominent in the forest. The forest side was remarkably dry even a day after a snow melt and imo the vastly better side.

My favorite hole is #13 gold, 450'. It's like walking on top of a giant camel, teeing off on the top of the back hump, it goes up and down over another hill (front hump) before going down again and then coming up to the final hill (head). #16, #17, #19 on the slope of the hill, and #26 gold 500' are also winners.

#6 on the open side is a challenge to get through the middle.

I would easily put this course firmly under the intermediate, maybe even advanced, depending on tees and baskets used.

Cons:

There are no major downsides to the course, except during wet periods, the open holes will be lousy as the local low point. Especially 3, 4, and 5.

It's over 11,000 feet, taking all the gold options when available, adequate time and energy is advisable.

-#9 has a 160' water carry.
-Baskets could use hanging next tee arrows.
-Signs are sometimes wrong and outdated. Example: 27's shows two baskets, but what it indicates as it's gold basket is actually 18's gold, at least going by what's painted on the basket itself.
-Open Tees were typically concrete and a bit short for my taste. Forest tees are long but thin rubber mats. Half the thickness of horse stall mats.

Other Thoughts:

Starting Point: There are two drive-ways side-by-side, choose the short one with the Lion's Club marked building at 40.160474, -76.197503 on Google Maps. Both Open Holes and Forest Holes start nearby.

Amenities: There is a portapotty behind the Lion's Club building. Regular park stuff is near #7.

Layout: Tee 1 is beside the picnic building behind the Lion's Club. #1-10 are open hole and loop. 10, 11, 12 meander around the parking lot. 12-18 are forested and loop. #19-27 are also forested and loop.

You can reach the parking lot quickly everytime you complete a loop.
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4 1
Shaunjay
Experience: 17.9 years 25 played 5 reviews
4.50 star(s)

Has come a long way to become a fantastic local course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 12, 2017 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

A total variety of shots. Some very short easy birdies, and other very long bombs. Multiple tees and basket locations and 27 total holes. The most versatile course around. This course used to be atrocious with their signage and finding the next t-pad, but a lot of work was put into it and it is now a great place to throw 27 holes.

Cons:

Some older baskets and a few blind shots where you can easily lose some time searching for your disc.

The walk from 18 back to your car is usually indirect or scrambling down a deer trail on a steep cliff.
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2 5
mbarkitek
Experience: 11.8 years 28 played 3 reviews
2.50 star(s)

Opposite Opinion 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 15, 2016 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

1. Lots of holes / lots of variation
2. Pretty hole over water
3. Probably not going to lose discs

Cons:

1. POISON IVY EVERYWHERE
2. Nice casual short course UNTIL THE WOODS!
3. Some dual basket holes are no longer dual basket. I threw towards the wrong basket several times.
4. Holes 8-10 are confusing
5. I do not consider this a very well kept course. Rough areas are trimmed/cut back, but there is no safe rough. You will be in poison ivy or thorns or just a place where its impossible to find a disc.

Other Thoughts:

Look. Its a great course. But I hate playing it.
Make sure to take it easy on this course because gamble shots will not be rewarded.

DO NOT PLAY ON A WINDY DAY. Baskets/holes get crossed, discs go everywhere.

DO NOT PLAY ON A HOT DAY. It will kill you and steal your disc golfing soul.
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2 2
PhotoGuy98
Experience: 18.8 years 64 played 6 reviews
4.00 star(s)

rolling roland 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Apr 7, 2016 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Wide variety of wooded/technical and wide open shots, good fairways, scenic, nice tees/baskets, great course upkeep, 27 holes, multiple pins.

Cons:

...

Other Thoughts:

Been playing this course for 10 years now. It has been redone a few years ago. I still miss some of the old holes but the current course is still a lot of fun.
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1 1
swolfinger
Experience: 9.8 years 1 played 1 reviews
4.50 star(s)

Wolfman 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Feb 28, 2016 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

Twenty seven holes. First 11 are wide open and are more forgiving than the back 16 that gets narrower and woodsy. Alternative tees and baskets on most holes. Course can please recreational players and pros. A must play.

Cons:

First 9 fairways can get muddy.
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4 1
Afropirg
Experience: 9.7 years 34 played 19 reviews
4.50 star(s)

They see me Roland.... 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Dec 27, 2015 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

- 27 holes
- Good mix of open, wooded, dog leg right, dog leg left and straight shots
- Gold and Silver layout
- Easy to navigate.
- Beautiful park
- Elevation change
- Tee signs with clearly marked OB
- Mando's clearly marked on tee sign
- Hole 3 gold should be the only choice to play. Beautiful window shot down hill shot nearly 600'.

Cons:

- Some holes in the mid 20s seem repetitive.
- One hole you tee off from the street leading into the playground parking lot

Other Thoughts:

It's hard to nit pick cons about this course.

Very enjoyable course.

This is my ideal disc golf course. Start off with some open holes then you work your way into the woods. Absolutely fantastic wooded holes.

Couple holes play around a heart shaped pond which makes for some interesting shots.

The fairways are fair and well defined. Stay in the fairway and you're golden...stray out and you're battling for par.

Nice elevation change, hole 27's downhill tunnel shot is a great way to end the round.

Baskets on the side of hills like on hole 19, another fantastic hole and possibly battling with Hole 3 gold as my favorite.

I look forward to making the 90 minute trip out to Roland Park again.
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10 0
sidewinder22
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 17.6 years 297 played 197 reviews
4.50 star(s)

Rollin' Amish @ Roland! 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:May 3, 2015 Played the course:once

Pros:

27 holes with two concrete tees (in open), or two rubber tees (in woods), and most the holes have two baskets (in woods), or two pin positions (in open). Lots of legit par 4s from the long tees and baskets while the shorter tees and baskets provide par 3 and more variety. Nice tee signs, and navigational signs. 3 loops of holes back to the disc golf parking lot by the Lions Club. Some benches in the woods. Bathrooms on the other side of the park.

Course starts off by playing through a mix of mostly open holes over some nice elevation changes with OB boundaries, creek and pond from hole 1-11 coming into play. This is where you get your birdies and get to air out some discs.

Then the course twists and turns upside down as Hole 12 starts in the open and finishes into the woods and the rest of the course plays through some great elevation in the woods. There is very little underbrush in the woods for a course of this size.

Cons:

Other park users may inhibit a couple of the open holes especially by the pond. Hole 8 tees from the park road, and hole 12 tees across another park road. The mando on hole 2 is upside down. You have to backtrack around the pond after hole 4 to 5. Hole 18 is a bit too tight. Could use some more benches. There are a couple long tees not on the current map.

Other Thoughts:

Roland Park is a little Jekyll and Hyde with the front 11 holes being mostly open and the back 16 holes being heavily wooded. It's almost like to two different courses, but they provide a nice contrast and variety overall. Play only the open holes if you have an aversion to the woods or only play the woods if you have have an aversion to the sun and open. I'd suggest to play them all though.

The wooded holes kept reminding me of Idlewild in KY with the rolling elevation, length and toughness from the longs, absolutely phenomenal holes here! I love being able to rip a driver through this terrain. There is also OB in the woods and marked with rope to help separate fairways. I played hole 17 twice by accident, I didn't even realize I had already played it once and threw a completely different shot, so the course has great replay-ablility. The course ends with a phenomenal downhill tunnel on hole 27. The only thing missing from this course is a top of the world hole, and I did spot a place you could do a sweet safari hole.

Roland actually plays longer than Idlewild(24), Seneca Creek(27), and Tyler State Park(27) and is of similar caliber but I think Roland is the fairest course of them all! The open holes are also well designed with enough challenge from trees or water or OB boundaries.

The demographics at the park were about 50% horse and buggy and 50% cars, so if you are from out of town, there's a good chance you might see your first horse and buggy from the Amish or Mennonites and beware on the roads for them. I started at hole 1 with a local who arrived on horse, nice young lad named Darryl. There was a large group of beginners just ahead of us and they let us play through on hole 3. We played the short tee which is a slightly elevated 450' shot and I got to show off for the crowd as they eewed and awed while I parked it! Darryl showed me around the open holes which is the tougher part to navigate and then he had to leave once we got to the woods. It kind of reminded of the movie "The Village" which happened to also be set in PA, where the village people aren't allowed to cross into the woods for fear of the creature, but there really wasn't a creature (sorry for the spoiler).

I highly recommend Roland Park to any player from beginner to pro. I drove 2 hours to play here and was not disappointed, actually I was ecstatic! I can't really think of a beautiful signature hole here like Moraine/Deer Lakes 15, or Nockamixon 6, but all the holes at Roland are top notch. This course is way underrated due to some recent upgrades from previous reviews and it's now one of the best courses in PA IMO.
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2 3
ManUtd
Experience: 12.8 years 1 played 1 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Has some of everything 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 17, 2014 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

-This course has a great mix of everything. Open/wooded, uphill/downhill, shots over water, etc.
-There isn't any poison here, and the brush isn't too thick.
-Some holes have different tees/baskets.
-Course has 27 holes!

Cons:

The only thing that this course could use is some upgrades such as trash cans, better tees (especially on hole #9), more benches, better signage etc. Other than that, this course is great!

Other Thoughts:

This is one of my favorite courses as it is in a relaxing, picturesque park. I would recommend this course to anyone as it is quite challenging (especially from the pro tees), yet still fun for the the recreational player.
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2 0
adlacro
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 17.8 years 149 played 125 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Roland's Remake 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Oct 16, 2013 Played the course:once

Pros:

27 holes of well designed, thought out disc golf. Good mix of open holes to get warmed up, and the wooden holes for the most part are fair. Nice use of elevation. Baskets are mostly decent. Tees are either concrete or flypads, and all are in fair to good shape. Water holes are not too intimidating. Well maintained. Signage not too bad in most places.

Cons:

The gripes I had were that there was no silver basket on hole 22, so you had to play to the gold. The signage in the woods pointing to the next hole should be like arrows that are on the open holes, that could be added and I would give this another half-disc. The one hole in the woods is very unfair, your "pinball" hole. Open holes are prone to flooding but were not when I was there.

Other Thoughts:

The redesign is very well done for the most part and is definitely a worthy stop in this beautiful part of Amish country, PA. The course redesigners did a great job expanding and redesigning the course and have to be given many props. This was a gem several years ago when I first played it, now it is even better!
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3 2
Abrigh1
Experience: 13 years 29 played 11 reviews
4.50 star(s)

Gem off of Route 222 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 8, 2013 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

-Great mixture of holes that are open where you can bomb them and others that are through the woods
-Fun factor where you throw over water on 2-3 holes
-27 holes makes it worth it to drive from a little farther out
-Well maintained park with little to no problems in throwing near people except near lake maybe
-Challenging place that requires accuracy and a mixture of all throwing types (back, fore, over)
-The woodsy holes I found to be really fun and make for a great course when playing against others because anything can happen
-Beautiful views of Lancaster Amish country
-Rarely crowded

Cons:

-Very few to speak of if at all
-Not the most fun to play when it is super hot
-Some of the rough can be thick in the last 10-12 holes but that makes accuracy important if you ask me

Other Thoughts:

-Overall this course rivals almost any in PA with the variety, difficulty, and maintenance
-It really is two courses put together if you ask me. The first 10 holes are out in the open around the pond and are geared more for beginners.
-The last 17 holes meander through the woods and are much more difficult if you ask me. They flow together well but are vastly different so if you detest woodsy holes then just stop at #10, but you would be missing out on the whole package that this place presents.
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1 5
Jwillier
Experience: 10.8 years 32 played 1 reviews
3.00 star(s)

Close to Home 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Jul 3, 2013 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Great variety in kinds of holes
Well maintained
27 Holes

Cons:

Tee signs are still a little confusing
That pond is a magnet for my discs.

Other Thoughts:

I like the variety in this course a lot. The holes in the woods are quite difficult and present a challenge to most who play. I also like the fact that it is 27 holes. If I don't feel like messing with the water and losing a disc, I just play 18...holes 10-27.
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13 0
t i m
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 26.8 years 285 played 43 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Remarkable potential -- some outstanding hole designs 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:May 20, 2012 Played the course:once

Pros:

This course has some outstanding, 5-star holes on holes 12-27. Some of the gold-to-gold layouts are the kind of challenging, well-designed, par 4/5 holes that are what are bringing disc golf to the next level. This isn't just power disc golf--it involves shot planning, precision, and--most importantly--risk/reward. Tight gaps, tough landing areas, interesting approaches and some fast greens have the potential to eventually bring this course into league with world other world-class PA courses like Moraine, Deer Lakes, and Jordan Creek.

I never saw the old layout. But I think I can safely say that if you haven't played the new layout, it's a must. Of 200+ courses played, this has some of the most fun and well designed holes I've seen.

Cons:

Signage is rough. Hopefully this will (continue) to improve. Fortunately, the map is helpful--definitely print a map before attempting to navigate this course.

Front nine is not bad, but lacks the interest or challenge of the rest of the course. Feels like a warmup, but since it's also where most of the easy birdies live, you can't just ignore this section if you're trying to score well across 27 holes. Would be better to separate out the two courses as a 9 and 18 sharing the same piece of land.

Long walks between some of the woods holes. This exacerbates the weak signage--if you head off in the wrong direction, it can take a while to find the right path. Also, without good signage, I spent a lot of time walking up fairways before teeing off since baskets were seldom visible from the tees (at least gold-to-gold). Not a deal-breaker by any means--many great holes are blind tee shots the first time through, but without good signage, this can be frustrating.

Rough is rough. Many of the back holes have violent and unforgiving rough with lots of thorns and close ground cover, making it time consuming to recover discs that kick off the fairway. Hopefully as the course wears in, this will improve. For the time being, I definitely recommend playing with a friend and using a spotter on some of the blind tee shots--will save you a lot of time in the long run.

Other Thoughts:

This course--especially the redesign--is obviously the product of a lot of love. My one visit there, I was stopped as I was getting out of the car by Bill, the course designer. He had been driving out of the parking lot, but noticed my out-of-state plates and wanted to answer any questions and give me some tips on layout and finding my way through the course since it was my first time there. I appreciate this type of investment in a course, and in making sure people have a good experience. Based on talking with Bill, I have faith that the course will continue to improve rapidly, and that challenges are being addressed. I expect this to be a truly world class course--at least the back 18--in the next year or two.

For the sake of ratings and for encouraging players to play holes appropriate to their skill level, I'd segregate the course into a front nine, "recreational" course using the open holes, and a second, 18 hole "advanced" course using the back 18. Obviously, keep multiple tees on all holes so groups of different skill levels could play all 27, but the open front holes are so different from the rest of the course that they hardly feel like the same park.

I expect, if I get a chance to play here again within the next year, that this course will easily earn a bump to a 4.0 rating. As it stands, it is a much more fun course (for adv/pro/masochist players) than almost anything else with a similar rating. I'd skip over a lot of 4.0 courses to play here. But I try to rate comprehensively and honestly, and it's got a lot of room to grow and improve. Someday I can see a 4.5 being totally appropriate if things continue the way they've been going. Tremendous work so far, and tremendous potential. My kudos and thanks to Bill and the other volunteers that are investing their time, labor and love into this course. I can't wait to come back.
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Airubus
Experience: 20.9 years 43 played 19 reviews
4.00 star(s)

27 holes of Awesome. 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:May 10, 2012 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Very good mix of elevation, open shots, over water shots, wooded shots, left to right, right to left....etc oh and the fact that there are 27 holes is great! most baskets have an arrow on them pointing to the next tee. Multiple pin positions, and tees for longer and shorter drives.

Cons:

Update 2019 - all my previous cons have been resolved!

Other than the lack of benches at each and every single hole, i cant think of any. I love this course and is one of my most favorites.

Other Thoughts:

The additional holes and redesign to Roland park showcases the evolution of the sport, and the ability to design good holes.
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jonmcd
Experience: 26.1 years 12 played 6 reviews
4.00 star(s)

If you haven't been here lately... 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jan 23, 2012 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

If you haven't been here in the last year, make sure to get out and see the changes in 2012. Tee signs should be up in the spring. The strength of this course is it's variety. The course has been through many layouts and revisions over the years. There are short holes, long holes, open fairways, tight fairways, thick rough, and a good mix of lefty/righty drives. Hole 1 starts at the pavilion near the Lion's Club building. You play in the open around and across the pond on the front 9, then play 2 more in the open before going into the woods. Out in the open, big drives are rewarded. The next set make their way through the trees of the forest. Accuracy and finesse rule in here. The last stretch, the newest holes, are beautiful. Good wide fairways cut through thick woods. Lots of risk vs reward decisions to make. 2 tee positions and pin positions on most holes. Short layout is fun and easy enough for beginners. Go long and you've got a challenge worthy of the pros.

Cons:

A little tough to navigate, but the tee signs will be done soon. A map helps if you haven't been out before, or check out www.lancasterareafrisbeesports.com to find a schedule and join the club for a round. Watch for poison ivy. Stay out of the brambles on 20-26 - your legs will thank you. Be aware of the walking paths as they are heavily used (but out of the way for the most part).

Other Thoughts:

Take a moment and soak up the view. The course is surrounded by picturesque Lancaster County farmland.
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