White Cloud, MI

Big Bend

Permanent course
2.635(based on 4 reviews)
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12 0
DFrah
Gold level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 5.8 years 227 played 224 reviews
2.00 star(s)

Underwhelming, under-maintained technical course

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 19, 2022 Played the course:once

Pros:

Big Bend is an 18-hole DGC that plays in a combination county park/campground of the same name, about an hour's drive north of Grand Rapids, MI.

This course has a tightly wooded feel throughout. There is a decent mix of left turning, right turning, and straight fairways cut out of the forest. In a couple of places the course gets close to the Hardy Dam Pond (really more of a lake) and the water is visible through the trees, although it never comes into play. The hole distances are substantial, with the average being around 320'. This average is stretched out by two par 4's that measure around 600' each. There isn't a ton of elevation change, but I judged it as enough to affect play on a few holes. Overall, this course will definitely challenge most players as it will take a combination of distance and pinpoint accuracy (and maybe some luck too - see below) to score well. If your aim is off, you could easily average a bogey per hole or worse (may or may not be saying this from personal experience).

The baskets are yellow banded DISCatchers in good condition. The teepads are large slabs of concrete in good condition. There are a few scattered picnic tables located near teepads.

Navigation is good, with simple but effective signage to direct you where needed. The front nine and back nine each loop back to the parking lot.

Cons:

I felt that some of the holes here were poorly designed. A few seemed too tight, or had unrealistic lines. The worst may be hole 16, which plays 600' straight ahead through a narrow tunnel of those tall and neatly arranged rows of pine trees - and thick, nasty rough on both sides. I feel like even touring pros would need some luck to achieve par (4) on this one. Nothing has really been cleared out since the first two reviews below were written in 2011 and 2012.

Hole 3 plays across the two-track you drive in on, and there is a cabin/campsite basically on hole 7's fairway.

The tee signs appear only at the long tees, and each one only shows the hole number on a small metal plate mounted to a post. On many holes the basket is not visible from the tee and I found myself looking at the map uploaded here to see which way the hole turned. This course theoretically also has short "tees". In reality, these are just beat-up and half-buried wooden kick plates with no additional signage at them. As far as I could tell, the kick plates were almost always just located on the fairway for the long tee - so they would hardly count as a "different layout". I think it would be tricky to even find all of them if you wanted to play the short "layout."

There is a $7 fee for a day pass to enter the park, payable at an office station at the park entrance. If the office is open, you can pay via credit card inside. I don't normally mind pay-to-play at all, but in this case it was clear that my $7 was not going towards disc golf course maintenance. On most fairways, it looked like the grass had not yet seen a mower in 2022 (it was mid-June when I played). There was a downed tree on one fairway which I had to walk about 20 feet into the rough to get around. A couple of the tee signs were missing. There were zero trash cans on the course, but plenty of trash (both on fairways, and in the woods nearby). Holes 13 and 16 are shown with two fairways on the course map, but on both of these it was pretty clear that only one of the fairways was even seeing the minimal maintenance of the rest of the course. The rough often had thorns and brambles in it.

No practice basket or porta potty. No kiosk either, although you can get a scorecard at the office where you pay if you go inside (format has changed since the version uploaded here, but the information on it is still the same as of June 2022).

Other Thoughts:

The elderly woman working the office where I paid my $7 admitted to not knowing anything about disc golf herself, but mentioned that previous disc golfers told her this course is unique and fun, and could be ready for tournament play with a few more upgrades. After playing the course myself, I had to wonder if those disc golfers were really just trying to encourage better maintenance of the place. And I have to disagree about the "unique" part as well. To me, this course felt similar to many other technical wooded options in the area - with the key difference that most of the other options are free to play. For that reason, I doubt I will be returning here unless I hear about significant changes and improvements.

I think this course is comparable to a couple of other tight technical ones that I have given a 2.5 rating to, but having to pay for a lack of maintenance dragged my rating down to 2.0. I just expected a little more for my $7. DG'ers looking for one of those free-to-play yet better technical wooded options should head to Branstrom Park in Fremont, Northend Riverside Park in Big Rapids, or Far Hill in Sparta. Or - Newaygo State Park just across the lake is pay-to-play (sort of - you need the state park Recreation Passport), but offers better maintenance and a course that is much easier but otherwise is honestly pretty similar to this, even down to the views of the lake through the trees.
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4 0
blidablat
Experience: 7.8 years 11 played 9 reviews
2.50 star(s)

Be accurate, or don't have fun 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 19, 2020 Played the course:once

Pros:

Pretty, wooded, and picturesque. Some nice peeks at the water along the way. A few very long holes, but most of them are a reasonable length. Everything was pretty much in good shape.
The navigation was pretty easy. Some interesting elevation changes and doglegs along the way. I appreciated getting an actual scorecard and map when we paid to get in.

Cons:

Just one unforgiving fairway after another. The punishments for poor accuracy were severe, to the point that I felt like I should just be throwing a series of short but accurate putter shots on each hole, rather than trying to throw anything big. Playing with my boys (ages 10 and 13), digging through the underbrush and avoiding thorns on each hole became tiresome. We got to hole 16 (600+ feet, dead straight, and a thin fairway the entire way), said "yeah, right" and proceeded to walk the first 500 feet of it and played it as a par 2 from about 100 feet out. My youngest tried to play from the short tees that were marked on the map, but we couldn't find half of them (an old piece of wood in the ground).

Other Thoughts:

We happened to be driving down US 131 that day, so we took a little detour to find the course. Given how off in the middle of nowhere it was, we probably won't be making a return trip.
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4 1
MDeezy
Experience: 20.8 years 132 played 13 reviews
3.00 star(s)

Big Bend 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:May 27, 2012 Played the course:once

Pros:

Beautiful setting on the shores of the Hardy Dam. Good flow to the layout, holes 1 and 10 both tee off right by the parking lot, and next tee signs help with navigation. Course provides even the experienced player quite a challenge, and some holes definitely reward placement over distance. Brand new Innova Discatchers, and Hole 16 ( "The Cathedral" ) is truly unique.

Cons:

Fairways are very narrow and the created lanes are tight. Rough can be very rough, and getting off the cleared fairway can be frustrating. Tee signs provide basic information, but with many blind holes could be updated. Constant noise of motor boats could be distracting for some. Natural tee pads, and not much variation are a disappointment.

Hole 1 is way too close to the parking lot, an errant shot has the potential of hitting a car. Hole 3 had a leaning tree too close to the tee box, and a road runs right through the fairway. Hole 6 plays close to some campsites and could be dangerous. Hole 7 tees off with a restroom 5 feet from the tee box. Hole 13 especially needs more clearing for a 500'+ dogleg hole. Hole 16 is 600'-700' dead straight with a 15' wide fairway.

Other Thoughts:

Overall I feel that not enough planning and work went into this course. This is a beautiful piece of land with tons of potential. Park admission is $5, but this course was not worth the money, and the hour plus drive it took me to get there. I understand this course is still in its infancy, but it would take some serious changes for me to ever come back.
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12 3
apdrvya
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 13.9 years 350 played 293 reviews
3.00 star(s)

Like fine cheese that hasn't aged yet.. the potential is there 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 30, 2011 Played the course:once

Pros:

Aesthetic: Plays on the shores of the hardy dam reservoir (like it's big brother in the newaygo state park). the ride in is quite pretty with the reservoir in full view on the way in.

Tee signs/routing: they have them and they are ok. Next tee signs guide you to the next tee as the paths aren't fully worn in yet.

Amateur tees: these are almost necessary here until this park gets some use. the rough is so rough and the "fairways" are so narrow, the long tees are almost silly hard.

innova discatchers: necesary to have the big heavy chastity belts in this heavy of woods. visible and new!

scorecards: even though you have to pay to play this course, the people in the guard shack are super nice and give you a scorecard/map if you want one.

Cons:

Teepads: need grated or something to level them out. the shorts and longs both are pretty rutty present a tripping hazard.

ROUGH: this course is in it's infancy and it shows. the rough is EXTREMELY ROUGH and the fairways are EXTREMELY NARROW. Lanes are hard to visualize and generally have trees in the middle of them. The rough needs cleared some so disc hunting is not so laborious. "fairways" need cleaned of twigs and other tripping hazards.

repetition-there isn't a lot of variety here. elevation change isn't plentiful here (or isn't well used at least).

Uncontrollables- trees and bugs... too many of each. I would love to revisit this course next year when there has been some time to get the course "broken in"

Other Thoughts:

it's a good "mirror image" to newaygo state park across the river. once it's a little more "aged" they should compliment each other well...

edit: for those of you who didn't find my review helpful, please present your own... I didn't like being the first person to review this course but someone had to be.
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