Uploaded By: jajohnso
Hole #8
Hole #8 
3 / 280ft. -- / -- -- / -- -- / --
Par / Distance:
Hole #8 Tee Sign
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Reviews: 4
Avg. Rating:
Details
Avg. Rating:
Details
I had good fun at Gowen!!!
5+ 
8/8/2012 
8/19/2012
Pros: In Sanford, so there are lots of places to eat along with shopping just minutes from the course. It's very easy to find once in Sanford. Look for the old stone Gazebo beside the park entrance. Porta-Jons on site along with other park amenities... tennis courts, ponds, walking trails, ball fields, etc. Ample parking.
Hole #1 tee and hole #9 basket are about 50' apart, right next to the parking lot. The course signs are very nice, where they haven't been vandalized. (See Cons.) They show the distance and general layout of the holes, along with directions to the next tee. The navigation is pretty simple anyway... just follow the most traveled foot paths from most baskets to the next tees. The map available here on DGCR is also useful!
Single chain Lightning baskets might not be the "high end" baskets that some people require, but in any case, I feel that they do an excellent job of catching discs. The tees are a mix of sandy gravel, as is typical of Maine soil. I found the tees OK when dry. I had to "rake" them a bit to smooth them out, but didn't have any real trouble with footing, even on holes that required a run-up. They did hold water for a while after a hard rain.
The course could cater to beginners and experienced players. Some of the wooded holes could be frustrating for a new player, but learning the skills to navigate such holes is a lot of fun. The course isn't very long, but the lines made it fun for me to play.
For a relatively short 9 hole course, there's an excellent variety of hole types... There are uphill, level, and downhill shots. There are right turners, left turners, straight shots and possible S-Shaped shots required from the tees. There are moderately and heavily wooded holes, along with open holes. There are wide open greens and some fast greens. The fast greens definitely tested my confidence on some long putts (meaning I laid up a bit, even on short holes). Depending on the time that you play the course, water could come into play as a wet weather stream runs through the course that would affect at least two holes.
There was only one hole that I couldn't reach from the tee (#7). (For comparison, I throw my drivers about 325' consistently on level ground.) But I wasn't put off by the hole length, as I still used drivers off of three other tees and really enjoyed the variety of shots required off of the tee. (I threw 4 drivers, 2 mids and 3 putters for my tee shots.)
I didn't find any issues with "unfair" fairways at all and feel that all of the wooded holes did have clearly defined fairways. Yes, #5 is very tight, but I played the course 8 times and hit the anhyzer (RHBH) line cleanly 7 out of 8 times, with even my errant 8th shot still making it over half way down the fairway.
Hole #1 tee and hole #9 basket are about 50' apart, right next to the parking lot. The course signs are very nice, where they haven't been vandalized. (See Cons.) They show the distance and general layout of the holes, along with directions to the next tee. The navigation is pretty simple anyway... just follow the most traveled foot paths from most baskets to the next tees. The map available here on DGCR is also useful!
Single chain Lightning baskets might not be the "high end" baskets that some people require, but in any case, I feel that they do an excellent job of catching discs. The tees are a mix of sandy gravel, as is typical of Maine soil. I found the tees OK when dry. I had to "rake" them a bit to smooth them out, but didn't have any real trouble with footing, even on holes that required a run-up. They did hold water for a while after a hard rain.
The course could cater to beginners and experienced players. Some of the wooded holes could be frustrating for a new player, but learning the skills to navigate such holes is a lot of fun. The course isn't very long, but the lines made it fun for me to play.
For a relatively short 9 hole course, there's an excellent variety of hole types... There are uphill, level, and downhill shots. There are right turners, left turners, straight shots and possible S-Shaped shots required from the tees. There are moderately and heavily wooded holes, along with open holes. There are wide open greens and some fast greens. The fast greens definitely tested my confidence on some long putts (meaning I laid up a bit, even on short holes). Depending on the time that you play the course, water could come into play as a wet weather stream runs through the course that would affect at least two holes.
There was only one hole that I couldn't reach from the tee (#7). (For comparison, I throw my drivers about 325' consistently on level ground.) But I wasn't put off by the hole length, as I still used drivers off of three other tees and really enjoyed the variety of shots required off of the tee. (I threw 4 drivers, 2 mids and 3 putters for my tee shots.)
I didn't find any issues with "unfair" fairways at all and feel that all of the wooded holes did have clearly defined fairways. Yes, #5 is very tight, but I played the course 8 times and hit the anhyzer (RHBH) line cleanly 7 out of 8 times, with even my errant 8th shot still making it over half way down the fairway.
Cons: Unfortunately vandalism is the biggest issue for me on the course. The tee sign post for #4 was knocked over and laying on the ground. The tee signs were ripped off of the poles on holes #4-6. A couple baskets, #4 & #5, had obviously been planted and then pulled out of the ground. The original poles, with the concrete still on them, were laying on the ground next to the re-planted baskets.
There are walking trails throughout the course and you just have to be careful of other park users. Not really a con, just something to be aware of.
The grass doesn't appear to be cut very often on holes #1, #3 & #9. It's not really a big deal as it isn't a thick, lose your disc, type grass. It's just a little annoying. (The other holes with grass, #6-8, were all nicely mowed.) The "island of weeds and stickers" on hole #1 is also annoying. This area is right in the fairway for the hole and should be cleaned up.
If throwing to the right of the big tree off of the tee on hole #1 isn't considered a mandatory (and it's not marked on the sign or map as such), it totally brings the parking lot into play. Plus the hole #9 fairway plays very close to the parking lot and poorly thrown (RHBH) hyzers could easily end up hitting a car.
There are walking trails throughout the course and you just have to be careful of other park users. Not really a con, just something to be aware of.
The grass doesn't appear to be cut very often on holes #1, #3 & #9. It's not really a big deal as it isn't a thick, lose your disc, type grass. It's just a little annoying. (The other holes with grass, #6-8, were all nicely mowed.) The "island of weeds and stickers" on hole #1 is also annoying. This area is right in the fairway for the hole and should be cleaned up.
If throwing to the right of the big tree off of the tee on hole #1 isn't considered a mandatory (and it's not marked on the sign or map as such), it totally brings the parking lot into play. Plus the hole #9 fairway plays very close to the parking lot and poorly thrown (RHBH) hyzers could easily end up hitting a car.
Other Thoughts: I don't have any public courses close to my home and I would be thrilled to have Gowen only 10 minutes away. It's not a destination course, but I had a great time there. I had the option several mornings of driving 20-30 minutes farther to play different courses in the area, but enjoyed Gowen so much that I played it 4 of 5 days that I was in Maine.
Misc, info. Hole #2 has distinct hyzer and anhyzer lines to play off of the tee, although this isn't very clear from the course picture. I hit solid chain off of tee #3 with a skip from my hyzered Predator. Thought that I had an ace but had to settle for the drop in deuce. The drop-off beyond basket #4 had me so spooked that I only made two birdies. It the shortest hole on the course at just 192' but I found myself laying up to ensure that I didn't blow 50' over the hill past the basket. Par 4 on #6 might be a bit generous for experienced players, but I'll still take the 3 Eagles that I got. :-) It's just a classic looking DG hole to me. #7 is the longest hole, by far, on the course at 410', playing probably 20' or more uphill. I still scored a 3 each time I played it. I could basically drive to the bottom of the steep grade approaching the basket, and then have a simple upshot and putt to follow. Oddly, even though #6 & #7 are the longest holes on the course, based upon them being par 4s and my avg. scores, they were the easiest holes on the course for me. And I really enjoyed the S-Line route in to the #8 basket off of the tee. Watch out for the tennis courts, though.
What can I say. I love disc golf. And I loved the variety of this fun little 9 hole course. Enjoy!
Misc, info. Hole #2 has distinct hyzer and anhyzer lines to play off of the tee, although this isn't very clear from the course picture. I hit solid chain off of tee #3 with a skip from my hyzered Predator. Thought that I had an ace but had to settle for the drop in deuce. The drop-off beyond basket #4 had me so spooked that I only made two birdies. It the shortest hole on the course at just 192' but I found myself laying up to ensure that I didn't blow 50' over the hill past the basket. Par 4 on #6 might be a bit generous for experienced players, but I'll still take the 3 Eagles that I got. :-) It's just a classic looking DG hole to me. #7 is the longest hole, by far, on the course at 410', playing probably 20' or more uphill. I still scored a 3 each time I played it. I could basically drive to the bottom of the steep grade approaching the basket, and then have a simple upshot and putt to follow. Oddly, even though #6 & #7 are the longest holes on the course, based upon them being par 4s and my avg. scores, they were the easiest holes on the course for me. And I really enjoyed the S-Line route in to the #8 basket off of the tee. Watch out for the tennis courts, though.
What can I say. I love disc golf. And I loved the variety of this fun little 9 hole course. Enjoy!
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
Report this Review Off to a great start ...
Pros: Set-up in a public park, this course is FREE to play. The park is relatively small, maybe around 15-20 opn acres and the course plays primarily around the periphery. There is clever use of the natural obtacles, mostly oak trees, some mildly hilly terrain and an absolute juggernaut of a pine tree in the middle of hole 8 fairway. There are a couple grip n rip holes to haul off on, the rest are lightly wooded areas, primarily grassy. Some of the parks non-disc golf features like gazebo, gardens and large monument feature add to the ambiance of this course. The park itself is very well maintained and has ample parking. On a sunny saturday in the early fall there were at least 3 other groups of disc golfers. Gowen park is a welcome addition to the sparsely coursed York County.
Cons: For now, it's only 9 holes - Hard to say where 9 more would fit though, not sure how much of the wooded area behind the park is available. As with so many course, there is some poison ivy to contend with if you get off track a little. The course is oddly consuming of this established town park, hopefully there isn't a tea-cup poodle walking curmudgeon out there raising a stink with the town that they fear getting hit by a disc. Cautious play will help mitigate this potential. Might be a good idea to add a mando or two as well.
Other Thoughts: Still under construction - but obvious in-progress being made. 4x4 sign posts were set at each hole. Nice graphic signs are in the works it would seem by the pictures here. For now, we did have to guess a couple times and ask some regulars we came across - Hole five in particular was noted as "throw over that blow-down and you'll be fine". I'd imagine there is some clearing work planned for that fairway. Tee boxes are dirt as of yet.
Couldn't find anything posted in the park or on Sanford's web page that disallowed dogs. We brought ours on a leash with a pooper-scooper and saw a couple other park go-ers with dogs.
Couldn't find anything posted in the park or on Sanford's web page that disallowed dogs. We brought ours on a leash with a pooper-scooper and saw a couple other park go-ers with dogs.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.
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