Cincy/NKY to Ludington, MI and back

[InnocentCrook]

Man, what a trip. 13 courses (12 - 18-24 hole, 1 - 9 hole) 3 breweries.

I'm not sure we played a bad course in the bunch. Sure there were some things that could have been better, but top to bottom, just quality course after quality course.

Day 1
Echo Valley - Easy 4-4.5 star course all day long. Amazing addition to the Dayton, OH area.

Leila Arboretum - Definitely a bit confounding the first play through. I'm sure it would grow on me. Loved the holes in the more open park area with the sculptures nearby.

-Founders Brewery- (Grand Rapids, MI)

Day 2
ArtPrize! - 2 rounds - Enzy aced the cow hole! This goofy "course" was too much fun. I want one of these type targets at Hidden Ridge.

Flip City - Even better than my first round here. The red Chainstar pros are an improvement over my trip in 2018.

Mason Co. - Beauty - Great golf, teepads are terrible, maybe worse than terrible.

-Homemade spicy barbacoa tacos by yours truly while watching the Bengals beat the Dolphins. Who Dey!-

Day 3
Mason Co. - Beast -Gorgeous park. Even better golf than Beauty, teepads a bit better than Beauty.

The Tinderbox - This fun little course has me REALLY wanting to build a pitch and putt like this. Very well done.

Labyrinth - Easily one of the best college campus courses I've played.

-Jamesport Brewing- (Ludington, MI)

Day 4
Leviathan - Some excellent golf holes, but the layout is absolutely whack. The longs didn't seem maintained, so we played shorts. Teepads were pretty bad on average and navigation sucks.

The Breakers - Fun church course with some teeth. Very crowded on a nice Saturday afternoon.

Shore Acres - Wish we had time to play both sets of baskets. This course is really well done with some fun tee shots. Awesome park.

-3 Blondes Brewing-(South Haven, MI)

Day 5
SHARA DGC - FLAT, but a tight, compact layout with some fun shots. Great navigation aids.

Flaherty Park - Beauty of a 9 holer tucked into a great neighborhood park. Wish we had time to play both sets of tees.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

Nice recap. Sounds like you had a hood time!

 

[Future_Primitive]

Really happy our group opted to play Echo Valley, very enjoyable course that was well maintained.
First time at Leila can be annoying not seeing some baskets. Heck of a first day.

 

[InnocentCrook]

Really happy our group opted to play Echo Valley, very enjoyable course that was well maintained.
First time at Leila can be annoying not seeing some baskets. Heck of a first day.

Echo was impeccable. You can tell it's a nice park as soon as you pull in, but man, that course is a gorgeous walk through the woods. It's still got some growing to do, but for a course that young I was seriously impressed with the cleanliness of the fairways.

Leila was just plain gnarly. The wooded areas are all pretty rugged, hilly, and feel like nature is real close to taking things back over. Then you get to the more open/sculpture park type places and it's like you're on a completely different course.

 

[Jukeshoe]

Glad to see you hit Flaherty, that's one of the top public park niners I've run across. The dual tees are great...unfortunately it gets a bit swampy at times, but still a solid fun play. :thmbup:

I'm disappointed to hear that Leviathan redesign wasn't the bee's knees. Did it seem like it was work in progress?

Not sure the tees on the MaCo or Leviathan were ever the best (read: pretty bad) but the Blacks on the old Leviathan layout are the stuff of legend, regardless.

 

[InnocentCrook]

I'm disappointed to hear that Leviathan redesign wasn't the bee's knees. Did it seem like it was work in progress?

I assume it's likely in a transition phase. Signage was recycled coroplast with a simple laminated print out with hole # and distance.

Navigation just seemed really wonky but part of that may be the fact that you pretty much walk the entire long tees even when playing shorts. There's some LONG walks.

Some teepads definitely seemed like they had been lifted and relocated. Lots of small pads, cracked pads, etc.

The shorts were an enjoyable layout all things considered. Just plenty of rough edges to smooth out.

 

[The Shide]

Somewhere, somewhen, I heard that Levi was on borrowed property. So it wasn't meant to be permanent. At any time, the owners could ask for the property & the course would be closed. This might account for the way the course feels wonky in navigation. Could anybody confirm or deny?

 

[InnocentCrook]

Somewhere, somewhen, I heard that Levi was on borrowed property. So it wasn't meant to be permanent. At any time, the owners could ask for the property & the course would be closed. This might account for the way the course feels wonky in navigation. Could anybody confirm or deny?

There is signage at the entrance that mentions the course is on school district owned property.

 

[The Shide]

Right! It's been a few years since I played there, but I seem to recall that it was owned by a school.
Thank you!

 

[tomjulio]

Somewhere, somewhen, I heard that Levi was on borrowed property. So it wasn't meant to be permanent. At any time, the owners could ask for the property & the course would be closed. This might account for the way the course feels wonky in navigation. Could anybody confirm or deny?

I grew up across the street from Leviathan(the school forest). When the disc golf course first went in it, it was as if God herself had already created the fairways and the layout. Recently the school, who owns the property, decided to build a huge new elementary school for the Ludington area. This pretty much took almost all the back 12 (24 hole course) out of play.

A new design had to be in place and sadly the local league and the original designer had too many chefs hands in this soup. Not a solid plan to upgrade. They did the best they could with the limited space but it pales heavily in comparison to what was once a masterfully designed course. It doesn't flow naturally like the old layout in any manor.

The tee pads in the Mason County area were installed over the past 30 years, prior to our understanding of what modern tee pads should be. When the new design was done, the local club (always tight on a shoestring budget) couldn't afford new pads and just lifted and moved the old pads into the new layout. The person who volunteered to do this did this so poorly that now we have some of the worst tee pads I have personally ever seen. Locals tee from the sides of close to 60% of the course.

Over the pandemic the local league lost a ton of members. Some due to leaving the area, some due to infighting, some due to mistrust of how things are ran. This lack of people playing locally is now reflected in the lack of maintenance on the courses. The league has over-extended itself. There are still a few league members that give it their all, but the numbers are abysmal for who truly helps. This shows in a lot of local courses.

Hoping this little summary helps others know the story of what happened to the once mighty Leviathan. As a local and a park ranger, I have started not to recommend playing there and instead guide out of towners to play Labyrinth at our community college, a truly under-rated course and one of my faves in the area.

*side note: The original Leviathan designer, Jim Schultz, is in the process of creating a new two course disc golf park just south of Ludington in Pen****er. I walked the property with him the other week and it is tremendous, with a few holes playing right on the majestic sand dunes of Lake Michigan! He is aiming it to be a pro style course like the one he designed at Lake Arvesta, just not as brutal.

(wrapping up, my fingers hurt now)

***DGCR still wants to censor P-E-N-T-W-A-T-E-R for some unknown reason.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

***DGCR still wants to censor P-E-N-T-W-A-T-E-R for some unknown reason.

DGCR doesn't like t-w-a-t.