Disc Golf Course Review

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Parkway DGC Bardstown, KY

Pros:

Nine baskets on well-maintained church grounds. There are directional arrow stones in the ground to help find the next tee pad.

Cons:

Without a udisc map, this course would be tough to play. You never know if you can trust those directional stones (could have been moved), and the tee pads are only dirt. Tough to find dirt tee pads when there is no signage.

This course is mostly a wide open field with rolling hills. There is a large old tree on hole 9 that comes into play. Otherwise it's grip and rip. If your rating is over 825, you're probably parking every hole.

Other Thoughts:

I may need to play this course during a league, because it looked like there's a ton of man made OB throughout the course that could make this course somewhat challenging. The way this course stands now, it's nothing more than a glorified practice field.
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Brush Creek Park Waterloo, AL

Pros:

This course sits in a beautiful park setting (sometimes void of campers) along the Tennessee River far away from city amenities. A great place to get away for the day!

The tee pads are all concrete and meet the standard forms you're used to seeing. Signage is good. Directional signage exists (pay attention to the directions after hole 8). Baskets are all in good shape.

My favorite holes that also keep this rating from dropping to a 2.5 are holes 2 and 16 (used to be 17). These are very challenging holes with small water hazards. Snakes could be a hazard also on hole 16.

Currently, you can play this course as 27 holes. The new Wilderness course (only 9 holes right now) starts after hole 15.

Cons:

There's a repetitive feel to the course after hole 6 until you get to hole 14. They feel like filler holes to me.

Some of the lines for the long pads are really janky and takes the fun away from playing this course. Had I played this course more, I'd have to figure out the ideal short/long pad combo for 18 holes for maximum enjoyment. Some of the shorts are just too easy for me to play a round of all short pads.

Easy to screw up and follow the natural flow from hole 8 to hole 11 tee's and accidently skip holes 9 and 10.

The short pad on hole 2 is a long water carry for beginners. I recommend beginners to skip and create their own pad to the left of the swamp.

Other Thoughts:

This original Brush Creek course is not my favorite, but is still an enjoyable time to get away from the city and throw discs. Judging by how well the new 9 holes of the Wilderness course are designed and how much work has been put into it, this could become a destination.
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Crown College St. Bonifacius, MN

Pros:

- Top tier course just outside the metro area
- Short and Long Tee positions
^(Locating some of the Shorts are confusing, if I'm honest)
- You could skip Holes 7-9 at Crown and still feel like you've thrown a complete round. (I say this in a positive manner, Holes 7-9 are beautiful, yet a little bit out of the way)
- The course's beauty ages like fine wine across all* the seasons
^(I fibbed, I've never played Crown in winter, just go along with it!)
^^However! I saw an albino squirrel once here so...
- College course = Superb (somewhat seasonal) course maintenance.
^On this note, be sure to thank maintenance crews when you see them out working on the course, any course really. Some are employed, but there are many in the disc golf community that simply volunteer their time because of their love for the sport.
- Parking is a plus (also a negative, will explain in the first Con)
- Signage at nearly every tee box

Cons:

- BE PREPARED, this can be a LONG course. Yes, in distance traveled and thrown, as well as, all the elevation changes. It's a long walk back to the main parking lot, even the little parking lot near hole 10's tee.
-- To this point, there's not a lot of "switch-back trails" (aside from the road) once you get into the Back 9. A lot of crossing fairways, if you decide to bail mid-round
- EDIT: I was too quick to get this review out that I forgot the status of Hole 8. Hole 8 has become very overgrown at the trees have matured over the years. So much so that 8-Short's tee is engulfed by sumac, I believe.
- Bring an adequate water supply, You'll thank me later.
- Play this course early in the year. It tends to get overgrown in the summer when the college campus isn't as active.
^Bring friends, spot for each other, you will be searching a lot if you choose to play solo and miss the fairway
- VERY BUGGY in the summer. Mosquitoes as well as Horse Flies.
- Baskets are decent, however, they're starting to show ware.
- Tee Signs could be upgraded, would be a good project for the arts program/graphic design students.
- No portable bathrooms on site

Other Thoughts:

Crown College is a well manicured championship level disc golf course set outside the southwest metro of the Twin Cities.

The Short tee pads will be more for your beginner throwers, however, the short layout is still provides an enjoyable track for all levels. Most AM players will find Crown to be a good challenging course solely on the technical distance required to reach the greens.

Another review states that there are Two holes on the course where water comes into play. They're NOT wrong in saying this. However when forming this review, I realized there are a few more holes where your disc can find water (Trust me, my discs are water magnets!). In total, there are Four/Five holes on the course where water can come into play, and two of the five you can argue are casual OB.

The holes where water plays OB are Holes 2 and 18 (Long tee pad), as well as Hole 9; 30-40ish feet behind the basket lies a small pond. Holes 12 & 13 share this... little marsh landmarked with tall cattails. The water level is unpredictable here and tends to dry up during the summer. As mentioned, I'm nearly certain this plays casual.

Overall, I rated this course *4.5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐️(⭐️) (Best of the best) because there aren't a lot of courses like this in Carver County (Yet🤞, and yes, I know this course is technically St. Bonifacius/Hennepin County). The "knock" on this course is its overgrown nature, not only the long grass late summer, but also what was previously mentioned about Hole 8. All in all, though, this course is a must play in my book.
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Hopkins Farm Brewery Havre De Grace, MD

Pros:

I played the “winter layout”, which offers a nice mix of open, semi-open, and wooded holes. The course plays clockwise around a farm field and through some wooded areas, playing mildly downhill the first few holes, flat in the middle, and mildly uphill the last few holes.

Quite a few things have improved since the last review. Each tee is now marked with a bright orange traffic pylon and includes a detailed tee sign. Even better, the course now includes a few wooded holes to balance the wide-open field holes. I hope that the improvements continue next time they set up the summer layout.

Tee signs are mounted on a short wooden stakes and list hole number, par, and distance. Signs also include artistic and useful hole maps, and inspirational quotes about beer. For instance: “Beer makes you feel the way you ought to feel without beer.”

Hole #4 was probably my favorite, a forested 160’ right-drifting throw with late trees to miss. I also enjoyed hole #5, a 250’ throw out of the woods with the option to play the 10m circle as an island (missing the island plays as hazard). Holes #6 and #7 are tight tunnel shots that would benefit from clearing off the fairway (see cons).

Hopkins Farm is a 10-minute detour if you are traveling on I-95. The brewery was pleasant and welcoming, with a food truck, an ample selection of beers on tap, indoor and outdoor seating, family activities, and event spaces. Plenty of parking, too.

Cons:

Rubber tee pads are laid over existing ground, making the teeing area quite lumpy. I threw standstill even when I would have liked a runup. Several holes play across lumpy farm fields, which makes for tricky walking.

Severely thorny disc eating rough on hole #7, which is a tight tunnel shot. I kicked into the deepest, tallest thorns and didn’t even bother looking for my disc.

The course is more open than I prefer, although the winter layout includes some wooded and semi-open holes. The course is also fairly short, but the course length seems appropriate for the brewery setting.

Minor quibble: Distances listed on the tee signs are very round numbers and may not be accurate. For example, the tee sign lists hole #2 as 300’ but the smart layout on that “other” site lists it as 350’.

Other Thoughts:

The course is still a work in progress and I will be interested to see how it evolves. For me, good beer, good food, a pleasant setting, and a decent disc golf course made my visit enjoyable.

The most pleasant surprise of my visit was the delicious crab cake sandwich from the food truck out front. I can also strongly recommend Ned’s Irish Red Ale. Food trucks and tap listings vary so you may want to check the schedule on their website before you visit.
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Eagle Valley Stroud, OK

Pros:

Great pads, signage, fair par 4's and 5's. Great course worth true separator holes.

Cons:

Hard to find any. I enjoyed the elevation, dam hole is epic.

Other Thoughts:

Beautiful views, great location between OKC and Tulsa.
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McLeod Park Kiln, MS

Pros:

Only 5 minutes of of I-10, this well-balanced course has transformed from a ho-hum 10-holer to one of the most fun courses on the MS Gulf coast. 18 new red-banded Discatchers are there to greet your on-target putts. It's moderately wooded with defined lines you have to hit at the right speed to score well. Most holes are deuceable for the average golfer, and there's little chance of losing your beloved plastic.

The new holes on the west side of the park are still rugged but very playable. Holes 9, 11, 12 and 18 let you show off your arm if you have one. Hole 10 is a 280ft alley shot that can be birdied, but you have to throw a really crisp FH drive that fades at the very end. It's my favorite hole on the course. Hole 5 is 300ft with a hanging basket, There are several ace runs on the front 9.

Signage is minimal but good enough. The arrows hanging under the baskets are very helpful to get you to the next tee. There is a store with bathrooms, and there's camping on site with full hook-ups! There's also a killer playground for the kids that includes a water park and access to the Jordan River. This very well could end up being my new home while we're house-hunting in the area.

Cons:

Dirt tees. If this course saw heavy use this could be a problem. There are a lot of short holes under 200 feet, but they aren't automatic birdies. The course may be a mud pit after a heavy rain, especially the area where the new holes are.

Other Thoughts:

I really enjoy playing here and prefer this course over Hiller simply because I don't have to worry about losing my discs in the water. It's definitely worth a play if you're passing through the area.
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Johnson Hills Park Cincinnati, OH

Pros:

Perfect land for a disc golf course. Rolling hills, heavy woods, and the occasional creek. Great design using available space. The course is prone to roll-aways but it seems (intentional or not) that downed trees have been placed everywhere along the fairways and greens to prevent too many big skips or rolls.
The whole bags worth of shots. You need hyzers, turnovers, straight tunnel shots and like most wooded courses, a fair amount of forehands.

Cons:

A couple of the fairways were a little on the tight side, with a random tree or 2 in the middle of the fairway. A couple long walks between holes but at least the course let's you know which way to go and has a map at the beginning.
Maybe a few too many uphill drives. Example is hole 6 is a slight up hill, after which you walk all the way back down to the base of the hill just to throw severely up hill again on hole 7. Although I actually really like both holes and wouldn't change them, throwing down hill is fun.

Other Thoughts:

Everyone on here seems to prefer the front 9 and I'm not sure why. I guess they had big plans for the back 9 but the park wouldn't let them use all the land they wanted or something but I actually like the back 9 more. Yeah, there's a bit more hiking but I think the holes are more unique. But the walk back to the car after 18 is PRIME discin land, shame they couldn't use it if that's the case.

Met a nice gentleman today 12/7 that was removing the baskets for the winter I guess??? Needs confirmation but I thought he was just moving everything to the short positions but my buddy said he was taking out the baskets. That would be a bummer if it was closed in the winter bc I prefer to play heavily wooded courses when there's no leaves.

She's a dandy!
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Tall Grass DGC Albert Lea, MN

Pros:

- beginner friendly
- Cart friendly
- cement tee pads
- full 18 hole course
- scenic course
- Light to moderate DG course traffic
- Rentable set of discs by entrance (Innova Starter Set (Skeeter, Aviar, Leopard))
- No Pro Shop onsite, however, there are several Disc Golf retailers outlets in the City of Albert Lea (Demon Discs)
- Oak Island, another 18 hole course, is its next door neighbor
- There are several leagues that happen here, including a ladies league night.

Cons:

- There's no beating around the Tall Grass bush...
The Back 9 of this course hasn't quite mustered the same magic since the recent redesign. The Albert Lea Municipal Airport expanded, wiping out the original Holes 12-15, forcing a redesign. (bittersweet because this used to be my home course😔)

- Tall Grass / Bancroft Park hosts HS Cross Country meets in the fall, making the course unplayable those days, however, it's cool to see the CC course intertwined within the course.

- The bright vibrant flags in older pictures are becoming worn and tattered, it would be a nice to see those replaced.

- Most, if not all, tee signs are defaced in some way or another.

- This course also lacks port-a-pottys

Other Thoughts:

The redesign certainly doesn't make the course any worse, just different. It's difficult to come up with new holes when you're constrained by less space. It's still a fun 18 hole course, with some challenging birdies scattered among the course.
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USC Aiken DiscGolfPark Aiken, SC

Pros:

After closing down its old, more naturistic layout, USC Aiken installed a new, more campus-centric layout. This one is almost as much fun.
- In case you can't get onto campus off SC-1, through the gate, there's an easy solution for that. Park across the street, in front of the athletic center, and take the walking bridge across. From there, you can easily start on #3 or 6.
- #3 is the obvious answer for most fun / best hole. Downhill, 340-foot, open shot. Throw and let your disc sail on down. Very basic layout, but I know what sells when it comes to layouts.
- For me, #4 is the signature hole, simply for scenery. Dorm building and tall pines serve as the backdrop for a simple, 230-foot hole. Now, as for how available this hole is when school is back in session, that remains to be seen.
- Outside of #4 & 5, the other 7 holes play in a small section of land, moving back and forth from wooded and open spaces.
- There's a little bit of elevation to play. In addition to #3, #9 also use the hill as an obstacle. A couple other holes have lesser aspects of elevation come into play.
- Excellent tee signs. Better than most courses. In fact, this is probably the aspect of the disc golf course that rates the highest.

Cons:

It seems they wanted to build a course in the smallest amount of possible space. Past holes #1 & 9, you have more woods. Beyond #2 is more unused open space.
- Along those lines, there's not a lot of space between holes. Very easy for stray shots to be ending up on other holes. Be aware if the course was ever busy.
- As mentioned above, #4 & 5 may be unplayable at times if there's a lot of foot traffic outside the dorm.
- Some of the underbrush was getting overgrown on the wooded holes. Time for another round of spraying and heavy trimming.
- The gate was shut when I tried to get into campus. I think if you come from the other direction (off Campus Pkwy), you should be able to get to the main parking lot closest to the course.

Other Thoughts:

It's nice to see USC Aiken come back with a new, completely different course. With this location, it probably gets more play than the old layout.
- This was a very clean course. Better vibe than a lot of city park courses. Little things like that make a round that much more enjoyable.
- Too many very basic layouts. I played a rushed round, and as such, didn't throw a lot of good, patient shots. I didn't see nearly as many birdie putts as I should have, but I also saw an abundance of tap-in pars.
- Your only risk of bogey, or at least a 4 depending on how you're playing par, is #9. It's uphill and 360 feet. With the elevation factor, you're looking at a layout closer to the 425-foot range. Add in to that you're going from an open field to a wooded fairway and this is a hole where 3 is a good score.
- This is a fun, yet simple, 9-hole layout. Great for being on the campus. I wish I could have stepped out of my dorm back in the day, played a quick round, and been back before anyone noticed I was gone.
- Worth checking out, especially if you get the added bonus of taking the walking bridge to get here.
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West Delray Regional Park - Main Delray Beach, FL

Pros:

18 hole course with multiple tees on every hole. Course starts out in the woods for the first 8 holes offering very tight tunnel shots, forehand and backhand holes, and a couple of nice par fours that will require two precise shots to card your birdie. Holes 9-15 are fairly open, a couple of additional par fours mixed in with some shorter par threes, with OB and water lurking on many of the holes. Finally, the over the lake shot awaits on hole 16, setting you up for a tight par four and a fun finishing hole with an elevated basket. Ten meter circle marked on every hole, and two basket positions on nearly every wooded hole allow for a great variety of disc golf to be had. Tee signs are new and really nice. Concrete tees have been poured on every hole.

Cons:

The open field holes constantly get chewed up by off road ATV's, which can cause a run-up or stance issue should your drive end up there. Mosquitos will be a problem more often than not. Course drains poorly in a couple of areas. Be careful with the cypress stumps on 7 and 8. 9A will often be unplayable as many park there to fish in the lake nearby. No restrooms or water (there are porta-johns not far from 11's long pad).

Other Thoughts:

Honestly, I've played nearly everything else south Florida has to offer. If you could only play one course in your time here, Delray has to be it. The variety of holes, the par fours with specific landing zones, and everything else combines to separate Delray from the other good courses Palm Beach County has to offer.
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