Al Quaal Recreation Area is located just west of Marquette in Ishpeming, on Michigan's Upper Peninsula. This review was formerly for a 9-hole course that had been here up through 2021/22, but is now fully updated for the brand new 18-hole layout!

The old 9er here was relatively lengthy and challenging, and this new 18 takes that up another notch. There are two layouts, Blue and Red. The blue layout plays at championship level, with seven par 4's and hole distances averaging about 425'. This review is based on one round playing that blue layout, which honestly was a lot for my noodle arm to handle near the end of an 11 day course bagging trip. I plan on playing the Red layout when I return, which looked like it would still offer enough challenge to interest most rec level players.

The hole variety here is quite nice. There are only a couple of the tight wooded holes found on many other UP courses. The majority of holes have wooded fairways that are still narrow enough to require shot shaping, but wide enough to offer a little bit of forgiveness. A few holes that play through the main park area are mostly open, with only a couple trees and shrubs to work around.

There is a lot of elevation change in play here too. Hole 6 is a sweeping right turn that plays downhill for almost the whole 666'. Hole 7 is a much shorter downhill right turn at only 255', but the basket is tucked into a wooded area that slopes away from the tee. If your disc gets up on edge or otherwise somehow clears the trees, there is a lake lurking at the bottom of the hill (about 50' behind the basket). Quite a few of the other baskets also have rollaway potential, and a couple others had water nearby.

The baskets are blue banded DISCatchers that looked brand new. One per hole.

The two tee pads per hole are high-quality turf in wooden frames. Although some seemed a little bit lumpy, they were quite large and I also wrote "oddly grippy" in my notes. Overall I am putting these down as a Pro, although I'm always a bit skeptical of how turf may play in the rain and hold up over time. The tee signs are beautiful, color coded per layout, and in the same style you'll find at several courses around the Marquette area. They have all of the required info.

The front of the course has a practice basket, and a large kiosk including a high-quality course map. The front nine and back nine each loop back to the parking area, which is much appreciated as you may need to stop and rest/refuel.

I had mixed feelings about hole 10. This is a bomber hole playing from the parking lot down to a basket in a wide open field 460' away. The same lake from hole 7 could conceivably be in play - it is way off to the right, but big arms whose disc turns over or fades that direction on a windy day could find themselves getting nervous. Sounds fun though, so why my mixed feelings? Covering the entire fairway on the slope of the hill is a huge thicket of brush. My noodle arm and a slight headwind equated to my drive landing in the brush, and I feel like I only found it quickly due to 1) much of the brush being dead/thinned out for the year (it was early October when I visited) and 2) luck. This brush area definitely needs to be cut back, or at least a decently wide fairway should be carved into it.

While I'm on the subject of hole 10, behind the basket is an event area next to the lake. It's line of sight plus signage indicates that holes 10 and 11 are closed if an event is going on, so I can't really deduct points for safety - but with #15's tee being relatively close to #10's, realistically most players are not going to take the long walk past #10-11 just to play #12-14. So if an event is going on, it seems to me that five holes are basically lost.

Navigational signage had not yet been added as of my visit. Hopefully this is planned for the future, as there are long walks between a few of the holes. In the meantime, use the map (from here/on the kiosk) or UDisc for navigation.

There are a couple of spots where some stairs could be a nice safety improvement, such as the walk down from #6's long tee pad. I definitely recommend wearing hiking boots or other footwear with good grip when playing this course.

The previous reviewer superberry mentioned that the rough can be thick. Other than hole 10, this wasn't a problem for me in early October - but thinking back and looking at the photos I took, I can definitely see that being a major issue in the summer.

Several holes play in areas that are multi-use. Some holes are located near/on various trails, which I think are mainly intended for mountain bikers? Holes 15-18 play through the main park area that the previous 9-hole course utilized, and that could conceivably be in use by non-DGers.

No benches or trash cans have been added yet. A few of each would definitely be appreciated given how lengthy and hilly this course is. Although the park has restrooms, there are not any that are convenient for DG'ers. Also, the restrooms on the drive in were locked both times I visited the park.

Just to say it explicitly, playing this course is a serious workout. It has many long and hilly holes, plus a good number of long and hilly walks between the holes. It will take some time to play as well. I think it took me something like 2.5 hours solo, on a Monday with no one else on the course.

If you are a decent disc golfer in good physical shape, I definitely recommend checking this one out. My 3.5 rating reflects the current state of the course as of my October 2022 visit. Once everything is fully dialed in, this one will definitely be worthy of a 4.0. This is now one of the most challenging courses in the UP, plus it's just in a beautiful area with plenty of space. Thanks to those involved in making Al Quaal a "quaal"-ity local DG destination!

Has some nice variations of style between holes; some short, challenging shots and some longer, more open holes.

Single-layer chain baskets, no tee pads; got confused a few times about where the next hole is. Also a few overlapping fairways where you'd have to wait for the people on the next tee to throw.

All in all a fairly fun, quick course.