Pros:
- Innova DISCatchers with bright yellow bands look brand new
- well manicured park
- multiuse park, but disc golf area is mostly isolated
- hole numbers on baskets
- nice use of next tee indicators on baskets
- some surprisingly good technical challenge on the more wooded holes
- tee signs show pars, distances, and rudimentary maps
- some limited elevation change incorporated on a few holes
- no noted safety hazards
- decent place to bring beginners just starting to get a feel for more obstacles
Cons:
- very short
- not a ton of intrigue for skill levels beyond beginner on most holes
- gravel tees are just ok and not flat in places
- almost entirely flat
- besides a few wooded holes, virtually no obstacles
- not much in the way of defined fairways or shot shaping on many holes
- some rough is very dense, more like prairie/marsh land
- no real amenities
- scenery is not exciting and mostly plays like a newbie park course
- feel of this course is not appealing; like you are playing in subdivision backyards
- somewhat repetitive
Other Thoughts:
Well, once again I couldn't find the creek. We do like to give picturesque, misleading names to our most mundane areas of the midwest, don't we?
Holes 1, 2, 5, and 9 have virtually no intrigue whatsoever. They are flat, mostly wide open, and fairly short and boring. You will likely not use your distance driver here, and won't get challenged much on 2/3 of the holes.
Holes 6-8 probably provide the best technical challenge with some cool wooded shots with a bit of elevation change. There is some tight woods golf here that fades by the end of hole 8. If the whole course were like this, I could imagine it being a 2.5 or maybe even close to a 3. Unfortunately, the rest of the course is completely uninspiring.
The baskets here are excellent, the tee signs are decent, and the gravel tees are fairly mediocre. There are no real amenities to speak of, but at least the safety situation seems good and there's no shots over a playground or anything. Whoever designed this course did make some excellent use of the wooded/marshy areas on a few holes, but I would have liked to see more of the course play in this area. Going back and forth repeatedly into the wide open, flat field just didn't make for inspiring play.
I suppose on the plus there are several solid ace opportunities here, though I'm not sure they're ones most players would feel particularly proud of (under 100 ft. isn't really boast-worthy, but I'd take it!). This would be a decent place to bring beginners ready to branch out from wide open disc golf; the distances are short, and most holes are very easy, but a few do introduce that level of technical challenge that shows you what disc golf can be. For anyone intermediate and beyond - or even experienced beginner - I think this is more of a bagging stop than anything.
All that said, the park was in excellent shape and the course seemed well enough maintained. I don't recommend going out of the way for this at all but I've certainly played much worse. Most of the 9 hole courses in NW Indiana aren't anything to write home about, unfortunately.