Pros:
+ The whole course plays in a clean and well-mainted former summer camp below a mountainside. A few wide open holes preface the more adventurous part of the course.
+ A relaxing sitting area just before hole1 has an info board, lost disc box and practice area to the side.
+ Tee pads are long wide and sturdy. Half are rubber. Half are concrete pavers.
+ The player is guided to each hole by eye-catching bright white signs. They are reliable with one notable exception.
+ In a wooded mountainside course like this, the player is guaranteed to find tricky lines and uphill & downhill challenges, but...
Cons:
- ...That's kind of the only string to its bow. It begins to feel repetitive going up and down wooded hills.
- Safety hazards abound in such a course. Exposed roots, loose rocks and slopes of various intensity are all here.
- The next tee sign between holes 1 and 2 was pointed the absolute wrong way. I spent a few minutes witlessly searching the direction the arrow indictated before a local came by.
Other Thoughts:
Hole7 was my favorite to play because it combined a healthy downhill glide in the middle of the woods. Granted, that could describe quite a few holes here, but 7 was my favorite. Hole20 was the nicest one to look at because it packed a lot of scenery into such a short fairway. Next to the teebox is a small curious wooden building that looks like a perfoming stage. The short and shadowy fairway is neatly manicured and presented with short leafy trees along the edges and some very tall pine trees with flowering bushes surrounding the basket at the end. My least favorite was hole6 because it was so confusing. I'll get into that later.
As a whole, Beacon Glades is a nice course to come and enjoy our sport. I'll skip to the end for a second and tell you that I happily recommend this course because of its hills, trees and unique setting.
To elaborate upon that unique setting, hole4 in particular deserves a special mention. From the tee pad and beyond the basket, the player throws right through an abandoned summer camp. Those dozen or so familiar wooden cabins painted brown are in various states of disrepair, and it gives the immediate area a fun haunted vibe. Don't be afraid of hitting them with your discs- just watch out for the hornets that turn those kinds of places into their nests.
This is the first course I've been to that has completely different fairways sharing the same hole number. Holes 17 and 18 do this. Two different tee areas that face two different directions, two different fairways that never intersect and two different baskets that share the same hole number. I had no idea that was a thing. I've played at holes that start at the same spot and end differently or start differently and end at the same spot-- both with fairways that join at some point. But having to pick which hole17 and 18 I wanted to play here was new to me. It was a fun discovery. Hole6 was kind of like that, too, and there were signs and arrows all over that fairway, and my brain gave up with all of the excess information. I just wanna play from the long layout, man. No need to throw all of this extra stuff at me. It's probably for tournament reasons.
As I've said earlier, the hills in the woods are the biggest selling point here. Despite my gripes about how repetitive it gets, I'd be lying if I said I didn't find them fun. And at least there are different shapes of the fairways, different tree densities and some nice nature to look at. It's got enough variation from one hole to the next to satisfy the picky tacticians out there. Just watch where you're walking and don't run. Don't litter, either!
So stop by Beacon Glades for a hefty round of wooded disc golf on the side of a mountain. Then afterwards, head down the road and visit Mount Beacon Park. Climb that path to the very top. The view is worth the leg soreness!