Pros:
City Park is located right in Iron Mountain, MI. It is a huge complex filled with all of the usual park amenities, plus some unusual ones like a 12 point buck viewing pen. One side of the park is home to an 18-hole DGC.
This plays as a very technical course throughout. There are a great mix of fairway shapes cut through the moderately to heavily wooded area utilized for the course. Elevation changes are also present on almost every hole, and in some cases they are pretty significant. A few holes that still stand out in my mind three months later include the opening one (a steep downhill throw back towards the parking lot), #7 (a nice left turning fairway playing down a valley then back up the other side), and #15 (only 164' but requiring a thread-the-needle line down another steep hill). The distances are not very long (all holes are between 200' and 300' except for #15 and the 312' #5) but the amount of technical challenge will keep this course interesting for many disc golfers.
The baskets are yellow banded DISCatchers in fine shape. One per hole. There are very nice sponsored wooden benches at most tees, and trash cans spaced out periodically around the course.
Cons:
The other infrastructure is a bit of a mixed bag.
- The tee pads are rubber mats that I found to be a little bit uneven and slippery.
- Each hole has a long Blue tee, and most also had short Red tees. Both tees are marked by a post with the hole number and the top painted blue or red (which is nice), but the tee signs only appear at the Blue tees. These tee signs are a little weird. They show a photo of the hole taken from the tee with a suggested flight path, the hole number, and distance. Many also have OB areas indicated, and distance "to the corner" of the dogleg which is nice. But some of the lines depicted seemed misleading, and overall I would have preferred actual maps of the holes.
- The navigational signage is decent overall, but I did have issues finding the first tee. You can see the basket for this hole near the parking lot, but you have to walk up the path to the right of it up the hill to find the tee. Some signage directing here would help start the course off on a better foot.
- There is a kiosk, but no map was posted on it when I visited.
- I didn't see a practice basket, although there is an open area next to the parking lot that could be used for field work.
There are some cross-country ski/hiking trails that run through the course. People were using these during my visit, so the several blind throws at/across it were a little concerning. I also thought that a couple of the fairways felt pretty close together (5/6, 17/18) so be sure to look out for other DG'ers when playing those holes. Hole 15 starts a little too close to hole 14's basket for my liking, and could also use some stairs cut into the steep downhill fairway.
Those looking for long bomber holes or water hazards will not find any here.
Other Thoughts:
Overall, this is a solid technical course with a few issues. I would love to have this one close to home. As is, I won't go out of my way to play here again but would definitely hit it if I happen to be back in the area.
Happy New Year!