Terre Haute, IN

Deming Park - North

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3.645(based on 22 reviews)
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9 0
blake833
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 14.5 years 161 played 142 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Takes ya back 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Nov 17, 2018 Played the course:once

Pros:

Deming Park is a huge park with some gentle hills and old trees. The course here makes excellent use of the land on one edge of the park, without crossing walking trail or the road that loops through. It's easy to see from the road; you'll drive past the whole course and park at hole 1 on one end of the one-way loop.

What I really like about the course is the ample room you have. It plays in a loop on what is kind of narrow piece of land, but it hugs the woods for a while on your way down the loop, and only gets close to the road a couple times on the way back. The fairways are wide enough to be plenty fair, but you have to choose which way to navigate some big trees, hit the gaps way down the fairway, or make the dogleg sometimes. The only rough is the barriers of trees and overgrowth bushes that makes the boundary of the park. If you hyzer out early, or overthrow a basket, you may end up in it but otherwise there's no real risk of ever losing a disc.

There's plenty of up and down hill shots, but not so many you get tired of walking. It's a very natural flow that seems to create a balance where the hole is not just designed that way because of the elevation, but it's just a nice bonus.

The tee pads are concrete. A little small, but they get the job done. Same with the signs- not the prettiest, but they're informative and accurate. I think some holes may have had alternate tees put in, but I could have just been misreading, or misremembering. I'm not putting it in the cons though so don't really worry about it.

Cons:

What I will put in the cons is the baskets. They are these lime green Chainstar-knock-offs. A few of my putts were just barely caught, and honestly I'm surprised I didn't get a ton of spit-throughs. They just look like they can't catch much.

This course seems to have been designed back in the day when everything was a 3. Some of the holes are easy 2's, some challenging 2's, and some very challenging 3's. Like, you need an accurate 450' drive for a 2. I don't mind the "all-par-3" courses, but i think this course would be a little better if they push the 'tweeners forwards or backwards for a clearer par 3 or 4.

Other Thoughts:

There's nothing incredibly outstanding on this course, but also nothing that really stands out as a huge fault. I was very happy to pull over and play this course on my road trip, and honestly kind of want to do it again if I'm ever in the area. It was a fun course.

I also like courses like this, the ones that are clearly more aged in design, because they do carry a sense of the history of the sport and its evolution. If you watch disc golf now, you see courses with monster holes, epic shots, looong holes, OB, water hazards, elevated baskets, and all this extra stuff. I don't mind those when used to augment a course's playing experience, but this is the down-to-earth playing style the sport was planted in and grew out of. Deming Park is like the old wise man of disc golf, it's like playing an N64- yes, we have moved on and things have gotten cleaner, faster, prettier. But it just feels good to always have something old and familiar to go back to, and to remember how we started.
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3 1
alex cincy
Experience: 3 played 3 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Fun course makes you feel good about your game 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:May 3, 2016 Played the course:once

Pros:

Variety of throws required - get to use a lot of discs in your bag.
A few very interesting hole layouts.
Moderate signage.
Generous par ratings make you feel good about your game.
Good concrete pads.

Cons:

A few holes lack signage.
Generous par ratings remind you that they were set 30 years ago.
Baskets are a bit oddly shaped - particularly on the top.

Other Thoughts:

I enjoyed this course. Definitely worth playing if you haven't.
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7 1
Urmomsbf
Gold level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 15.6 years 800 played 119 reviews
4.00 star(s)

The highlight of my week long course bagging! 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Dec 24, 2015 Played the course:once

Pros:

Rolling hills in an established mature park with mature trees.
Nice tee pads for their age.
Updated signage is nice even if it is just laminated pics.
Extremely easy to navigate.
There is some trouble to get into on the holes that border the woods.

Cons:

A couple of signs were missing.
No wooded holes, just holes bordering woods.

Other Thoughts:

I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting much from this course. When I think of Terre Haute, I think flat. Plus, when people describe Terre Haute they say, "Between the college towns, Terre Haute and Bloomington had a war and Bloomington won." Well it looks like Terre Haute won the battle of disc golf courses!

For an older course, it seems to have been ahead of it's time. Kind of like the Mt. Airy of Indiana. This course was definitely the highlight of my road trip. Just wish it wasn't the 6th course I played today!

There's some trouble to get into with the holes bordering the woods and park roads, but it's a fairly forgiving course.

The area that holds water between 12 and 13 would be a nice place for a permanent pond!

The park seems to have plenty of room for another course that could really blow this one away!
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2 4
Nathanwojo
Experience: 16 played 3 reviews
4.50 star(s)

AMAZING 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Oct 22, 2015 Played the course:once

Pros:

Easy to follow the path from hole to hole
The baskets are in great condition
The baskets are placed in great spots
The tees are concrete and new
Very hard to lose a disc

Cons:

The signs are dated
The course has been updated but the signs are the old ones
-some signs are missing
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7 0
Jukeshoe
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 15.2 years 316 played 268 reviews
3.00 star(s)

So Nice I Played It Twice 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 31, 2015 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

- Deming Park is a bustling downtown park in Terre Haute, IN. From the main entrance, take the road counter-clockwise around the park about 3/4's of the way. #1's teepad is located directly next to the road. I didn't see any obvious parking lots, so I just parked alongside the road (which seemed to be allowed). The course is a mix of open with a few semi-wooded holes thrown in on the edge of a small strip of woodland running the length of the course. There're plenty of trees here for line-shaping but lots of space with which to work around them as well.
- Rolling elevation throughout the course gives this old-school park a lot to work with, and mostly it's put to great use. Most holes have some sort of up or down, often smartly incorporated with large trees to force certain shots that aren't possible using just elevation or just trees. Hole #2, with its short downhill low-ceiling trouble-behind the pin shot, is a perfect example. The low branches and short downhill nature really make you stop and think about shot selection here. #18 is another shot that effectively uses trees and hillside in conjunction with each other.
- Decent enough amenities. Old-school but effective signage. Dual pin positions. Benches added to a few of the more nature-y spots. Concrete tee pads in fine shape.
- Good, but not great, mix of distances. Enough length here for more experienced players to not get completely bored, but nothing in the 500'+ range. This is park-style, collect "Dem" birdies golf.

Cons:

- The signage could get updated to reflect the dual pin positions, and a few tee signs were missing entirely, but it really didn't detract much (if at all) from my rounds here. The flow is pretty obvious in most instances, with only one or two areas where brief confusion might pop up.
- Not much to object to here, really, other than the missing signage. Everything felt really well maintained, the grass was freshly mown, and the course was fun and engaging without ever really kicking the "awesome factor" into overdrive or anything.

Other Thoughts:

- I liked Deming Park more than I thought I would, which typically seems to be the case whenever I play old-school 80's courses. This course does hold up well, though, for modern golf as well as for putter- or mid-only rounds. I had a busy day of course bagging scheduled and Deming was first up to bat. I enjoyed myself so much I ended up circling around and playing a second round. I wanted to take another stab at several of the holes (I'm looking at you, #2...) I thought were easy-peasy but ended up botching first time around.
-Public service announcement: the fuzz pulled the "slow roll-by" past me no less than 5 times during my two (fairly briskly paced) rounds here. Apparently even white, middle class, mid-30's dudes look suspicious in Terre Haute.
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7 0
JohtoVillage
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 24.6 years 160 played 74 reviews
3.00 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 6, 2013 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

Deming Park is a nice "public" park course that really reminds me of Bradley Park in Peoria, Illinois. Its easy to play (though when I played the course it was 100 degrees) and the chance of losing a disc is very low. I would classify the course as an easy course for an advanced level player and a good course for a new player to get started. Here are my pros:

1) It seems that more and more of the new courses being put in the ground are super challenging gold level courses: this is not one of those courses. This course had some age to it (apparently its been here for 30 years) and I was okay with that. Sometimes its fun to just come out to the course and play a quick round and not worry about looking for discs or being crushed by a long par 5 in the woods. Deming Park has a feel of the "oldie" disc golf courses, where the typical course was in a public park and didn't even flirt with the woods. Its a nice, easy play.

2) Rolling Hills: This course actually has some nice elevation. There's a couple downhill shots and there's a nice uphill shot on hole 11 (which I aced!). The elevation definitely adds some "intrigue" to the shortness of the holes.

3) Course Features: The signs are very descriptive and show the lines of the hole and everything you need to know. The pads were nice and concrete and the baskets caught well.

4) Multi-Use Park: This park is actually a very nice park and not just used for disc golf. That's okay, because the park had some nice features outside of disc golf. It contains an arboretum, gardens, playgrounds, pool, lakes, and gazebos with concrete floors.

5) The trees in this park were truly stunning. They were majestic and old and really provided the main obstacles the course featured. The trees also had massive branches which over arched into most of the fairways, causing a lot of low ceiling shots.

5B) Design: Going along with that last point, the design of this course is actually really strong considering the land that was available to the designer and the fact that it was designed so many years ago. As stated above, the main thing this course has going for it are the trees and the hills and both are great obstacles. The HUGE trees and branches (like Lord of the Rings "Ent" trees huge) force some very specific shots and a lot of low-ceiling shots.

6) Even though the course is fairly short (right around 5000 feet) there were actually a few places where you could air out a disc. Holes 12 and 13 were over 400 feet and really required a long drive to get near the basket. In particular, hole 12 was a lot of fun to throw as this was a neat downhill shot.

7) Ace opportunities: Who doesn't like to have a chance at some aces? I actually hit an ace and hit another basket dead center in the same round. I like hard and challenging but if a course is going to be easy I like the opportunity for an ace. 6 holes were 250 feet and under so there were some great chances.

8) Navigation: This course was very easy to get around. I had no issues getting from hole to hole!

Cons:

Just a few cons on this course:

1) Back in the 1980's it seemed that courses were designed with a RHBH hyzer shot in mind. This course is no different. This course heavily favors that shot.

2) Alternate Pins: I like alternate pins but I feel they should always be marked on the sign. Its as simple as having a screw on the sign next to the pin and then putting a washer on the specific screw for each position. That's just a suggestion but would help out of towners.

3) Some of the holes became a bit too repetitive for me. Maybe it was because of the over-abundance of low ceiling shots or the reliance on the RHBH hyzer shot but it did feel a little repetitive.

4) While I do tend to thoroughly enjoy playing "fun and easy" courses, its tough for me to rate that kind of course anywhere above a 4. If the course doesn't have a lot of challenge I can certainly still enjoy the course but if a course is too easy then I do tend to downgrade the rating a little bit. I definitely would not say that for this course but the challenge factor is lower here. Its just over 5000 feet with no wooded holes so one certainly shouldn't come here expecting to play Highbridge Gold or Iron Hill.

Other Thoughts:

All in all this is a solid city course with some nice rolling hills and well placed trees. In my opinion its probably somewhere between a 3 and 3.25. If I was coming through town I would definitely play this course again. This course is a "Good" course that offered some fun holes.
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1 0
Eric troll Biscuits
Experience: 36.3 years 31 played 29 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Troll's Review 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 30, 2012 Played the course:once

Pros:

18 holes in a 'user" friendly fashion
Nice park setting, and has a "stroller friendly' strip
Well maintained too, no "disc fearing" spots.
Newer Baskets
Some elevations, and mature trees, good use of the landscape.

Cons:

None, that I can think of...:) I guess just like any course, expansion, and a make over with the sports progression could happen...

Other Thoughts:

For people who don't like my reviews. play this course. Its a great example for its location. Excellent = course does not have to be over technically designed to frustrate players...
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0 0
gskinner
Experience: 4 played 1 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Demming 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:May 19, 2013 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

New baskets! Well marked. The layout is great, natural play no searching required for play. Open holes and tree paths offer challenges for beginners and the experienced. One of the nicest parks I've played in. Up and down shots through rolling hills. Mature trees offering great shade, most of the course is shaded.

Cons:

Distance is a little off and some holes do not have signs or the signs are old and hard to read. The park is great and some ppl are usually in the way at some place or another. Lots of ppl play but usually let you play through.
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3 1
numbernine
Silver level trusted reviewer
Experience: 15.3 years 103 played 49 reviews
3.00 star(s)

The hills of indiana are alive with the sounds of chains 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 4, 2011 Played the course:once

Pros:

Variety of shots - The first hole is a nice shot on to the side of a hill. The second hole goes way down hill to a basket that is protected by a gigantic tree and a thick woods behind the hole. There are sharp, tight turns that demand accuracy and wide open shots. Long, incredibly tight wooded holes along side short, wide open, hilly holes that punish ill placed shots.

Tee pads - All of them seemed to be in very good shape and were surrounded by mulch and/or dirt to ensure that you didn't fall off of the end and break an ankle. Some might complain that these pads were too long, but it felt good to me.

Layout - Intuitive, natural layout that led you from one hole to the next without having to guess where you were going. There wasn't any point during my three rounds there that I was wondering where I was off to next.

Signage - Good job marking the distance of both pin locations as well as the big terrain in play. Though I found some of the distances to be a little off, most of them were spot on and in place.

Cons:

Baskets - I can't be sure, but I think that I counted five different kinds of baskets on this course. Of the 18 holes, I would venture to say that half of them had "good baskets". Hole 1's basket is terrible. Very shallow and the chains are laying right against the pole. There was another hole, I want to say it was #7, where your disc could literally fall through the bottom of the basket. Some of the baskets that sat on the hills were not level. How do I know? Because all of the chains leaned to one side of the target! Fixing these issues would bump this course up another half point at least for me.

Other Thoughts:

This is a good course with a great club running the place. The park is beautiful and the DG course really uses the terrain well.
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2 1
bilemshious
Bronze level trusted reviewer
Experience: 17.5 years 27 played 17 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Great park course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:May 19, 2010 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

Beautiful park with nice rolling hills and mature trees. It's very well maintained even after a few days of rain. Even though this park has a good amount of other activities, the disc golf course stays in it's own area. This is not a rinky-dink park course though.

This is a fairly difficult course. The distances are somewhat deceiving. Most of the holes are in the 200-300ft range, but what makes this course difficult are the obstacles and low canopy on many of the holes. This course certainly requires a your entire bag of shots - hyzers, anhyzers, mid-range, long bombs. The mature trees in the fairways and the tree line on the outskirts really shape the holes. The trees aren't your only obstacles - the rolling hills provide some fun problems.

As far as logistics - the tee pads are nice, level cement; the baskets are nice and new; there are a couple places go use the restroom and drink from a water fountain. No benches but there are plenty of trash receptacles. Tee signs show course par, distance to the basket and a rough diagram as to where the basket is located. The course was busy but they were friendly people. Being a stones throw from Rose Holman and Indiana State, I'm not surprised.

While I've only played one set of basket placements, I saw many of the alternates. They all looked to drastically alter the play of the hole.

Cons:

Some of the holes seem crammed into one spot. Holes 5, 6, and 7 are all very close. I think the designer (while I do like the layout) could have used the land a little wiser than this. After all, there is plenty of space in this park.

The first time out, it was difficult to grasp the layout of the blind holes. The only reason this is a con is because of the vague tee-signs. They don't change the tee signs based on the alternate tees either.

Being a park course means that the scenery is fairly limited. Sure the mature trees and elevation changes provide some variety, but there was a point where it seemed repetitive - throw from the tee towards some large trees.

Watch out for those mosquitoes in the woods during the summer months. Also, those squirrels aren't scared of anything - including you.

Other Thoughts:

This would be a pretty good course to take a beginner. They are able to learn while more experienced players can still enjoy the challenge of this course.

I think my review conflicts in some ways with some of the other reviews. Obviously I can only write from my own perspective.

It was difficult to think of drastic oversights that would really drag this course's score down. It's a nice, clean, well-thought out course. I drove an hour from Bloomington and was a little jealous of the people who live much closer as a result of this course. I will definitely be back to play this course. Like LeVar Burton, don't take my word for it.
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7 0
mashnut
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 22.7 years 831 played 777 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Nice course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 19, 2008 Played the course:once

Pros:

The course is in one corner of a giant park with scattered mature trees and rolling hills. Most of the holes have at least a little elevation to add interest and difficulty. There aren't many wide open holes, most play through scattered trees with denser woods off some of the fairways. Most of the pins were protected by trees, and used the available trees well to create interesting lines.

The park is beautiful with nicely manicured grass on most fairways, and beautiful older trees. The tees were concrete, and most were in fine shape. There were accurate tee signs on each hole, with all the various pin placements marked with distance. The alternate placements made for very different shots, and would change the course up quite a bit. The course was very well marked, and easy to follow with no real navigation issues.

There are some holes that are definitely aceable, but most will reward good accurate tee shots and punish errant drives. The trees create interesting canopies and windows that make most of the holes more difficult than expected given the relative openness of the course.

The park was full of other activities and tons of people, but the course was designed so that it completely avoided other park users. Despite a huge number of pedestrians throughout the park, none were wandering around on the course or disrupting play.

Cons:

I love multiple pin placements, but when they are there I want to see a way of marking which locations the pins are in. This could be as simple as posting the current locations at the beginning of the course or marking in grease pencil on the tee signs.

The course was very biased toward RHBH hyzer shots, it would have been nice to see a little more variety. Though the course didn't feel repetitive, it also didn't really test different kinds of shots, or play as fair for a left handed or forehand player.

Other Thoughts:

This course is a great beginner course, with no real chance of losing discs and generous fairways for shorter throwers. More experienced players will find this course fun, but not terribly challenging, though accuracy is required to deuce many of the holes.

This is the best course in the area, so stop by and play if you're anywhere near. Definitely worth a little bit of a drive to get here and play a fun round in a great park.
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6 1
I3ooI3oo
Experience: 15.7 years 45 played 11 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Beginners Pars 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 26, 2009 Played the course:once

Pros:

While on a recent trip up to Indiana I had the joy of playing this course. It is very well maintained, the grass is cut and the concrete tee pads are pour into a trapezoid which points to the basket. The signs were good, all except one which was a replacement, show the possible lines you should take, along with next pad location in relation to the basket. There are big trees that require you to bring a technical game if you want to throw a < 54 round. There are also some nice hill which to a flatlander was nice change.

Cons:

Course par is 72. There are many < 300' holes that are par 4's and two par 5's that were under 500'.

Other Thoughts:

This course is fun to play with a much lower chance of loosing a disc. There is only wood off to the left of 1 or 2 holes. I think this course should be labeled as a beginners course, well with the par being 72. I could see being a local playing it as a 54 and having a negative round.
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8 0
corey
Experience: 15.4 years 7 played 1 reviews
3.00 star(s)

Good Course from this beginner's perspective 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Jun 12, 2009 Played the course:once

Pros:

This was my first time playing disc golf, and I enjoyed this course. It had some easier holes for new players like myself, and several holes that were challenging (though I imagine more experienced players might find the course relatively easy). The course is well maintained and not very busy on a Friday afternoon with great weather, so we were able to play right through with no problems.

I liked the variety of holes- some heavily wooded, some with blind baskets, some making great use of elevation (both up and down). Most of the holes were pretty short, so new players without booming drives don't find themselves well behind long-throwers.

EDIT: I've now played this course three times, and the baskets have been changed each time, so I think the course gets weekly changeups.

Cons:

The course could use updated diagrams/maps at several holes- marking the different pin placements, etc. including #1, where several of the signs were unreadable due to grime/age. The layout of the course was slightly confusing for someone who had never been there- it was at times difficult to figure out where the next hole started.

Most of my throws tail to the right, and it seemed many of the holes end with a left-ward bend (which posed challenges for me, but might be a benefit to others).

Other Thoughts:

This course was a great start for me, and since it's only 5 minutes from home, I imagine it will become my home field. Now to work on turning that into a home field advantage!
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1 3
RocCityDiscer
Experience: 22.4 years 21 played 21 reviews
3.50 star(s)

All around course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:May 25, 2009 Played the course:once

Pros:

Situated in a beautiful park. Mature trees are the norm here. Leaving plenty of room for shots but enough obstacles to make things interesting. Three pin locations on every hole make things even more interesting if you play the course often.

Course is in great shape. Good signs and a concrete tee pad on every hole make this course easy to navigate if you are a first timer or out of towner as I was.

Cons:

Maybe a little to simple and repetitive on the last few holes that follow the road back to the parking area.

Tough to find the course itself as the park it is in is huge.

Other Thoughts:

I would call this a must play if you are in the area. Nothing to spectacular here but is definitely a very enjoyable course. Another plus is there are not many places to lose discs.
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10 0
Texconsinite
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 16.8 years 138 played 79 reviews
3.00 star(s)

Simple but Effective 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:May 3, 2009 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

This course showed signs of recent renovation when I was there, which I suspect to mean they put in new pin positions, which is great, because every hole on this course has multiple pin locations, marked with red flags, as are the baskets themselves. An impressive THREE pin locations per hole seems to be the norm on this course, though a few holes might've just had two. Every hole has a single flat concrete tee in great shape, and a tee sign with a decent hole map and distance. The listed par is such that it comes out to 72 for the course, which is great for rec players. I played them all as 3's, which I suspect the local die-hard's do as well.

The course is set on a strip of land that generally slopes downhill from the meandering park road to the wooded area through which lie the train tracks you must cross to enter the park. The course is on large hills with scattered mature trees, as well as the aforementioned strip of woods.

This park reminded me of Anna Page West, in Rockford IL, but with cooler terrain and more overhanging branches. It has fewer trees and very little shule, but this park makes every tree count. Many of them have branches close to the ground that seem to grow out sideways, giving many trees wide profiles, and/or creating windows and/or low ceilings on many fairways.

I freely admit that I am biased towards heavily wooded courses, and often not impressed with fields of scattered trees, but this course really does it well. The unique profiles of many of the trees create much more intriguing holes than even many thickly wooded courses, where you are merely dodging between tree trunks. This is a different game entirely.

The thick canopies on this course add a vertical element to it as well, combined with some really cool terrain. A few of the best courses I've played (Justin Trails) have terrain that singularly creates interesting holes without much in the way of trees or water, and this course sports a few holes like this as well.


A good example of the canopy is the surprisingly-hard-to-deuce 208 ft Hole 5. You shoot slightly uphill to a flatter spot where two trees form a small, low window, through which you see the basket up the much steeper hill beyond the twin guardians, framed between the archway of their branches. The trees are wide and tall enough that its hard to spike hyzer around them, and its hard to get a skip up the steeper area for an easy deuce. Not to mention the elevation makes it play significantly longer than the sign says. Looks simple, but its not.That's how this park is, in a nutshell. They keep the baskets well protected, and other than 16 and 17, are are few gimme's here.


The elevation here is some of the coolest I've played on, and the course design maximizes it for many unique and memorable holes, including several blind pins, long hilltop-driving holes, and a variety of curves.

Because there is not much shule, many holes lend themselves to several possible lines to play on any given holes. However, the size and girth of the trees here keep players honest, and do punish errant shots, as does the steep terrain.

This course will get you to think about your shots, and especially where you want them to land. It will also have several holes that will stretch most arms, WHILE forcing control, both in direction and height.

Though hole 12 is the "signature hole", my personal favorite is hole 7. The fairway plays up a steep hill, with the wooded area on the left. In the middle of the fairway is a gigantic thing that appears to be several trees growing out of the same stump. Its pretty wide, and only gets wider the further above the ground it gets. Past it is another tree or two, and behind that is the basket, either slightly left or right of center (depending on the pin placement). Either way, totally hidden from you off the tee. You are forced to choose which way to bend around this behemoth in your way. Its tough, because you need all the distance you can get to make it up the hill, but if you clip a branch, you are looking at a 4. Spike hyzers are dangerous due to rollaway on the slopes, and more branches up above, so you have to find the right height to maximize distance up the hill, which is a delightful challenge.

The first 12 holes here flow down the hill to the edge of the woods, and play back and forth, working their way along the area in a clockwise direction. The wooded areas in play, if any, are usually on the left side or back of the holes. The last six holes of this course play up closer to the road, and work their way back to the start.

This course opens up with two holes that are interesting, purely terrain holes. One tree total, on both fairways. Hole one is on the edge of a raised sloping ridge, and two is a blind downhill shot that forces you to curve around a lone tree on the crest of the next hill to a pin hidden in the low area just before the edge of the dangeous wooded dropoff. The first chunk is a good mix of short-medium length holes (mid-high 200's) with a 300+ ft-er thrown in periodically. Deuces are attainable but well-earned on this section. Starting at hole 12, the course delivers the knock-out blow with three long, fairly technical holes in a row, two over 400 ft, that can wreck your score. After that, there is a longish tunnel shot, and 16 and 17 provide back to back birdie opportunities, before finishing with the interesting hole 18 (which is either fairly clever or dastardly cunning depending on where the pin is)

This course is a fun time, and thanks to the terrain, has good drainage and variety. The gorgeous park itself will wow you more than the course, but this one is definitely worth playing if you are in the area.

Cons:

The fairly standard signs only displayed one pin location and distance, though there are obviously several pins, which means on some holes, especially the longer ones, you arent sure whether its 360 or 440.

Rust. Several of the baskets are showing their age? and starting to rust, as is the sign for hole 18, which is half rusted off. It appears there are baskets of mixed types here, and some seem lighter duty than others. A few of the rusted ones, with fewer chains, are in need of replacement.

In a few cases, partly due to the somewhat open nature of this park, it was difficult to tell which pin you were aiming at. In particular, hole 4 is confusing. Your pin is a blind shot off to the left. The pin that's visible from the tee is NOT pin 4.

Though it offers diverse pin locations, which presumably are changed often (I didn't encounter any locals whose brains I could pick about this), this course has only one tee at each hole. This could be seen as a con, since the lack of dual tees of any kind could hurt the replay value of the park. However, looking at the way the course is set up, many of the holes are really too short for a shorter set of tees, and a longer set would be impossible without crossing fairways. On many courses with dual tees, the course is designed to be shot from one set (usually longs), and the location of the other set seems like an afterthought, or is just boring (good example- the short tees at Crystal Lake Park in Beaver Dam, WI)

I can't see a way to possibly install alt tees here, so the dearth of alt pin locations seems like a good (and inexpensive) alternative.

No doubt the locals have some crazy hard alt layouts known only to them, but for the rest of us, the course flows well and is fairly easy to navigate, even with rusted tee signs.

However, I felt that on some holes, the other alt pins all sucked, hole 3 in particular. The longest pin, next to a tree, was in when I played, but the other two are both shorter and out in the open, further from the woods edge, which makes it a much less interesting hole, still over 300ft but wide open. I hope the add another pin placement to the left of the long one, tucking it between the second tree and the woods. That would be another interesting location instead of the two bland alternatives currently in place.

This course is a fun experience. Overall, its fairly challengin, maybe a bit higher in difficulty that the short tees of most of the Midwest courses I've played with dual concrete tees. Since there's no long tees here for the option of a tougher round, and this lack of variety is one mark against this course that separates it from the elite courses. However, its very well designed to maximize the benefits of the land its on for a fun and challenging experience that doesn't get boring. Never have I played a park that used so few trees so well.

Despite the somewhat run-down and basic nature of the course baskets and signs, this course is still a Quite Good (3.25) course. Lots of fun, but not super hard. Rec and experienced players alike will enjoy this course, though its baskets aren't all in the best shape. Worth checking out, lots of fun, memorable even, but not Excellent. If I am back in the area, I will definitely play this course again, but it's not among my treasured favorites.

On a side note: Though this park has many indoor bathrooms spaced throughout it, they were locked when I tried to use them. It was 7am Sunday, so that could be the reason, but worst case scenario, there are gas stations nearby with unlocked facilities.

Other Thoughts:

Deming Park itself is gorgeous. It contains an arboretum, gardens, playgrounds, a swimming pool, several lakes, and several picnic gazebos with concrete floors and four picnic tables in each. Also, there were signs pointing to nature trails that led off into the woods in other sections of the park. It's clear that this park is a busy place, a center for the Terre Haute community. The weekend I was there, the park was full of High Schoolers having their prom pictures taken. There must've been at least a hundred of them, yet they never even came close to interfering with the DG course. That chould give you an idea of the scope of this park.

This park is so enormous, they put 18 holes off to one side of the road, in one corner of the park. There is space here to put several more 18 hole courses in this park. However, with all the other activities that this park is used for, I can see why they don't. Better to keep disc golf out of the way, and worry about pedestrians.

Though I think adding a second permanent course here wouldn't work, a temp one for special occasions would be fantastic. If they wanted to throw a big tournament here, they could plop down some rubber pads and temp baskets across the road from the current one. Theres probably enough space over there to make 36 temp holes, or definitely 18 long ones. The rest of the park is a little more open or less hilly at points, but the prospect of bringing some of the lakes into play is pretty exciting, and with SO much area to choose from, given free reign you could for sure find at least 18 amazing holes throughout the rest of this grand expanse of green space.
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7 0
chriseay76
Experience: 4 played 4 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Homefield 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Mar 9, 2009 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Good use of moderate elevation changes as well as fluidity, you seem to flow through the course as you play. Lack of long holes made up for with challenging precision drives especially during summer with full foliage Good DG community, both courteous and friendly. Also as you round out through 15-18 along the road you get some occasional eye candy.Clean, maintained almost compulsively A five star course to learn on.

Cons:

Not many, but i can toss about 330" 350 on a good day so i can drive the pin on most holes however a real crusher might not be as challenged. A few (3) tees could use some maintenance but are far from unusable. I like that there's no water but others won't. Alot of amateurs in the summer, but most are courteous and let you play through.

Other Thoughts:

My hometown course and the one i learned on. If you get a chance to come to Terre Haute stop by and play.......Lord knows there's nothing else here to do..
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4 6
tom8658
Experience: 16.5 years 14 played 3 reviews
4.00 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Oct 2, 2008 Played the course:once

Pros:

Beautiful park, rolling hills with large mature trees providing shade. Most holes make use of elevation, while the big trees make good obstacles without being overly wooded. Not many places to loose discs.

Cons:

Course is in a city park, so the occasional person will wander onto the fairway.

Other Thoughts:

Home to giant red squirrels that are seemingly fearless.
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8 0
ferretdance03
Bronze level trusted reviewer
Experience: 19.4 years 102 played 19 reviews
2.50 star(s)

Short but Fun 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 15, 2008 Played the course:never

Pros:

Very well maintained park atmosphere with a fair amount of variety in your shots.
- I saw no less than 7 park employees taking care of the grounds during my round.
- The tee pads were more than ample
- Nice use of limited elevation available
- Fair amount of variety in shot choices

Other Thoughts:

-With only 6 holes over 300ft this is not a course for players that like to air it out. The back to back 400+ holes are the only real places to crush a drive
- While the tee signs are fairly accurate, they only showed one pin placement, as mentioned below
- It was a bit confusing to find the course with all the park roads being one way, and I found no place to park close by hole 1. Perhaps locals know of a better place to park.

Overall, a fun course with a few challenging holes. A great place to work on your straight drives and finesse upshots.
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3 3
edge3281
Experience: 17.3 years 7 played 5 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Pretty Nice Course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Jun 18, 2008 Played the course:once

Pros:

All holes have a sign stating the hole number, distance and shows a general idea of where large objects are and location of next tee. Very well maintained. Good mix of distance and technical shots. Scorecards provided at the start of the course. Bathrooms are available in the park.

Cons:

They have trimmed some of the trees recently that I think makes some of the more difficult shots easier. This takes away some of the challenge the course provides. Mosquitoes can be an issue since the course mostly runs along the edge of the woods.

Other Thoughts:

I have played this course several times and I really enjoy it. The elevation changes and pin locations are a challenge even for advanced players.
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7 1
JogginJohn
Experience: 18.7 years 47 played 2 reviews
4.50 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Apr 25, 2008 Played the course:never

Pros:

Very well marked and maintained, varied hole difficulty, good for both beginners and more experienced players.

Cons:

There are only some minor problems. The tee signs only display one hole location and distance, but there are a couple hole locations. Also, you will get non-disc golfers walking through the course every once in awhile, not realizing they are in the way.

Other Thoughts:

One of the best things for beginners is there is no real place to lose discs. There are no water hazards and the course is mostly grass with some light underbrush along the edge. Nothing deters new players like having to search for badly thrown discs. Experienced players will also find the course interesting because it requires a wide range of shot types to get around trees.
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