Half Moon Lagoon is a hidden little gem of a course that I finally was able to play yesterday after being near it on numerous occasions. 18 holes of predominantly wooded golf with a couple longer open holes tacked on at the end.

The baskets here are beautiful Innova Discatcher Pro-28's. These are some of the best targets on the market currently in my opinion. All of these baskets were mounted nice and level and caught great. The yellow top bands stand out nicely in the woods. Couldn't ask for anything better. One pin position per hole.

The tee signs are really solid as well. They have a pretty basic but informative hole layout map showing nearby tees and a dotted line showing the way to the next tee. They also list the hole #, distance and par. Really nice looking and informative signs.

The design here is top notch. The first 15 holes play moderately wooded and flat. There's trees to navigate on every one of these holes but there's fair lines on every one of them. Many times multiple lines to access the pin. I scored really well throwing exclusively RHBH but the wife shot a solid round only throwing RHFH. A few holes may favor one type of shot over the other but all holes were fair.

The flow of the course itself was incredibly easy to follow. Very little in walking to the next tee, a couple spots only. Even then the paths were plain to see a trimmed up nicely. No map needed for most players.

The tee pads are rubber mats. It appears that they are beefing up the framework surrounding the mats by adding a wood frame and crushed gravel base. Either way these were nicely done as far as rubber tees go. There was some mention of alt tees but I can't speak on those as we play the original layout only.

The course is permanent and free to play. Even though the course plays so close to water almost the entire round there's only 2 water carries. And hole 16 is really the only precarious one. So losing a disc in the drink is not really much of a concern.

I would've given this course a 4 all day every day but it's biggest con is availability. As I mentioned above, I've been near here on at least 2 other occasions but was unable to play the course due to flooding issues. The course plays alongside a river and creek that tend to flood after rain. I dinged Harmony Bends for this and this place suffers from the same type of situation.

Some of the tee, moreso at the beginning of the course, have 2 sections of rubber mats. There's a couple inch gap between the 2 sections on numerous tees which makes for a sketchy run up situation. It looks like they're redoing the pads as I type this, but currently this is an issue.

The last 2 holes feel like filler holes and don't really jive with the rest of the course. They're just long open park style holes. Just a lackluster finish to an otherwise tight, technical round. A little bit of a walk back to the parking lot too. Nothing crazy but worth noting.

The rough off the fairways can get pretty gnarly. The grass gets up to four feet or so in certain spots. The potential to lose a disc is very real with a bad shot or tree kick.

More PSA than con but the bugs are thick out here. It's WI and it plays nears a river and creek. It's essentially a mosquito factory surrounding the course. Bug spray is a must in the summer.

This course was one of the biggest surprises I've played in quite some time. What a fun round this was. Excellent design and clearly lots of local love for this course. It had always looked like it'd be a fun course but it far exceeded my expectations. I'd highly recommend this course if you're anywhere nearby. It's not really too far off the expressway, but not really that close either. It will be worth your time though.

I waffled between a 3.5 and a 4 for a rating. I think it's probably right in between the two, but I decided to go with the 3.5 due to the flooding issues. I will be back here again though. Without a doubt.

-Some fun water features that (sort of) come into play
-Good balance between approachability and challenge
-Well-designed/interesting holes
-Nice Tee Signs showing distance, layout, and next hole
-Signs of continued maintenance
-Trash cans on most holes (either actual or makeshift) and pretty clean of litter/graffiti
-Ace runs abound

-Vicious rough, especially in summer. Many opportunities to lose a disc.
-Most holes are short, except for last 3 - 2 of which are just wide open baskets in a field.
-Not a fan of the rubber teepads. Uneven, most have a pronounced seam in the middle.
-Some holes, like 13, have virtually no defined fairway so even a decent shot can be difficult to find
-Bugs can be bad, especially in summer.

I enjoyed this course. It plays in a mostly disc golf exclusive area except for the last 3 holes. Despite most holes being <250 feet, most holes have obstacles, force a gap, and tight fairways. This course will force you to work on throwing an accurate, straight 175-225 foot shot. If you can do that, you should score below par. But if you don't the rough can be punishing for even advanced players. There is waist high tall grass just off the fairway on many holes. Very easy to lose a shank. There's also some water around the holes, and it sort of comes into play on a few, although you really only need to carry about 150' tops to clear any water here (there is the possibility of hitting water going long or wide on a few holes but it would have to be a pretty bad shank). Still a cool feature. Now lots of tall grass + water inevitably = bugs. Especially in summer. It wasn't unplayable by any means, but just know that going in and bring the spray. It's probably a great course in fall. I also appreciated the signs of continued maintenance and upkeep. Great tee signs and it looks like some holes are getting long tees installed. They are just natural tee pad currently but they may be under construction.
One thing I would love to see is concrete teepads to replace the rubber ones. The current teepads are uneven, and most are two separate pieces of rubber with an uneven seam right in the middle. Not ideal.

All in all, this course scored high on the fun factor. The first 15 holes are great woods golf. The last 3 let you bomb it out, and even if they're a bit boring, I appreciate the variation. This is probably more like a 3.75 rating than 3.5, but I couldn't bring myself to go to 4 with the teepads, brutal rough (and in some cases, fairways), and lack of multiple teepads/baskets. Still a course I'd recommend giving a spin and would absolutely play again.

+ This course has the potential to be a 4.0 course. The first 15 holes are relatively short and in the woods, but the holes don't feel like they're monotonous and repetitive. Each hole offers a unique challenge in one way or another.

+ I love that the last 3 holes are wide open and longer. It gives player a chance to air out their frustrations and adds a much needed breathe of fresh air.

+ It's a bit more scenic than the typical disc golf course. It's tranquil and offers seclusion and a great place to clear your head.

+ Course flow is made easier by the tee signs that indicate where the next tee is. The tee signs are descriptive and helpful. The tees themselves are rubber mats which do the job just fine.

+ Plenty of ace runs on the first 15 holes, and yet, an errant drive can turn into a tricky 3.

- The weeds are terrible! I'm talking up to butt in weeds. Without a spotter here, losing a disc is a real possibility, even if you land in the fairway or on the green. It really kills the fun factor.

- Since it's next to several bodies of water, it's also quite buggy, but the bugs aren't nearly as big of an issue as the vegetation.

- Flooding will make this course unplayable after a good rain.

- It'd be great if hole 18 was closer to 1's tee.

- The walk after 4 is quite long and it's pretty easy to get lost.

All things considered, this is still the best course in the area. With mowed fairways and greens on 1-15, it could very well be a 4.0 course. It just really, really, really, really needs maintenance and a team of weed killers. We had a blast here and would consider coming back if we were assured our legs wouldn't be burning (we wore shorts) after 15 holes and we didn't need spotters on these holes. It's annoying to require a spotter for a 180 foot straight shot, but that's what this course has come to.