While driving back home from the Ohio Senior Olympics in June, my wife and I heard a radio advertisement for a disc golf course. I said, "Did you hear that?" We turned it up, and discovered that the Jackson Lake campground was advertising their many activities, including disc golf, camping, swimming, fishing, game room, etc. It was a first for me, to hear about a new course, on the radio!

Finally able to check it out this weekend, it turns out that they've installed a pretty nice little nine hole course geared to the casual player they're likely to attract to the park. With Freedom baskets (a decent basket, but with only a single ring of chains), natural turf tee areas with an embedded toe board and a basic hole number sign, all holes range between 150 and 230 feet in distance. They incorporate the space beside the smaller pond, across a little dip, around a small grove of trees, then peak with a short #5 where you can choose from a couple of tighter lines, to #6, a true disc golf hole with a guarded basket just inside the woods, situated on a rollaway green, and a tightly wooded #7, before coming back out to the open for the last two.

The course flow is logical, but they do provide you with a basic map (I've added an aerial one here on DGCR), a generic scorecard, and an intro to disc golf flyer from the PDGA.

Even a Recreational Level competitive player won't find much challenge here, and should expect to shoot scores between 19 and 23 for each quick loop of nine holes. Which means that the $5-6 per person park fee won't be too attractive to most higher level players, unless they're already coming here for the rest of the attractions.

If you've played a number of more competitive courses, you'll likely look at the woods as you leave, and say to yourself, "now there's much better looking terrain here for a course than what they used". But they geared the course toward casual players, families, and kids, after all.

Not necessarily a permanent issue, but the course is new, yet we had to send someone ahead to hold up the 4th basket, which was lying on the ground.

I'm glad I came to check it out. Once. If this looks like your cup of tea, or you'd like to spend a summer day out of town, swimming, grilling, and getting in a little family disc golf, it might be worth one visit, too.

- Campgrounds and course maps handed out at park entrance that are fairly accurate
- Clean grounds with some trashcans around the course
- No problems with non-disc golfers being in the way (at least today for us)
- Clearly marked "tees" and baskets are pretty obvious and visible from the tees with maybe 1 exception where you are playing into the woods
-Food, drinks, restrooms, gameroom, fishing, and swimming pool all available on the grounds right next to the course.
- No course traffic. Basically had the course to ourselves, with the exception of one family playing on our second round.

- Entrance fee. It's $5 on weekdays and $6 on weekends... per person. Keep in mind that gives you access to a lot more than just disc golf. But, if you are only interested in playing disc golf, I feel that if you want to pay to play, you'll get much more for your money at Blendon Woods.
- Not a lot of "character". Most shots are straight or slight hyzers. A couple of lower ceiling shots. One anhyzer hole in the woods with a very tight gap.
- All holes are short. Everything is totally doable in 2 with just midranges and putters. Don't think anything there was over maybe 260-280'.
- Only 9 holes. That's not a con in and of itself, but when there are not really any memorable/signature-type holes... meh.

My wife and I decided to check this course out today, just out of curiosity. The campgrounds and course are pretty well kept and clean. They are natural tees, which are pretty well marked and visible. You will still probably benefit from having a map the first round you play there, though.

The holes are all short with no real elevation changes. I would say that most were around 200 to 260-280ish feet, though I can't confirm the actual distances, as we passed on the score card that was offered at the park entrance booth (thinking distances would be marked at each tee, which they weren't).

It was a fun little course. Nothing dificult, except maybe hole 7, where you have an anhyzer shot with a very tight gap to hit or you are likely going to have tree trouble.

Was it worth $12? Not really. There are plenty of other courses around Columbus that offer much more from a disc golf perspective for free. That said, if you are going to be camping there anyway or want somewhere to take the kids for a cookout, fishing, swimming, or other general outdoor activities, just be aware that there is a short, fun little 9 hole course on-site that is very beginner friendly where you can stash your drivers and get in some casual disc golf with the family.