Pros:
- Gorgeous views
- Immaculately maintained grounds.
- Good variety of hole lengths.
- Interesting green layouts.
- Excellent staff that really seems to want Disc Golfers there.
- Water comes into play on several holes.
- Restrooms and water available at the clubhouse.
- Very forgiving roughs.
- Low chance of disc loss.
- A very enjoyable place to spend a few hours.
Cons:
- No tee pads.
- No information at tee markers.
- Confusing map.
- Mis-labeled baskets add to an already confusing map.
- Low-quality baskets.
- No practice basket.
- Goose poop in many areas of the course.
- Very wet in the mornings.
- Mostly flat.
- $10 per round is high but it does include a disc rental.
Other Thoughts:
- Lake Estes is an 18 hole course that plays across and along the fairways of the 9 hole ball golf course. Fairways are wide open, with baskets placed among guardian trees on most of the greens.
- Estes Park is a beautiful place and attracts many visitors during the summer. Expect long lines of traffic leading into this mountain town, and plan accordingly if you have a tee time to meet.
- Golf Courses are notoriously wet in the mornings due to the sprinklers, and this place is no different. Bring waterproof shoes or at least a second pair of shoes and socks for the ride home. Also, goose poop is everywhere so bring a second towel for cleaning your discs.
- Estes Park sits at 7,522'. Your discs will fly more overstable here, and I feel not having a practice basket to test out your putts is a negative.
- Make sure to grab a map from the clubhouse. Although it's confusing, navigating the course without it would be almost impossible. Plus, the distances are listed on the back which is helpful since the tee-posts have no information other than hole number.
- Water comes into play on several holes, but it's only a challenge for newer players. The tees are set close to the water, so if you can carry about 150' you'll be fine.
- The course was 9 holes, and they charged $5 per round. Adding 9 holes and then charging $10 seems short-sighted to me. A $10 day pass or $5 per round seems more reasonable.
- The baskets really bring the score of this place down. I can play on just about any basket without complaining, but these are very low-quality portables. A few were damaged, and most are mislabeled. A permanent basket upgrade is sorely needed for such a beautiful place.
- The staff is very friendly and welcoming. They seemed very happy to have us there and helped with discussing some of the more confusing aspects of the map and layout. Wonderful people!
- I get the feeling the owners saw an opportunity to add some revenue, but they didn't really know much about Disc Golf or how to implement it. I don't know if they're just testing the waters by not having tees, signs, and quality baskets.
- Final Thought...We had a lot of fun playing here. This place is beautiful and having such a well-maintained course is a treat. However, the basket situation has to be addressed. For a place charging $10 per round, this is a deal-breaker for getting a higher score. This place could easily accommodate multiple tee placements, and proper tee signs would make the round more enjoyable. There is so much potential for improvement, but it's a fun bag even as it sits. Hopefully, the owners see value in adding some much needed improvements.