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Laurel Park reviews
9
0
Miniature Design with Minimal Issues 2+ years
Reviewed:
Played on:Jun 3, 2021
Played the course:once
Pros:
A short layout that presents good variety but suffers from a few inconveniences.
-Amenities: Mach IIs, natural tees with tee posts. Acceptable.
-Shot Shaping/Gameplay: Good variety. There are some tightly wooded shots, like (1) and (6), some pretty wide open holes, and some in between that require hitting a gap or going into a pocket. Several holes are short par-4s that are clearly designed to be multi-shot holes for shorter throwers. Laurel is strong on the amount of imagination that went into choosing lines.
-Novice Friendly: The shorter distances out here (at least for par-4s, and some of the par-3s as well) make this a great "real" course for newer players. Too often, beginner friendly courses are very open, but here there's variety that will teach smarter gameplay as well.
-Amenities: Mach IIs, natural tees with tee posts. Acceptable.
-Shot Shaping/Gameplay: Good variety. There are some tightly wooded shots, like (1) and (6), some pretty wide open holes, and some in between that require hitting a gap or going into a pocket. Several holes are short par-4s that are clearly designed to be multi-shot holes for shorter throwers. Laurel is strong on the amount of imagination that went into choosing lines.
-Novice Friendly: The shorter distances out here (at least for par-4s, and some of the par-3s as well) make this a great "real" course for newer players. Too often, beginner friendly courses are very open, but here there's variety that will teach smarter gameplay as well.
Cons:
-Flow: Pretty disjointed. (1) is totally separate from all the rest of the holes. There are substantial jumps to get to (6) and to get to (8). It's tricky to know where to go, even with the GPS map on UDisc. I'd recommend playing with a local that knows the way.
-Unreasonable Lines: I think (3) and (6) are too funky to make sense. Especially (6) felt like a poke and hope. If these were solid, I think my rating would jump up a point.
-Natural Tees: Not bad yet, but getting there. This aspect also makes navigation worse, as it's hard to spot a little tee post with no concrete.
-Length: There will be lots of chances to gain strokes here. Advanced players could easily go 9 below par due to numerous short par-4s that would be eagle opportunities. It's clearly aimed at shorter throwers, so just be advised that bombers won't enjoy it here.
-Blind Holes: (8) and (9), and to a lesser extent (3), were very hard to play without hole maps. I actually made the mistake of thinking basket (3) was for hole (8), which actually goes parallel to (3) and up to a different basket. Signage would help a lot.
-Unreasonable Lines: I think (3) and (6) are too funky to make sense. Especially (6) felt like a poke and hope. If these were solid, I think my rating would jump up a point.
-Natural Tees: Not bad yet, but getting there. This aspect also makes navigation worse, as it's hard to spot a little tee post with no concrete.
-Length: There will be lots of chances to gain strokes here. Advanced players could easily go 9 below par due to numerous short par-4s that would be eagle opportunities. It's clearly aimed at shorter throwers, so just be advised that bombers won't enjoy it here.
-Blind Holes: (8) and (9), and to a lesser extent (3), were very hard to play without hole maps. I actually made the mistake of thinking basket (3) was for hole (8), which actually goes parallel to (3) and up to a different basket. Signage would help a lot.
Other Thoughts:
Laurel is a newer course that, with some infrastructure, should rise to a 2.5 or even a 3.0. Some tee pads, signs with maps, thinning of trees on (3) and (6), and navigational cues (perhaps even a slight layout tweak for the long transitions), would be majorly helpful. As is, it's just on my 2.0-2.5 border, but it feels more Reasonable than Typical at the present moment. Please DM me as improvements are made, and I'll adjust my rating.
