Lenni Lenape Park DGC reviews
7
0
Bipolar 2+ years drive by
Reviewed:
Played on:Jul 4, 2014
Played the course:once
Pros:
Lenni Lenape offers a unique experience with some really interesting holes, some you may love and some you probably could skip. That was the case for me, as some holes felt liked they belonged on a 4.0-4.5-rated course and others on a 2.0-rated course. Given the small piece of land that the course is on, I feel that the designers did a tremendous job maximizing the property's potential to create some awesome holes and giving the course a nice balance of holes types. Despite being in a small park, it offers nice bathrooms, plenty of parking, a playground, and is very clean throughout.
All of the equipment is in great shape with new/informing tee signs, very comfortable concrete tees, and DISCatchers easy to spot in the thick woods.
Holes 7-14 offer a fun mix of shots in the woods, some being ace runs that require extreme accuracy, some that give you more room to work with and offer multiple lines, as well as a few multi-stage holes with specific landing zones. I couldn't shake the feeling that some of the holes in this stretch of the course displayed John Houck-esque landing zones, which is a genuine compliment. I was pleasantly surprised at how good these middle holes were.
There is a good balance of wooded and open holes here. I did appreciate the O.B. penalties on holes 1 and 2, giving these plain holes a little more character - hole 2 has an island-hole quality to it.
The design does a great job of using the elevation changes and only one or two holes are completely flat. Some of the open holes utilize rolling hills to make them slightly more interesting and the elevation used throughout the round provides some really unique holes. For example, hole 5 plays downhill, but there is a plateau that you need to land on or over to have a shot at birdie. The elevation also gives a risk/reward factor on a few holes. Hole 7 is initially a straight uphill shot that turns into a downward sloping dogleg right. The pin is set on the slope with a drop-off behind it.
Navigation is intuitive and there is very little walking in between holes.
All of the equipment is in great shape with new/informing tee signs, very comfortable concrete tees, and DISCatchers easy to spot in the thick woods.
Holes 7-14 offer a fun mix of shots in the woods, some being ace runs that require extreme accuracy, some that give you more room to work with and offer multiple lines, as well as a few multi-stage holes with specific landing zones. I couldn't shake the feeling that some of the holes in this stretch of the course displayed John Houck-esque landing zones, which is a genuine compliment. I was pleasantly surprised at how good these middle holes were.
There is a good balance of wooded and open holes here. I did appreciate the O.B. penalties on holes 1 and 2, giving these plain holes a little more character - hole 2 has an island-hole quality to it.
The design does a great job of using the elevation changes and only one or two holes are completely flat. Some of the open holes utilize rolling hills to make them slightly more interesting and the elevation used throughout the round provides some really unique holes. For example, hole 5 plays downhill, but there is a plateau that you need to land on or over to have a shot at birdie. The elevation also gives a risk/reward factor on a few holes. Hole 7 is initially a straight uphill shot that turns into a downward sloping dogleg right. The pin is set on the slope with a drop-off behind it.
Navigation is intuitive and there is very little walking in between holes.
Cons:
-The main detractor of this course is the lesser holes at the beginning and end of the round. Holes 1,2, and 15-18 pretty much play wide open and having 1/3 of the course being completely open is hurtful to its rating IMO. It's especially a letdown to end with four boring holes after a stretch of great holes. Hole 15 is really bad with mounds of dirt and mulch being the main obstacle. However, that part may not be the designers' doing.
-I probably caught the course at one of the worst times of the year in terms of rough, but it was really bad in some parts. The extreme angles on some of the holes combined with thick rough definitely encourages spotting. I do want to thank Michael though for calling me right away when he found one of my lost discs.
-Holes 5 and 8 would be better if just a little more clearing was done in the fairway.
-There is not much variety in terms of pars and hole lengths.
-Navigating the course is not for the faint of heart with some steep hill climbs and tight paths in the woods. I could see navigation being an even greater problem after the rain.
-I probably caught the course at one of the worst times of the year in terms of rough, but it was really bad in some parts. The extreme angles on some of the holes combined with thick rough definitely encourages spotting. I do want to thank Michael though for calling me right away when he found one of my lost discs.
-Holes 5 and 8 would be better if just a little more clearing was done in the fairway.
-There is not much variety in terms of pars and hole lengths.
-Navigating the course is not for the faint of heart with some steep hill climbs and tight paths in the woods. I could see navigation being an even greater problem after the rain.
Other Thoughts:
These guys know how to design a course and courses seem to be regularly popping up in the area with their stamp on them. I would recommend stopping here if you are in the area playing South Hills as it is a great compliment to that course. Despite only being a few miles from each other, the courses offer a diverse mix of rolling hills and tight woods.
This is a hard course for me to rate. It has a bipolar quality to it with some wonderfully designed wooded holes, multiple wide open holes, and a few decent holes that have awful rough to make them less enjoyable. With a park this small, the designers appear to have been limited on what they could do for 18 holes so I think they did the best they could. Being only a few months old, I imagine that the course will only get better from here on out in terms of clearing fairways and rough. I am going with a 3.0, though I feel that the course is on the high end of this rating. I definitely encourage you to play this course, even at least just to check out the wooded holes if that fits your taste.
This is a hard course for me to rate. It has a bipolar quality to it with some wonderfully designed wooded holes, multiple wide open holes, and a few decent holes that have awful rough to make them less enjoyable. With a park this small, the designers appear to have been limited on what they could do for 18 holes so I think they did the best they could. Being only a few months old, I imagine that the course will only get better from here on out in terms of clearing fairways and rough. I am going with a 3.0, though I feel that the course is on the high end of this rating. I definitely encourage you to play this course, even at least just to check out the wooded holes if that fits your taste.
