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ORIGINAL PROS:
This course is the second closest for me, so I had to eventually visit it. The pictures on the course site show that it was originally pretty nice, and if it actually was kept up to that state, I would visit it regularly. In it's current state, I can't justify driving even 25 miles for it. I'll start this review by listing the positives of the course.
The baskets are really nice. They are Innova DISCatchers, and are all in excellent condition.
The land is very nicely mowed. Someone obviously spends a lot of time each week keeping the huge lawn areas clean. There's a few ruts in the mowed areas, but really the mowed area is one of the best kept I've seen in any course.
There's a website and map! Definitely print this out before going:
http://sites.google.com/site/...ystarkey/home
The course layout is decent. There's no hills, but with the trees and the woods areas, they've made some interesting shots.
The land is beautiful. In the woods is a couple nice lakes. I heard birds the whole time, and frogs near the tees of #4.
ORIGINAL CONS:
Even with the positives listed above, this course is not worth playing. I ended up just walking holes 5-8 since I knew it would be impossible to play them without losing discs. Hole 6, I couldn't even walk, since the downed trees and overgrowth was so bad. I uploaded a great picture of the pro tee, but it looks like it was so overgrown that a moderator deleted it!
The map clearly shows which holes incorporate the woods. Of these, only hole #3 is still playable. The worst is hole 6, where the "fairway" has weeds that are waist high the whole way. One of the tees for hole 6 had no place to stand, as a large tree had fallen, and was being supported by the tee marker. Even if some major work is spent on this course, I don't think this hole will ever be playable.
Almost all the holes are right by O.B. areas. If you overthow hole 4 by even 5 feet, your disc will land in grass that is 3-4 feet high.
Even though the course is near the interstate, finding it can be tough. There are no signs as you enter, and the high fence makes it seem like a private area. When you get there, you will question whether it is the right area.
As everyone has said, there's a high probability of poison ivy being a problem. I wore long pants, and seem to have been okay, but I'm pretty sure that it is everywhere. I also experienced thorns and thistles the times I wandered off the paths.
In my opinion, the holes in the open of this course do not have enough obstacles. In the woods, there are too many. You might see this as a positive, since variation is generally a good thing, but I saw it more like every hole fails, each in its own different way.
UPDATE 4/23/2011:
I visited the course today. The bndisc.com community came out last fall and did a little work on the course. I could definitely see the results. The fairways through the woods were greatly improved, and some of the out-of-bounds areas in the woods were cleaned up also, so that finding errant discs will be a lot easier. Most of the poison ivy is probably gone, but there were still thorns everywhere.
Unfortunately, the area got a lot of rain over the last few days, so hole 2 and holes 5-8 were unplayable. Even with the high water, I could tell that the course of water has changed dramatically since I was here before. Instead of calm lakes, it has turned into moving water. It may be a creek normally, but with the recent rains, it was essentially a river today. The tees for 5-7 today were all in the river, and the water was moving quite fast at the tees for 5 and 6. The water was probably at least waist high at these tees. The days that this course has left may be numbered.
The trash has gotten worse. Most of the beer cans were gone, but there was more broken glass lying around than before. Now that the brush has been cleared a bit more, it's easy to find discarded large appliances lying around. When I was there today, A large DLP TV (60") was lying near the fairway for 4. It wasn't in the woods at all, it was just out in the open. I can't believe people would do that. There's even a large dumpster near the entrance of the course, but someone drove their truck right past it, and down the fairways, just to dump their garbage in the course.
On the positive side, there is now a sign at the entrance. It's small and just says "DISC GOLF", but it does its job!
UPDATE 5/24/2013:
The B-N community has put a lot of work in since I had been there last:
* There is now a nice sign is at the entrance. It no longer feels like a place out of a horror movie.
* As soon as you enter, if you turn around, you'll see where the first tee has been moved to. There's also a nice board with a map. Way to go! This is awesome!
* All the holes that had flooding problems have been moved. It's rained a lot this spring, and it still appeared that you can stay dry while playing this course, and your shoes will not even get too muddy! The holes that are in the woods are really a lot of fun!
* Some of the long tees are in extremely interesting spots. This course is clearly designed to be fun for experienced players. Fairways are extremely narrow, but well maintained. STAY OUT OF THE ROUGH!
* All the trash seems to be gone. No more broken beer bottles!
I had given this course 0.5 stars originally, and am now bumping it up to a 3.5 (Very Good). It's not an easy course, and if you can't control your disk well, you will be losing it. But, if you are looking for a secluded place that you can experience nature and still have a complex round of disc golf, there is nothing better than this course.
My girlfriend is into photography, and got a lot of excellent pictures during our trip. There are large fields with cottonwood seeds sailing across it. There is a stream you can photograph, and lots of interesting junk that is nearly a century old, that is great for taking pictures.
Even though there are some long holes, I rarely used my regular driver. My Eagle was perfect for the precise shots I needed to stay on fairways. When done correctly, it's a spectacular thing.