Low-budget, pitch-n-putt course on rec center property, in a mildly urban setting. Nothing more. Nothing less.

• Variety - Decent: typical of what you'd expect for pitch-n-putt. Distances pretty much suited for mids/putters. Good use of trees to force shot some degree of shaping and finesse. A few holes out in the open.

• Elevation - Mostly flat, but makes good use of a couple of berms to provide an "elevated" tee, and a pin placement where rollaways can add strokes.

• Challenge: OK for beginners. The challenge for experienced players is how far under par you can get and running aces. What keeps me coming back is practicing long comeback putts after running the pin off the tee.

• Equipment - Passable: Baskets are cheap, but they work. Tees signs let you know where to go, but lack distances - and a few are already broken/missing. Natural tees are OK because this course doesn't see much traffic.

• Aesthetics - Meh: Not this reviewer's idea of a nice setting. Despite a good view of the Rouge River, course feels semi-industrial urban, and just a tad trashy. Plenty of road noise also detracts from the experience.

• Good use of land that doesn't appear to get much use otherwise.

• Drainage: Better than most area courses after it rains.

• Safety: A busy street runs along the left side of hole 7. There's enough space to keep most (but definitely not all) RHBH shots out of the road. Point is, shots can get away from you...even more so for beginners (as this course will attract). Factor in the wind this course gets, and discs will end up in the road.

My pet peeve with the above is that it's avoidable. #7 could (and should) have been angled to the right, which would have routed throws away from (rather than parallel to), the road, and could have used a mound for the basket placement.

Hole #4 brings an admittedly seldom used bench into play. Twice, I've had I had to let someone know I planned to throw something in their general direction. One person seemed mildly curious. The other looked at me like I was from planet Mongo.

• Trash: Quite a bit of a trash randomly blown about the course (particularly holes 1 - 6).

• The rough bordering the left side of holes 2-6 gets crazy thick during the summer.

• More an observation than an actual con: Would have been nice if # 9 ended up closer to # 1... whether for playing another round, or just to avoid a long boring walk to the car. That said, I don't see a reasonably good way that could have been done.

Often windy - not a bad place to practice upshots/putts in the wind, and a decent place to work on your short game in general.

I've played close to 20 rounds here (because it's the closest course to my office), so I'm genuinely grateful to everyone who played a part in making this course a reality.

Fine for a quick round if you're already in the area. Not worth travelling more than 20 min to play.

As a proud member of the Melvindale Parks and Rec committee I feel this course hits the mark. This is a good use of space that is designed for beginners to learn and enjoy. Good use of space with a simple layout. It has introduced my wife, son, family, friends and neighbors to the game that we all love. Wide open section of the course allows new players to work on distance shots. Some wooded holes present some challenges to learn how to get around obstacles. Nice view along the river as well make it an enjoyable course to walk.

With 30 years of experience playing disc golf, I am aware this is not the most challenging course. Limited space makes for shorter holes. We tried to make the best use of the existing trees, woods and water.

Come out and have some fun! Thank you for playing and your feedback. We will continue to keep the course clean and make improvements as time goes on. Nice to see someone got an ace on the first hole! We also appreciate whoever marked the distance on each hole. Everyone participating and introducing this game to new players has made this course a success.

Aesthetic - Sure Melvindale isn't the vacation capital for its beautiful sights. But for a down river course, I really think this course has my kind of Aesthetics. Fast flowing river close following you thru most of the course. Seclusion (of sorts) with the privacy behind the building and major road on another side. And the trees are nice, I had to stop for a minute I think on hole 5 because the smell of pine was so strong and fresh I just had to enjoy it for a minute.

Fun - This isn't a course I'm saying fun like throwing huge bombs or highly technical. It's just that this course is so close to many things that people can get here quick and easy, you can run the course in 10-15 minutes, and its just plain-ole nice when you need a quicky.

Locatability - The address and buildings around here make it easy to find. Course is small so easy to get around. Course Map added just in case making it even easier. Signs marking each hole (or concrete bricks), and extra signs if next hole is not right in front of you. Could use some numbers on the baskets, but not that big of a deal.

Challenge/Variety - every hole is pretty much straight with small trees here and there. Sure there is water on your left thru the first few holes, but its way down and there is a good 30 feet down the bank that there is still land until water. A few small hills is about the only other variation on the course. The only two challenging things I found were trying to play course with just putters (3holes over 200 is the slight challenge) and the gusting winds thru some holes.

TeePads - Tee's were all natural and grass was in fine shape and a sign marked the start. Baskets were kinda chinsey but were new, except for where a basket was missing. Baskets are black and not marked with hole, but due to the short length it isn't too hard to find them.

Congestion - I went on a weekday during lunch. No other DG's but in the 20-30 minutes I was here 3 different sets of neighbors came over to let their dog dookie in the fairways. And these folks have no idea why there are orange signs or weird metal things all over, so they have no idea a disc could be coming or that you are waiting to throw while they stand there and watch their dog run around for 10 minutes. Also looks like a boat launch after basket #1 before tee #2, I could only imagine the folks that would be using this (Rouge River being so picturesque), so I would bet this is going to slow things down.

Maintained/Bugs - Grass is mowed fine, the signs and baskets and teepad areas are in fine shape. This is a new course. But the amount of dog logs in the fairways is less than attractive, just glad I didn't plant my disc in a pile. Additionally the glen of trees between holes 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 seems to be where the dog walkers expect a garbage can should have been cuz there is a decent amount of litter. When I came, it was early April and we just broke thru the snow, so no bugs.

Whats holding it back from higher rating - First off ask residents to bring bags for their dog do-do and have garbage cans for the other stuff. But relatively for free, move the baskets to force different throws and not allow any line possible to each basket. For a couple bucks bring in yards of dirt and make those berms you tee from on 8 and 9 taller and more challenging, and then bring in more natural stuff like squarish blocks or huge river rocks. Make a barrier around a hole and again break up some throwing lanes.

Kid Friendly - Yes and no to being kid friendly. You are here and gone in a short time so they don't have time to get bored. But with super wild throws, could go over the fence to the building or they'd keep going down the hill to the river or perhaps whack a car going down Greenfield Road.

Older/Less Active Player Friendly - I think this DG Course is taylor-made for this group of people. Tight and compact course, and short holes, older/less active players could live off this course and enjoy the outdoors.

Rookie Friendly - I don't think Rookie's will like this. Rookie's are looking for the challenge so when they fail they can say oh it was so hard, so going to a dink like this I think would kinda keep them out.

Average Player Friendly - I think more average players would find enjoyment here for a 9-hole course. They understand the many facets of the game and can find something to work out. But I also think these guys also played long enough that they want something out of a course, not just holes and challenge but some aesthetics, and some could enjoy this from time to time.

Pro Player Friendly - I don't really see many Pro's coming to Melvindale's 9 hole course. There is no real draw for them. The only thing I could see is if they like that suburban/inner city feel while still getting the sights and smells of the outdoors with the river and new pines.

This is the closest course to my house.
Basket #1 is back, so it's back to being 9 holes.
It's short. Players with even a mediocre arm can easily overthrow many of the holes.
It's well marked, and seems to be checked up on regularly. (One of the signs was missing, but had been replaced with paint on a cement block.)
A good choice for beginning players or other players that just want to get out for a quick 9.

It's short. Really short.
The course design is restricted by the space available.
The neighborhood isn't the best, but I didn't feel uncomfortable or unsafe.

My thanks to Melvindale. It's nice to have a course that's ~10 minutes from home. When I just want to get out for a quick nine, this is (for me) a great course. Further, when I play with my son (10 years old) he isn't intimidated by long holes and he can even make par sometimes.
I hope that this course continues to be kept up and is available.
The course design is not the best, but isn't bad given the space available. It has a couple of thin holes (5 and 6) with trees/bushes on both sides. It has a slight amount of elevation changes. There is no water (unless you throw really wild and end up in the Rouge.)
I gave the course a 2.5 because it is well marked and playable, which is good for a 9 hole course.

It's another disc golf course in the area. This simple little 9 hole course starts by in the trees by the far left corner of the parking lot and ends at the parking lot at the other side of the building by the senior citizen center. There are a few natural pads. On other holes there is nothing, so just tee off from either side of the basket. The hole signs are orange and show a route, complete with trees, and the hole number. The baskets are MVP Black Hole. They're a double chain model but cheaply made with thinner gauge steel than other brands. # 1 was stolen a while ago but has now been replaced or returned or found? But now, in a true moment of inspiration, someone of genius level mentality, has driven a small metal fence post into the ground under the basket so that now, this metal pole sticks up through the bottom of the basket and is padlocked to the chains. I'm sure these steel poles are placed here as a theft deterrent and I'm pretty darn sure, you won't be seeing them at a course near you. Although, this might not affect your putting, it will affect the mental part of your putting. But if you're playing this course, I doubt very much if you have a PDGA number or a bag or a putter or a job or a car or even a DGCR secret membership card.

The holes are mostly short, think 150' average. Holes 2 & 3 play with the Rogue River on your left. It would take quite a errant hyser to reach the river but later # 6 does have some nasty, thick rough on the left. Then 7-9 play out to the open lawn area although #9 does have the basket close to some nasty rough.

The design here is terrible. The designer could not have possibly ever played disc golf. Obviously this is Course designed for beginners/rec players but then you have holes like #6 playing through a tight little window with nasty rough on the left.

Whoever thought sticking a steel post through the chains has obviously never played.

No tee pads.

Silly signs with no distance listed.

As I finished my short, but amusing round, with darkness fast approaching, as I walked the long walk back to my car, there were a group of scruffy looking dudes and girls hanging out there in that corner, playing their music and a hugging on each other. They weren't threatening but they did make me a little uncomfortable. I can imagine these same scruffy dudes doing some damage to the course here. They had that look that just oozed discontent and shouts, "I'm bored and I'm looking for something to break up and these baskets look breakable to me."

If I had the chance to adjust this course, just a little, I would take out one of the holes close to the river and add another hole out in the field somewhere. It wouldn't make this a great course but it might help some. About my rating, a 9 hole course, with no pads, cheap baskets and a terrible design is not a average course (2.5) it's way lower than that. I'm probably generous giving it a 1.5.

I think course is looking at a short shelf life. Between lack of play and being in a shaky neighborhood, I predict this course will be toast in two years, summer of 2019, I say. You can look it up, in just two short years

Great for beginners and those just learning the game, and also not bad for a quick and simple one disc game. A few holes offer a mild challenge thanks to some low ceilings on holes 1, 4, 5 and 6.

Watch your throws! Much of the side areas of the holes consists of fairly deep vegetation, and could be difficult to retrieve discs. Challenge is very limited and holes are all pretty short.

It's pitch and putt. Simple as that. Not big or fancy, but if you're a new player and wonder if disc golf might be for you, it's not a bad place to play your first round.