Pros:
Situated in a remote, rustic park in south central Ohio, it amazes me the quality of infrastructure that has gone into making the Pike Lake disc golf course, making it an enjoyable one to play. Kudos to the club / organization that is promoting disc golf in the Hillsboro - Chillicothe region!
For example, because this course runs up and down wooded hills for about 2/3rds of the holes, bridges across creeks and wooden staircases (with shingles for the treads adding traction in moist or, ahem, icy conditions - thanks!) have been added where needed. The tees that are in level areas are huge trapezoids of concrete, and the baskets are quality 24 chain types with reflectorized bands visible over the distances required. Up on the hillsides, the long tees are concrete pads bordered in landscaping timbers, and are as good as should be expected, considering the haulage required to get those materials up those hills. This course has some of my favorite tee signs: the etched pvc style that include tee, fairway, and basket positions, plus some of the key obstacles. There are benches and trash cans where needed, and the course sits relatively separate from the other activities (nature trail, playgrounds, shelters, etc.) for the rest of the family. There are even year-round bathrooms (well, OK, it's just an outhouse, but that's better than some parks that lock up the bathrooms for the winter).
The course itself will challenge the Recreational to Intermediate disc golfer with holes ranging from 168 to 540 feet in length, though 11 are between 200 and 261 feet. There are not many opportunities for big arms to show off here, but technical skills, and especially the ability to carefully fade a medium length tee shot to the right, are a must. I kept saying to myself, "a lot of these baskets are just to the right, and just out of sight" from the tees. That's not to say that there aren't some beautiful downhill shots to be loved by noodlearms like myself. There's an ace run downhill on #7, a longer downhiller to the right on #14, and the #12 signature long tee is visible as you go up the #11 fairway (look to your left). When we played our Fall traveling league here in September, I felt like just watching the whole group ahead of us tee off down the beautiful 540' ravine!
The course flows nicely to the west for nine holes and to the east for the back nine, and there are creek-crossers, ridge runners, and the aforementioned downhillers. An enjoyable course!
Cons:
The course does have a preponderance of mossy stones, and places you want to watch your step.
But the biggest challenge is that Pike Lake needs a really nice map done up, and more next tee signs added (for new players: I nearly got lost a couple of times on my second visit, despite it being winter and visibility was great). There are about three signs indicating the location of the short tees, but there are theoretically 11 short tees. The ones you can find are somewhat dilapidated landscape-timbered boxes. And, on your first visit, you will need a sherpa to help you get from the 10th basket to the 11th tee.
The teepads up on the hills are actually too small (but I can't blame them much: I wouldn't relish the idea of getting the materials in place here!)
Other Thoughts:
There is a practice basket and a course sign which includes technique and disc tips, but no course map!
This is really a beautiful place to play disc golf when there is water rippling through the rocky streambeds. It is really serene in the winter. I'm sure it's a nice cool spot to play in the heat of the summer because of the solid canopy of trees overhead.
This park is really pretty remote, and you'll traverse a lot of small, winding roads to get here, but it's worth a visit!