Pine Hills is located northeast of Lansing, MI. There is an 18-hole ball golf course located here, as well as two separate 18-hole disc golf courses. This review is for the "North" or "Red" DG course, which if I'm not mistaken plays alongside, across, and around the back nine of the ball golf course. The DG holes generally follow the same path as the ball golf course, so you will most likely be aware of ball golf groups in the vicinity. There is also another "South" or "Yellow" DG course that I think plays around the front nine of the ball golf course, but I did not get a chance to play that one during my visit.

The course is set on a nice piece of acreage, with rolling hills, scattered old growth trees, and some low-lying areas with thick brush. The staff at the clubhouse said that a nasty storm had ripped through the area the previous night, but the course was still fairly dry.

The main attraction here is length. The red course measures at about 7600' according to the most recent map, and with the gently rolling terrain you will feel every foot of that. There are four par 4s that are each over 450', and hole 3 is an 830' par 5. Even the par 3s are nothing to spit at, with all but two holes 300'+. A few baskets are located just in front of or behind water hazards, creating risk/reward opportunities. Many baskets are tucked on the edge of ball golf fairways and greens near trees, demanding fairly accurate approach shots. The rolling terrain isn't really utilized/isn't extreme enough to add significant disc golf challenge, but it does make the round a little more interesting. The ball golf greens are also supposed to be played as OB which adds interesting challenge on a couple holes.

The 18 baskets are listed as DGA's on here. I thought they were Chainstars but either way they were in good shape. There are nice "Next Tee" arrows nailed to trees near most baskets pointing towards the next tee.

There is a bathroom in the clubhouse and they serve food/drink there too.

The tees were in poor shape. Over the past six years since the photos uploaded here were taken, most of the wood tee signs have taken a beating and many were partially cracked off. If it had only been a couple signs like this I might have chalked it up to damage from the storm, but having the vast majority in disrepair tells me they are being neglected. The pads themselves are carpet/astroturf, which I didn't mind but they were also pretty small and many were uneven.

Even with the "Next Tee" arrows I found the navigation to be a little difficult in spots. There are fairly long walks between a couple of the holes. I would recommend downloading the map here, or picking up one from the clubhouse before you go out. We also played to the wrong basket on one occasion.

There just isn't a lot of challenge here besides the distance. Most of the holes start in the open next to a ball golf fairway and play along the fairway for some distance, then end at a basket off to one side of the fairway or green. There is no need to throw accurately or shape your shots until you are approaching the basket on most holes. Some baskets are just in the open with no obstacles guarding them at all. You could probably play all the holes here with a single driver, midrange, and putter. The one exception to all this is hole 11, which starts with 200' or so of a very tight and straight wooded tunnel, before opening onto a 150' long ball golf green - that is supposed to be played as OB - with the basket just off the other side. It's a very tough par 3.

Even with the rolling terrain some of the holes started to feel the same after a while.

The brush in the low-lying areas is very thick and easy to lose a disc in. My friend and I each lost one during our round yesterday.

You might have to wait for ball golfers to play through the area on almost any hole.

On this site and the Pine Hills website, the cost for walking 18 holes is listed as $5 - but I had to pay $7. I'm not sure if this was because I didn't book a tee time in advance. I would recommend booking in advance if you are coming on a weekend - it sounded like we were lucky to slot in when we arrived (early afternoon on a Sunday). The employee in the clubhouse tried to get me to rent a cart as well for an additional fee, but I politely declined. I'm not sure why you would rent a cart for disc golf but to each his/her own.

There is some discrepancy between the distances shown on the course map online, vs. the course map/scorecard you can pick up in the clubhouse, vs. what is left of the tee signs.

Overall, it felt like the disc golf course was kind of an afterthought to the ball golf course here. Frankly, this is not my type of course but I feel that I can say objectively that it rates well below the 5.0 that two previous reviewers have given it. Other than plenty of length, there isn't really much challenge here and definitely no "wow" factor. I feel kind of generous even giving it a 3.0. It's definitely not a top tier course in the state, but those who enjoy lots of "grip and rip" holes will probably have a fun round here. As for me, unless I decide to make a run at bagging every course in Michigan I doubt I will even be back to try the South course.