Pros:
(2.521 Rating) A mix of park style and young woods play.
- NATURAL BEAUTY - This place has some genuine Wisconsin charm to it. The first two holes are pleasant park style shots. Then (3) and (4) add some nice sweeping elevation change to the park style element. Then holes (5) thru (7) are rather exotic looking, playing through a maturing prairie that's sporting 30 and 40 foot tall trees now. Because of this 3 hole stretch, I basically rated the beauty here about the same as it's 18 hole counterpart.
- HOLE VARIETY - I scored this aspect around average, but for a niner, it's really good. Good hole length variation from sub 200 to almost 400. The soft par figures indicate par 4s and even 5s. Considering the constricted fairway widths, only hole (7) will feel like a multi-play fairway to those with Intermediate level skills and under. I liked the weaving in and around the trees, the tunnel fairways and the pocket plays. There is some modest rolling elevation present and its used well.
- CHALLENGING - This place feels like a great test for Rec and Intermediates when ignoring the par figures. Precision will be the biggest key on being able to go low, but having at least 300 foot power will be critical as well.
- 27 HOLE LOOP - After hole (1) on this layout, players have an option of either proceeding to hole (2) or going to hole (12) on the neighboring 18 hole course. It's a seamless way to play 27 holes. I'm going to guess however, that most people playing 27 holes start from the other course.
- BASIC AMENITIES - Concrete tees and Mach III baskets. Par for the course.
- NAVIGATION - Ok I guess. I don't recall seeing a course map, but once finding (1) from the parking area, getting around wasn't too terrible. Next tees are generally close to the preceding basket or there's an intuitive path. I suppose someone not paying attention could make a wrong turn.
Cons:
A very good niner that can reach out and bite you.
- OVERGROWTH - I missed the fairway pretty bad on (5) and spent more than 5 minutes looking around for my yellow disc. Discs are going to get swallowed up and lost on a few holes here during the summer for sure. The fairways are super tight in the middle portion of the course. 15-foot wide throwing lanes are present on three holes and they have large thick bushes and tall grasses flanking both sides of the fairway. Players may find themselves throwing lay-up putter shots a few times rather than risk losing a disc by gunning for the basket with drivers.
- MOSQUITOS AND POISON IVY - I don't take off points for this, but man I wish I had deeted up before heading out for this trip as I got eaten up pretty good here and two other courses. I spotted poison ivy several times in the overgrowth too.
- BEGINNER FRIENDLY - Considering the above two cons, I would not bring a beginner. Not only will they likely throw one of your discs into the thicket, but they will likely bitch and complain about the tall grasses and bugs the entire time. Considering I had just traveled from the nearby Telulah course, I'd say that that's a much better beginner option.
- SIGNAGE - At first sight, I thought the tee signs were really good, but they are not. There is seemingly an artistic description of the line, but in reality, it's just a generic image. The only useful info on the tee signs here and the neighboring 18-hole course is the hole number and distance.
- EXTRAS - The course does not have extra tees, alt placements or a practice basket. I did appreciate all the benches though. Restrooms and shelters are in the park too.
- TIME PLAY - For a niner, this one took pretty long. I had a couple of protracted searches to find discs and the layout is not a dinker length. It took me 45 minutes solo to play this one.
Other Thoughts:
This is a high quality nine hole course. It has most of the aspects I look for, from beauty, to variety and to challenge. I enjoyed being able to sit down too... for a second, and then jump up and wish that I had grabbed the bug spray out the door. It's cool that this park has some extra holes and all, but this extra nine seemed aimed at a similar skill level and was of a similar style as the other course. I think the course would really benefit by adding some short or long tees on a few holes and correcting the par figures. I think the locals would enjoy some alt placements as well to spice it up. Regardless, I'm personally marking this one down as a 90 percentile niner. Just outside my top ten.