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Riley's DGC reviews
9
0
PastorofMuppets
Silver level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience:
4.8 years
150 played
118 reviews
Private Gem
Reviewed:
Played on:Apr 24, 2023
Played the course:2-4 times
Pros:
1) Private Course owned and designed by Derek Riley on a small but well utilized piece of property right off I-35. Lightly wooded, well maintained, with some thick punishing underbrush that should not come into play unless you are far off on your lines.
2) Permanent Veteran baskets in excellent shape, turf tee pads in like new condition, excellent Dynamic Discs made tee signs with all relevant hole info, photo, OB information and lines. Multiple tee pad and pin locations on some holes. Owner has definitely put in work to improve the course in many facets since the first time I played here.
3) Excellent usage of what this small property offers. Lightly wooded and the design takes advantage of every tree it can. Small narrow creek used for OB line on several holes and help define hole shapes. Subtle elevation changes coupled with sharp forced angles from the tee create a unique challenge despite the lack of a ton of distance holes.
4) Every hole feels moderately challenging and not gimmicky like most 9 hole courses. They each present you with at least two routes to get to the basket, utilize natural OB well, and pose the question to you of how you want to attack the hole. Your success depends completely on your choice and ability to execute, and I love that in course design.
5) Every hole has it's own identity and is memorable for different reasons #1) Open bomber Par 3 with gradually tighter OB left and right the closer you get to the basket #2) Low Ceiling 300+ Par 3 down a wide tunnel with OB right and trees left. #3) Blind downhill par 3 either left or right around tightly clustered trees to a highly elevated basket #4) Island green over creek with trees off the tee that force either a spike hyzer or huge turner through one of the gaps #5) Very short chip shot over a pond to a tiny sloped green with an OB fence long and right #6) Short technical hole tucked behind a wall of trees that makes you choose under or over to get close #7) A short Mail slot hole with a tiny 3 foot gap up the middle late, or a get lucky spike hyzer over the top #8) A medium length hole that asks you to skip the disc into a protected green around a corner to get a putt #9) Decent length par 3 with tight OB road right and pond OB left that drops a ton of elevation to a sloped towards the pond green.
6) The Kansas winds make this course much more difficult than it would be in most other areas in the country and definitely helps this course rate better as the course designer stated the hole directions were intentionally built into and across the prevailing wind directions, doing it's best to avoid giving you a tail wind throughout.
7) I played a tournament round here in 2022 when we made the trip down for DDO and shot my personal highest rated round ever (993) while playing on the same card with Derek, the course owner. He was such a nice and passionate guy whom you could really tell loved everything about disc golf and just wanted to provide the best course he could.
8) Definitely a course where control and being able to match the slope of the ground when landing is a must, rather than being able to overpower each hole with distance. I watched so many high rated players shoot poorly and complain about the course because it ate their lunch trying to "out-throw" the hole design.
9) Ample parking and a practice basket that features several variations of elevation to putt from which is a treat most courses don't provide.
2) Permanent Veteran baskets in excellent shape, turf tee pads in like new condition, excellent Dynamic Discs made tee signs with all relevant hole info, photo, OB information and lines. Multiple tee pad and pin locations on some holes. Owner has definitely put in work to improve the course in many facets since the first time I played here.
3) Excellent usage of what this small property offers. Lightly wooded and the design takes advantage of every tree it can. Small narrow creek used for OB line on several holes and help define hole shapes. Subtle elevation changes coupled with sharp forced angles from the tee create a unique challenge despite the lack of a ton of distance holes.
4) Every hole feels moderately challenging and not gimmicky like most 9 hole courses. They each present you with at least two routes to get to the basket, utilize natural OB well, and pose the question to you of how you want to attack the hole. Your success depends completely on your choice and ability to execute, and I love that in course design.
5) Every hole has it's own identity and is memorable for different reasons #1) Open bomber Par 3 with gradually tighter OB left and right the closer you get to the basket #2) Low Ceiling 300+ Par 3 down a wide tunnel with OB right and trees left. #3) Blind downhill par 3 either left or right around tightly clustered trees to a highly elevated basket #4) Island green over creek with trees off the tee that force either a spike hyzer or huge turner through one of the gaps #5) Very short chip shot over a pond to a tiny sloped green with an OB fence long and right #6) Short technical hole tucked behind a wall of trees that makes you choose under or over to get close #7) A short Mail slot hole with a tiny 3 foot gap up the middle late, or a get lucky spike hyzer over the top #8) A medium length hole that asks you to skip the disc into a protected green around a corner to get a putt #9) Decent length par 3 with tight OB road right and pond OB left that drops a ton of elevation to a sloped towards the pond green.
6) The Kansas winds make this course much more difficult than it would be in most other areas in the country and definitely helps this course rate better as the course designer stated the hole directions were intentionally built into and across the prevailing wind directions, doing it's best to avoid giving you a tail wind throughout.
7) I played a tournament round here in 2022 when we made the trip down for DDO and shot my personal highest rated round ever (993) while playing on the same card with Derek, the course owner. He was such a nice and passionate guy whom you could really tell loved everything about disc golf and just wanted to provide the best course he could.
8) Definitely a course where control and being able to match the slope of the ground when landing is a must, rather than being able to overpower each hole with distance. I watched so many high rated players shoot poorly and complain about the course because it ate their lunch trying to "out-throw" the hole design.
9) Ample parking and a practice basket that features several variations of elevation to putt from which is a treat most courses don't provide.
Cons:
1) Very small piece of land with 9 holes squeezed onto it, so there will be crowded holes with a chance to get overlap from people playing other holes
2) There is a few water hazards and the OB fence separating the property from I-35 is pretty overgrown on the interstate side so losing a disc is a real possibility here for errant throws.
3) Not a big arm course and probably won't be liked by players who rely on out throwing people to gain strokes. Definitely a hit the correct gap with the correct disc on the correct angle and make your putt course.
4) Not a destination course and is very outshined by other more polished courses in the Emporia area.
2) There is a few water hazards and the OB fence separating the property from I-35 is pretty overgrown on the interstate side so losing a disc is a real possibility here for errant throws.
3) Not a big arm course and probably won't be liked by players who rely on out throwing people to gain strokes. Definitely a hit the correct gap with the correct disc on the correct angle and make your putt course.
4) Not a destination course and is very outshined by other more polished courses in the Emporia area.
Other Thoughts:
This course is a Hidden Gem among the multiple Rare Earth Stones in and surrounding Emporia. It is easy to over look. However, the owner is amazing, the course was extremely fun to play, and our entire group listed this course as the most fun we had the entire week and a half we were at Emporia for DDO. We loved it so much, we added it to our regular rotation each year we come back and removed Olpe Lake in its place. This is a must play if you are in Emporia for a while, after the big gems of course, and there is nothing wrong with having fun, enjoying the views, and just trying something different when playing disc golf on a trip with friends. This course is something different, and it doesn't try to act like a championship course, which is why I rate this course as Excellent.
