Sky Mountain Ranch DGC is a picturesque little niner just a few miles north of downtown Silverthorne. There's a dog park here and I'd assume some other activities. I didn't look too closely since I was there for the disc golf only. The course stays away from any of the other activities for the most part. You may encounter a walker but that should be it. Beginner friendly course with enough substance to be worthwhile for more experienced players too.

The baskets are brand new looking Mach III's. These have the standard number plates at the top which all face the tee. Mounted nicely and catch great. It was gale force winds when we played and these things caught everything. One basket and pin placement per hole. Perfect.

Brick tee pads, all of which were level and installed great. No uneven spots or shifting that I noticed. Again, really nice. One tee pad per hole.

The design here is pretty solid too. It's not a huge area by any means but plenty of space for 9 holes. The first five holes play in the flat prairie grass area before heading up the hill for holes 6 and 7. Hole 8 plays along the edge of the hill and then hole 9 has you throwing back into the prairie. Good little mix of terrain with the hill involved and more trees incorporated with that part. The course starts and ends near the same place too. Good flow from hole to hole for the most part, a map is still recommended if possible though.

The prairie area has thin enough brush that losing a disc will be tough to do. The rough up the hill is a little thicker but the holes are quite a bit shorter so you should be fine up there also. The wind can get pretty aggressive out here so there's no sure bets on anything, but if you keep an eye on your shot you'll be OK.

As always, amazing views out here. That's kind of the theme over this way. This is a great compliment to some of the other, much harder nearby courses. I'd bet this course gets played quite a bit due to it not being a marathon.

There's tee signs by each hole. These are those standard cookie cutter looking white plexiglass ones. I should know what these are called by now. I don't though. Anyways, these help with locating the next tee. They have the hole # and...oh yeah, that's all. No par, distance or even generic hole map. Pretty half assed. Never seen this before.

There's a couple longer walks between holes. And with the nonexistent hole maps possible confusion on which basket you're throwing at. The walks from 5 to 6 and 6 to 7 are pretty lengthy and not the most intuitive. The walk from 7 to 8 isn't as bad but not real obvious either. This is why a map is suggested.

The course is okay for newer players but isn't going to wow more seasoned players. That's kind of the point here. Just know that there's nothing overly exciting here. Pretty similar feeling besides the holes on the hill.

Great complimentary course for the area. Every area needs a nice beginner friendly short course. I feel like that's becoming a far too often overlooked element of the sport. This is a fun little 9 that won't take too long to play and serves as both a good warm up or cool down round if playing any of the other bigger courses in the area. Solid course, just nothing memorable.

A mostly beginner-length course with acceptable variety.

-Amenities: Mach IIIs, concrete tees, numbered tee signs (no other info). Bathrooms and other park amenities on site.

-"Friendly": The majority of the course is pretty open and easy to navigate. There are some minor navigation and brush difficulties later, but (1)-(5) and (9) are about as easy to play as they come.

-Novice Friendly: Sky Mountain Ranch is on the shorter end, with mostly holes under 250', and it's very good for newer players. I think there's a good mix of gettable holes and longer or trickier holes that will challenge someone learning the game.

-Shot Shaping/Gameplay: The first half is humdrum open holes, but the back half present a series of different challenges. The opening holes don't have more than a couple of trees to avoid, and are a gentle warmup. From there the terrain gets much more variegated. (5) and (6) require right turning shots with guarded pins, (7) throws down a huge sidehill, (8) is a woods pocket shot, and (9) is almost 400' to let you rip a drive. Considering the length of the holes, I think this terrain is used very well to promote variety and maintain fairness.

-Views: I get the idea this will be an obligatory pro for most Colorado courses I'm playing. Sky Mountain Ranch is scenic, though not overly so.

-Openness: The first several holes aren't very interesting. The trees make it not totally dull, but there's not anything that can go wrong.

-Navigation: The (6)-(8) area has better terrain, but that also makes it harder to navigate. The main difficulty is the (5)-(6) transition, which requires a substantial uphill walk with several switchbacks.

-Signage: This courses really needs decent tee signs. At the minimum, distances are important to differentiate baskets from each other. Basic maps would also be helpful, especially on hole (8) with a blind pin. The course kiosk also showed multiple pin positions, so a system to indicate the current position would be helpful.

-Advanced Interest: Players above a rec-level will probably find Sky Mountain Ranch cute for its small size. These holes have lovely design, but they are shorter than most players will find challenging.

-Split Personality: Not a big con, but my take on the character of the course. The course is, as the title says, a bit befuddling. It's like the designers couldn't quite settle on what type of course they wanted. It starts with homogenous open holes, then becomes wooded. It starts with short holes, but then has two holes that are each 100' longer than the others. You can see the pin from each tee, but then there's one extremely blind shot. Eight of the tees are placed correctly, then the last one is 45 degrees off-angle. It's just a little bit weird.

Sky Mountain Ranch is fun, but consistently throws you off a bit. It's a nice lower-level course with intentional variety and a followable layout. For the thrill-seeker, I wouldn't venture here, but it's a pleasant stopover if you want to play just 9.

The middle holes that play up the hillside into the trees are excellent.
The tee pads are good as are the baskets.
The course is easy to follow and has a couple challenging holes.

The signs are very generic and don't record a distance.
It is a short course so expect that on arrival.

The views are beautiful.
Not a course to travel to, but if you are in the area, it is a fun break.