Smuggler's Notch – Brewster Ridge is a championship level 18-hole course that plays up, down, and through the green mountain woods of Vermont. Many will be familiar with this course given its presence on the Disc Golf Pro Tour, as well as being one of the host courses for the 2018 and 2023 Disc Golf World Championships as well as annual pro tour events. This technical, wooded course has spent consecutive years among the top ten courses in the world according to UDisc and is #25 overall on DGCR. After having an opportunity to play Brewster, it's easy to see why.
Location of Brewster is just off route 108, up Edward's Road. You'll see a sign to the disc golf center at the turn. Take a right at the next intersection and you'll see Fox Run Meadow's hole 18, and the disc golf pro shop to the right, with parking along the right side of the road. Fox Run Meadows is the other 18-hole course on site, making for two championship level courses right next to each other to make for perhaps the best 36-hole complex I know of, let alone played to date. Smuggler's Notch is a year-round vacation resort, so on the way to the disc golf center you may run into camping areas, pools, and ski areas, depending on which direction you come from. The Smuggler's Notch disc golf courses are about 45 minutes from Burlington, the nearest city, and about 24 minutes form the next nearest golf course, though the courses here will keep you busy for the better part of a day. Both courses at Smugg's also use tee time reservations, and I recommend booking ahead (easy to do online), as our afternoon slot for Brewster on a Saturday was surrounded by other groups, though we basically had Fox Run to ourselves later in the day.
Amenities at the Pro Shop area include port-o-potties in the parking lot, water in the shop (free refills of your own bottle) and snacks/beverages for sale, along with discs and other souvenirs. There isn't much around the area besides resort restaurants, so I would suggest getting food and gas before you drive out if you're coming from farther away. Other than that, everything you could ask for is present.
Course Equipment is in great shape at Brewster, with improvements currently in progress. The baskets are Chainstars and look pristine. Each tee has a sign that includes all tee location and distances, a par, a nice hole layout picture, and next tee location. The tee signs for different tee pads also have different colored bands to help you make sure you're at the right one. The tee pads are comprised of pavers that were excellent to throw from and are all perfectly flat. All four tees on each hole will be pavers soon as well, as the red tees are in the middle of getting this upgrade. There's even a wide broom at each hole! There's also plenty of signage between holes to keep you from taking the wrong path, and plenty of benches throughout the course. Garbage cans are also present, a new addition compared to previous reviews. All in all, A+ equipment at Brewster.
Course Design at Brewster Ridge is all about maximizing the wooded terrain along the hillside to the south and east of the disc golf center. During your round, you will find plenty of elevation changes, as well as varying degrees of tight-but-fair fairways through the woods, with only a couple holes being open opportunities to air one out with little consequence. Each hole is well thought out, with very intentional and fun lines for you to attempt to hit. You will use every shot in your arsenal on this course, and the four different tee pads mean this course can cater to players of every skill level that want to play here.
Elevation is probably the aspect of this course that doesn't translate through Youtube enough on Pro Tour coverage and can catch you out if you aren't ready for it. Holes 1, 17, and 18 are flat, with every other hole having some degree of elevation change. Holes 2, 4, 8, and 14 are consistently uphill from tee to pin, while hole 7 plays uphill after an initial fairway shot through a straight gap. Holes 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 16 all play consistently downhill, with different fairways either going left or right. Other holes like 3 and 13 are kind of flatter, but have slight hills or valleys to navigate, though even 3 has a decent initial hill to navigate before leveling out.
Shot-Shaping is a must have skill at Brewster, as just about every fairway shape is present, especially from longer tees. Holes 3, 6, 7, 15, 17, and 18 will favor hyzer shot from Righty backhand players, whether that be from the tee and/or from an ideal second shot position. Holes 5, 11, 13, 14, and 16 have varying degrees of right turning fairways, with some involving significant downhill elevation as well. Other holes like 8 are straight to left leaning, but given the distance of this hole, you can likely get away with different shot shapes depending on where you land after each shot. Other holes like 1 and 10 are straight but have other aspects to keep in mind such as tree obstacles in particular spots or guarded greens.
Openess/Woods leans heavily on the wooded side of things, with hole 10 being a nice break halfway through the round. The fairways are consistently tough but fair, with every hole having a clear intended line and plenty of tough areas to navigate if you miss it. Some holes like 2, 4, and 7 have fairways partially guarded by areas of tightly packed thin trees, resulting in poke-and-pray situations if you miss your line. Others like 8 and 11 have clear line that are more so guarded by occasional larger trees that poke more into the fairway borders. Holes like 12 and 16 are decently open and straightforward but have guarded greens, which can be accessed if you manage to hit a straight shot off the tee. All in all, this is a very tough woods course, but there's no point where I think it is unreasonable, with all of the tougher spots being able to be avoided with good shots.
Distances range widely on Brewster, with holes distances varying from 305 to 830 feet from the Gold tees. There are six par-4s and a par-5 from the golds, with the other three tee options being one stroke less for par. Most holes are closer to the 400 to 500-foot range, though all of the par 4s and 5s are meant to be multiple drive holes. 10 is the longest par-3 at 475 feet from the gold tee, though this is very downhill as well. Other tees have similar relative distances on each hole, with the course as a whole playing from 3,445 to 8,265 feet depending on which tees you play.
Difficulty plays on the harder end of things for sure at Brewster given the hilly/at times mountainous terrain and woods, but the different tees really make this a course that a wide range of players can have fun on. The red tees include many holes under 200 feet, with the par-5 hole 8 being less than 500-feet long. The white and blue tees are also placed well to lower the difficulty of different holes and also provide shorter shots for those with less distance or accuracy to their shots. The gold tees are definitely pro level and will provide a lot of challenging shots for those who want to see how they stack up to those on the pro tour. What's nice is that from what I noticed when looking at the holes from different tees, the shots from shorter tees were still interesting, and were appropriate for their intended skill level. Even the red tees had some fun shots, despite having significantly shorter distances to work with. All in all, the four different tee options make this a course that may be well known for being highly challenging, but actually caters to a wide range of players, and does so with a lot of intentionality.
Course Highlights are hard to choose from, as so many holes stand out in their own way. 8 is a very challenging par-5 that plays uphill the whole way, with different levels of obstacles in the fairway to navigate as you progress upward towards the pin. Hole 10 is a lovely break from the woods with a fairly open field shot, though the spots where the tree lines come in on both sides of the fairway will keep you being intentional with your drive. I'm a fan of downhill drives, and hole 11 is a very fun one with a tricky, gently right turning fairway that is beautifully carved through the woods, finishing with a guarded green. Hole 15 is a fun island hole from the longer tees, with a long hyzer being the way to go to get close to the pin for any chance of birdie.