Spring Valley is a fairly new course, having been established in 2017. A major redesign and expansion occurred in 2019. I had the opportunity to play both the earlier version and this version and it's a bit of a toss-up regarding whether or not the earlier pre-revision reviews are still accurate. Many of the holes have been "recycled" into the new setup but the changes are substantial. I suppose I would advise taking earlier reviews in the context that they show the history of evolution of the course rather than a current impression.

Spring Valley is set in a very large park on the outskirts of Kalamazoo and enveloping either a small lake or a large pond depending on how they chose to name it. The terrain varies from heavily wooded to open field with generous amounts of elevation and several holes with water in play.

Play begins near the parking lot with the water tower. This is is a significant change from the previous setup, which required you to drive deep into park and search around a bit for the start.

One of the more controversial aspects of the course will the the inclusion of man-made structures into the holes. Perhaps a 1/4 of the course consists of abandoned athletic fields and accompanying features that would go with them.. Hole one requires you to throw into a tennis court through a removed section of fencing. Hole 2 requires you to hit an early gap through a similar setup. One of the later holes incorporates a basket guarded by a baseball diamond backstop. Another hole later in the course is somewhat (minimally) defended by 3 ft posts meant to deter cars from driving on the grass.

Personally, I don't mind the man-made structures at all. In fact, I rather like them. They're interesting and are a good use of items that were already present. I have a sneaking suspicion that as the sport grows and new courses are put in, locales that haven't been blessed with a variety of natural terrain will need to start incorporating such things regularly to keep them interesting. That's its own discussion thread I imagine, however. If it bothers you, feel free to mentally knock off a half star or two from my review.

Concrete tees were put in last fall, I believe, for both long and short tees. While some are significantly closer and easier, others simply give you a different look at the basket. Hole 2 uses spray paint on the court for its tee and I think 22 has something similar on a path. Personally, I don't fault this - cement isn't free and they poured plenty of it.

One water carry if you play the longs - probably 200' and wide open. It's always nerve-wracking for me to throw a complete over-the-water throw but this one is in reach for most intermediate players I think. There is a good amount of milfoil on the bottom of the water that will hide discs pretty effectively if they go in - it doesn't look like an easy-to-retrieve from hazard if your disc does go in. I believe the short tee allows you to skip the carry and play with the water on the right-hand-side of the hole.

There is a little bit of everything here. Open bombs, technical woods, unique features - Spring Valley is a heck of an interesting and fun to play course.

This course will, unfortunately, never be a 5 star for me for one specific reason - the roads and paths. There are several holes that have you throwing over and crossing walking and motor paths. We played on one of those cool, sunny Michigan days that let you know Winter is slowly losing the battle in its transition to Spring. The park, despite the cool temperature, had numerous people enjoying the day. When we played last summer, we were constantly having to avoid non-disc golfing park users. It's the nature of the beast I'm afraid and I don't fault Spring Valley at all for it, but if 5 is an ultimate score, this feature will disqualify it.

That said, I think this course CAN get a 4.5 and I expect it to. There are a few rough areas that I feel need to be addressed first.

The first is the lack of tee signs. We had to navigate from hole to hole using U-disc. Between the longs and the shorts and several holes that are fairly densely located, it's easy to get confused. It's actually a little bit more frustrating because the original design used painted stakes with numbers to mark the holes - these haven't been removed or updated. Given that the tees were poured late last year, I expect they will rectify this this season, or perhaps next if they need to fund-raise.

Second, the course is a bit of a bear to navigate. This is particularly true when you need to cross the bridge (which you do at least twice). Sometimes you can figure it out from the paths, but several holes cross those paved paths and roads I mentioned. Some signage on the bridge area at least would be very beneficial. I did notice some tape present on the bottom of the baskets around hole 17 or so that look like they point in the direction of the next hole. Not sure if that's actually the case or if they are based on the old setup or the new one, but I think that may have been the original function.

I suspect they will have erosion problems on a few of the hill holes unless some landscaping interventions are taken. If nothing else, some landscaping timbers hacking out some steps would be appreciated for muddy days. It wasn't too bad when we visited because the ground was frozen, but you could see slide marks and slips where others had struggled on warmer days.

Not much in the way of facilities or creature comforts. If there are benches to be found they're part of the original park, same with trash cans. I also don't recall seeing any rest rooms. Perhaps the trash and porta-johns are present in the summer season, but I don't recall seeing any while we were out.

Back 6 holes are new and a touch on the rough side. Not bad and nothing traffic won't beat down. There is some trash on the hillside once you get in the woods. Not clear if it's just the usual spring melt or just stuff that's accumulated over the years that hasn't been cleaned yet because it was previously unused. Park was otherwise mostly clean-looking.

I really enjoyed my round at Spring Valley. It was good last year, but I think the re-design has really kicked it up a notch from a 3-star "Good" course to a 4-star "Great" course. It has what I've come to value most in a disc golf course - character. Almost every hole has something memorable about it - a steep uphill through the woods, deep gouges in the earth before the basket, a short downhill that will punish an overshoot with a trip into the lake. The holes are simply *interesting* as well as challenging (generally).

Is it a destination course? It's hard to say - it's certainly close. I wouldn't bat an eye recommending driving an hour or so to play it. It's certainly worth the time.

It does feel like Kalamazoo disc golf would warrant the title of a destination city. For an avid disc golfer, I think it'd make a heck of a weekend to visit and hit the big 3 - Oshtemo, Robert Morris, and Spring Valley. Add in a bit more driving and you could bag Cold Brook and VIRA as well. Throw in a nice hotel stay and a few visits to the local restaurants and breweries and yeah...you've got the makings of a great disc golf trip with friends or romantic getaway weekend...if disc golf is your idea of romance. I mean, I think it is, but there are probably weirdos out there who wouldn't.

-Offers short and long tees that make this a good play for either a Veteran looking for a challenge, or casuals looking to play a round. The difference between the short and long tees is pretty incredible. The experience arm can get a lot or birdies on the short tees, and there are a hand full of ace runs in there from around 200 down.
-Offers a wide mix of holes types. Placement shots that require 2 good throws to get to the basket. The new holes added to make this a 24 hole course added extra difficulty and 5 very technical fairways.
-Fairways are very clear and the Kalamazoo Disc Golf Group has worked hard to nearly eliminate all the poison ivy.
-Course is in a big park that surrounds a pond. Water is always a nice background. Only 2 -3 holes play near enough that you have to consider it on your drive.
-Good for either Forehanders or Backhanders
-Trees have been taken out to make every hole fair. Some are tight, but there is a lane.
-Cement tee pads for all short and long tees.

-This course can be pretty hard to navigate if you don't bring a map. You start on the north side of the park for holes 1 -7, cross the bridge to the south side during your throw of hole 8, stay on the south side through hole 19, then re-cross the bridge for holes 20-24.
-The course upgrade/redesign provided more parking, but during the winter you need to park in the upper parking lot and walk down. This is not a huge deal, but if you're from out of town, you won't be able to see any signs for the course.
-On a similar note, there's no signage. No tee signs. No "Disc Golf Course" sign.

This course was upgraded from 18 holes to 24 holes in the fall of 2019. What once was hole 1 is now hole 9. The course starts at the water tower. Park on the north side of the park.The first basket is inside the tennis court area. What used to be hole 12 is now hole 2.