+ The Throw Shop (+++)
+ Lots of holes!
+ Good baskets and tees
+ Obvious effort to clarify the course layout (decent color coding)
+ Dry even when other courses are horrible
+ Great in the winter
+ Tee signs with distances
+ Not just a city park
+ Preserved "feel" of ball golf (open), but shortened
+ Free but with a gatekeeper (keep out the riff raff!)

- Pretty wide open, so challenge is minimal
- Without a good map (there isn't one), you'll probably get lost
- There are too many baskets (yes, it's possible!)
- More signage to identify every tee and basket, please

The Ponds is very good, but not because it's a great course. The Throw Shop is the main attraction!

The course itself is flat with only a few trees to worry about and there are no defined lines to hit, so you do get to concentrate on accuracy and distance. That aspect of disc golf on its own doesn't do much for me, though. The first time I played the course I felt like there was very little cohesiveness to the layout and I found navigation to be the most challenging and most annoying aspect of this course.

If you don't have a map, you're screwed, so heed this warning and take the map from DGCR. You'll have to pay attention a little more to the direction each tee is pointing to and use the distances on the tee signs. It shouldn't be this difficult, but on my first visit (in the winter when The Throw Shop was closed) we didn't have a map and at some point became bamboozled and just started throwing to whatever basket made sense at the time and walking around for a while. This was due to vandalism. I am very impressed that The Throw Shop owners continue to perfect and add to the course out of their own pockets. The local club that installed the course hasn't done anything to maintain or improve it.

Each basket has rad color-coded wooden arrows zip-tied to the bottom of baskets pointing you in the direction you might want to go in to find a certain tee (this inspired me to do something similar in a tourney I put on last month), but it's still a little difficult to know which tee and basket was which at a distance. The hardware and tee pads are perfect, but I suggest putting color identifiers and numbers directly on the tee pads with maybe an arrow pointing at the basket just to be safe.

Overall, I realize not every course is meant to be championship or tournament style. I don't think anyone ever said this course is supposed to be of that caliber, either. I identify The Ponds as both a practice course and a great beginner's course, with the best experience likely had if you have something new to throw or you're new to throwing. That's my take away point for you if you're reading this wondering about The Ponds. If you're going to the Throw Shop or really want to work on your throw (or both), then you really should play here and it's absolutely worth it.

Thank you for reading!

Long holes a little technical has a lot of potential. It is an old ball golf course you can tell but really its nice you get to play a ball course style of discgolf, not a typical experience a lot of fun and good use of the property, took me a couple of plays to really love this course for what is it, its good not great but an exprience hard to find and they have a pro shop on site so win win.

Flat it is an old ball golf course. Also kinda hard to get to, feels getto, in a apartment complex a fence around the property not sure if they fence is to prevent the disc getting out or to prevent the people in the neighborhood getting in, i am 90% sure i saw a drug deal there.

Rough neighborhood but fun course

Long holes are good for big arms.
No rough.
good signs.

Although this is a very nice course, I thought it was boring at times. There's almost no elevation change, which is something that I really like courses to have. You also can tell that you're in the middle of the city, it's not a very scenic course.

This is a very nice course and I see why some people really like it, it is one of my friends favorite course, but like I said in the "Cons" it was just a little boring to me.

- Wide open shots. It's hard to lose a disc here (not impossible!).
- One of the best disc golf stores I've been to is on the course. The Throw Shop has great prices and a huge variety.

- Not in the best area, but I wouldn't say the course is unsafe.
- Lacking trash cans on a lot of holes, so trash just piles up near the tee pads.
- Signage is sub-par, and following the course can be a little confusing for newcomers.

The course is a former ball golf course, which makes for a lot of long shots. Plenty of obstacles, yet wide open spaces for trying some power shots. Not a bad course, and it's close to home. Follow the painted bars on the basket to find the next hole.

- Nice clean course, pleasant setting, with open design: encourages you to let loose and allows you to try various lines.

- Nice sized dual concrete tee pads and score cards with course map.

- Very forgiving of bad throws (it's nice not to pay for a bad shot in blood).

- More challenge than you might expect from course with so few obstacles and so little brush.

- No shule, very little chance of losing a disc (except for one hole over water).

- Pro-Shop on site with nice variety of discs at reasonable prices and people who KNOW disc golf. You can get some very good info in this place - see Other thoughts below.

- Great course for beginners.

- No elevation changes (but you can only work with what you have).

- Chance of throwing over fence and having to walk a long way around to retrieve your disc.

- Few holes force a specific line, and some holes feel repetitive

- Signage could be much better, but I think that's a budgetary constraint.

Notes on the course itself: Wind plays a significant factor. You may have to change drivers to handle head and tail winds, and many a putt will get pushed down or float up on you.

You'd have to search a long time to find a course that does more with less. Course designers can only work with the land they have, and the designer used nearly every tree on the course to make it more challenging.

Love the painted spokes on the basket pointing the way to the next tee: Blue for longs, White for short. Clever, low cost navigation aid that should be employed on a lot of other courses.

Big Arms and beginners should love this course. This course isn't epic, but it sure is FUN!!!

Notes on the The Throw Shop:
Don't play here before stopping in at The Throw Shop. Without doubt, the best selection of discs in the Metro Detroit Area. Literally 1000's of discs (some hard to find) at quite reasonable prices. Not sure about that disc you were considering? Check out the stack of loaner discs to see if the one you're checking out is in there - they let me take one out for a test drive! Try that online!!!!

The people who run this shop are among the most active members of southeastern Michigan's disc golf community. Good people who do right by the community they live in and promote disc golf in a positive way.

As many other reviewers have said, it's somewhat monotonous, but that didn't bother me. It's a great chance to work on your drives, and you really don't get punished for a bad throw, except if you put one over the dreaded fence.

The fact that the course is open and large means the wind gets cranking some days, which I like. I think it adds to the challenge, because you have to control your throws and keep them low.

I love the idea of painting one or two bars of the basket to show the direction to the next tee pad - that's very clever, and something I'd love to see adopted by other courses.

A bit one dimensional.

It's a bit of a workout for those of us over 40. The length of the course (I played the blues, which are significantly longer than the whites) is unusual in this area. I liked it because I really felt like I got some good exercise by the time I was done.

Very interesting bird life. I was often surrounded by swooping, silent birds, zipping along just a foot or two above the ground. I think they may have been swifts, but I'm not sure. Still, pretty cool, and definitely not something I've seen before.

It's another 18+ course in the area. It's still free to play. It's on a bus line! (My car breaks down a lot.) The baskets have colors to point you to the next one.

Already lost a disc in the drink and it didn't have my name on it.

Can't wait to play it more.

24 holes make for a nice outing. Course makes for long drives and technical puts around shielded chainstars. Large course means even if it's crowded, there isn't much waiting. A few nice shots throughout; hole 13 is over a shallow pond. Very well marked. Course map available online as well.

**update**
all tee signs are now in! very nice wooden posts with the hole numbers screwed in. pro shop now open! man they have alotta discs!! gotta check it out!!!

Holes can become rather boring. Almost all holes are wide open drives with trees guarding the baskets. Hole two is a ridiculous 990 feet. Mostly flat terrain.

Very cool to turn a golf course into a DGC. A fun time for sure. Show I.D. at the gate - turn left. Course is by the tennis courts.