+ The course plays in a clean and quiet community park with plenty of space.
+ All tee signs are well-illustrated and have all the information a player needs except the par. (Everything is par 3 here.)
+ It is half wide-open fields with a few elevation challenges and half tree dodging on flat ground.

- Some of the fairways criss-cross or pass right by one another. 4+5, 6+7 and 1+18 are just a few examples.
- Most of the tee pads are carpet. Watch out for slips.
- The distances aren't terribly challenging nor the obstacles that puzzling.

My favorite hole here to look at is hole11. Because of its high vantage point , a player can see a good chunk of the course and some high hills in the distance. It's a peaceful spot to breathe. My favorite hole here to play is hole15 because it's one of the longest on the course and the only hole that features a nice downhill glide. My least favorite was also the biggest surprise. Hole16 is such a short and bewilderingly dense tunnel shot that plays kind of close to a road.

As for the course as a whole, Upper Macungie (pronounced muh-KUN-jee as a friend of mine local to the area informed me) is probably as close as courses get to that 'middle of the road' type of course. It's got good enough tee signs and tee pads, good enough baskets, good enough woods, good enough distances and plays in a good enough environment.

Of course, all of that depends on the point of view of the person playing. A new player or a player who hasn't yet seen too many other courses could be intimidated and/or astonished by the features here. After all, two or three of those hills are, indeed, somewhat imposing. I don't find those wooded holes on the front nine to be particularly daunting, but the types of players I described earlier could see them as tough challenges to be triumphantly conquered. And I guess that touches upon the point I'm building to.

It is a course meant for the new and the learning. The distances, open paths of the wooded holes and direct nature of the field holes reflect that. A new player here will get a nice sampling of how disc golf courses can feel. An experienced player here will get a nice assortment of birdies and some friendly reminders that brute force isn't always necessary to win the day.

Bottom line: It is not bad, especially for fresh entrants to the sport. Upper Macungie is a fine training ground. Players who have been around the block a few times won't be particularly smitten with it, but there are plenty of courses nearby to accommodate them if they aren't happy unless they're hitting trees.

First, Very easy, simple and beginner friendly! I took my friend out for a round. He NEVER played DG before.... He parred nearly half the course!!
What a great way to begin your DG career!
Baskets are decent. Tees are efficient. Some Tee's are pavers and some are carpet. Tee signs are great.
All in all, a very pleasant and enjoyable course.

highly recommend for kids and beginners!

Bring your phone to open up the course map. Tee placements are a little confusing.

Perfect for kids and beginners!!

+ Some woods and tight lines on the front, then open and lost of elevation change on the back

+ Nice open start with holes 1 and 2 to shake off any rust.

+ Wooded holes 3-8, and several of them have elevation too.

+ 3 is a tunnel with the basket slightly right and down.

+ Hole 6 and 7: don't be left. It's a long way down!

+ Hole 8 is a tight shot up out of the woods with a great basket placement on the hillside left, protected by low branches.

+ Hole 9 gives you a good choice: through the gap straight, or high hyzer up and over the trees?

+ Nice touch: the pin on 10 is up on a small mound, which increases the rollaway danger (don't be long / don't be left).

+ 11 - 18 are open, and although they're spiced up with some tree and basket placement, the real challenge shifts to playing the elevation and wind: you're playing uphill, downhill, or over a hump.

+ 12 and 15 present the most chance of being too high and drifting way offline. On 15, use the trees straight ahead of the tee as a target: aim about halfway up their height, and your fade will bring you to the basket.

+ There's a small mando sign on the tree right on 17. You might not notice it until it's too late.

+ 18 is nothing special, but it's a nice chance to open up on the last tee.

- The only design negative I noticed was the walk between 6 and 7 - you have to pretty much walk one of the fairways to reach Tee 7. Not a problem on a quiet day, but if you have players in front or behind, it could slow things down

- The back nine is open and although you have to contend with dramatic elevation change on a few holes, they all tend to blend together. The design was improved by cutting #16 into the woods. It's short, but tight.

~ Nice Touch: There are numbers on the backs of the tee signs. Handy on the back 9 where you can see several tees and you're not sure which is which.


- If the road to the upper parking lot is closed, park as close to the gate as you can, and start to walk up the road. It's not that long a walk - but it you want, you can start on the 5th tee which is just past the gate on the left.


- It's not a long course, but it still provides a fair amount of challenge, in the form of woods on the front and elevation/wind on the back. You really have to think your way through each shot.


- I live a 90 minute drive from Macungie. It's not worth a long drive by itself, but it's easy to pair it up with nearby Covered Bridges or South Mountain. They're similar in length and challenge, and would make for a great 36 or 54 hole day.

Good basket placement.
Well maintained
Very quick playing solo rounds can be done in under an hour.
Isolated from the rest of the park so most of the traffic is disc golfers.
Beginner friendly.
Typical par 3 course but good pin placement.

Depending upon course traffic you may end up lining up your shot while other players are working in the space by the pin which can slow down play.
Front 9 of course takes awhile to dry up after rain.
Some tee's have a carpet "pad" that generally is either slippery or muddy.

When people think of a course they would bring their friend who never played disc golf to I'm pretty sure this course is the manifestation of that school of design. This course is easy enough for a noodle armed beginner to fumble through without holing out and just technical enough for an Am to not be totally bored. The course is pretty well maintained and since it uses natural tee pads your experience will generally be pretty consistent from visit to visit. With the amount of space allotted to this course you couldn't really make a much better 18 hole course this is definition of a compact course. When it comes down to scoring this course despite being well maintained the basic layout does pretty much fall in the 2.5 to 3 disc range tops, it is average but there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Use this course to its strengths as a warm up course, shake off your rust from the winter, bring that friend or significant other who hasn't played before, or trying using it as an opportunity to throw your non preferred shots (still trying to get that forehand putters only round to catch on).

Efficient design.
Diverse shot opportunities.
Well maintained.

Very short.
Somewhat repetitive.

Upper Mac is a wonderful use of a smaller park.

They have made great use of the space available, and put in some interesting control shots (Mainly the front 9). The back 9 tend to feel repetitive to me though. You throw back and forth across an open field for majority of the shots, which can leave a stale feeling.

This course is amazing! Ace runs on every hole.
Most shots are between 200-300ft with a few shorter, and a few longer ones. Excellent variety of shots. Forehand/ backhand opportunities.
Uphill, downhill, in and out of woods. Beautiful park. One of the most fun courses I've ever played.

It's called magical Macungie for a reason.
Can't say enough good things about this course.

18 holes with nine new baskets and the older nine in good condition. Course incorporates a few of the old holes (with new tee areas) and then the newer holes. Front nine mostly wooded (save one, unless you go left early) and back nine mostly open with a few widely spaced trees. The neat thing with the redo is that most of the baskets are in precarious positions (on the open holes, they are near trees or near the treeline, making you think about your shot) or in the woods (you won't always have a clean look at your putt). Pretty easy navigation (arrows attached to the bottom of the basket). Tee signs on every hole.

Some of the front nine play pretty close to each other (6 and 7 quite particularly), and one kick off a tree will put it right in the other fairway, so be courteous. Entrance road usually not busy, but be careful before you tee off on 4. No real signature must play hole, but not every course has to have one of these. 16 is borderline poke and pray.

This never was, nor is, a destination course. It's a par 3 course that a decent player should have quite a few birdie opportunities, and give everyone a chance to work on their short game. The open holes are nice to air out a drive or two and work on the uphill game for a few of the holes. All in all good job. It is a nice addition to an area already stacked with solid courses.

This course was a 9 basket course that has been redesigned as an 18. I think they did a great job using the area they had. The holes are shorter but more technical.

The park is very clean and well kept.

There are new starting tees (white tubes on the ground) and new baskets (at least 9 are new... the others are still in great shape).

It is easy to navigate and find the next tee. Some baskets have an arrow on them to help guide you to the next tee.

There are a lot of technical shots in and through the trees (it is really a challenge to NOT hit a tree at the #8 tee).

Basket placement is ideal! They tucked the baskets behind and in the middle of groups of trees (#3, 4, 6, 8,14, 16, & 17) and on the edge of a steep hill & tree line (12 & 15).

Some of the holes are fairly easy (1, 2, 10, 11, 14, 16 & 17) which can help to get your confidence back after hitting a few trees. There are plenty of chances for birdies on this course.

It is a short course with nothing over 450 feet. (Not really a Con for people like me who don't have long drives.)

No tee boxes, although the grass and wooded tee starting areas are in great shape.

I was told by the Township that they will be adding tee signs in the Spring of 2016.