Pros:
- beautiful and well maintained park
- DISCatchers with unique-to-this-course purple bands
- hole numbers on baskets
- next tee indicators on baskets
- dual tees which create good length variety
- several areas of the course have intense elevation change
- good technical challenge throughout course
- navigation is very straightforward
- two 10-hole loops back to parking lot are laid out nicely
- full color tee signs with all pertinent information and maps
- typical park amenities like garbage cans, picnic tables, and port o potties
- very quick course to play through
- rough is mostly very forgiving, and where it is heavy rough, errant throws are unlikely
Cons:
- a few steep holes would benefit from built-in stairs
- issues with tee sign numbering being off from redesign
- some blind tee shots due to tree growth are potential safety hazrds
- hole 15 throws over a road
- a few boring filler/connector holes begs the question of need for 20 holes
- some may feel the hole lengths are too short
- no water in play
Other Thoughts:
White Spruce Park was one of the nicest courses I played in Ontario. The tee signs are just ok, while the baskets were in great shape. Most tees are now concrete, with a few natural and turf tees mixed in. The numbering on over half the course is off by one which really should be remedied. Clearly the course was redesigned and sign updates never were completed. Some of the baskets here have purple bands unique to this course, which sticks with the theme of these semi-custom DISCatchers I've seen throughout southern Ontario.
I came to White Spruce for the elevation change and it did not disappoint. There was a good mix here of moderately and heavily wooded holes, and while I preferred the heavily wooded portion, almost all of the holes were excellent. Some were more flat but a lot dealt with elevation traversal, and some played along the side of hills in ways I haven't seen much. There were a few holes that felt like filler, including some to cross a large field near the parking lot. There were bystanders in this field who couldn't seem to comprehend they were in the middle of the course, and I kept having to wait to throw as they wandered aimlessly around. This eventually culminated with a kid picking up my disc to "bring" to me despite me asking him about 5 times not to pick it up. Ah well, we are still a niche sport not everyone is familiar with, eh?
The two 10-hole loops return to the parking lot very nicely, and while this course had some traffic mid-day on a Friday, everyone was pretty nicely spread out and I didn't really run in to anyone. Despite indications this course could take around 2 hours to play, I finished my solo round in right around 1 hour from the white tees. While the white tees do have some more distance, it still is more of an average length course, with the reds being much shorter. If you play the blues, which are not currently documented on DGCR, it will be considerably longer.
This is a beautiful space for disc golf, and kind of surprised me since it's right in the thick of Brampton infrastructure and traffic. It's cool to see a green space here, though this is one of the more "urban" feeling wooded courses I have played. Navigation was straightforward and well done here. I wouldn't call this one of the more challenging wooded courses I have played, but it sure was a lot of fun and there are many birdie opportunities here. I think this course warrants a full bag, as there is certainly shot variety. While there are plenty of obstacles and tighter woods shots, this course never felt punishing or incredibly difficult. Hole 19 has a notably elevated basket for another twist.
There were a few safety hazards noted, but nothing too bad here if you remain vigilant for other parkgoers. While I noticed a community garden and some other people walking around the park, this area was mostly devoted to disc golf.
I had a good time here and recommend a visit. There aren't as many courses in Canada as there are in the US, and this is one of the better ones I played. Traffic here is nothing compared to Toronto proper. I might push this course as high as a 3.75, but I didn't feel it was at the 4 level. This isn't quite the taste of northern Canada I wanted it to be, but it's southern Ontario. In this area, it's some of the best disc golf you'll find.