Immaculate 27 holer deep inside a huge wooded County park



+ Clever 27 hole layout which connects a newer loop of 9 ("South Hatchet") to the existing 18. You drop off the main course after #15, and finish the new nine right by the 16th tee. It's hard to understand on the map, but it's made easy and intuitive following the excellent signage on the ground

+ Red and Blue Layouts: Many holes have multiple tees and/or multiple baskets, providing for distinctly different play challenges on the two layouts. Blue adds 4,000+ feet of distance with a mixing of back tees firing through wooded chutes, and long baskets requiring technical upshots

+ For a course with so much woods, there's a great mix of open holes spread around the original 18. Most holes include some degree of elevation change, ranging from tucked or perched baskets to straight-up or off-a-cliff teeshots

+ No unfair holes, no "stuck in" holes to make the layout work

+ There's some water in the form of streams. Clearly marked on the tee signs when it's OB, and also clearly marked when it plays as casual

+ Best signage I've ever played - so this must be an improvement since some of the earlier reviews here. The tee signs are large and well illustrated at both sets of tees. The baskets are painted with Red or Blue when there are two baskets on a hole, and there are very visible metal red and blue Next Tee signs. There are even a few places where stumps and rocks are painted red or blue to indicate you're going the right way

- Some rugged hiking on the South Hatchet 9. Not really a "con" as much as a warning - you need to be in shape, especially if you're playing 27. Overall the course is fine for pulling a cart, but you're going to be lifting it in a few places along the Hatchet

- Most tees are large framed pavers. There are a few that aren't (especially on the South Hatchet 9). I imagine this is work in progress. In the big picture this is a minor flaw. I don't have a particularly long runup, and I never felt compromised by the tees

~ Immaculately clean and well-kept, deep inside a huge mult-iuse County park

~ Compared to my experience with other courses in the NJ/NY/Eastern PA area, Wilcox is a notch below Stafford and Brakewell. It's a notch above FDR, Leonard, Beacon, Tyler and Jordan. But that's just quibbling about the fine points - it's in the mix with all these courses. Wilcox is among the best you can reach in a day trip when you live in Northern NJ

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(Reds to Reds)
Topographically privileged, almost pristine course in a huge, well-maintained, rustic park with good length, elevation change, and balance of open, woods, and mixed holes. Your mood will be elevated, your legs will feel it and your game will be tested.

Demands a lot of different types of shots, rewarding well-executed distance, range control, accuracy, forehands and backhands, overhands, upshots, and putts. I have not tried a big roller but wouldn't be surprised.

Cool-looking shots, woodsy scenery, and eye-popping vistas. Severe uphills, dramatic downhills, and everything in between.

Many holes have danger of a kind: from rollaways to tree kicks or distance with OB, wind. Others are difficult but not punishing. A few are juicy, depending on your game. Some hard par 3s and a few softer par 4s.

Figure 8 layout. Signage overall is well above average.

Even the back 9 tee pads aren't terrible given the shots you have.

The existence of the blues reduces traffic on the reds.

Conpportunity: Sky's the limit on the ratings if they put in paved tee boxes on back 9.

Nitpicks:Some reviewers think the water should be OB and I can see this.
Pruning off in just a couple places. A little poison ivy on or near a few holes (10, 14 come to mind). Here and there a gopher hole on open fairways, watch your step.
No real warmup area.
It's a park so the occasional dog, loud family.
Parking can be tight?
In summer you get RV campers near hole 8.

Top shelf. Well worth traveling to and a great home course.

The shorts are amazing. I have always played the short to short lay out (the reds). Beautiful park, amazingly maintained! Open shots, woods shots, back hands, forehands, thumbers, tomahawks!!Good flow, good signage. And then I got around to playing the blues! Long to long! I mean, I could have used a bench or two cuz of how hard those shots were but everything was so fair. Risk and reward for sure. Lots of mid ranges off the tee and second and third shots are just as important as a drive. True par 5\'s but a perfect mix of shorter holes as well. Elevation, open, woods. Everything! The designer did an amazing job and the park continues to stay beautiful! This is top theee favorite courses I\'ve ever played!

Benches! The only con.

Hanging baskets? Haha I dunno, no other thoughts.

Very nice course. It is easily accessible and is good for pros and beginners. during the winter the course is very easy to maneuver. The holes have a wide variety of difficulty that make this course very nice.

In the summer sometimes the trees can be very annoying. You should always have a bright colored disc in hand because discs can be easily lost. I have lost multiple discs in the summer.

On hole 7 if your looking to get the ace, you shouldn't go to the right or you will have a hard downhill approach shot. You should Go through the trees on the left. There is a flat road that you can safely land on and it will make your approach shot for birdie pretty simple.

+ The course is nestled comfortably within a large sprawling peaceful park. Holes are a nice balance between wide open, dense wooded and hybrid.
+ Clear and visible 'next tee' signs are large and in eye-catching colors!!
+ Permanent information board at the start of the course has it all: lost disc box, course diagram, pre-made scorecards and pencils!
+ The tee boxes on the front nine are gorgeous solid and sturdy stone pavers.
+ The signs at all holes are hard to miss. They show where to throw, how far and the pars.
+ Most holes have two tee pads so players can choose their difficulty. Reds are short. Blues are long.
+ Some holes have two baskets with the same color coordination as the tee pads. Reds are short. Blues are long.
+ The elevation changes vary nicely between starkly steep and gently gradual. Flat holes are in the minority here.
+ Hole 9 ends right next to the parking lot in case players need to leave early, wish to take a break or need to get something from their vehicle partway through.

- No dedicated practice pin that I could find.
- Some fairways feel too close together. The close proximity of the fairways of holes 4 and 6 jump to the front of my mind as an example of that.
- The tee boxes in the back nine fluctuated among rectangular patches of dirt, outlines traced on a road or weak rubber (as of December 4, 2018).
- A few of the holes with dual baskets do not have the two separate colors.
- I don't remember seeing any trashcans along the way. I could be wrong about this. Regardless, please don't litter!
- Why are the water features not OB?

Before anything else, I would like to say up front that this review is based upon my experience with the short tees to short baskets. Also, there is an entrance fee to Wilcox Park when the swimming lake is open: $5 for residents of Dutchess County, $10 for all others. When the swimming lake is closed, the fee is waived.

My favorite hole at this course is 17 because of its crazy combination of tree-dodging, a downhill slope and a creek waiting at the bottom of it all.
My least favorite hole at this course is hole 3 because it felt too condensed and restricted to my mind.

As for the course in its entirety, Wilcox Park is a blast!
During the first nine holes, everything was so consistent and thorough that I was ready to give the course my first-ever 5/5 rating if things had continued as they began. Unfortunately, some flaws dashed that ambition. Let me get those out of the way quickly so I can get back to the good stuff.

As the biggest hit against Wilcox, the lack of tee pads on the back nine was a let-down. After a strong showing from the front nine, I was disappointed to see that the paver tee pads never came back again. Because of the recent rains, I teed off in mud for most of those holes.
Other things that I've already mentioned in the cons chip away at the score that could have been. Perhaps most glaring of them is the fact that throws that land in bodies of water within the course are not penalized. It feels weird to bring this up as a negative, but I've played many other courses with smaller streams and creeks that function as OB, and they add a nice degree of tension and forethought to the experience. If the player knows that they will not be penalized for landing in the water, then it removes any need to be careful and accurate. This course boasts some nice bodies of water. I would recommend making them OB for that extra boost of challenge and thrill.

But okay, back to the positives!
I am especially impressed by the huge and brightly colored 'next tee' signs. It was such a breeze navigating this course.
The layouts were nice and varied from hole to hole. One hole has you throwing downhill dodging trees. The next puts some rolling hills in your way. And then you are tossing flat across a winding stream. Wilcox never felt like the same hole twice, and I can sharply recall every hole. Major props to the course designers.
Open holes, wooded holes, uphill, downhill. Whatever you are looking for, this course delivers, and I get the feeling that it will only improve as more tee pads (and possibly more baskets?) are installed. I don't think I would have minded paying the $10 if I had come here in one of the warmer months.

Bottom line: Wilcox Memorial Park has an excellent course that definitely deserves a visit. Bring your whole bag and prepare for a test of every disc golf trick you have!

Most holes have either two gravel tees with tee signs or two color coded DisCatcher baskets, some have only one of each and some both. This provides a bevy of playable layout options.

The design is very balanced integrating a spectacular amount of variety of woods and open space and elevation and fast greens. You get a bit everything from tight & technical to long open bombs and some some good fun factor.

Two loops of 9 holes, thank you Jesus! This would be brutal as a single loop, I was pooped after the front 9 and ran out of H2O. I was amazed at how little rough and underbrush there was for being a newish course with such serious elevation.

Course is a natural beauty with sweeping meadows and some cool rock outcroppings throughout the woods. Large park with lots of other activities especially around the beach.

My biggest issue with the course is probably with the tee signs, some of them confused me more than if there was no sign. A friend of mine lives nearby and he said the same thing about the tee signs.

Hole 4 I ended up playing down to hole 6's tee pad, I didn't think the fairway went right into the woods blind there and snakes down a winding trail. I somehow missed holes 12 and 13. Then I got super confused on hole 14 seeing basket 14 and couldn't believe the basket was on the other side of the rough.

Gravel tees aren't the best. Muddy in some places. Interference with other park users in places. A lot of annoying backtracking to the blue tees and some have some tight weird lines from them. Some of the elevation in the design felt awkward as well. A lot of walking in general and course is a hike. Mosquitoes were atrocious. A little bit of poison ivy in places.

Not necessarily a con, although I was caught off guard as it's not mentioned anywhere that it costs $10 to enter the park if you are out of state.

I wanted to like this course so much more than I did, I still think it's a great course hence a 3.5 rating, and I was really close to giving it a 4, it's like a 3.74 for me. With some slight upgrades and modifications this course could easily be a 4.5 for me. Lots of my issues are due to being a traveling player playing here for the first time. If this was my local course I would enjoy playing here often. It took me much longer than I expected to finish and I still missed two holes, so if you are traveling player plan on some extra time to play here or find a local guide.

-The signage at this course makes it very easy to read and leads you where you need to be for the next tee
-Tees are easily visable
-In a very nice and large park
-Has its own parking lot for Disc Golf players
-Close to Taconic and other major roads for travel
-Some open area holes and wooded for a change of pace throughout the course
-Most holes have 2 tees & 2 baskets (Red for Beginners and Blue for Advanced)
-Very well kept grounds
-Makes it easy if you only want to do the front 9 or back 9 holes as they both (Hole 9 & 18) end up close to the parking lot
-Has other things you can do at the park (swim, boat, ect.)
-Bathrooms located around the course
-Staff at the park are very friendly

-Grounds around the first hole can be wet and soft after rain
-Some wooded/hilly areas make it easy to lose a disc if not brightly colored

very well designed course with a huge variety of baskets, slightly hilly, beautiful area, we liked the excellent signs to the next tees, red tees are for beginners, blue tees if you like to throw a bit longer

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might be crowded in summer time due to the lake with beach