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North Adams, MA

Windsor Lake DGC

Permanent course
3.635(based on 4 reviews)
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Windsor Lake DGC reviews

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edfaits
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 13.6 years 91 played 42 reviews
2.50 star(s)

From the Rec Player Perspective 2+ years

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Jun 14, 2021 Played the course:once

Pros:

Course set in a beautiful conservation area owned by the city of North Adams. Town beach on the Windsor Lake, and other park amenities, though the Snack Attack wasn't open on the rainy Monday in June that I played.

Designer did a good job with the property available. New England woods golf, with plenty of technical shots and lots of elevation.

Though heavily wooded, the course is mostly free of underbrush. No holes near water, not much risk of lost discs.

Course map and practice basket near parking and the first tee. Put a few bucks in the lockbox to support the course.

Tee signs and wayfaring are adequate, though some of the hole distances are in question, with sometimes up 2 or 3 additional "hand written" hole distances on the signs. I'm not sure if the holes were mis-measured or baskets have been moved since the signs went in.

Benches on every tee, and some bag hooks and a few holes have trash cans. This course shows signs that it's well taken care of by the town and the local players. There are log bridges across streams and a cool handrail rope down one of the steep fairways.

Two tees for every hole can challenge different skill levels or a fresh new way to play the layout.

World class contemporary art museum five minutes away.

Cons:

Baskets are quality Innova DiscCatcher Pros, well mounted. Why is this a CON? ADVERTISING covers the bands on all the baskets! On the first hole I though somebody had vandalized the basket. By hole three I realized it was advertising. While I'm all for disc golf sponsorships, advertising DOES NOT belong ON the basket. I kept thinking I would get "get used" to it, but I think it became even more distracting over the course of my round. Maybe the locals get used to it?

A few safety concerns, though on the rainy Monday I played, I can't really tell how dangerous my concerns are since I saw no other people in the park. Hiking trails cross the course in several places. Given the elevation changes, there is potential for "blind" shots into these trails. I see signs that "warn" hikers to be ware, but this is a scary situation to me. I hope the park can find a way to re-route those tails to other parts of the park. Also, in at least two cases I felt tees were too close to baskets. In one case i pulled a disk a bit to the left and landed on another tee box, but was still close enough to the basket to easily make par.

Tee pads were OK. They are crushed stone framed by logs. On the rainy muddy day I played they were serviceable for the most part. They were a touch small and limited run-ups and follow-throughs.

Many of the fairways were just a little too tight for the rec players that are should be the target for this level of course. Yes there are lines in there, but some of these lines (especially from the "blue" tees) can be a bit of a poke and pray.

Minor thing, but the "Red" and "Blue" tees don't correspond to PDGA "Red" and "Blue" par guidelines https://www.pdga.com/document...guidelines...more like PDGA Red... and slightly harder PDGA Red courses.

No restrooms, porto-potties, or running water when "Snack Attack" not open, looks like it has limited hours.

Other Thoughts:

Several baskets were on "slippery slopes". It was tough to run birdies with a high risk of a roll-away. This isn't a pro or a con, just a risk / reward judgement on any putts longer than 20' or so. I found myself laying up for a drop-in par much more often than I usually do.

Slippery has a double meaning here, in addition to a roll-away on the green, you have to watch your step out there, especially in wet conditions. Wear good hiking shoes.

From the red tees, the last 3 holes were significantly tougher than most of the earlier holes.

Looks like parking is $5 per car on summer weekends.

The only course for nearly 20 miles, it's a fun municipal course. The safety concerns and the annoying advertising on the basket bands knock down the ratings on this course for me.

If I lived nearby, and felt the safety concerns were manageable, I'd play this often.

If you're visiting MASS MOCA and feel a need to throw some frisbees in the woods, this will fit the bill (but please watch out for hikers...)
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