Enjoy!!! There have been some other DG changes besides the addition of that church course, if you get time.
- Al Quaal got expanded from a 9er to a championship level full 18. Not sure how playable it would be in the snow though. My review on the site here reflects the old 9 and is on my list to update.
- Old Town got expanded from 18 to 27. Might be tough here in the snow too.
- As for that church course, it's nothing great but there was nothing really wrong with it either. Probably a good option for winter play. I'm going to give it a 2.0 rating when I get to that review.

"I felt a great disturbance in the Force. As if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced."

thank you for the heads up

it is much appreciated

Man, wouldn't a light saber be great for clearing brush?

Great work you and Bogey both. Much appreciated, I've always had an affinity for that course, great to see work being done out there. BTW, the 54 we shot last week on the original course held up for 1st. I'm thinking there is nothing stopping us for a repeat win on the Foz this week.

i added wakefield marenisco school which apparently looks like it used to be an object course but now has nice new discathers

also there is one called boulder alley https://udisc.com/courses/boulder-alley-S1e8

i didnt add boulder alley in republic since it seems incomplete but if someone else who has moar local knowledge or if someone checks it out feel free to add it on here

Me when more courses pop up in the UP right after I finally finished bagging all of them:
https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forum...1&d=1669606174

Also me when more courses pop up in the UP right after I finally finished bagging all of them:
https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forum...1&d=1669606174

Things are going down at Cold Brook...From Larry LeBond on Facebook:

Hmmmm......I have played CB well over a dozen times, including a Worlds. it is an old school wooded, park style course. It is short and technical. It also has a aged charm that makes it a special track.

But, maybe it is time to let it go. It had some safety issues, IMO. They were mostly mitigated with infrastructure, but the OG design was dated and in need of a rethink. The erosion and tree damage is indeed a concern, IMO. Obviously, I do not advocate for course removal often, but it might be the best for this park and this golf community. Kzoo is not short on options, nor quality. I do think ANY changes would benefit from Larry's insight and input. I hope the best for CB, my old friend.

I like Coldbrook. But I don't love it. I haven't played it in years. One of my issues with it is how out-of-the-way it is. And the deterioration of the course.
It's a shame that the "powers that be" don't appear to be on the same page with Larry.

Plus...

New course in Republic MI - Boulder Alley. 9 holes now, two tees. Next summer will have concrete tees and 18 holes!

A private 20 hole beast on 20 acres, par 63, 6400', 160' of elevation from the top of the highest Ridge. INNOVA Discatcher 28 chain baskets and turf tees, centrally located to all the area courses.

The guy in charge of KZoo County Parks is the same guy who was in charge of St. Joseph County Parks a little over 20 years ago when I convinced him to expand a new and awful 9-holer at Meyer Broadway in Three Rivers to a real 18.

I see things haven't changed at all with him. Although I am forever grateful that he went with my suggestion to redo the original 9 at Meyer Broadway and get 9 more baskets (a park ranger who had never played in his life created the first "layout" if you want to call it that), he was difficult to work with and not eager to spend a penny on the course once it was there. Plus, he single-handedly put in several holes near the end of my 2001-2002 design that weren't mine at all and really sucked. He refused to have more than tiny fairways mowed on top of that. It was barely playable until a new parks superintendent took over and another faction who I'm not involved with redid it for the 2008 worlds.

Today Meyer Broadway has never been better, thank goodness. It's awesome.

So, yeah, that original St. Joe guy has been the Kzoo County guy for awhile and Cold Brook has done nothing but languish in the meantime. They chased off the K'Aces league there and still have the dilapidated old Mach 3 baskets, for starters.

(I was certainly no fan of CB when I first moved here in 1998, and saw two people bloodied by being hit in the head with drives in just a couple of years there, but it has its charms and I'd hate to see it wither away.)

Sad to hear as Coldbrook was my very first course played. Usually try and play there 1-2 times a year but just dont get over there enough as it is out of the way. Has a few really fun holes and lines to hit. Bummed out by the updates.

Guess I'll be returning to the UP once again in 2023. :D

ahhhh me too

what a terrible thing

And last night we received approval to add another 18 hole course adjacent to the Powder Mill course in Marquette!!! We have almost 100 acres to work with and will be designing longer style Championship course to add to our mix. (Still including those fun amateur tees!)

Awesome news.
Hopefully no BMX trails will be near the new courses. :D

Wise words. Sometimes it's best not to fight with people who just aren't on the same page. Let them have their park and they can deal with whatever comes of it. Larry's energy and the local community of players are best diverted elsewhere where people want to work with them and they are appreciated.

TOTALLY agree with this. Disc Golf can and should take center stage at exclusive use properties. We been in the same boat where we're fighting and pushing so hard to get a course where we want one, but the landowner just doesn't share that vision. Go work with those who want to work with you.

i might have asked you before but why does it feel like marquette got leftover picks of land to use for dg

i aint local but i have been to marquette twice now

seems like yall are stepping your game up tho and gettin a nice cluster of courses

looks like ill have to be back for round 3

Wow! Like across the river?

My focus at Nash was to give people a challenge that is not typically found at park style courses. There are several pitch and putts in the metro detroit area so I didn't want another.

Yep. West of Dead River (after hole 12 at PM we will have a hole or two throwing over the river for a transition). There is essentially 100 acres the landowner has which is almost untouched.

That's because they are leftover tracts, ha! We took what was given to us, tried to get creative, and used it to the fullest. It's what we have been proud of too...working with what we had, improving the land, using it without heavy clearing and modification, and opening up more areas for public recreation (and not kids starting fires in unused wooded areas).

Al Quaal is different though, and on a prime piece of property. The long term vision for Al Quaal involves three 18-hole courses. Right now most holes use the cross country trails for the "airway". We plan to use the surrounding woods much more, and much more of the miles of x-ski trails!

I guess they got a few emails about Cold Brook:

Found on the "Kalamazoo Disc Golf" Facebook page. Thought a few folks here might find this of interest...

oh wow i didnt know al quaal had those aspirations

your scenery up there and land is amazing im glad to hear it expanding and improving

thats exciting

Kinda sounds like they've quantified the loss of revenue from the past 2 years since running everyone out and figured out just how much money the local disc golf community was bringing them and are in damage control at this point.

Before Spring Valley and VIRA and Meyer Broadway and Oshtemo and Robert Morris and Knollwood and Begg and TPC and Kimball Pines and Irving and the five or so school courses, Cold Brook was the only game in town for the area's mere quarter-million or so population. Every time I've been back to Cold Brook in the last ten years, it's a ghost town compared to the old days. There are so many better options closer to the population centers, most of which are for free or worth the fees. Cold Brook is going to have to step its game up significantly if they want that revenue back to what it was 20 years ago, and I don't see how that's going to happen when they're removing holes and there isn't room for more.

The county parks department is a couple of decades behind the ball. They have room for that championship caliber course they're talking about now at Prairie View Park (I'd LOVE that because I'm a couple of miles away), but it would compete with a free and awesome VIRA only a few miles away too, and the outstanding Meyer Broadway complex 15 minutes further south that's totally worth the cost, unlike Cold Brook. Their nose-in-the-air attitude toward the Disc Golf community has cost them and it's probably too late to ever recoup anything remotely close to the monopoly they had in 1998 with the fees they collected from the sport's diehards.

It's SO NICE having all these other options besides Cold Brook today. Really, the best it can do is be gussied back up and considered a museum course, kind of like how Honey Bear is in Peru, IN. Other than that, there's nothing special in comparison to the other closer, better and even cheaper to play options all over the place. I keep saying it but it's true; we live in a time of milk and honey. It's awesome. Sorry, Kalamazoo County Parks. You had your chance.

Well that certainly didn't last long. Baskets will be pulled Wednesday. What a let down. Neighbors going NIMBY crazy is what I hear.

Sad. I actually spent about 10 minutes with one couple, the day we put the course in the ground. Sounded like there were several neighbors, whose backyards backed up to the park, were really protective. They had some concerns like....."we don't want a bunch of people coming using the park, all of a sudden"". By opening up the wooded areas, we will have kids partying all the time." We have been here for 17 years, now you want to change our park." "We like it nice and quiet here". "Nobody from the city or your group asked us about this".

It is a city owned park. Unfortunate. But the group spearheading the installation seem ok with it. They made some postive relationships with the city and hopefully will find a better fit for the course.

I heard today that the MetroParks is redesigning the Willow MetroPark course. Removing 6 holes, to make it 18. Opening up most of the holes, by cutting down trees. I am not sure who is the driving force behind the decisions or helping with the redesign. I am angry about it. Willow is a tough, wooded track. A nice compliment to the area, especially in light of the massive loss of Ash trees in the last decade or so. I will post more info, as I find out.

Sounds like a second-to-worst case scenario :(

Yeah....I had heard rumbling that they were just going to pull it. That did not make much sense. I mean that course is literally in an area, that is unusable for any other recreational activity.

It does not sound like the redesign is taking any steps to mitigate the flooding problems, that plague the course most of the spring. I just don't get a redesign. I don't believe people don't play Willow, because there are too many holes or it is too wooded. If that is the case, we are not hurting for options in that area. SMH. I am just not sure what happened there. With the land available, I just don't really see the result being much better of a course.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the flooding is mostly on the grassy holes toward the front 1/3 of the course? I could see maybe trying to route something to avoid those areas. Not sure how one would connect the remaining holes though...

I don't play Willow often, but basically, the holes at the south end of the course hold more water, so the beginning and end of the round aren't too bad. It's the middle where it gets really wet.

I'd say the flooding is a problem on holes 8 - 14 or so. I think #15 (long hole out in the field) can get a bit swampy as well.

Did a bit of asking around and came up with the proposed redesign of Willow. They are looking to move hole 1 to a new parking lot and picnic area. Solid idea. I don't think there is a pavillion there, but there are vault toilets, tables and a paved lot. It does not seem like flooding is mitigated with this redesign. It looks like the blue areas might be areas of flooding concern. I do appreciate the added amentiies that the new course will add, but I can assure you that Mrs. ru4por will not approve of toilets at the start, but not in the middle of the round. Mid course "pitstops" are very high on lher list, lol. Here is the map that I was forwarded.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cPj...ew?usp=sharing


Not sure that link will work. Let me know if it doesn't.

It doesn't...

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=...=att&disp=safe

How about this?

Nothing...

[email protected]#$%^&* Completely inept at this. Hey Bogey.

Thanks Innova63.