Good concrete tees on every hole, just wide enough and just long enough.
The tee signs have all the necessary information, hole layout and the next tee location.
Yellow DISCatchers in the primary, normally short location. Brand new, red Veteran baskets in the long positions. These appear to be fairly new, most are tucked back into woods, often in a different direction from the primary baskets. Several look like tough greens to get to, so they add more challenge then just added distance.
Very good mix of open and wooded holes, a few more open holes, but nearly all of those have elevation change, some are significant. Most of the wooded holes have a defined fairway, sometimes split, except for #16 (more on that later).
Really nice, clean park, soccer, ballfields, playground, the holes are laid out to stay away from those other activities.
The course starts right at the entrance of the park (often times rare) with a decent sized parking lot and park building (Barn) right there, guessing there are restrooms there.

Not a whole lot to dislike here, a few benches would be handy, especially on the longer, open holes.
#8 plays back in the opposite direction of #9 tee, so after you play #8, you have to walk the distance of that hole, plus a little further. There is a shelter, parking lot and walking trails between the two, but it is an odd transition.
#16 - after a truly awesome hole #15, this one continues through the same pine forest, but uphill without a defined fairway, that I could find. The tee sign showed the hole going straight uphill, then finishing to the left. It took me 3 throws before I could spot the basket, and it was not to the left. Looking back down the fairway, there may have been a narrow fairway, but without being able to see the basket from the tee, that line didn't appear as an option.

Shank Park, certainly not a name you would associate with a Disc Golf or Golf course, and one of the few things in this area not named for Milton S. Hershey, but Shank is a great drive, right down the middle.
By my count, there a 11 open holes and 7 wooded or partially wooded holes. Of those 11, 3 are uphill, 4 downhill and 4 either flat or over a ridgeline. A real good mix to replace the challenge of vegetation.
#12 is probably the best of the downhill holes, essentially a Top of the World shot, nearly 400' feet down 50-60' to the baskets, a short distance in front of a thickly wooded stream valley. (Following that, #13 goes right back up, a little longer, an almost impossible "Par 3" to get.)
#3 - #5 are all short, heavily wooded holes, each with at least one path to the basket. But the best, and prettiest of the wooded holes is #15. The tee is in the open, slightly downhill into a pine forest of large trees, the first part of the fairway is wide but it narrows down, then you need to pick your way through the trees to the basket on the right of the fairway. As normal, the Red basket is beyond the Yellow basket, further into the woods.
Shank Park has only one tee, but the addition of the longer Red baskets on every (?) hole will challenge more advanced players, and add variety. #11 Yellow plays left to right around a hill, but the Red basket is down and to the left. On #13, after getting to the top of the hill, the Red basket is tucked into the woods, a J hook around to the left. But #18 is the big challenge, the hole plays downhill, through thick woods, having to split large, 3' trees and turn left down to the Yellow basket. From that point, the Red basket is a right dogleg, down a narrower path another 100', very tough.
The 2 Nine holers in town are pretty average courses, Shank Park will challenge beginners and intermediate players to the Yellow baskets and more advanced players to the Red baskets. More than happy to raise the course rating with this review.

+ Tees appear to have been recently upgraded to poured concrete throughout. Old DisCatchers that still catch fine


+ Mix of open/wooded with it switching between the two several times during the round. Few completely flat holes: the layout uses elevation changes that range from gentle to pretty dramatic


+ Good navigation; pretty intuitive, directional arrows hanging from baskets (though a little beat, and one is pointing the wrong way)


+ After a run of open holes with significant elevation change, holes 15 and 16 take you into a deep wood of tall pines that are so closely-spaced to block out the sun. The ground is carpeted with pine straw, and you face a downhill-then-uphill challenge finding the baskets placed among the hundreds of trees. Its a completely unexpected change in the environment, similar to the run of holes midway through Herr Park in Lancaster


+ Shank finishes with a narrow wooded downhill with a slight left turn. Short, but a very good hole because it requires touch to make the green from anywhere on the hole

- As the amenities are being upgraded along with converting the tees to concrete, I hope they make signs that include hole maps. Unusual for a course this well kitted out - the existing signage includes the hole number and length, but no diagram. There are a few doglegs and blind throws (especially #10, where the basket is hidden off the the side in the woods) where diagrams would help


- Holes 7 and 8 are side by side in opposing directions. Wide open holes - on busy days there will be incoming fire, or delays waiting for others to clear


- I mentioned how remarkable the setting is in the pines for 15 and 16. As beautiful as it is, I could not see a clear line to play #16, an uphill par 3. It seemed like a bit of a plinko hole

~ When I played in November 2022, it looked like the basket position for #2 had been changed. The tee sign had a handwritten correction with a shorter distance. Now an unremarkable 200 foot open shot across a hillside


~ Shank Park is well-kept. The course itself is a good design that uses the woods and rolling hills, and includes thoughtful touches, like a high flag to mark the unseen basket on #17. On the short side, but varied and solid, and appears to being improved over time

Nice mix of open holes that are kind of long, with shorter holes in the woods.
Some very interesting shots
Opens with a fun downhill shot in the open, and closes with an extremely fun downhill tunnel shot in the woods. Very satisfying

The bees can be kind of bad on the back 9.
There are a couple of pretty long walks between holes. #9 is a long way from #8 for example, and not easy to find, but there is map in the parking lot. If you head for that, you're on the right track.
#16 and #17 in the woods are plinko holes. They'd be more fun as par 4s
#6 is either a great hole or a stupid one, the tee pad is in the woods and the basket is in the open field, but there are 2 trees directly in front of the tee pad with no great way around them.
The open holes in the park have people wandering all over the place. You'll probably have to skip a couple of holes and come back later because people will be having picnics in the middle of the fairways. Especially on #8 and #15

This is a decent park course, in good shape with nice tee pads and a few really fun holes. There are some holes that should be redesigned because they are in busy parts of the park . A short #8 through the woods that connects #7 tee to #9 tee would be much better than a long par 3 in an open field that goes away from #9 tee and is often blocked by other park visitors. But it's still a fun place to throw it around.

Super nice and well maintained Bunch of different kinds of shots

I wish the few shots through the trees had some kind of line to hit instead of just winging it

Shank Park has a really cool course design. The course has a large change of elevation, a good mix between open field bomber throws vs. tight wooded tunnel shots, a large variety of hole length, and a good variety of type of throws needed (dogleg left vs dogleg right). Also, the holes do not cross and they flow smoothly from one to another.

No benches
Tee pads are short and rubber, so they get very slick when it's wet.
Signage only has the par and total ft.
Only one tee pad and pin per hole.

Shank park is really fun to play at, and great for beginners, but challenging enough for intermediate players. The only thing holding this course back from a 4 are the cons listed above.

The greater park has a lot of other stuff to do other than disc golf, so that's a plus if you bring your family.

Shank Park is a large county like park. You see how sprawling it is when you play the DGC as you have to circumnavigate the entire park and my feet were letting me know. The park was a beehive of activities tonight with softball, baseball, soccer and folks out walking the nature trail.

The designer of this course might very well be my long lost twin, Manuel. He and I certainly think alike. We both love downhills of any kind, from epic to short, touch shots. Shank Park DGC definitely has it's share of downhills.

The course starts right next to the red barn right when you enter the park. It also loops back and the trail from 18 takes you right down to the front parking lot. There is a great, colorful course sign at the start. I don't quite know why but there is another identical great course sign at the parking lot before # 9. There are two tee signs on each post, one on each side. I guess this county must be flush with revenue to afford two course signs and two tee signs at each hole! The baskets are Discatchers with the yellow bands and hole numbers on that band. In addition, every basket has a next arrow hung below the catcher. Beware, the arrow on the # 2 basket points in the opposite direction of the next tee.

The course has a really wonderful variety of hole types, distances and challenges. There are some fun downhills such as 1, 2, 12 and 14. A short downhill Ace run at 18. A series of technical shorties at the beginning, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Two tough holes in a row playing through thick forest with seemingly no route, 15 & 16.

There are lots of long walkouts here. Between all the ups and downs and the long walkouts, you should be ready to sit down and put your feet up.

Basket is still missing on # 13.

The next arrow sign at the # 2 basket points in the opposite direction of the actual tee pad.

I thought # 7 & 8 we're both a little boring, just wide open throws across grass.

Some players might think that 15 & 16 are unfair but I found them to be nice challenges.

Shank Park DGC has a number of really fun downhill throws and is also well designed with a variety of different hole types. Granted, it's quite a trek completely around the entire park but it's well worth the effort. I'd love to live in Hershey, eat lots of chocolate and have the choice of the Hotel Hershey course and Shank Park. I'd. E as happy as an unchaperoned Amish girl on a date.

The elevation changes were the high point of the course. The course also had a good mixture of wooded and open holes.

This is a course that does need help. First the tee signs only gave footage and no visual of where the baskets were or what preferable lines were available to use. There was also alot of holes that sort of played on top of themselves, in a pdga tournament this could be a big problem. In particular i remember 4-8 having fairways too close together or baskets in too close of a proxcimity to the next tee pad.
In the wooded holes the ceilings were generaly too low. I could raise one arm in the air and hit small limbs the whole way from tee to basket on hole 15 and 16. Also holes 3, 4, and 18 had a few small trees very ramdomly in the middle of the fairways i really didnt see the purpose in. If said trees are allowed to get bigger over time there wont be fairways on those holes.
And my last issue was for a par 54 course the amount of walking required was a bit much. The walk between 8-9 was a bit much. Which also bring me to navigation and layout. For a par 54 had i not had a local golfer with me it would have taken a long time to play this course. Arrows under the baskets would have helped. But again on a 54 usually you dont need to worry about that. So the design/flow of the course wasnt good. Having to search for 50% of the next tees is a bit annoying.

I would take a 9-10 hole redesign to get me back. I appreaciated some of the concepts, but this course needs alot of work.

The course at Shank Park plays around the entire park, which is quite large. There is a parking lot and course map near the start of hole 1, which starts at the top of the hill adjacent to the red building. From the Bullfrog Valley Road entrance, park in the first parking lot on the right. I only add that because it isn't super clear where the course starts as you're entering the park.

I really enjoy courses that utilize diverse settings within a park. I like when I find the next tee and think, "Wow, this section of the park feels really different than the last set of holes." The course does that, mixing open holes among two different sets of woods - both of which have a very different feel.

Elevation is incorporated to its full potential, combining uphill and downhill shots with holes that play among rolling hills. There are only a few holes that are flat here. Also, some blind tee shots because of the slopes help make the open holes more interesting, like for 8 and 17.

The highlights for me were the bookend holes. I thought these two downhill shots were the best designed holes on the course. Hole 1 is a moderately wooded hole that offers multiple lines through the trees, while 18 is a tight shot through the woods with the pin on a slope. I also really enjoyed 8 and 15.

The tee signs and baskets are in great shape. The rubber tees are among some of the best I've thrown from. Another great amenity here is that the park is very well maintained. I never had to search for a disc, even when I didn't hit the intended line.

Probably the biggest detractor of the course to me were the two extremes for hole types that were mostly present. By that, I mean that the wooded holes were mostly super tight, stand still and throw your putter type shots, while the open holes were mostly completely open. Holes 3-6 are all less than 180' and are a little bit too much poke and pray, while all but one or two holes over 300' don't have any trees in the fairway. This isn't much fault of the design, as they used what the land has offered to great potential, but more of my preference for what I want in a course. I would've liked to have seen more variety in the level of woodenness throughout the round.

There are a few long walks from hole to hole, which was more noticeable since the course doesn't circle back to the parking lot throughout the round, and by the fact that there weren't any benches near the course. I'm in pretty good shape, but a bench or two would go a long way on a course as stretched out as this.

While my map was helpful, a few more signs to point you in the right direction would help, especially on some of the longer walks.

Being a new course, and given my lower rating than previously used, I don't want to come on as being too harsh. I enjoyed playing here, and would be happy to have this place as my home course. There were just a couple aspects of design that hurt the round for me. For my preference, I'd like to see a better variety of wooded shots and hole lengths. However, it is great to see that multiple courses have opened within the last year in this area. Not far from many major highways, Shank Park is definitely worth stopping at if you're traveling through the area.

-Good mix of open and wooded holes.
-Tee pads, although not concrete yet, are very nice.
-Makes great use of the elevation changes in the park.

I don't have too many cons to list about this course, some of these things are smaller things that don't effect my opinion of the course all that much.

-Hole 1 is downhill, then to get to hole 2, you go immediately back up the hill you just came down.
-Hole 15 and 16 are guaranteed to inflate my score every round (lol)
-The fact that hole 18 isn't a "top of the world" hole off of that huge hill to the right of 17 is a big disappointment. That would be a great, fun way to end the course. I'm sure there were reasons as to why this isn't a hole, but still, it would be great.

A great course for beginners, yet still a somewhat challenging one for advanced players. Overall I rate this course as excellent!

This course has opened!!!
Best two holes on this course are 15 and 16. Amazing Pa style holes, deep in the old growth. If you have played since the early 90's or so these two holes make the journey worth it.

Holes 3-6 are new growth and require strategy. Not all throws are power here.

Hole 11 and 14 are also fun holes I really enjoyed them as well.

The course layout was done with the other play areas in mind such as baseball, soccer, and other fields in mind. So the designers where stuck to the "mans" will here. With that being said the course is still really fun to play, and has the best layout they could negotiate. Thanks for the fight in getting this course set up.

Locals are cool and tons of new players. They are the new age disc golfers family folks. Keep it kind, and throw some knowledge their way.