West Appleton Country Club reviews
3
0
Discin' on the Ball Golf Course 2+ years
Reviewed:
Played on:Jul 16, 2019
Played the course:once
Pros:
I wasn't sure what to expect with this newish course that only had a single review on DGCR, but I was pleasantly surprised.
The course plays on the edges of a 9-hole ball golf course, and offers a solid mix of open, semi-wooded, and completed wooded holes. In fact I changed the designation here from "mostly open" to "moderately wooded" because you are playing in the woods a fair bit.
Hole lengths vary from 150' - 615' and average 325' from the long (white) tees, with the short holes being wooded and curvy and the longer holes being open. A shorter set of red tees cuts about 1700' out of the course and drops the average hole length to 230'.
The longer open holes are almost all set up with the woodline along the left side, and the basket near it. So the challenge is to hit the distance correctly without fading into the woods.
The wooded holes are shorter, more challenging, and more interesting. Some start in the open and require hitting a gap into the woods to continue to the basket. Hole 4 is a good example of a 255' hole that enters a gap in the woods about 150' from the tee and requires a hard left dogleg down toward the basket.
Other holes are completely within the woods, and feature narrow fairways with interesting shapes and curves. Hole 10 was a completely wooded hole with a left bending fairway to a basket located among a group of four automobiles abandoned in the woods and covered with green mesh. Unique to be sure.
Tee pads are slightly raised platforms covered with thick artificial turf. They appeared to be brand new and were excellent to throw from. Tee signs were as simple as they come, with a printed hole number and distance added with a sharpie. The first couple of signs added a (very) crude hole diagram with a sharpie as well, but even that ended after the fourth hole.
Discatchers caught great and showed up well. A couple of interesting basket placements included a hanging basket (gallows style) on Hole 12 and an elevated basket mounted on a huge stump on Hole 14.
Porta Potties near holes 8 and 14 were a nice feature. Only a couple of benches were noted including a beautiful carved log at Hole 14.
The course plays on the edges of a 9-hole ball golf course, and offers a solid mix of open, semi-wooded, and completed wooded holes. In fact I changed the designation here from "mostly open" to "moderately wooded" because you are playing in the woods a fair bit.
Hole lengths vary from 150' - 615' and average 325' from the long (white) tees, with the short holes being wooded and curvy and the longer holes being open. A shorter set of red tees cuts about 1700' out of the course and drops the average hole length to 230'.
The longer open holes are almost all set up with the woodline along the left side, and the basket near it. So the challenge is to hit the distance correctly without fading into the woods.
The wooded holes are shorter, more challenging, and more interesting. Some start in the open and require hitting a gap into the woods to continue to the basket. Hole 4 is a good example of a 255' hole that enters a gap in the woods about 150' from the tee and requires a hard left dogleg down toward the basket.
Other holes are completely within the woods, and feature narrow fairways with interesting shapes and curves. Hole 10 was a completely wooded hole with a left bending fairway to a basket located among a group of four automobiles abandoned in the woods and covered with green mesh. Unique to be sure.
Tee pads are slightly raised platforms covered with thick artificial turf. They appeared to be brand new and were excellent to throw from. Tee signs were as simple as they come, with a printed hole number and distance added with a sharpie. The first couple of signs added a (very) crude hole diagram with a sharpie as well, but even that ended after the fourth hole.
Discatchers caught great and showed up well. A couple of interesting basket placements included a hanging basket (gallows style) on Hole 12 and an elevated basket mounted on a huge stump on Hole 14.
Porta Potties near holes 8 and 14 were a nice feature. Only a couple of benches were noted including a beautiful carved log at Hole 14.
Cons:
About half of the holes are open, with just a bit of elevation to deal with. So there is far less line-shaping and technicality than most other courses in the state.
Holes 14 & 15 are cut into a rough area across the road from the golf course, and they were still pretty raw.
Some long walkouts (8 to 9 (500'), 11 to 12 (900'), 16 to 17 (500')). Not a big deal if you rent a golf cart, but otherwise quite a bit of ground to cover.
Holes 14 & 15 are cut into a rough area across the road from the golf course, and they were still pretty raw.
Some long walkouts (8 to 9 (500'), 11 to 12 (900'), 16 to 17 (500')). Not a big deal if you rent a golf cart, but otherwise quite a bit of ground to cover.
Other Thoughts:
The check-in process left a little to be desired. I parked in front of the clubhouse and entered to find an empty counter. A young man sitting in the lobby finally asked me if I needed something, and I told him that I was there to Disc Golf. He got up and told me that I needed to move my car to a lot across the street as I was in the "owner's parking lot". Only after doing so and returning to the lobby did we get down to the business of paying for the round. Most of the P2P operations in Maine have a better counter experience than this, and West Appleton could try a little harder.
We rented a golf cart (additional $15) and were glad we did. The weather was hot and muggy and parts of the course a very open. Nice to have the wheels...
We rented a golf cart (additional $15) and were glad we did. The weather was hot and muggy and parts of the course a very open. Nice to have the wheels...
3
0
jmckittrick
Experience:
1 played
1 reviews
Great to have a course in the area! 2+ years drive by
Reviewed:
Played on:Dec 27, 2018
Played the course:2-4 times
Pros:
Brand new as of 2018, I believe.
Some relatively long holes and wide open drives for the area/geography.
Super nice area on top of Appleton Ridge.
Carts available when the ball golf course is open!
Most holes under 300' involve some sort of added challenge (trees, dogleg, cross a road, etc)
No water holes?
Some relatively long holes and wide open drives for the area/geography.
Super nice area on top of Appleton Ridge.
Carts available when the ball golf course is open!
Most holes under 300' involve some sort of added challenge (trees, dogleg, cross a road, etc)
No water holes?
Cons:
Most of these I chalk up to being a brand new course:
Some tee boxes (cement or wood), but most are under development still.
No indication of par.
Maybe a very small amount of cleanup still to be done on some holes.
No water holes?
Some tee boxes (cement or wood), but most are under development still.
No indication of par.
Maybe a very small amount of cleanup still to be done on some holes.
No water holes?
Other Thoughts:
Played this course for the first time(s) over the holidays while I was home... super happy to now have a course in the area. I played in December... no snow but temps below freezing.
Really loved it:
was impressed by how wide open some of the holes were for the area.
Good signage considering it's brand new.
2 tees on almost every hole (there are a few shared white/red).
The longer holes were pretty wide open and forgiving for big throws but the shorter holes almost all had something interesting going on.
The ball golf course here is VERY small and local, so it's not some big, intimidating club or anything.
I played while everything was closed, but it would be fun to get a cart, I'm sure.
For reference, when facing the clubhouse, the first tee is straight/right across at the far side of the meadow.
I'll definitely be playing this a lot while I'm in the area! I'm sure my rating will be much higher in a year two, but this was much better than I was expecting from a brand new course!
Really loved it:
was impressed by how wide open some of the holes were for the area.
Good signage considering it's brand new.
2 tees on almost every hole (there are a few shared white/red).
The longer holes were pretty wide open and forgiving for big throws but the shorter holes almost all had something interesting going on.
The ball golf course here is VERY small and local, so it's not some big, intimidating club or anything.
I played while everything was closed, but it would be fun to get a cart, I'm sure.
For reference, when facing the clubhouse, the first tee is straight/right across at the far side of the meadow.
I'll definitely be playing this a lot while I'm in the area! I'm sure my rating will be much higher in a year two, but this was much better than I was expecting from a brand new course!
