• Nice scenery
• Excellent navigation
• A large number of pawpaw trees, perfect for a late-September snack

• Some of the course follows old, unofficial (I think) paths to the lake, so you may find pedestrians walking along the middle of the fairway on some of the back-9 holes
• A couple holes have no real good throwing lanes
• A few of the course signs show bends in the wrong spots, proportionally to the actual distances of the hole. This isn't a problem once you've played the course once, but when looking at the hole for the first time, you may wonder why the hole seems to hook too early or too late.

This is a mostly technical course tucked away in one of the less-used state parks. The front nine are mostly on the short side, winding their way around several ravines, with reasonably steep dropoffs. I kept hoping for a hole across or into a ravine, but they kept to the tops. A couple of the holes don't have very well defined throwing lanes (I ended up doing one hole tomahawk-style simply because a vertical disc had more of a chance to thread through the trees), but most of them, while tight, have at least one obvious intended path.

The back half lengthens out a bit. Most of the holes are still heavily wooded, but the longer holes have somewhat wider fairways—though they're not always straight, or even curved in one direction: I think a few of them were planned with specific discs in mind ("about at this point, it will start to turn, then at this point, it starts to fade away...") And in among all the wooded holes, there are a few mostly open shots at the midpoint and end of the course. Watch for pedestrians, especially on hole 13. (And they seem to walk extra-slowly, as well.)

Water technically is in play on a couple holes, but it would take a real bad shot to splash a disk—the water is more of a backdrop than an obstacle. The course is overall mostly on the flattish side, but there are minor elevation changes on some holes, and a few that have noticable elevation, though nothing that would be called steep.

Baskets are DGA Mach X, which are wonderful baskets on the design level, but unfortunately can fade into the background, especially once they've aged a bit (hasn't anyone designed a topper for these that's highly visible yet?). Tee pads are concrete and well-set. As mentioned earlier, a couple of the hole signs show intended breaks earlier or later than they actually happen, but overall are very informative, and the next tee signs make it so that navigation is simple.

Overall, I really enjoyed the course—it plays to the way I play the game. The fact that it's in a state park that I consider underappreciated—and is relatively close to my home—is a bonus.

I know, I'm a sucker for fun, technical courses that are designed with safety in mind, where even old guys like me can stretch a chance for a few deuces, but feature variety and challenge for the younger, longer throwers... heh heh IF they can control their longer 'D'! Cowan Lake is the newest design in southwest Ohio, by a couple of our best and most highly respected disc golf veterans (Ohio DG Hall of Famer Pete Caldwell and future member Matt Blakely).

As a freshly opened course, expect to find tight lines and fresh tee pads, DGA Mach X baskets, and basic course tee signs mounted on sturdy metal posts and brackets. Every hole has between one and three 'Next Tee' signs, with the layout being so intuitive I never once glanced at the map I'd brought along. The course cycles cleverly around the large parking area adjacent to the 'picnic area' shelter and the 'dance pavilion' shelter, with a 19th basket there at the end of the lot for practice and warm up. That means that it's set up almost perfectly for tournament play, with almost every hole being within three fairways of where you park.

And the fairways! About one third offer significant elevation change, another third have gentle slopes, and about a third are flat. Shots bend left, dogleg right, or (especially for the longer, 'par fours'), require flexed shot shaping and learning where the best landing zones might be. And in addition to Pete's signature 'must hit the gap' designs, you'll also often find that 'long is SOOO wrong' becoming his second signature element. There are an abundance of ridges and dangers around your intended lines that, even in winter, when the foliage is down, and all the beautiful park woods and lake views are visible, you'll still struggle to get back on track if you get a bad kick off the fairway. Control is the name of the game to score well here.

As far as judging the difficulty and the target audience, Cowan Lake is set up to challenge Intermediate and above, since it will force Advanced to Open players to use smarts and strategy, while beginners to recreational level players' skill set might result in some tree kicks, rolls and frustration. I noted that the course reminded me of the tighter, wooded holes on other regional lake park courses (Stonelick, up state's Reservoir Ridge, Oxford's nearby Disctractions' course in Hueston Woods), and one hole (5) even made me reminiscent of Idlewild somehow. There's a lot to like here.

The aforementioned frustration will be a negative for the less experienced player. And the newness means there are extensive debris piles just off of some of the fairways. DON'T tree kick right on hole 2: that area has a dangerously steep climb down over some massive tree fall and debris to retrieve your errant shot. Don't ask me how I know this.

Not necessarily a negative, but be aware that holes 9 & 10 are across the park road junction, and basically deuce opportunities uncharacteristically flat and relatively open. Could be a positive, since I like to have a course offer you relief if it's been torturing you a little.

The fairway edges on holes 13 through 18 are almost brutally unforgiving, and heavy with thorny weeds. As a nature preserve area, it's unlikely that this will ever go away, so you really want to focus on not getting in there.

Not a con, just a note I added in course condition update: Course is new, and the fairways were just cut in this year. That means, with the majority being heavily wooded holes, you have leaf-buried debris and stumps to be aware of. And the ravine edges often have debris strewn where they're sometimes very steep, so be careful, and try to throw control shots in the fairways.

While in this area consider also playing Gulley or the private QKnoll (Jay Schroeder's course. He helped out a lot here at the lake).

-Comparatively scenic
-Concrete Tee pads
-Forgiving pars

-Very new course that still needs some refining
-Currently very muddy (6 DEC 22)
-A lack of hole maps at the tee pads would make it very difficult to find the pin in the summer when there is foliage.

The course has a scenic layout as far as Clinton County is concerned. The first couple holes are on a wooded ridge overlooking the lake. They are technical and require players to thread pretty tight gaps or get punished by very steep creek beds. Things open up on 9 and 10 but then you are are back in the woods for 11 and 12. 13 has a broad fairway that slopes down towards the lake. 14 and 17 are uphill holes that are extremely challenging. Overall, a technical course that can punish you with blind uphill shots and an army of trees.