The East course is mostly filled with a lot of challenging woods shots. It's close to the two practice baskets and the parking lot, maintenance on the grass is great, and a lot of specific intentionality was put in on a lot of holes. Allow me to explain.

Elevation isn't common but is used well. Two holes are downhill and are good tests of distance control while still in the woods, and several holes play softly uphill. It's not enough to be frustrating, but it is enough to make you think, especially when you can't always just throw harder to get where you need to be.

Two of the par 4's are pretty good. Hole 3 allows for a lot of aggression or conservative play, on both the first and second shots, with different parts of the fairway more open than others, but a road to the right. Hole 8 has a green that's really hard to access, but the more distance you get off the tee, the better. The green is probably a little too tight, but maybe there are some strategies to get the birdie consistently; it's not a super long hole.

A lot of the par 3's in the woods are really fun, and none of them are too similar. While none are super difficult, they all offer different challenges and reward replayability since on some, you'll want to come in slightly short of the pin to avoid some trees; on other's you'll want to push farther down the fairway or finish a certain direction.

While weeds are a problem on some holes, if you know the course and know where the landing zones are, you shouldn't have much difficulty. And having some thick rough can make for more risk-reward potential, and someone who knows the course is more likely to know exactly what the risks are.

This course shares six holes identically with the original "Central layout". Fortunately, it's only six, whereas the West course has twelve holes in common, but it's still annoying here.

While the design of the wooded holes is pretty good, there are some drawbacks. Weeds are a big issue, especially on hole 13. Hole 14 is cool, but has some steep drop-offs, leading to a lackluster hole.

There are a lot of layout and navigation issues. Holes 2 and 3 pretty much cross each other. A few holes in the 5-9 area are a little weird, play near some backyards, and it's often unclear where you're meant to be throwing. I would mention specific examples, but after one round of playing I can't remember exactly where each hole goes. The fairways of holes 12 and 15 cross each other right in the middle. As a result, it would be really hard to have a full tournament field here. And having the tee signs for the Central layout makes everything worse.

While the wooded holes are mostly pretty good, the open (1, 11, 16-18) holes are really bad. They're... basically completely open. While there are a few trees on some of them, they're just distance shots, and even bad shots can get pretty close to the basket. Ironically, these are exactly the holes that are shared with the Central layout. Hmm...

When I played, a downed tree was blocking the tee of hole 4, and given the rope that had been put around it, maybe there aren't plans to take care of it.

Overall, I think this course is a little better than the West course, because it has more wooded holes, more variety, and more challenge. For newer players, however, I would recommend playing the West course rather than this course because there are less weeds, the wooded holes are a little more accessible, and there are fewer opportunities for lost discs.

Other than removing the signage for the Central layout, there are certainly some ways to improve this course. Fixing the weird layout issues would help, which is sad because it would mean changing some of the better holes. But also, holes such as 11 and 16 could be replaced by better holes that use the scattered trees better, or start in the woods and finish in the open, or vise-versa.

Spring lake is a good place to enjoy 36 holes of Disc Golf, no matter your experience or skill level. While the place isn't perfect, it's sure to give you a fun time.

Good variety of shots re: BH/FH and short/long
Baskets are all in good condition
Some really interesting hole layouts. The shot off the raised deck is a cool idea.
Good mix of wooded and open shots

No course map, and no map on UDisc either, made this course a nightmare to try to navigate. Some holes have marked to next tee pad, but there are so many overlapping fairways, especially once you get into the wooded area, that it's really hard for a first-timer to figure out which basket you're actually supposed to be throwing to. Also, the mix of yellow old school baskets and white DD Veteran baskets can add confusion. And there are two DD veteran baskets about 30 feet away from each other (I'm thinking around hole 7?), one which is completely unmarked, which makes it hard to figure which you're supposed to be throwing to.
This to me seems like a disc golf course whose designer had a ton of good ideas but didn't put the work into executing them very well. The long par 4 in the woods is a cool idea, but it is so ensconced in so many barrier trees that it makes it almost unthrowable. The hole with the deck is another awesome idea, but the creekbed is really tricky to navigate in and easy to lose your footing.
I think this course could have some serious safety issues. A few times where you're throwing to a basket that is not far away from someone's yard, like you're using their house as a backstop. Also many times where you're overlapping fairways which could be treacherous when busy.
Not very cart friendly. Bring a bag rather than cart if you can. A tiny creek you have to navigate, but with no bridges or way to cross, making it really difficult to navigate with a cart.

I really wanted to like this course. I think if I played this with someone who already knew the layout, and hadn't brought my cart, I would've liked it better. I think the course designer had some really cool ideas for the east course, but the execution is just not there yet. If I lived here, I would probably be interested in volunteering some labor to help fix up this side of the course and really utilize some of the cool hole design ideas. With a bit of TLC and some better signage this could be a great course, but it is just not quite up there yet. Would play again if I were here to give it a fair shake, but I wouldn't out of your way to play this course.

This course has been updates to include new baskets and some redesigned holes. There are no longer any shared baskets. There is even an elevated deck tee pad on one hole. All of the "prison baskets" have been replaced with new DD Veteran Baskets.

The best point about the East course is that it provides the ability to play 18 holes without going safari when the Park is being used for large events (not DG related). Basically only one annual park event will shut down both auxiliary courses: The Boy Scout Jamboree.

The inclusion of the East woods holes offer more technical opportunities, and those are magnified as much of the underbrush is still intact. Fairways and rough are pretty challenging on the stand alone holes. The two shared baskets offer a couple of Ace runs for intermediate arms.

Elevation on the East course is still primarily flat, but there are a couple of major exceptions - including a signature uphill drive that one dare not overshoot or fall back off right.

The term "Prison Baskets" is a local designation for baskets fabricated by a local inmate population for their Career Technology Education project. All of the designated East course stand alone baskets are of this variety and susceptible to an abundance of run-through results.
Signage for the East and West portions of the course is still lacking at the moment, but new course signs for the Central Course are amazing and plans are in place to identify the shared holes with decals on the new sign standards (ie C-17; E-18).
There are two East holes which share baskets with another tee-box on this course which makes for some waiting while other groups finish the existing hole in order to tee. SO the caption "There are 6 shared holes with the Central Course and then 12 independent holes..." should probably read: 6 holes from Central course used on the East; 10 Independent holes; 2 holes playing back to another (shared) basket, and one of those will be very difficult to find for the first time soloist on the course.

While the East course provides the widest variety of shots of the 3 Spring Lake Park courses, it is also the most difficult to navigate. At times stroller/cart/wheeled accessories will be prohibitive as the terrain on the northeast section varies more than other sections of the three SLP courses.

This is a fun course, unless it is during tournament play, where the crossing of 13-C with the East counterpart and the two shared holes can bog things down. Otherwise it is the most interesting of the 3 due to terrain variances and balance between wide open to tunnel shot opportunities.