Grand Rapids North Rotary

Pros: -Nicely Maintained. -A lot of Out of Bounds keeps accuracy a premium, making you think about your shot choice and how the wind will effect your throw. -Risk/reward decisions -mostly open air course letting you see the full flight of your disc. -Trees used as much as possible. -Out of bounds wetlands and sand traps from the former ball golf course make for unique obstacles. -Has the feel of playing on a ball golf course.. because it was. -Awesome Arroyo Vortex Baskets with custom o ...
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Pros:
-Nicely Maintained.
-A lot of Out of Bounds keeps accuracy a premium, making you think about your shot choice and how the wind will effect your throw.
-Risk/reward decisions
-mostly open air course letting you see the full flight of your disc.
-Trees used as much as possible.
-Out of bounds wetlands and sand traps from the former ball golf course make for unique obstacles.
-Has the feel of playing on a ball golf course.. because it was.
-Awesome Arroyo Vortex Baskets with custom orange powder coated poles
-Disc Golf only park
-High Fun Factor


Cons:
The cons are all because the course is so new-
-Natural tees on most holes for now. (5 turf tees on 1,2,5, 9 and 18 . We are installing cement tees in the spring. We decided it was best to play the course and tweak it before we permanently set the tee pads)
-No tee signs yet (they have been made and the parks dept will be installing them very soon) 'Next Tee' signs will be installed with the tee signs.
-Hole #13 is not in yet due to a lot of poison ivy in the last 1/2 of the fairway. The parks dept is clearing it out very soon. (they cleared and mowed the 1st 1/2 of the fairway last week)

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I am the course designer. There were a ton of factors I had to consider in the design of this course. It was a 3 year process with the wetlands being created. 3 wetlands designs were denied by the MDEQ. The wetlands took away about 1/3 of the area I hoped to use for the course. We had to get permits for everything. Permits to dig, permits to put cement in the ground, permits to put the baskets in... The Plainfield TWP Board had to approve the course design and the tee signs. We had to jump through so many hoops to get the course installed. The Parks Director wanted a course "That would be fun for everyone". The Plainfield Parks Dept. is planning on doing Doughnuts and Cider on Saturday mornings. So, they wanted it to be semi family friendly. (Thus the short tees on 1,5 & 18) The wetlands dictated the proximity of some tees and baskets. The White Pine Trail will be going through the park from hole 6 along 9,10,15 and 17. I had to design the course knowing the path/trail would be going through the park near the river in the future. There are plans for a basketball court (that will be to the right of hole #1) and 5 soccer fields in the open area of the park as you enter. So, safety for the future non disc golfing park goers was definitely involved in the design. The mining going on in the pond limited the area used for the course for now (liability reasons). Once the mining has completed, the course will go along the pond towards the camp ground, up to the river through the woods, then along the river through the woods and back to the existing course. This will allow us to eliminate some of the place holder holes (ex: #14) and stretch the course out.

The course is still pretty raw overall. It's only been in for 1 month. We are constantly working on the course trying to improve it. Future plans include building up/ adding structure to the mound #3s basket is atop. A rock wall/ berm on #11 making it an island green. Defining the Out of Bounds sand traps and lining the Out of Bounds with stakes and rope. Adding some little trees and bushes is in the works (we will have to get permits like we have had to get for everything).
Big Thanks to the Grand Rapids North Rotary for donating $18,000 for the course. The Plainfield Parks Dept has established a budget within their budget for the course. So, the course will always be kept nice and it will be improving every year.
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This course plays over an old golf course. Which guarantees that this course will have plenty of wide open holes. You are not to going have many technical throws and this course has no elevation to work with. The water was brought into play on several holes. Very impressed with the large disc golf course sign out on the highway. There is a kiosk, a porta potty and garbage can at the start. The tee pads are this rubberized material(like car mats). A little wet when I played, I was worried abou ...
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This course plays over an old golf course. Which guarantees that this course will have plenty of wide open holes. You are not to going have many technical throws and this course has no elevation to work with. The water was brought into play on several holes.

Very impressed with the large disc golf course sign out on the highway. There is a kiosk, a porta potty and garbage can at the start. The tee pads are this rubberized material(like car mats). A little wet when I played, I was worried about these mats but they provided great traction. The baskets are Arroyo models with the center post painted orange. They catch everything. The tee signs were nice, colored metal they show They show distance in meters as well as feet, for our nothern friends Canada. I loved the next tee signs that are flush with the grass.

The course is fairly lengthy as would be expected on an old ball course. Navigation was a little dicey in a couple of places. Water comes into play on 5, 13 and 14. # 14 is a challenging, as well as, a potential losing your disc hole. Several pucker up and throw holes.
Cons: Open holes with one tree to throw around like # 12. # 17' is a boring wide open throw.

Lots of places on this course to lose disc in the water or like # 8's 330' curving fairway with deep rough on both sides.

Navigation very confusing at times. Not very impressed here. It's a solid course but lacks personality. This is still a golf course and disc golf played on ball courses are usually just grip it and rip. Not much line shaping required. Players with the big arms will appreciate this course more than the average rec player. Only played because I drove by the course, bag it, tag it, and move on!
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Aside from the goose poop that is pretty much everywhere, this is a decent, fun course. 2, 9, 12, 18 are the best holes to really let one go. 14 is the most likely chance to lose a disc. Water on the left runs the whole length. You have to get it left to right on this one. The mando on 1 doesn't seem necessary. Numerous holes show an out of bounds area surrounding the basket where sand traps from the ball golf course used to be. When they were actual sand traps, it seems stupid that they would ...
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Aside from the goose poop that is pretty much everywhere, this is a decent, fun course.
2, 9, 12, 18 are the best holes to really let one go. 14 is the most likely chance to lose a disc. Water on the left runs the whole length. You have to get it left to right on this one. The mando on 1 doesn't seem necessary. Numerous holes show an out of bounds area surrounding the basket where sand traps from the ball golf course used to be. When they were actual sand traps, it seems stupid that they would be considered out of bounds that close to the basket. Now that they are covered in grass, seems even more pointless. 13 and 14 are missing the tee signs. Looks like someone stole or destroyed a map at the start of the course. Tee pads are rubber mats which work fine. They also have some ladies tees marked with pink flags. There are some "next tee" pointers that help you find the next tee. Baskets don't have numbers though. First time playing is a little tricky.
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My first impression of this course was hearing all the hype for the past year. “It will be the best in the state!” “Grand Isle will be championship quality.” “This will be better then Flip City.” “Greatest course in the world!” With that kind of hype this course had a lot to live up too, and I should say it wasn’t fair. The first time I walked up to tee #1 I saw a pretty wide open hole with just 4 trees to shot through/around and thought ...
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My first impression of this course was hearing all the hype for the past year. “It will be the best in the state!” “Grand Isle will be championship quality.” “This will be better then Flip City.” “Greatest course in the world!” With that kind of hype this course had a lot to live up too, and I should say it wasn’t fair.
The first time I walked up to tee #1 I saw a pretty wide open hole with just 4 trees to shot through/around and thought to myself “NOPE!” . Hole two wasn’t any more impressive. Hole #3 same thing. Then something happened on 4, the difficulty jumps up with something like 600 foot dogleg hole with OB on both sides. This is what I was hoping for! The rest of the course doesn’t disappoint in difficulty.
This is not a completed course, but you can tell it will be good once it is done. Every time I play a round I see improvements. It will be just a matter of time before this course starts to live up to some of the hype. I plan on revisiting this review and increasing the grade. Most of my cons can and will be fixed before long. Great bones for this course just needs some dedicated locals to pitch in and give it a little TLC
Pros:
• Tough shots that challenge your accuracy.
• Lots of grass (nice change from most courses in the area)
• Open (lets you see the true flight of your disc)
• Love the OB
• Nice baskets
• Very good course map
Cons:
• Lack of signage
• Lack of Tee pads on most of the holes
• Poison Ivy
• No hole 13
• Better defined OB ( maybe ropes or signs)


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Course doesnt flow well, a lot of back and fourth in the open on back 9 , or should i say 8...i can see peeps gettin drilled with discs on a busy day on 3 or 4 holes on back nine...sum of the hole markets are backwards or not near the tee off,... I understand the course is new, and needs to be played in, however i think this course has very little potential... Especially for the 18000 dollars gr rotary north put in the pot... This area floods the entire course in spring , and i hear peeps compla ...
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Course doesnt flow well, a lot of back and fourth in the open on back 9 , or should i say 8...i can see peeps gettin drilled with discs on a busy day on 3 or 4 holes on back nine...sum of the hole markets are backwards or not near the tee off,... I understand the course is new, and needs to be played in, however i think this course has very little potential... Especially for the 18000 dollars gr rotary north put in the pot... This area floods the entire course in spring , and i hear peeps complain about riverside, but we r talkin completely underwater... This course is good if u live within 10 min of it... And it has nice baskets... Other than that dont waste ur time. I was very dissapointed with the outcome and i think riverside park is still way better layout n more fun fer a wide open course. Also, whats the deal with the tournys here being two disc challenges, with a catch disc ??? What an absolute joke... U get 2. Seven dollar discs u wont ever use fer ur entry fee ??? Saw a whole 1 person signed up fer the first tourney, now i see next tourny is same bullshit ?????????
Also fyi... The so called " course designer" claims this is a disc golf only park... Yet the township has plans to add softball fields and playground equip. Although i dunno where theres no room left... And in responce to the park being " beautiful" i guess if u live in the projects it is beautiful to be next door to an operating strip mine with mad machines runnin and in view the entire course... Seriously if nothing else is agreed with in this review i cant believe anyone who has ever played any other course in w MI would go as far to call this place beautiful...
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