Hickory Hills

This is a love hate course for me. The layout is great, the holes are challenging and fun. Cement tee pads are nice and the course is well maintained. Just looking at the course, it is almost perfect. The reason that this course does not get an A+ is because of the traffic and casuals. I have never seen a more disrespectful bunch of casuals. During summer months one can expect 100+ people at any given time and don't be surprised to have idiots screaming during your shots, or to have some punk as ...
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This is a love hate course for me. The layout is great, the holes are challenging and fun. Cement tee pads are nice and the course is well maintained. Just looking at the course, it is almost perfect. The reason that this course does not get an A+ is because of the traffic and casuals. I have never seen a more disrespectful bunch of casuals. During summer months one can expect 100+ people at any given time and don't be surprised to have idiots screaming during your shots, or to have some punk ass kid steal your disc while it is in the fairway while playing a hole. I avoid this course like the plague and usually only play it during leagues or tournaments. It is very sad that people do not respect this world class course that is right in downtown T.C. I love playing this course and wish i could play more rounds here but its hard to play serious disc golf here.
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Played South course.The old Main course was one of, if not the best, course in the state, almost a perfect layout. South course is a good track, well worth playing, but not as good as the old Main course. Lots of the old holes are missing, some of my faves. You have to walk 1/3 mile to get from 16 to 17. On the plus side, hole 4 is improved from the old track, and I like hole 1 better. Some of the new holes are interesting. New teepads everywhere and brand new Discatchers with white bands make i ...
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Played South course.The old Main course was one of, if not the best, course in the state, almost a perfect layout. South course is a good track, well worth playing, but not as good as the old Main course. Lots of the old holes are missing, some of my faves. You have to walk 1/3 mile to get from 16 to 17. On the plus side, hole 4 is improved from the old track, and I like hole 1 better. Some of the new holes are interesting. New teepads everywhere and brand new Discatchers with white bands make it a lot easier to see the baskets from the tee. I wouldn't drive all the way up from Ann Arbor to play it as I did before, but you can tell that a lot of good work went into the South course, thanks to the volunteers and the city for keeping Hickory alive and well..
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Vacationing for a few days in Traverse City and decided to check out Hickory Hills. This course is so much fun! 18 holes of well-thought hole designs that are mostly woodsy and hilly. This terrain was once a small ski resort. Not terribly long, aside from a few 500' holes. Somewhat of a shot-makers course, requiring some precision and shot shaping. The pins and tees have plenty of elevation change making for some really pretty looks. A fair number of blind shots, so first-timers like myse ...
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Vacationing for a few days in Traverse City and decided to check out Hickory Hills. This course is so much fun! 18 holes of well-thought hole designs that are mostly woodsy and hilly. This terrain was once a small ski resort. Not terribly long, aside from a few 500' holes. Somewhat of a shot-makers course, requiring some precision and shot shaping. The pins and tees have plenty of elevation change making for some really pretty looks. A fair number of blind shots, so first-timers like myself may have to rely on UDisc or bring a partner. My only beef is the signage is weak, especially directions to next tee. Located just a mile from downtown, bring your hiking boots and lots of water, because it's a workout and most holes have you clinging to footing like a mountain goat, making for challenging upshots and putts. Cement tees are nice (maybe a smidge too short for my liking). Just a great up-north feel to this place. Recommend it to all lovers of disc golf!
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I played Hickory South on the weekend of Aug 10 and found the course exceptional. It seems like it is say, 70% like the main course I remember. The best parts are the new, white-crowned Innova baskets and long, concrete tee pads (12 feet is my estimate). The tee signs are very good as well. What is yet needed in my appraisal is some"next tee" directionals as well as at least 1-2 connector holes. I could envision a nice short - but demanding - connecting hole between 8-9 or 9-10. Loc ...
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I played Hickory South on the weekend of Aug 10 and found the course exceptional. It seems like it is say, 70% like the main course I remember. The best parts are the new, white-crowned Innova baskets and long, concrete tee pads (12 feet is my estimate). The tee signs are very good as well.

What is yet needed in my appraisal is some"next tee" directionals as well as at least 1-2 connector holes. I could envision a nice short - but demanding - connecting hole between 8-9 or 9-10.

Local volunteers or a club clearly have done some great work on the course - and are clearly still doing it. For those of us who play the course as visitors (and merely users) we THANK YOU for your great work. Hickory Hills is a destination course and one I wish I could play more than once per year; the beauty and terrain of this course is unmatched!
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Absolutely an amazing course. Loved the layout, the elevation. Navigation was fairly simple enough, still a map would be nice. The teepads were plently grippy & some well landscaped. Baskets in good shape. Tee signage was good, but very lacking in info concerning the location of the basket. After ascending & descending several holes, huffing & puffing all the way, this 50+ yr old got tired of having to tromp up & down the fairways to view the next basket. Because of how tired I was & still ...
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Absolutely an amazing course. Loved the layout, the elevation. Navigation was fairly simple enough, still a map would be nice. The teepads were plently grippy & some well landscaped. Baskets in good shape. Tee signage was good, but very lacking in info concerning the location of the basket. After ascending & descending several holes, huffing & puffing all the way, this 50+ yr old got tired of having to tromp up & down the fairways to view the next basket. Because of how tired I was & still having to drive back to GR I stopped my round on hole #18. Hole #19 looked like tons of fun, but I was shooting alone & would have preferred to have at least one more set of eyes keeping track of my drive down the 600+ feet of downward flight. Can't wait to get back & give it another go. One other item, I would not really consider this course cart friendly, not because of any difficult paths, just based solely on the amount of constant elevation change. And one more thing, lots of natural debris about on fairways: lumber, branches, twigs. Only really caught my attention because one of the logs was clearly cut with a saw. So why would it still be sitting in the fairway? No biggie, just a head scratcher.
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This is my favorite course away from my home course of Sedgley Woods in Philly. Hickory Hills offers a great variety of challenge with many elevation changes, wooded and open shots, long and short holes and, thankfully, no water hazard to dunk a disc into the drink. I'm used to 18 holes, so the 24 hole layout adds 33% to the fun. It's a great place to play. There's some minor punk behavior vandalism on the benches and tee signs, but that doesn't detract from the course layout itself. It's not ...
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This is my favorite course away from my home course of Sedgley Woods in Philly. Hickory Hills offers a great variety of challenge with many elevation changes, wooded and open shots, long and short holes and, thankfully, no water hazard to dunk a disc into the drink. I'm used to 18 holes, so the 24 hole layout adds 33% to the fun. It's a great place to play. There's some minor punk behavior vandalism on the benches and tee signs, but that doesn't detract from the course layout itself.

It's not A+ because it doesn't have a course map or scorecards available at hole #1. There could be more "Next Tee" signs, especially from basket of #8 to tee of #9. The course doesn't come back to the parking lot (unless you opt to play #23 & #24 after #8 for a 10 hole quick round), so you have to pack every snack, drink etc. for your 2 hour hike. Other than those little, picky things Hickory Hills is perfect - especially the signature hole #19 with the spectacular view and clever use of the ski-hill.
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The most beautiful course I've played to date! Don't show up in flip-flops for a casual game, though. I'd recommend hiking boots or trail shoes, as there are a LOT of big elevation changes, but the views are well worth the climbing. There's a good mixture of forehand and backhand shots (for me anyway), as well as wide and narrow fairways. Most of the course is shaded and well kept. I've had a couple rollers at other courses, but when your disc rolls down a hill here, it's a whole different ga ...
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The most beautiful course I've played to date! Don't show up in flip-flops for a casual game, though. I'd recommend hiking boots or trail shoes, as there are a LOT of big elevation changes, but the views are well worth the climbing.

There's a good mixture of forehand and backhand shots (for me anyway), as well as wide and narrow fairways. Most of the course is shaded and well kept. I've had a couple rollers at other courses, but when your disc rolls down a hill here, it's a whole different game, haha.

My only complaint, is there were quite a few big groups of kids that were loud and obnoxious, that were jumping around wherever they felt like, and were clearly not following the course. But, whenever we caught up to them, they were all nice and let us play through.

Overall though, I couldn't imagine a more perfect course. I absolutely LOVED it! Can't wait to get back up to TC to play again.
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Absolutely beautiful course. Some signs missing but not too difficult to navigate if you snap a picture of the map at hole one. I was on vacation and played all 24 between 615 and 815 in the morning. The course has a little of everything with huge elevation changes. A lot of people say the course could be better which I agree with but if you are in the area it is a must play. Most shots are between 250-350 with a few longer ones. #19 is ridiculous, over 600 feet out and down. I landed left as I ...
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Absolutely beautiful course. Some signs missing but not too difficult to navigate if you snap a picture of the map at hole one. I was on vacation and played all 24 between 615 and 815 in the morning. The course has a little of everything with huge elevation changes. A lot of people say the course could be better which I agree with but if you are in the area it is a must play. Most shots are between 250-350 with a few longer ones. #19 is ridiculous, over 600 feet out and down. I landed left as I assume most would but not awful. I should have taken a 4 on the hole.

Concrete tees and some OB if you want play strict which makes it a little more difficult. I could see people going low here, most shots are not super difficult. If you come here thinking this is one of the more difficult courses you would be disappointed. The layout and scenery is what sold me on the course. I will play again when I am up. I would call this a must play course. 10 minutes from downtown traverse city.
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TLDR… A- and has the potential to be one of the BEST disc golf courses/multiple course facilities in the country (they have plans for 1-2 more courses on this stunning track of land!). It’s pretty rough and unfinished right now, but most of the holes and the layout and possibilities to make even more insane holes is just massive! INCREDIBLY stunning piece of land! Highly recommend this place and would call it a destination course! So this course is new to me, and I’ve never played here ...
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TLDR… A- and has the potential to be one of the BEST disc golf courses/multiple course facilities in the country (they have plans for 1-2 more courses on this stunning track of land!). It’s pretty rough and unfinished right now, but most of the holes and the layout and possibilities to make even more insane holes is just massive! INCREDIBLY stunning piece of land! Highly recommend this place and would call it a destination course!

So this course is new to me, and I’ve never played here before (or the old holes or the South course) and it’s been on my list for years, since we vacation in Good Harbor Bay every summer. And sorry ahead of time for the crazy long review, but this course is EPIC and it deserves an EPIC review.

To be honest, I could have written a much much more thorough review of every hole, ways to make the course even better, etc, but most people wouldn’t care or read it, so I trimmed this down a lot, haha.

Something I need to mention right off the bat is that this course is on a ski resort and through huge woods and hills. Not like 10-20’ hills. We’re talking like 50-100 elevation gains or losses and even more from hole to hole! It’s insane. There is tons of walking and major elevation changes on the holes and in between them. You will be out of breath just walking between the holes! So you better be in shape or you may need to be recuscitated by the end of your round, haha. I’m in pretty good shape and each time I played I was exhausted by hole 12 even! It’s that hilly and long. It’s something to be aware of and realize that it will take you longer to play this course, and that you will not only be battling your swing, but the hike as well! I saw people resting for 5-10 mins sometimes between a hole! Bring two large water bottles, a Gatorade, some snacks, towels and anything you might need, as you will be out here a long time! Plus about half the holes or more are exposed to the direct sun, so you will get scorched and dehydrated quickly if you are not drinking enough water.

So this review is only based on the brand new White Course layout that obviously is still brand new/fresh and not a finished project. Not the Old Course, or the newish South course. I played here 3 times over the course of one week, and threw multiple shots on each tee pad. So I have a pretty good idea now of what it’s like. But having seen photos and video of the old course and the South Course, I was a little bit disappointed. But that is only because the new layout is just that. New and not done. Still a working project. The potential of this land and the possibility of 2-3 courses running through this area could quite possibly make for some of the BEST most interesting/challenging disc golf courses in the country! So take this review with a grain of salt, knowing that the course is not finished yet. I’m sure in a year or two, this place will be one of the best in the state and country! The potential in ALL those woods and large hills and open areas is just massive. They could EASILY get 3-5 courses in here and still have lots of left over area! It’s that big! And if the city and course planners of the course can all come to good decisions, this place could be hosting a top pro tourney sometime in the not so distant future, it’s that good of potential!

So overall this place is stunning and straight out of a LOTR’s book or something! HUGE hills and HUGE trees are everywhere! This is a ski hill area, with a disc golf course in, around and on it. The massive parking lot is right up against the beautiful new Ski lodge, and there is a nice little practice putting area right there. Plus you can throw some 200-300’ shots to warm up onto the hill right near the practice putting area to get loose. Apparently there are even more holes in the other parts of the property that are now not being used currently that used to be part of the old 27 hole course layout, as well as the newish South course. Which is a HUGE shame! As this property and land are just insane! I really hope they can make 1-2 more courses on this land. There are massive elevation changes on lots of holes, and even the holes that seem more “flat” are not flat, haha. Some of the holes go down, others up, while others even go up and down, or down then up, and everything in between! SOO cool! But…the elevation here is almost too extreme on certain holes and can cause major challenges for figuring out not only which discs to use for certain “distances” listed on the tee, but also, how hard or soft to throw to make sure your disc doesn’t glide past the basket by 50-100’ on even the shortest of shots!

It’s REALLY difficult to get locked in here and I can only imagine really solid locals or pros score well here. I usually shoot 4-9 under at my local course that is varied between woods and open holes and has pro tourneys. It’s a challenging course. And my best rd here of the 3 days I played was 1 over! I felt very cheated, haha. I played really well most of the time here and threw some great tee shots, and made some great longer putts and yet I think I still only had around 6 birdies total in 3 days here! That’s ridiculous! It’s just SO hard to get close to the basket unless you play here often and can throw far and accurately.

So the entire course has about 3 main styles of holes and kind of go in order more or less. There are completely wooded holes, then some holes that are sort of in the open and have some trees, and then some holes that are VERY rugged and rough and out in the open. Those holes are usually the ones on the sides of the ski hills or up/down them, and they are very different. Very very rugged, rough, lots of dusty dirt, large and small rocks everywhere on the ground, and lots of gnarly ground cover. Little wild flowers and sharp weeds everywhere. With random bushes here and there. Not very pretty as far as a disc golf course goes, but reminds me of being out in Colorado or out West. Beautiful to see, but not fun to play on.

Holes 1-4 start out with extremely beautiful insanely huge trees and wooded holes. They are fairly wide open though for “woods” type holes and it’s almost impossible to lose a disc if you can throw even half way decent. Holes 1-4 are the best on the entire course in my mind and I wish they could make a whole other course just like the first 4 holes, but for the entire course! Specifically holes 3 + 4 are just unreal! Its THE BEST holes I’ve ever played on a disc golf course! So cool!

Then you move on to some more wooded holes, 5-7, but that aren’t quite as good or up to the same amazing levels of holes 1-4. Hole 5 is no good and could easily be reworked with a better/longer basket placement more right and farther back, forcing a nice turnover or long FH drive to make it great. Same with 6. Just a short weird hole. Then 7 is amazing! You’re still in the woods but throwing out of the woods down onto the side of a ski hill! It’s a dog leg right as well! Which is usually more unique and challenging/fun. You have to throw a somewhat accurate slow turnover BH that then fades back a bit at the end. So your classic S shape with an under stable disc or if you can throw a flex with an O/S disc. Then get it to land on the side of the hill without going way past! Very difficult in the current pin placement at 400’ ending on the downslope of the hill. The land continues to go downhill quite a ways, to where the basket usually is. Which is I think around 500’ and at the bottom of the hill. I’ve seen it run that way in the tourney with the basket at the bottom of the hill, and think that is where it should be most of the time. Makes more sense and takes a LOT of luck out of the equation. Having any hole end on the downslope of a hill is never a great idea unless it’s smaller and immediately after has some flatter ground past it. They should m hole 7 a par 3 for pros or really far throwing AMs and par 4 for normal disc golfers. 7 definitely seems like one of the “signature” holes and is really cool! Also has the problem though of a weird short tee pad with TONS of sand on it all the time. That needs fixed.

Then holes 9-12 are sometimes near woods and in a bit of trees, but mostly a lot more out in the open and in the valleys and on the sides of the ski hills. There are some big elevation changes on some of these holes, and also some of the flattest most straight forward boring holes as well. Some are pretty cool, others kind of boring. I didn’t feel that any of these holes were special or particularly fun, except 12. Just straight forward and not as visually pleasing as other holes. But 12 is really cool and could be an amazing hole when or if they get the ground cleaned up. It’s on the sides of these huge hills and it’s just full of nasty sharp weeds, ground cover, rocks and loose sandy/rocky ground. Not very pretty, and is VERY easy to lose your disc in all the ground cover or the trees on both sides of the hole. but has potential to be SUCH a cool hole! You have to throw a HUGE sweeping FH or turnover BH to get to the basket area, and because of the elevation change, it makes for a VERY interesting tee shot! The tee pad is up in the trees on top of a hill throwing out to a HUGE exposed elevation drop. Then it comes way back UP a hill at around the 250-300’ makr. Then instantly drops off again way back down the backside of the hill, where the basket is. This is one of those holes that is next to impossible to know what disc to throw, where to throw it, how to throw it, and where is your disc going to end up, haha. It’s another “signature” hole and if they could clean up the weeds, bushes and junk all over the hills somehow, this hole would be INSANE! And even without those visual changes, it’s still one of the coolest holes you’ll ever play!

Then 13 is either the best hole or tied for one of the best on the course! Insanely idyllic beautiful wooded hole, with GIANT trees lining both sides of the FW. 390’ish or so. But… because it plays gently downhill all the way, it can be reach by most common disc golfers with a good high shot that hyzers. Not as easy as it looks though as there are some huge guardian trees forcing you to make a fairly accurate drive and not just chuck a huge hyzer out right. A shot that travels straight for 75% of it’s flight with a nice forward penetrating fade at the end will put you right by the basket even if you throw normal distances of 300-350’. I think you lose about 20-40’ from the tee down to the basket! STUNNING hole and is a gold std type hole for wooded courses! I always took 3-4 drives on this hole when I played the course over the week, because it’s SOOOO much fun to see your disc just glide for days through these huge monster trees down to the basket! SOOO fun and cool. Parked one of my drives on the second day and couldn’t BELIEVE how long my disc hung in the air gently sailing alllll the way down through the trees to the basket area! But again, as with a lot of these holes, has a really weird tee pad that is way too small and needs to be enlarged for sure!

Then 14 and 15 are back to out in the open on the ski slopes. Very rough and rugged. They are literally the same hole, just steep uphill dogleg lefts. Play much longer than what the distances say. Nothing to them though, and kind of boring. Just crush the farthest hyzer BH you can and hope you get close. But I see how the land flows and how they need to get back UP to the top of the ridge for the rest of the holes. So they don’t really have many great options here. But maybe could make hole 14 a different shot shape and NOT end up so much on the hill. Maybe end out right more?

16 is a silly throw away gimic hole. Super short, super sharp dogleg right, that would take a one in a million shot to get within 10’ of the basket. I threw a perfect super sharp hooking FH with my hard hooking Prodigy A2 on a hyzer angle and just missed the guardian tree on the inside (“perfect shot”) and still ended up 20 left of the basket. And if you miss your putt, you’re going down a hill possibly 50+ ft! Silly silly hole and they should ditch this or rework it. Feels like they just threw this together real quick with not as much thoughtfulness as a lot of the other holes. Maybe they could do something else in the woods in that area to make a much better hole here.

Then 17 is another signature hole. Really steep super long downhill hole all the way to the basket with a huge wide FW, but ends up feeling like only 5’ wide, haha. Says its 666’ yet easily 50-100’ of elevation drop, but could never get near the basket on any drive with any disc. Because every drive no matter how good would either take off WAY left or right because any wind that catches the disc with the extreme DH slope, will blow it way left of right. With this extreme of a DH angle and distance, your discs just either go super hyzer to the left into the trees or if you throw something kind of neutral or slightly under stable, it will do the same thing but to the right, into those trees. I threw every FW and driver disc I had on all 3 days and not once ended up in the HUGE fw, haha. Not sure how you can even throw a good shot here AND get it anywhere near the basket or safely down the FW for an easy upshot? But it’s SUCH an amazing view (can see forever from up there) and visually one of the most stunning disc golf holes I’ve ever played! Sort of reminds me of that hole Eagle threw an MD3 around a 1000’ on in CO and ended up like 20’ from the basket, haha! I’ll figure this one out next year on vacation hopefully, haha.

Then another severely DH short par 3 finishes up on 18, and to me is another gimmick throw away hole. Seems as if it was just thrown together at the last min like hole 5 and 16. It should end on the hill behind where the current basket is, not on the downslope. An avg golfer could get there as the elevation drop makes your disc glide for days! The current setup It makes it next to impossible to get your disc to land anywhere near the basket. I threw a K2 and K3 Berg Hard all 3 rds and not once was anywhere near the basket! I threw it perfectly on my last day here, and that disc is a LITERAL brick. NO glide, and I thought I was right near the basket or maybe a touch short. Looked perfect! NOPE! After 20 mins of searching for my disc in the super tall weeds, bushes and grass around that area, I eventually I found it 60’ long and left of the basket down in the woods! And that was the best time I played that hole. Really silly hole and in really really rough shape right now. Needs a ton of ground clearing to even be an acceptable hole. Felt very lame for the final hole. 17 should be the final hole or something like that. Long, beautiful, fun, challenging but fair.

Overall this course and the land is stunning and has MASSIVE potential to not only be one of the best courses in the state, but in the country! If they could fix some of the issues listed below, it literally would be one of the best in the country! And even having mentioned the fixes below that are sorely needed, I still would rate this one of the best courses in Michigan and the country! You will be very hard pressed to find another disc golf course that is this unique, fun and stunning! I had an amazing time here.

FIXES
-They need to make sure ALL the tee pads are large and useable. There are far too many weird and small tee pads dotted throughout the course that make it nearly impossible to throw from because of how small they are. And the weird thing is, not a single tee pad is on land that couldn’t have had a larger normal tee pad put in. VERY weird! So that is a major fix that is needed.

-Quite a few of the holes are too long for the avg or majority of disc golfers. I’ve been playing for 3 years, and play pretty well and still couldn’t reach most baskets listed as a par 3! I throw FW’s on golf lines on avg 300-320’ and drivers on golf lines on avg around 320-340’, and I was still short most holes. Sometimes by 50 or more feet! Every time I threw multiple tee shots and played this course three times over the week, I was short. Even would disc up sometimes and still be short! The elevation changes and/or incorrect listed tee distances just make it so hard to get to the basket areas on most holes. You’d have to play here a long time or be a local to figure out how long they actually are, what disc to throw, and how to throw it. And even if some of the holes were correct distances (which I don’t think a lot of them are), the fact remains that most of the holes are just too long for most disc golfers.
A par 3 is a hole where you can throw a disc well and it ends up within 20’ or closer to the basket. There was only a handful of par 3’s like that on the whole course! I’ve literally only met or played with a handful of disc golfers that can throw farther than 350’ consistently. And they are all touring pros or local touring AMs. And that 350’ or longer is on a MAX distance bomb. Not a golf line controlled shot. 80-90% of disc golfers throw 250-350’ MAX distance. And a lot of these par 3 holes are listed as 280-360’ with difficult basket placements or tricky guardian trees, huge elevation changes, yet claim they are par 3s. So that is very frustrating and needs to be fixed for sure. Either make more of the holes par 4’s, or shorten the distances. It’s not fun taking 2 shots to get to a par 3 basket all day long.

-Which brings me to my next related fix… have two tee pads for every hole. I’ve NEVER played a disc golf course that doesn’t have two sets of tee pads. One for pros/strong AM’s and one for everyone else. That would fix a LOT of the difficulties when playing this course. It’s completely unrealistic to expect the holes to play fair and fun for ALL disc golfer levels when there is only one tee pad! That’s insane. The vast majority of disc golfers whether casual or serious can only throw around 300-350’ MAX distance. And most good AM’s or pros drive 450-550’. That is a HUGE discrepancy in how a hole will play for those two different groups of disc golfers. And since the vast majority of people that play disc golf can’t throw farther than 300-350’ on a max bomb tee shot, you would think most of the holes would be suited to the avg disc golfer. NOT for a strong armed AMs or Pros. Very strange and is one of the major issues this place has that needs fixed.

-Too many of the holes have large to massive elevation changes and the signs that tell you “how far” the hole is are SOOO off. They could possibly put some helpful info on the signs telling the golfer something like: “says 270’, but plays more like 340’.” Or something to that effect. It’s very difficult and you would have to play here a lot to get used to it and know what distance it actually plays, what the disc will do based on those huge elevation changes, and then how to throw it. But boy do I wish I had the luxury of this being my home course so I could figure that stuff out, haha!

-Too many of the holes have baskets on the down slope of a very steep hill, making it next to impossible to stop your disc without lots of prior knowledge, experience and luck. And that is coming from someone that uses a K2 and K3 Berg to approach with! Those discs are bricks and stop dead where they land from the air. ZERO glide basically. Yet I was so long or short on so many holes over the week because of holes ending on downslopes of hills. If they could just push the basket back to the top of the hill or down to the flat part of the next hill, it would be SO much better. Still challenging, but you’d always have that slightly safer option of going short or long and knowing you’d be alright. Maybe a longish putt, but you’d have a putt. Putting baskets on the downslope of a fairly steep long hill isn’t cool and just leaves far too much to chance and luck. Never a great idea.

-Overall the course could be a lot cleaner and more manicured if they want it to be a top course. It is VERY rough and rugged on a lot of holes and almost no grass to be seen. Whereas when I look at old pictures of the course, there are beautiful grassy fw’s and areas all over. A lot of the holes on and in between the ski slopes are very gnarly. Lots of rocks large and small. Lots of dusty dirt. Lots of weeds and sharp prickly bushes and stuff. Makes for a not very pleasant walk up the fw’s or to your disc. Getting your legs just destroyed by sharp bushes and weeks all over. Tons of bugs. Plus all this ground cover trash just destroys your shots. Your drive ends up right where it lands, usually no skips. Because of the bushes, weeds or rocks. But, this is probably somewhat due to this new layout being that… new. They haven’t had time to go through all the holes and clear out the ground cover and bushes and junk. So maybe they already know this and are working on it when they can? Not sure if they can even grow grass or mow/maintain certain areas here, as its SOO far away from the ski lodge/facility area and dry, but… if they could, that would make this place A+++. Just think because these holes are still so new, they haven’t had time to clean up the fw areas and start making the course LOOK aesthetically pleasing. But it does look beautiful in its own rugged way. Just not nice to play disc golf on those holes so much.

Overall though, there is a TON of work that has been put into changing the course from the South to the White and just in general. And I spoke with one of the course planners and he said: “if you think this place is amazing now, just wait… in a few years, this place is going to blow your mind!” I’ve also heard on the forums, that the city is making it very difficult to do what the planners want. To make 2-3 courses on the land. And that some of the planners that are working on how best to make the courses work through the land are also having some difference of opinion on how to proceed. So that is kind of sad. The city of Traverse literally has one of the BEST pieces of beautiful land to make some of the BEST disc golf courses in the WORLD here. That would bring in a top pro tourney and tons of money for the area and course. So hopefully that all gets figured out. And I wish I lived here so I could not only play here all the time, but help clean the place up, and help work on the course to make it even MORE amazing than it already is. I could spend all day on this beautiful property, it’s just amazing! Can’t give it an A+ as there are somethings that need major work, but overall, this place is INSANE and THE MOST amazing disc golf course I’ve played. Thank you to all the people that have contributed money and their own person time and hard work on and developing, creating, and maintaining this course. Can’t WAIT to see how good the changes are over the next few years, and hopefully they get a pro tourney here soon!
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