Mary Beth Doyle Park

I was involved in the clearing and design of this course although the course I was helping to design was never put in. Originally, there were 5 holes designed to go around the wetland (starting at the playground and working clockwise around the wetland) and the land where there is now 18 holes was to hold 13 holes. It would have been a fun course to play with enough challenge to get good players to want to play it. At the final hour ie when the cement trucks rolled up, the City of Ann Arbo ...
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I was involved in the clearing and design of this course although the course I was helping to design was never put in. Originally, there were 5 holes designed to go around the wetland (starting at the playground and working clockwise around the wetland) and the land where there is now 18 holes was to hold 13 holes. It would have been a fun course to play with enough challenge to get good players to want to play it. At the final hour ie when the cement trucks rolled up, the City of Ann Arbor declared the land around the wetlands to be off-limits -- obviously, this was very unfair to the official course designer who was now forced to make an on-the-spot decision and he chose to design and squeeze 18 holes in where the original 13 were to go.

Casualties of the redesign: Current Holes 2 & 3 was to be a single hole of 2's tee to 3's basket, a 330' drive to a basket on a knob. The land where Holes 13-15 are now was to be a single hole of Hole 13's tee to 15's basket, a 400+' drive to a small green. Holes 17 & 18 was to be a single hole of 17's tee to 18's basket, a hole with a cool uphill righty 360' turnover shot that played close to 400'. There was ample room to create good short tee shots, too.

History lesson aside, there are some good holes on the course along with a bunch of very easy holes. If you want to pad your ace totals, this course should be your destination as there are several sub-200' shots with little or nothing between you and the basket.

Pros: Good course for beginners/casuals. Good course to work on putter shots. Great course when you only have an hour to play. Good course to practice wind putting.

Cons: Overall, it simply is too easy for accomplished players and all the good players that used to hang out here when the old course was in don't come here very often. There are some casual doubles leagues starting up and it is a glow-friendly course so that might change. Also, because there are so many holes crammed into a small area, shots to baskets can easily invade the space of tees for other holes. What's up with the tee markers?, distances are incorrect on some of them and some of them don't face the tee.

I personally do not believe that 18 holes belongs on this track of land. Instead, I think a nice 9-12 hole course with 2 sets of pads that was friendly to players of all skills could have been put in here.
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First things first, hike from the NE corner lot next to the church. Only takes about 10 minutes and it adds a nice dimension to the experience. :) On to the disc review... This is a park that was slated for a smaller course around the lake/pond. It would seem the land that it was going to be on would be wet most of the year, and therefore the decision to put it on the hillside and around the path makes sense. Overall the course as an 18 is very fun, fairly casual, and to be honest a bit dange ...
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First things first, hike from the NE corner lot next to the church. Only takes about 10 minutes and it adds a nice dimension to the experience. :) On to the disc review...

This is a park that was slated for a smaller course around the lake/pond. It would seem the land that it was going to be on would be wet most of the year, and therefore the decision to put it on the hillside and around the path makes sense. Overall the course as an 18 is very fun, fairly casual, and to be honest a bit dangerous. DANGEROUS you say? Yes. In a few places you need to have your head on a swivel, particularly as you get in to the 11-18 holes. I digress.

Dont let the first couple shots trick you. By shot 3 you will start to see a more accurate representation nature of this corner course. Hill shots, blind shots, fun spike bomb shots (I say bomb, but even from the back tees you wont be throwing many over 300ft), there are a lot of cool holes with major ace potential. Great for midrange and putter shooting, there are just enough challenging spots (16, 17) to leave you feeling satisfied. The tee pads are all in decent condition, baskets as well. Grass areas and tree lines are mostly maintained, but there are a few spots (especially 16) that need some saw action. No garbage cans through most of the course, so bring a bag and be part of the solution!

Cool neighborhood course, fun as hell for mid range shooters and ace opps. Can get a bit crowded, but considering there are 10 courses within 15 minutes of MBD it seems to be free of the chaotic groups you might find at Cass or other places.


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