WHAT TO EXPECT: Prides Creek Park is a pay to play disc golf surrounded by short and long term camping locations, plays around a beautiful lake, and is just mildly to moderately wooded enough to force some technicality with smart mandos and treacherous greens. Generous elevation changes throughout with a mix of challenging Par 3's, some soft but tricky Par 4's, and some very demanding two shot Par 4's with no less than 12 holes either playing over the water, throwing at the water, or putting at the water. Expect a roller coaster of emotions on this course, especially if the wind is howling. Top notch course maintenance which makes the $5 fee to enter the park seem well worth it. No "rough" areas to speak of, no thorn bushes or dense areas to be worried about.

AMENITIES: There is a ball golf course next door for those that prefer that kind of thing, Tennis courts, pickle ball courts, several shelter houses, picnic tables galore spread through, modern bathrooms and ample parking.

TEES/SIGNAGE/BASKETS: Tees are concrete, narrow, slightly worn and can be slick in wet weather, and several are sloped (some up some down). Tee signs are simple older design with full color and all relevant hole information. Distances do not match U-Disc which does matter in some of the more treacherous basket right on the edge of the lake holes, best to use a rangefinder to be sure. Baskets are older Gateway Titan three ring grey baskets that blend in to the surroundings. Not my favorite baskets which I will touch more on in the cons.

DESIGN: Course only touts one set of pin locations and one set of tees (with the exception of a short tee/drop zone on Hole #8 and Hole #9). Interesting choice of very challenging and lengthy Par 3's (or shorter exceptionally technical Par 3's) verses having very soft length wise Par 4's with a treacherous pin location. Course has plenty of variety in shot shapes neither favoring the left to right or right to left shot shape heavily. Almost every pin is set on a mild to extreme slope with roll aways, water, or sheer drops awaiting a missed putt. Course smartly uses mandos to force players to play through the heavily more technical wooded areas which helps this mildly wooded park feel much more wooded and technical than it otherwise would.

EXTRAS: Plenty of benches, pavilions, trash cans, shaded areas, and places to rest throughout. Camping available on site. Navigation is very easy and intuitive. Course is kept in great shape and trash free. Next tee is designated on the current tee sign.

DISC LOSS RISK: With no less than 12 holes involving water in some capacity, the chance of losing a disc is very high for those who are aggressive. While it is very easy to keep the disc dry, the opportunities to get yourself ninja branched into the water, kiss a putt of the cage and roll into the lake, or misjudge an approach shot exist and punish you harshlesly for not respecting the danger.

RISK OF BEING HIT BY A DISC: Several of the tee pads are VERY close to the previous holes basket, and often within the flight line of a just barely misthrown disc. A guy in out group got hit twice, both times by the same thrower, during our round. Purely an accident and luckily they were just ground skips into the back of his leg, but the danger exists. (For reference Hole #4 tee pad was one instance and Hole #7 was the other). Several of the holes play near or directly beside park roads that see heavy car and foot traffic. We usually waited for people to pass, which was often, but I could see a risk of hitting someone there as well. Common to have people fishing the lake as well, with complete disregard to people throwing plastic.

TEE SIGN IMPROVEMENT: This one is very minor, but both holes #8 and #9 from the longs would benefit from having the water carry distances listed on the tee signs. This would help players both know how far they need to carry to get to certain spots as well as let the weaker among us know if they can make it over or not without risking a disc and go around to the short tee.

NON LEVEL TEE PADS: Huge con for me as these pads are small, older, and worn down. Some actually serious down grade and upgrade sloped pads which led to quite a few slips in the wet morning dew round. This course would benefit immensely from level, and honestly wider tees.

BASKETS: It is time for basket upgrades. While I'm not completely against the old style Titans, these baskets were some of the worst catching baskets I have ever played on. The wind was up quite a bit so we were putting much harder than normal. No less than 6 different putts in our group hit center pole, dropped into the basket and either bounced out or were pushed out by the wind. The baskets also did not like catching anything high in the chains. It almost seemed like the chains were too light and just moved out of the way too easily. Add the faded grey color and lack of band made the baskets extremely hard to locate from the tee as they blended in to everything. Not a huge knock for the course itself, just time for an upgrade.

HOME STRETCH: After an otherwise wonderful stretch from Hole #1-Hole #15, the last three holes are noticeably bland and meh feeling. With 2 of the three being very short soft par 4's (and most notably no water involved) it just doesn't feel like a strong way to finish the course. Personally (and because of the parking situation which I will discuss next) we parked at the Pavilion between Hole #13 and Hole #14 and played the course #14 as our starting hole and finished on #13 the second time we played the course and enjoyed that loop much more, finishing with a very daunting water carry hole (#13).

PARKING: Do not following the "Disc Golf Parking" signs. It will lead you to a parking lot down the hill to the left of the course. This parking lot is in the range of 300 yards from #1 tee and probably 500 yards from #18's basket. If the Pavilion in front of #1's tee is in use you probably won't be able to park there, but I suggest parking there when it's not in use. Alternatively as I have mentioned above, you can park at the Pavilion between Hole #13 and Hole #14 and the Tee for Hole #14 is about 20 feet from the parking lot and #13's basket is only about 100 feet down the hill on the other side.

BATHROOMS: Last minor con. If you play this course during the winter months, there are no bathrooms available anywhere. We played in early March and they were all still locked up and the water was still shut off from being winterized. I know this is not a year round thing and a minor inconvienence, but some people need to be prepared, so I'm putting it here.

I can certainly see why this course is beloved and rated so well. Absolutely well maintained and is a wonderful mix of challenge and fun. While I would caution brand new players from attempting this course right out the gates, this is a wonderful course for Rec on up players and a must play in the area. Despite the cons I listed I would still rate this course as a strong 4 with the potential to get up to a 4.5 with some minor tweaks and updating. I try to be as objective as I can be and highlight the best and worst a course offers (even if some of them are personal preferences or ticky tack nit picking) in order to prepare the widest range of players who may use this as a course guide. I noticed I put a lot of cons on this course, but it truly is a remarkable place and I can't understate that enough. Must bag!

Water is in play for at least half of this course. That fact alone puts Prides Creek in a class of its own compared to the other strong courses in the area (must also play the 2 Mesker courses while you're here!). I enjoyed the variety of ways water enhances each hole. You'll have the approach/putting danger on 1 and 3, the multi-stage drive and approach danger on the two signature holes 4 and 8, and the right-off-the-tee danger on 5, 9, and 13. To me, 8 was truly transcendent. It's about 650ft with about 290-300ft of water carry and then another long risky shot to the peninsula basket. 4 was another great one. A top pro might just be able to reach the green from the tee but the rest of us will have to navigate a good placement drive to avoid the water on the left and then have to cross the water to the nicely guarded green. Great design!

From the tee on #12, you're looking about 500ft at #8's peninsula basket (#12 basket actually tucked into the trees a few hundred ft shy on the left). This was so picturesque, I decided to play both baskets. I'd strongly suggest you do the same. This 12-to-8 safari line added another signature hole for me!

Signs were fantastic. Next tee was designated, mandos identified, and warnings were listed for potential stray drives.

Maintenance is impeccable. They clearly cut the grass and trim on a regular basis.

Hole length and left/right variety was strong. Several of the more densely wooded holes had a few lines to choose from.

Not sure why it took me 152 courses played to encounter my first Gateway Titan baskets. They seemed to catch well although the course may have benefitted from baskets with a more easily identifiable colored band/cage.

#8-long tee sign could have used a measurement listed for the water carry. It certainly looked and felt like 300ft but I'm sure many would have liked to know that for sure before choosing the long or short pad.

Teepads were laid out along the grade and NOT level. Not a huge deal but a few holes had some steeper run-ups (i.e., #15).

Some holes play close to others so safety is definitely a concern (warnings addressed on the applicable tee signs). 8 and 13, and the last 3 holes can easily allow some stray shots to cross fairways.

Speaking of the last 3 holes, they aren't necessarily bad, but they are a let-down compared to the fun stuff that precedes them. On the other hand, the soft par 4s on 17 and 18 may provide a chance at some score separation at the end of the round.

I'm guessing here but I'd imagine other park users being in the way from time to time. The park is surrounded by a busy semi-permanent campground and I can picture folks fishing along the banks. For example, #8 has a few benches by the water right in line with your drive. Hopefully the local park revelers respect the disc golf area!

I think Prides Creek is largely a strong 3.5 rated city park course especially in the back 9. However, the really great holes 1, 4, 5, and 8 bump this up to 4.0 territory (add hole 12 to this list of you decide to play to 8's basket). Again, the great use of water here makes Prides Creek an awesome change of pace from the typical course in this part of the country. Bravo to the designers and the groundskeepers for this excellent course!

* Great signage! Some of the best I've seen.
* Very well kept. Teepads are all concrete and are in great condition. Baskets were all in good shape too.
* Challenging but not frustratingly so.
* Some shorter holes require a very well placed shot which makes them more rewarding than some of the longer holes.

I really only have one minor thing to mention.

The front 9 has a great combination of long holes and shorter holes that make you shape your throws. However, the back 9 seemed to fall off and default to shorter holes that are fairly straight forward. It's not necessarily a "con", but just something that made the back 9 not as fun as the front.

This course varies the type of holes which I consider to be a great thing. The first hole is not huge, around 450 feet I believe, and it is deceptive. There are a handful of holes like this on this course, and I'll explain myself.

Caveat: This is my first time playing this course!

Hole 1 starts off with a straight shot off the tee, but you have to hit a 20 foot gap between trees that extends about 75 feet. Then it opens up with the basket nestled behind a small knoll. This seems straight forward until you realize that the basket is only about 10 feet from the water.

There are several holes that follow this type of "recipe" and it's a good one!

There are a few of the longer holes that require you to throw over water if you want to have a nice birdy opportunity (playing par 3). These are off the tee as well and require you to clear roughly 250-300 feet of water. Exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time!

Overall, this is the best course I've played in Indiana thus far and is a ton of fun. I will be returning soon!

This course is amazing! Absolutely the best maintained course I have ever played. Fairways are neat and well mowed. Sign at the beginning of course has a map and other info. Tee signs are detailed and very easy to follow. Love all the elevation changes and the way the course was designed with the water. A nice mixture of all kinds of shots, really wanted to play it for a long time, felt I could play it again and again and find different lines and shots.

My biggest complaint is that the baskets IMO do not catch as well as the Innova Discatchers that I'm used to at my home course. But they still catch good enough not to be a big problem, just takes a little time getting used to them.

I saw golf carts all over the place, driving around the disc golf course, and parked out front of the pro shop for their ball golf course. I wonder if they rent them to disc golfers because that would be amazing! If you're in the area or even to make a trip out of it, do yourself a favor and play this course you would be hard pressed to find any better.

Great course if you are looking to let your discs fly far. A lot of wide open fairways and plenty of chances to throw some long drives. There are also a number of shorter, birdie holes to make up for the disappointment on scoring 4's and 5's on the long holes. A good amount of elevation change on many of the holes, and the lake makes for some interesting placement shots. If you are conservative, you shouldn't have trouble keeping dry, though.

This would not be a good course for beginners, as the frustration of losing discs in the water could be overwhelming.

The course is well-mowed and maintained. Even though the course is brand new, it is very playable. I hope to see some big names come out to play tournaments on this championship level course.