Had never played this course so we made the 50 mile trek. Pulled in the park, paid our $6 ( there are 4 parking spaces right outside the gate- if you park in one of those, you'll save the $6) and found #1 tee. Good things:
1) big concrete pads
2) decent signage with distance and pin location marked. I'd have liked to have a range finder because some tees listed distances that seemed way too optimistic. 325'? More like 290'...
3) wide open fairways and you can always see the baskets. It's nearly impossible to lose a disc here unless you fling one in the lake.
4) decent mix of holes distance wise but only two have trees that really enter into play. This course is 95 percent. So nothing technical here.
5) plays easy, not too busy, pretty lake, etc. Nice area

Not my type of course. It's a disc golf course laid out in a huge playground/field area. At no time did you feel like you were in nature. In fact, pavement crisscrosses everywhere and I damaged a disc when an errant shot blew off truck and edge-landed on the blacktop.
2) baskets had no markings period and were tough to see. Flat grey blends in- and most were rusted pretty heavily. Discs took done wear as a result.
3) course was kind of boring for me- no real challenges to overcome. Just show up, throw and keep score. Pretty straightforward but I prefer a challenge.
4) water on a course is normally a plus but not when it will result in the loss of a disc. Personally I don't mind losing a $1-$2 golf ball in a water hazard but do mind losing a $20 disc. Never had an issue with the lake but I found myself pulling back pretty severely on shots when the water came into play. Added several strokes to an otherwise good round.
5) it's plain Jane, nothing special, nothing fabulous, no WOW factor. At 50 miles away, no reason to go back.

For those nearby it's a nice course. Clean, pretty, has decent facilities, etc. If I lived much closer I would come back but it just wasn't worth the drive. If you are nearby, go for it. But just don't go too far out of your way. With Idlewild and Lincoln Ridge so close by go there instead.

I wanted to take my adult son out to play a course that would be beginner friendly. Also, I had not played disc golf for four months and needed some practice. This course was a good warm up course and except for a couple of the water holes it was not too intimidating for a novice. Some of the holes were a little long for a novice but the pars were reasonable. This also was not an "easy" course for my noodle arm either. If you are looking for a good practice course then this is an excellent choice. Finally, this course does have a lot of elevation which adds to the design and difficulty. The use of the water was well designed. I would play this course again.

There were a few issues with the course:

1. There was no direction assistance on the course. The next tee pads were not always obvious after a hole. Since this was the first time I played this course it was difficult to navigate at times. I looked up the course map on DGCR but it was not always clear. If I had been a beginner, then the navigation would have been very discouraging. I gave the course demerits for the navigation issues.

2. The baskets should have hole numbers on them. Several of the holes crossed or the next basket for that hole was not always clear. Also, it would have helped with navigation.

3. The low areas retained substantial water and mud and it was very wet and muddy. It had been a couple days since it rained and it did not drain well.

4. Other than as a novice or practice course, this course is a bit too open and repetitive. It could be argued that the length is a negative for a true beginner.

If the navigation issues were resolved I would likely rate this course a little higher since it was a nice open course with elevation for practice.
I am also a big proponent of some courses being novice friendly in order to grow the sport.

A.J. Jolly is a nice park in the Northern Kentucky area to take the entire family. This is a 18 hole course that has a wide variety of holes. There are holes that are wide open, up/down hill, dog leg left and right, wooded, and holes that are lined with water. There are a variety of distances as well per hole. The course is well maintained. The signs, tee boxes and baskets are well taken care of. The course only took a couple of hours to play.

The times that I have played the course, even when it wasn't raining, the course is rather damp. The holes around the lake can be especially damp. I found it somewhat difficult at times to find the next hole the first time I played.

The park takes a little while to get to when coming from the interstate. It is worth the trip if you are looking for a nice course to play.

As the course description says, this is a beautiful course with rolling hills and a beautiful lake.

This is a great course to let your discs fly, but don't under estimate the winds. There are several rolling hills and a large lake that produces unpredictable winds. At times they can knock your disc down and some can carry your disc twice as far, and into the lake You may not see this as a pro, but I see it as a tool to develop my skills at understanding my discs and the wind.

My wife who has a weaker throw enjoys this course because most of it is open and she doesn't have to search the weeds all day.

After several storms, the lake will rise causing several holes to get pretty soggy. Others don't drain well and stay soggy for long periods.

The parks department holds boating races which blocks a couple holes, but it's only happened to me once, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

This is a wonderful course in the long list of courses in the Greater Cincinnati OH area. If you are in Northern Kentucky to play Idlewild and/or Lincoln Ridge, I definitely recommend a stop here.

-It is a very well taken care of course
-Tee signs at every hole
-Beautiful scenery
-Practice basket
-Concrete tee pads
-Easy navigation

-Open course with not a ton of shot variety
-In close proximity to other activities such as boating, fishing, walkers, etc.
-Only a few parking spots for disc golfers

A solid course. A bit of a drive from Cincinnati. Definitely worth playing.

Great elevation changes, a few up hill shots that are pretty challenging. Decent use of lake as water hazards on a handful of front 9 holes. These holes force you to play it safe and force your accuracy. Concrete tee pads nice tee signs that are very helpful as far as lay out of the hole. The baskets are fairly new and I have never seen them vandalized. A few long holes and a few short with a good variety in between that. Mostly open with a few holes with tight fairways either from thick trees and brush or from lines of giant oak trees or pines. There is never a problem with brush or over growth, and grass is never too long. There is a practice basket right by the parking lot and the first tee. Course is never very busy or over crowded. I don't think I have ever had to wait on a hole or if I have it wasn't very long. This is probably because it is in the middle of no where.

Biggest con is the low laying areas. Since a lot of the course plays through the lakes flood plans. There are a few spots on the course that just always seem to be wet and nasty no matter how long ago it rained.

There are sometimes people fishing along the lake by holes which can be a pain.

Natural Beauty- This course plays around one of the prettiest lakes in the Greater Cincinnati area.

Playability- On the day I went out, next to no one was in the park. Though there was still a bit of mud on the course, the rains were torrential the day before and I can't fault the maintenance.

Facilities- A lot of work was put into making this course worthwile. The tee pads were all concrete, and the signs are clean and very helpful. Refreshments were sold at the gate. The permanent bathrooms were for the most part clean.

Course Design- Something tells me that they put the course in the wrong part of the park. Despite the beautiful rolling hills you see all around you, much of the layout centers around the baseball fields. In addition, many of the holes are monochrome, with only one strong element per hole. For example, while #16 has an excellent elevated tee exposed to the wind, the rest of the nearly 500 yard hole is wide open, treeless, and flat.

Course Flow- The best holes unfortunately hit too hard, too fast, and too early in the round. Hole #2 is easily a standout, with both tee and green on points jutting out into the water. While the hole itself is excellent, it often gobbles up discs more than generates excitement. Nearly every hole with significant risk/reward is done by hole 9, and the vast majority of the back nine mostly plays over open fields and contrived tree chutes.

The potential for an amazing course is here, but unfortunately wasn't fully realized. If this course were to be completely redesigned (and placed, say, on that gorgeous land on the other side of the lake), we would have a rival for Lincoln Ridge and Idlewild.

Also, coming from Cincinnati, beware that it's a much longer drive than you might expect to get out here. You'll feel like you've passed out of civilization before you catch the turn in.

A simple eighteen hole course that can range in difficulty between casual day of fun to an absolute monster when the wind comes into play. One day you're throwing understable discs, the next overstable. It's definitely more of an intermediate level course and harder when winds get into the 40+mph range. As far as the technical aspects, you'll encounter a variety of :
• distances - up to around 600ft or so
• low ceilings
• left & right doglegs
• elevation changes
• water in play on ~6 holes

• Really is a pretty boring course in terms of difficulty. The difficulty level increases only because of the wind.
• Most holes are ace runs but do also have low ceilings and water hazards to help keep things from getting too stale.
• It is far away from the Cincinnati Big 3 (Idlewild/Banklick/ Mt. Airy).

I really like playing this course more for the scenery than the challenge. Don't miss it if you play in Cincinnati in the fall and love the changing of the leaves. It's like a treat to get to make the drive out there. The redesign has improved flow and only made the course better. I can get in three or four rounds in a day there and make it worth the drive. It's really not very difficult, but it's a fun time. I have sacrificed a lot of cherished discs there to the drink, so if you play, be careful and bring your overstable plastic if there's wind. Also, watch out for snakes on the banks.

This course is very nicely kept, and has lots of great views of the lake. The entire course plays on very nice grass that was mowed fairly recently when we played. The tee signs are very nice (they seemed new), and had accurate depictions of the holes along with distance. The tee pads were all concrete, and were in fine shape.

The water is a fun hazard, and was used well on a few holes. Many holes play along or toward the lake shore, making for tough decisions on the tee. One hole plays across a small inlet of the lake, and seemed well designed to allow risk reward decisions between going for the birdie or laying up safely around the water.

The course is on gentle rolling hills for the most part, and the design takes advantage of the small elevation changes as much as possible. The trees that were on the course were also used well. It was fun at the end of the course to have a few holes to really open up on, with a few 450'+ holes in a row.

This course for the most part is wide open. Only one hole could be considered a 'woods' hole, and only a few had more than a couple scattered trees on the fairway. This meant that the holes got repetitive, as the majority were straight shots between 300' and 340'.

On holes 2 and 3, there were a number of people sitting (and parking their cars) on the fairways. They seemed not to realize that the space was also used for disc golf, though none had a major issue with us playing through.

We enjoyed playing this course, though I wouldn't recommend driving way out of your way just to play here. The park was very pretty, and this would be a great place to bring a family to play, or new players who aren't ready for the more challenging and technical courses in the area.

A.J. Jolly's best attribute is its proximity to other top-notch courses like Banklick and Idlewild. Of course, if you're in the area, you should play either of those before this one. The course is moderately challenging. I especially like #2 which dares you to throw directly over the lake. The distance isn't unreachable, but if you shank it, you could lose your disc.

Another "pro" is the course location next to a large lake.

Not technical enough and windy

Scenic park with some nice lake views. Nice tee signs and the park was well maintained.

Not much terrain variety. Most holes play relatively flat. The course was also a little tough to navigate even with the map.

A. J. Jolly wasn't terribly difficult or particularly memorable but it was a decent course overall and I enjoyed my round here.

Most holes play relatively free of obstacles so there is a decent amount of drive then putt going on. There are a few longer holes where that isn't the case and also a few holes featuring water hazards and trees to change things up.

This course is off the beaten path a bit and with so many other great courses closer to the city I'd be hard pressed to recommend making the drive out here solely to play a round here.

On the other hand, if you're already near-by or you've had your fill of Idlewild/Banklick/Mt. Airy then it's most definitely worth a stop.

This course has a few creative and difficult holes, a couple of them including very real water hazards. There are also a couple of holes that use tree "corridors" well to provide a challenging shot.

Although this may be a small issue for most people, it drove me crazy: there's goose poo every where. The smell permeates the air. There are also some drainage issues on the front 5. In the back, holes 11 and 12 are out of place on what is an otherwise open course. They're short, heavily wooded holes that are more about muscling it through brush than throwing with any finesse.

Not a course that I'd drive to play again. If in the area, I suggest Banklick over this one.

This course has some beautiful lake views. A well groomed series of meadows. Baskets are in good positions. It is not overly easy and not overly difficult. Requires uphill, and down hill negotiation skills.

It can be windy. It is difficult to follow for guests. Park is off the beaten path for sure.

While it is not on par with a handful of other Cincy area courses, (Idlewild, Mt. Airy, and Banklick) I would consider this course the best of the second tier. I didn't shoot particularly as well as I would have hoped but hey, we all have those days.