Allegan Jaycee Park covers a smallish, flattish piece of land on the Kalamazoo River right in Allegan, MI. The main attractions at the park appear to be a skatepark area, pavilion, walking trail, and 9 hole disc golf course.

The course opens with three easy holes in the front of the park. After hole 3 you will walk along a trail onto a boardwalk through a small marsh. It's a bit of a walk, but I was so surprised by the abrupt change in scenery that I didn't notice. Then the course got a little more interesting. Hole 4 tees off just in front of the river. It is a fun little 167' throw away from the river with brush on either side of the fairway. The basket is located in the middle of a monkey bar set. This reminded me of my childhood playing "object golf" with an Ultimate Frisbee on the local elementary school playground. In this case, the presence of the basket makes the monkey bars unusable but from a DG perspective I appreciated the hole.

The next two holes are very short, at 79' and 76' respectively. However, they are very tight throws through the woods and water is in play on both. On hole 5 a low watery area next to the river is just to your left. It will take a touch of anhyzer (for a RHBH throw) to score an ace here. On hole 6 you have to carry a small creek (it will only take a 30'-40' throw to do so) and apply a little more anhyzer (RHBH) to reach the basket. There is a walking bridge behind the basket to easily cross the creek. Neither of these holes belongs at a championship level course, but they aren't gimme aces either. The water hazards are small enough that beginners will be able to retrieve any discs that go in.

The tee signs are nice. They show hole number, distance, and a color map of the hole. They also have dotted lines directing you to the next tee.

The baskets are yellow banded DISCatchers, all in good shape. There is also a nice practice basket that is located on a pretty steep hill. It's good for practicing uphill and downhill putts, which aren't present here but I like the option for local players to develop that skill to apply on other courses.

There is some nice signage near the first tee showing the rules of disc golf, etc.

The course is extremely short, and will be pretty easy even for recreational players. Only holes 7 and 8 are substantially longer than 200', and both of these have no obstacles between tee and basket other than some brush on either side of hole 7's relatively wide fairway. Holes 1-3 are each 150'-200' throws with zero obstacles between tee and basket. The finishing hole 9 is only 150' with one tree in front of the basket.

The course is quite flat other than a slight downhill off hole 8's tee. Speaking of hole 8, it plays across the park drive. It's not a blind shot but I am still not a fan of this design decision. Also, there is some brush covering maybe 30' between the tee and the park drive and no clear path through it, so you have to walk around.

Actually, come to think of it the park drive could be in play again on hole 9 if you throw past the basket.

The tee pads are just dirt or gravel.

There is a kiosk near the first tee, but the only map on it shows disc golf courses in Michigan that have 18+ holes. Meaning, this course isn't even on it. Maybe that is only funny to me...but anyways, pay attention to the dotted lines on the tee signs, as without them it would be a little tricky navigating this course for the first time.

As the review title suggests, there is another Jaycee Park DGC about a half hour's drive northeast in Kentwood (suburb of Grand Rapids). That course, while in itself not a destination, is certainly superior to this one. I don't mean to poke fun at this course though. It is a solid option for beginners and locals to come get a round in, especially with few other courses close by.

It's the only course that is truly close to where I live.

The possibility to instantly add to your ace totals (holes 5 and 6 so far)

Park is descent looking, right along the river though water never really comes into play

Maybe a good place to bring kids to introduce them to the sport.

Short short short. Nothing even breaches the 300 mark and most of them are below 175. I've never seen a course with par 2's but this one really has me questioning whether there is such thing as a par 2.

Minus one or two holes there really isn't much line shaping necessary or variety of shots necessary. It is beneficial to have a little forehand on 5 and 6 but that's about it.

With lack of variety and distance comes lack of need for discs. I played this entire course with a roc3 and a putter and scored a 19...

Multi use park with fairly heavy foot traffic, dog park, skate park, playground, grill area...aka, lots of non-disc golfers around. While these don't really get in the way too much it certainly doesn't add to the feel of the round.

tee pads are neither a pro or con, they're tiny and packed gravel. Update: The gravel is starting to wear pretty quickly at the front of the tee boxes causing warped footing. Still passable at the moment but this type of tee box will need regular upkeep.

Parking near hole 1 is like 5 spots? and it is the same place people would park to go to the skate dpark. So if the park is busy I could imagine times when you would have to park and walk...

Not the fault of the course designer or anything and I think it's wonderful that they got the funding to put in a disc golf course but they should have found better land.

Update: I added an half star- I was shown an "alternate tee" to 6 that turns it in to a touchy little shot with the river meandering through the fairway. Though the tee area is a little peninsula on which you can pretty much only throw a stand still it makes the hole much more intriguing.

As this becomes a park that I throw a little more often due to its proximity and desire for a quick round I have started drawing up some alternate tee areas around the course that make it more entertaining.

Also if you draw some really strict OB lines using the walking paths a few of the holes can become a little more interesting.

Couple fun additional holes if the park isn't busy: tee off from the walking path next to hole 3 and throw to the hillside basket next to the skate park. This is probably about a 600 foot hole and if you play all the cart paths as rivers it's a pretty nifty little hole. After playing this hole throw from the top level of the skate park down to the hole 9 basket (again using walking path as OB). I'm sure there are more interesting made up holes within the park. Maybe something over the bridge between hole 3 and 4 but that might be a little dangerous if there are walkers.