Barre Falls is one of the four Army Corps of Engineer dam site courses in MA/CT, along with Buffumville, Tully, and West Thompson.

Barre Falls features the most elevation of any of them, and it is used well in conjunction with distance variations. Hole 1 is downhill but only about 190 feet with water behind. Holes 8 and 9 are downhill bombs over 450 feet each. Hole 5 is a brutal 600-foot uphill left-to-right beast with the basket tucked beyond a quintessentially New England rock wall.

As mentioned, the variety of distances is great. There are plenty of aceable holes, but numerous multi-throw holes as well.
This is the most open of the dam site courses. Courses this open can lead to boring designs, but they did a good job of bringing all the trees (don't worry, there are still plenty; it's still New England) into play. Hole 4 throws out of an alcove of trees into an open space with a cluster blocking the center of the fairway, so your drive needs to set up your approach. Not a revolutionary concept, but these aren't a succession of grip-and-rip holes.

The beauty here is my kind of beauty. The hills sweep into one another, with firs dotting this hillside, leafy trees covering that one, and a gurgling river bisecting all of it before it disappears into the spillway. Beyond it all are the shadows of more forests and hills.

All tee pads are concrete. Tee signs are good enough and serve their purpose (they are the same type as used at Borderland).
Navigation was pretty easy. I never consulted the map and only got lost once (after Hole 4, go to the right).

You can definitely get away with errant shots on a few holes. This course will favor distance throwers more than most courses in this part of the country, but it's nice to have a little variety.

The course is pretty busy in spite of being pretty far off the beaten path.

You could lose a disc in the water on a few holes, but it would require some bad shots.

On what looks to be one of the last nice days of fall, I was very happy to get out to a part of the state I'd never been to. The pictures don't do it justice. This is really an attractive, enjoyable course.

ALTHOUGH THE LAYOUT OF A FEW HOLES HAVE CHANGED. IT'S STILL A GOOD COURSE TO PLAY. IT'S MARKED WELL, SCENIC, AND A GREAT CHANGE FROM OPEN HOLES TO WOODED HOLES

GETTING BACK TO THE HOLES THAT HAVE BEEN CHANGED A BIT. HOLES # 6,7 AND 8 ARE NOT AS OPEN AS THEY COULD BE. YES I KNOW IT'S A SPORT THAT REQUIRES ACCURATE SHOT MAKING. BUT ON THE ABOVE HOLES MENTIONED. EVEN SEASONED PLAYERS WILL NOTICE DIFFICULTY FINDING THEIR DISCS IN THE HIGH GRASS ON THESE HOLES. THE MOWED FAIRWAYS ON THESE HOLES SHOULD BE MADE A BIT WIDER TO AVOID SLOW PLAY REGARDLESS OF ONE'S ABILITY. ON A BUSY DAY, YOU WILL WAIT.

WITH THAT SAID, JUST GO OUT TO BARRE FALLS DAM, PLAY A ROUND, HAVE A COOKOUT AND COUPLE OF BEERS, THEN PLAY ANOTHER ROUND

Beautiful course. the course is well laid out with a good selection of open and technical holes. One some you have to have a good long drive and on others you have to use finesse and control. Overall one of the better courses i have played.

No real cons to speak of.

If this course were not 80 miles form home I would enjoy playing this course a few times per month.

I REALLY wanted to give this course a 4, because I had more fun playing here today for the first time (and the second) than I have had on any other course (Muldoon Park, Crane Hill, Devens...) in a very long time. That is because Barre Falls is a driver's course, where I could let my long discs rip without much risk. All the holes are open - not just by New England standards. Actually Barre Falls feels a lot like courses do in Florida or Texas; most holes are long (320+ feet) with one big obstacle or "main idea" to get around, usually with a drive. This might be a water hazard as on hole 3, a stand of trees, or a curvy line to the pin, etc., most of which can be almost always be handled with a solid drive. Truly crappy drives are hard to come by; most fairways are so open that you usually have a look at the pin on the par 3s with the second shot, though it may be far. Furthermore, the long holes really let you stretch out your arm, and the multitude of elevated tees give you a chance to reach those long pins that might be out of range on a flatter course.

As far as technique goes, Barre Falls will put your driving skills to a rigorous test. As a RHBH player, I found myself chucking big hyzer bombs, long distance lasers, a couple hyzer flips, and a flick or two. My Roc even came out on a few tees.

The amenities at the park were solid: rubber tee pads, generally decent tee signs, and bathrooms/outhouses. The mowed fairways and greens looked just like a ball golf course, and were a great change of pace from the typical wooded New England course. I also think no course is complete without some water hazards, and the Ware River gets that job done nicely. The scenery was beautiful (also due to the river), and the dam was simply impressive - it reminded me of the movie Goldeneye.

My biggest gripe with the course is the simplicity of the holes. Yes, there were some stunning open holes on this course, and like everybody I love a nice downhill bomb, but on too many holes the technical game ended after the drive. In two rounds, I threw 6 - 8 technical midrange shots. On all others I was either punching a straight approach at the pin, or putting. The combination of open fairways, scarce mandos, and unthreatening OB results in holes that are very simple after the tee, where you are your own worst enemy. That is, if something is going to go wrong, it will be because you over/under threw your disc, not because you hit a tree or something.

In terms of course design, the layout of holes 3, 10, and 11 is such that the tees, fairways and baskets of these holes all seem to be right on top of each other. There was a bit of a traffic jam at this spot on our first round, and we had to be very careful where we threw, and even where we walked. Also, the grass was very long on some holes, and we nearly lost a couple discs which drastically slowed our progress. Some tee signs lacked distance to the pin, and none of them were labeled with elevation change, which would have been very useful, as this is a very hilly course. Navigation was tough, but between my friend and I, we managed to complete the 18 without too much wandering around. Just keep your eyes open, and ask the locals - they're friendly!

Barre Falls course would easily be a 4 if the tee signs were fixed and the grass mowed more thoroughly. I think it has the potential to be a 5 star course, but this would require extensive and expensive redesign; wooded holes, more technical fairways, and concrete tee pads. The ingredients are all there, though; a huge property, great terrain with very interesting woods and water, and some great tee locations. As it is, Barre Falls DGC is a beautiful and above all FUN, open course - a great change of pace here in New England. Get out and play it!

very nice course..beautiful..very scenic

make sure you enter from barre street /side..i entered from the other side and had to drive on rock filled rode for 10 minutes to get to it.

nothing..great course..with bathroom and information available.

Great area, usually not crowded, very very nice course for beginners to get used to playing and learning how to throw their discs, some holes are very well designed and thought out, offers a fair challenge, some of the hole are excellent.

Not cleaned out often (beers cans are frequently seen around the tees), lots of bugs... probably has to do with the standing water and mud on a few holes. Floods with lots of rain.

This was my first course, and I found it extremely fun and challenging at times. For more advanced players its probably a little easy, but still great fun. The only major annoyance was the flooding. First hole was underwater and when you're standing on the tee you can't really tell. Its best to check it out before hand.

I recently played this course and the grass was freshly mowed and what a difference it makes! Holes 5, 7, 8 and 9 are MUCH more enjoyable and open. When the grass is long these can be a pain. With the grass mowed this course is a 4 out of 5. Overall, even with the tall grass, Barre is still a very fun course which I recommend.