Greece, NY

Basil Marella Park

Permanent course
3.455(based on 57 reviews)
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7 2
Hector Chain
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 15.9 years 222 played 191 reviews
2.50 star(s)

2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 19, 2010 Played the course:once

Pros:

The course is set on a nice piece of otherwise unused woodland in a mixed-use park (soccer, volleyball, tennis, skate park, and even those funny warmup equipment things that went into every park in the 80s). Every hole has a concrete trapezoidal tee pad, and the shape helps point you in the right direction. The baskets look aged but are still in perfectly workable shape. There is virtually no undergrowth here, so there is no itchiness to deal with and very little chance of losing a disk.

This is not an easy course, and that is a pro. It will make it very clear to you if your accuracy is off. The trees off of the fairway tend to be pretty close together, so you won't usually get away with an errant shot.

This course does have a nice balance of doglegs right and left, which I appreciate.

Cons:

Navigation is not easy. I managed to get through the first 9 holes without too much trouble, although you need to do a U-turn at one point (after hole 4, I believe). The signage was okay, showing the bare minimum: the shape of the fairway, hole location, and distances. There were no signs pointing you to the next hole, so sometimes I was guessing which path to take. Holes 10-18 were much tougher to navigate. Most of the holes had no signs at all, so I would find a tee pad after tromping through the woods and have no idea which hole it was or how far I was throwing at a basket I could not see (the trapezoidal tee pad at least told me which direction to throw). I couldn't find hole 18 without going all the way back to the map at the beginning of the course. Definitely print off a map.

A bigger issue is course design. I recognize the immense amount of work it takes to clear fairways in this sort of woods, and I commend the people who put in that time. But many of the fairways are not really "fair" at all. Hole 2 has a fairway that is just a couple feet wide, and there are a number of holes that are similarly just short of reasonable in my opinion. The fairways also have some weird shapes, including S-shaped paths to the basket. This is a fine course design if there is a landing area at the middle curve of the "S," but these fairways don't have that (just more narrow fairway). So whether or not you have a chance to throw a good second shot is sometimes more a matter of luck than skill.

One last big beef: holes 19-27...they don't exist. They are shown on the map at the course entrance, and I spent (wasted?) about a half hour walking around and trying to find them before realizing they aren't there (yet?). Frustrating when I could have been playing another round.

Other Thoughts:

The course does have alternate tees, although they are just stumpy stakes in the ground (sort of like the ones you see marking the different tee areas on a ball golf course). For some reason the blue tees are shorter than the reds, which is the opposite of convention. The shorter tees put you farther along the fairways, but I still don't think this is a great course for anyone resembling a beginner. I suspect they will just be frustrated.

Wooded courses can be tricky, and they take more work to create than typical open, grip-and-rip courses. The course is certainly worth visiting. With some more trees removed, some improved signs installed, and (eventually) the last 9 holes installed, this course could really be a great one. Kudos to whoever got this course started.
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1 5
srichar6
Experience: 16.1 years 3 played 3 reviews
2.50 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jan 18, 2010 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

The course is nice and secluded from pedestrians, which means no having to warn every time you shoot. Also, the holes are very difficult, but not hard enough to ruin a good time at the course.

Cons:

It is very, VERY wooded.
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6 3
bjreagh
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 27.7 years 350 played 321 reviews
2.50 star(s)

Nook and cranny woods 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Jun 3, 2007 Played the course:once

Pros:

This is your typical shorter wooded course. The ground is well worn without much undergrowth which makes finding your discs easy, especially after they are deflected off a tree. This course definitely tests your accuracy. Is also tests how well you can recover from a tee shot that may not go where you had envisioned it.

#17 is the signature hole, which is a pretty nice one near the end of the round.

This course was great to play in the mid-summer as the dense trees provided excellent shade for most of the course. And then a thunderstorm came and it rained, but the trees kept us pretty dry!

Cons:

All the holes are in the woods, it gets a little redundant. The fairways are sometimes really narrow, which does require some luck. (look at the pictures and you will see what some of the tee Some spots were trashy.

Other Thoughts:

To me this is your average woods course, it is not a bad play if you appreciate a good woods course. I would rank it 3rd in the area behind Baker Farm and Ellson.
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3 2
MarkN
Experience: 17.9 years 25 played 11 reviews
2.50 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 25, 2008 Played the course:never

Pros:

Nice woodsy course, trees force accuracy. Fairly easy to follow course. Open understory makes it easy to locate wayward discs. New concrete tees.

Cons:

Busy park, numerous paths through woods can make it difficult to follow course (especially 12--> 13 over creek). May also have to play around folks lounging in a fairway. Limited signage on back 9, no bridge to cross creek (2x). Abundant trash.

Other Thoughts:

Forest is not very healthy due to heavy traffic which leads to erosion and little vegetative regeneration. Numerous fairway trees are really beat up. Take care to limit impact.
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