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Bernel Road Park reviews
5
1
Meet Circleville's Larger Twin Sibling! 2+ years drive by
Reviewed:
Played on:Jun 23, 2012
Played the course:once
Pros:
If you've ever played the nearby Circleville Park, you'll know that there are several qualities that are the very essence of that course: short, straight ace runs that have occasional obstacles--but for the most part, it's just narrow grassy fairways with tall grass on each side.
Well, that's pretty much Bernel Road Park. In fact, the similarities are uncanny. What makes this park different (particulary better) from Circleville then? Read below:
- Holes, overall, are longer. #'s 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 come into mind particularly. Since there's no signage and I didn't feel like using my GPS to measure out the holes, I'd say that the average length is around 280-300--although I could be way off. I'm bad at ascertaining distance. Either way, you can bomb shots a lot easier here than you can at Circleville.
- Beginner friendly; except for the tall grass part. I can see a lot of noobs hyzering sharp and looking for their discs for awhile.
- I did notice that the holes get progressively longer as you go through the course, and then tend to get a little shorter on holes 8-9.
- Narrow fairways (they're only about 40 feet wide) are guarded by tall grass on each side. It's a good couse with which to practice super-straight drives, as the tall grass can certainly punish errant shots and force you to look for discs for awhile. I suggest bringing some of your favorite fairway drivers (Teebirds, Stalkers, Rivers, etc.) for this course.
- There's a few (emphasis on the few) left-turning dogleg shots in which you must clear a bush or tree to get to the basket. Hole #5 comes to mind, as the basket is parked right behind a giant pile of tall bushes. Hole #2 is another shot that requires a good long hyzer to avoid the tall grass rough. The only real anny shot is on #8, where you have to clear a tiny, guarded gap to get the basket, which is another 100 feet away on the green. #8 is a good sidearm hole.
- Nice teepads and manicured fairways. Even though there's no signage yet, the flow of the course is super intuitive and you should have no problems once you find hole #1.
- Should reduce some of the traffic at Circleville and get more people out playing disc golf, as it's not too far (~5 miles) from campus.
- Since this whole entire park was built recently, they took good care of putting the course away from pedestrian traffic, playgrounds, etc. I don't anticipate disc golfers crossing paths with other parkgoers at Bernel Road.
Well, that's pretty much Bernel Road Park. In fact, the similarities are uncanny. What makes this park different (particulary better) from Circleville then? Read below:
- Holes, overall, are longer. #'s 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 come into mind particularly. Since there's no signage and I didn't feel like using my GPS to measure out the holes, I'd say that the average length is around 280-300--although I could be way off. I'm bad at ascertaining distance. Either way, you can bomb shots a lot easier here than you can at Circleville.
- Beginner friendly; except for the tall grass part. I can see a lot of noobs hyzering sharp and looking for their discs for awhile.
- I did notice that the holes get progressively longer as you go through the course, and then tend to get a little shorter on holes 8-9.
- Narrow fairways (they're only about 40 feet wide) are guarded by tall grass on each side. It's a good couse with which to practice super-straight drives, as the tall grass can certainly punish errant shots and force you to look for discs for awhile. I suggest bringing some of your favorite fairway drivers (Teebirds, Stalkers, Rivers, etc.) for this course.
- There's a few (emphasis on the few) left-turning dogleg shots in which you must clear a bush or tree to get to the basket. Hole #5 comes to mind, as the basket is parked right behind a giant pile of tall bushes. Hole #2 is another shot that requires a good long hyzer to avoid the tall grass rough. The only real anny shot is on #8, where you have to clear a tiny, guarded gap to get the basket, which is another 100 feet away on the green. #8 is a good sidearm hole.
- Nice teepads and manicured fairways. Even though there's no signage yet, the flow of the course is super intuitive and you should have no problems once you find hole #1.
- Should reduce some of the traffic at Circleville and get more people out playing disc golf, as it's not too far (~5 miles) from campus.
- Since this whole entire park was built recently, they took good care of putting the course away from pedestrian traffic, playgrounds, etc. I don't anticipate disc golfers crossing paths with other parkgoers at Bernel Road.
Cons:
- Extremely redundant; not unlike Circleville. Look at my photos of the course. If you've seen one picture, you've seen them all. The entire course pretty much plays off the tee, down or up a long fairway, and to the basket. Aside from a blind shot here and there or a slight dogleg, there's not much variety here.
- There are elevation changes, but they're very slight. We're talking very low rolling hills here. Most shots go downhill (just enough to make the shot blind) but there's not much elevation change to speak of.
- Tall grass can really punish errant throws and because some shots are blind, you may want a spotter to see where your disc goes. I didn't spend much time looking for discs--thank goodness--but I can see this being a disc eater as the course gets older and more developed.
- No wooded, technical, low-ceiling shots. Trees, for the most part, are non-existent here. A mix of open-and wooded holes would have been nice.
- Also, as of this date, the course has no signage--although I didn't hold this against the course in my rating since the baskets and tees were just installed a recently.
- There are elevation changes, but they're very slight. We're talking very low rolling hills here. Most shots go downhill (just enough to make the shot blind) but there's not much elevation change to speak of.
- Tall grass can really punish errant throws and because some shots are blind, you may want a spotter to see where your disc goes. I didn't spend much time looking for discs--thank goodness--but I can see this being a disc eater as the course gets older and more developed.
- No wooded, technical, low-ceiling shots. Trees, for the most part, are non-existent here. A mix of open-and wooded holes would have been nice.
- Also, as of this date, the course has no signage--although I didn't hold this against the course in my rating since the baskets and tees were just installed a recently.
Other Thoughts:
When I heard there was a new course in the State College area, I got really excited. "Finally, this is going to be the super challenging, long, wooded course that the area's been deserving!," I thought. Well, I was certainly right about the longer part. Some holes are indeed longer (and a little more blind) than Circleville. But at the end of the day, it's still a bunch of rolling hills with fairways guarded by tall grass on every hole. Most shots are very straight and only a few RHBH hyzer shots are present. I suppose I was a little disappointed, but at least the area has 18 holes now
