Braem Park reviews
6
0
wolfhaley
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience:
20 years
1008 played
579 reviews
Went from Gnarly (bad) to Gnarly (good) to a shell of it's former self.
Reviewed:
Updated:
Played on:Sep 13, 2012
Played the course:5+ times
Pros:
Braem Park has been the closest course to where I've live for almost 15 years now. Hundreds of rounds played in all seasons. I'm redoing this entire review due to the evolution of this course over the years.
The baskets are Chainstars. One basket per hole. Alternate pin placements on holes 3,6, and 17. They've tightened up the course as far as alt placements are concerned. I miss some of the older placements, but they didn't really add to much really.
The tee pads are all nice and grippy concrete. One per hole. Plenty big enough for a course of this length and all poured level. They're still in great shape 15 years later.
The tee signs are adequate. Nothing spectacular, but they feature all the basics needed to navigate the course. They're carved wood showing the basic intended route, hole #, distance and par. Hole 15's even explains the mando stipulations. Basic as can be, but serviceable.
The flow of the course is pretty easy to follow. There's a bit of a backtrack from hole 12's basket to hole 13's tee. Nothing major, but not intuitive either. Pretty straightforward other than that. You have a slight backtrack from hole 17's basket to get to the bridge leading to hole 18's tee but that's pretty easy to decipher as there's a creek that needs to be crossed to get there.
The course starts and ends very close to the parking lot. Hole 9 is not near the parking area so it does play better as an 18 hole play. Playing either of the 9's is possible, but there will be additional walking involved. It's a quick play and generally not busy so playing the full 18 shouldn't take more than an hour if that.
The front nine is more park style, but with some shot shaping involved on most holes. The back 9 is where it gets tighter and more technical. Surprisingly hard to keep a clean scorecard here, on either half actually.
The baskets are Chainstars. One basket per hole. Alternate pin placements on holes 3,6, and 17. They've tightened up the course as far as alt placements are concerned. I miss some of the older placements, but they didn't really add to much really.
The tee pads are all nice and grippy concrete. One per hole. Plenty big enough for a course of this length and all poured level. They're still in great shape 15 years later.
The tee signs are adequate. Nothing spectacular, but they feature all the basics needed to navigate the course. They're carved wood showing the basic intended route, hole #, distance and par. Hole 15's even explains the mando stipulations. Basic as can be, but serviceable.
The flow of the course is pretty easy to follow. There's a bit of a backtrack from hole 12's basket to hole 13's tee. Nothing major, but not intuitive either. Pretty straightforward other than that. You have a slight backtrack from hole 17's basket to get to the bridge leading to hole 18's tee but that's pretty easy to decipher as there's a creek that needs to be crossed to get there.
The course starts and ends very close to the parking lot. Hole 9 is not near the parking area so it does play better as an 18 hole play. Playing either of the 9's is possible, but there will be additional walking involved. It's a quick play and generally not busy so playing the full 18 shouldn't take more than an hour if that.
The front nine is more park style, but with some shot shaping involved on most holes. The back 9 is where it gets tighter and more technical. Surprisingly hard to keep a clean scorecard here, on either half actually.
Cons:
Marshfield is in the process of restoring Braem park, which is a protected wetland, to... I don't know honestly. They took down a ton of trees to curb the emerald ash borer on the back nine. That essentially destroyed hole 10 as I knew it. It took some trees away on the left side of hole 11 too. 11 still plays the same, just less jail rough off the fairway. Shocking looking for those that know the course well though.
As of November 2022, the baskets for 4 through 8 were not in place. The vast majority of trees were spray painted with an orange "dot". presumably to to be cut down. This will gut this course as a decent option for the area. I get the logic here, but this course will be a shell of itself if/when this happpens. Sad to see personally.
The course gets swampy and holds water for extended periods of time, especially on the the front half. They didn't pick the name Marshfield out of thin air though.
As of November 2022, the baskets for 4 through 8 were not in place. The vast majority of trees were spray painted with an orange "dot". presumably to to be cut down. This will gut this course as a decent option for the area. I get the logic here, but this course will be a shell of itself if/when this happpens. Sad to see personally.
The course gets swampy and holds water for extended periods of time, especially on the the front half. They didn't pick the name Marshfield out of thin air though.
Other Thoughts:
I completely redid my original (crappy) review of this course from 2012. The version you're reading now is as of 11/20/22. The course went from too tight/no lines at the time of my original review. I played this course but it pissed me off. Frequently. From circa 2015 to 2017 it get cleaned up nicely and was more enjoyable, but still challenging. It was trending upwards, with new pin placements being added and the clearing of fairways/lines. Alas, the course has been/will be gutted in the near future. The course is technically the same so RIPing this layout and adding a new one is not applicable. It's the same layout. There will just be hardly any of the trees the pics here show. I will update pics in the spring to showcase this. Marshfield DG went from a decent stop to not worth anyone's time in a few years. We got 2 Starbuck's though...
Play if in the area. I mean, what are your other options. Otherwise skip this one. I dropped it from a 3.5 to a 2. That might even be homer bias. Sad state of affairs over here.
Play if in the area. I mean, what are your other options. Otherwise skip this one. I dropped it from a 3.5 to a 2. That might even be homer bias. Sad state of affairs over here.
7
0
Enjoyable 2+ years drive by
Reviewed:
Played on:Jul 1, 2008
Played the course:never
Pros:
Next tee is usually easy to find; nice neighborhood; concrete tee pads; some variety in your shots is needed; nice hole map at each tee; generally easy to locate your disc; not much tall grass and weeds; well maintained; has some character; practice basket; a complete bathroom
Cons:
Short (most holes are 150 to 250 feet); some wooded holes don't feel tremendously well thought out (there may not be any path to the basket - you'll need to be absurdly accurate or fairly lucky); a few overly simplistic holes; occasionally may have trouble figuring out which basket you're shooting for
Other Thoughts:
We had a very pleasant and enjoyable time at Braem. The course is set in a nice park that's in a good neighborhood. Other activities we noticed were baseball, tennis courts, a playground, and horseshoes - lots of horseshoes! We guessed they must have leagues there.
The first tee was easy to locate, as it was next to a big sign that contained a map and general rules. The first hole was a good start, a well manicured dogleg left in the open, guarded by trees to the left, and that finished with the basket tucked into the woods.
Most holes on this course aren't anything spectacular, but there aren't any holes that completely lack obstacles. A typical hole here is short, wooded, and will require a precise shot or two to grab a 2 or a 3. Par for each hole is listed at the tee, and some are 5s, but there's no hole on this course that an advanced player should have real trouble nabbing a 3 on.
This isn't a high caliber course but I'd be very happy to have it near my house. Many of these holes start off as the equivalent of a very difficult second shot at a top tier course. You can't beat that for practice, especially if you don't have a lot of time to play that day or are looking to just work on your medium/short game.
This course falls pretty far short of 'good - 3.0' in that there aren't any long holes, some holes are a little too easy, and it doesn't require more than a couple types of discs and use of your weaker hand (be it forehand or backhand). This course is well above 'poor - 1.0' because it's well maintained, in a relaxed setting, provides good practice and experience for all skill levels, and is pleasant to play.
We really enjoyed this one and it certainly holds its own, but a few key elements are missing that leave this course at average - 2.0
The first tee was easy to locate, as it was next to a big sign that contained a map and general rules. The first hole was a good start, a well manicured dogleg left in the open, guarded by trees to the left, and that finished with the basket tucked into the woods.
Most holes on this course aren't anything spectacular, but there aren't any holes that completely lack obstacles. A typical hole here is short, wooded, and will require a precise shot or two to grab a 2 or a 3. Par for each hole is listed at the tee, and some are 5s, but there's no hole on this course that an advanced player should have real trouble nabbing a 3 on.
This isn't a high caliber course but I'd be very happy to have it near my house. Many of these holes start off as the equivalent of a very difficult second shot at a top tier course. You can't beat that for practice, especially if you don't have a lot of time to play that day or are looking to just work on your medium/short game.
This course falls pretty far short of 'good - 3.0' in that there aren't any long holes, some holes are a little too easy, and it doesn't require more than a couple types of discs and use of your weaker hand (be it forehand or backhand). This course is well above 'poor - 1.0' because it's well maintained, in a relaxed setting, provides good practice and experience for all skill levels, and is pleasant to play.
We really enjoyed this one and it certainly holds its own, but a few key elements are missing that leave this course at average - 2.0
