Pros:
The terrain, hands down, is AWESOME for disc golf. Sharp elevation changes throughout a series of ravines, mounds, washouts, gulleys, and along an electric transmission line. If you love some disc golf on amazingly unique pieces of property, with sharp and drastic elevation changes, PLAY HERE! I'm taking 40-50' sharp drops that you throw up and over, down from, or peak to peak. Variety is also quite great. Hole 1 starts off with a semi-open ripper with sporadic trees to frame your routes (400'+'). Hole 2 begins a great downhil ripper and to make it more fun, a ton of water was in play because of the wet spring. Hole 3 offers a great long anny for a RHBH, and strategically placed OB ponds on the left where a righty would fade out. Hole 4 is somewhat of a crapshoot through the trees, but we saw many possible (but tight) routes, and my doubles partner managed to park the hole. Orange pin was to the right, but an alternate location on the left is framed up beautifully by a curved tree. Hole 5 is a great downhill finesse shot through some tight trees and over a small pond. Hole 6 is from the basin uphill to a blind pin, which is also perched right on the edge of a HUGE dropoff (love me some risky pin locations!). Hole 7 is a peak to peak throw over a washout ravine through very tight trees. Hole 8 is a downhill bomber along a power line (AIR IT OUT, the hole is long!). Hole 9 is an excellent uphill hyzer that requires power or placement because at the top of the turn you must cross a steep washout.
There are 2 sets of pads, and 2 permanent pins in play. We played long tees to orange (long) pins. It was an amazingly fun and challenging round. We could have just as easily made the turn after #9 and played the long tees to the yellow pins for another excellent 9. THEN, we really could have played short tees to either pin for another 2 sets of 9 holes with decent challenge and some more likely ace runs. I could really see myself out here playing the 4 different 9 hole possibilities on many days! And that's not to mention that they have two locations on most holes for the orange and yellow pins (4 possible pin locations from any of the two tees)!!!!!!! Variety galore!
Risky greens, specifically #6, but many others are near rollaway dropoffs or ravines.
Bunches of practice baskets (3) and even a practice hole, a tight 200' tunnel shot, that we actually played for our round. We also noticed a few oddly placed 'tournament only' pads that may bring more holes or longer tees into play.
Benches, staircases, and terraced tees and pins that make for some beautiful elements of the hole. The tee pad on #3 is amazing, the stairs on #5 are amazing. I'd love to see more of these on all the other holes out there. I realize the cost for items like this is STEEP - someone with some money must love the game out there and it shows!
Tees signs were great when they were in their slots. Unfortunately some were missing. Scanning the QR codes with links to hole information is an awesome, amazing, and forward thinking touch to the game of disc golf. I'd love to link to videos of how the hole plays or looks, along with commentary, especially on some of the blind holes. I could make a very leisurely day of flingng discs out here and viewing info about the course.
The area is dedicated to disc - no shared use with bikers, mushroom pickers, or clueless park patrons.
Great big meaasge board, and also some potties.
Cons:
Popular with the locals. This is only a con when there are lotsof people out enjoying this great course, and you have to stand in line. Most everyone was accomdating and allowed smaller groups to play through without issue. Popularity can be a con for a course if too many people lead to texcess littering and whatnot. The course was very clean when we played it though and I suspect that is because the dedicated disc golf group in the area is creating a sense of ownership and pride in the course, and they're working to keep things clean and beautiful.
We played in spring, and with the amazingly difficult tree lined 'airways' and high potential for bad drives to kick off fairway, the underbrush and summer time growth could get pretty awful - it's just speculation though. We played it during a cold and wet spring and I actually thought all the standing water was an excellent aspect to the game we played.
There is no real OB, not real ponds during normal season, so this element of risk vs reward is missing.
Not truly any par 4/5 holes, but long pads to long pins stretched over 450' more than a few times on the 9 holes.
Tees signs were great when they were in their slots. This goes along with my first con.
Other Thoughts:
We got here after finishing up a 2-day, 3-round tourny during the weekend. The focal point of the journey, axledog acres, turned out to be a disappointment if you ask me. I LOVED the Brickyard and every time I'm back in the Menomonie or Eau Claire area, I will be flinging discs here on one of their 4 possible layouts (and more with alternate pins!!!).
I LOVED THE TERRAIN!
This is a fundmentally sound design with gobs of unique terrain and options. Amazing variety for a '9er'! I truly believe with all the unique combinations of play, and the gorgeous terrain, this is a 4.5 rated niner! I will be back and I'm sure I'll love it again. Considering Wakanda is kinda bland city park type course, axledog has junk tees (only one), one pin, lots of open holes, and is $5, and Lambscreek is on steroids but not really fundamentally designed for a fair challenge (and has 2 of 9 throwaway holes), Brickyard is tops in Menom by far!!!
I typically rate a lot of courses as a travelling player in which time is often rushed. I'd make time to play here again and be glad I did.
Oh man - I've just started imagining having 18 holes out here with the same design components, 2 baskets, 2 tees, some true par 4/5 holes, maybe a manmade pond or something, a few open holes bordering some tricky OB, and utilizing even more of the amazing terrain. This type of configuration would blow off the 5-disc rating scale!