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Emmaus, PA

Camp Olympic Park

Permanent course
2.795(based on 7 reviews)
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Camp Olympic Park reviews

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14 3
Zunz
Bronze level trusted reviewer
Experience: 10.6 years 85 played 21 reviews
1.50 star(s)

Not up to par locally 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Feb 26, 2016 Played the course:once

Pros:

Nice wooden tee markers with basic maps of the holes (on the older holes)
Next Tee arrows hanging from many of the baskets

Cons:

Long walks between holes making for bad course flow
Safety issues
Boring and repetitive
Swampy
Some stupidly thorny rough
The LONG walk back to where you parked when you're done

Other Thoughts:

Hole 1 plays from right next to a parking lot. It's a slight hyzer to a downhill basket. If you turn a long throw over, it could sail onto the basketball courts.

Keep walking straight past the basket across the field to find the second tee. Holes 2-5 play back and forth across the same little stretch of field. I hadn't downloaded the map yet and the only basket I could see from 2's tee was 5 so I threw from 2's tee to 5's basket. The basket is up on a grassy hillside so roll aways here are very possible.

Hole 6 plays across the top of the hill. It's a long sweeping annie or a flick. The left side of the fairway drops off the hill. There is a house on the hillside down in the trees up by the basket.

Then there's a really long walk down the hill along the road past where you parked to get to hole 7. The throw is only 214 feet but it looks longer, especially when the creek is running hard and dirty. If you don't choose to lay up, there are trees and brush on both sides of the creek, the openings to the basket are only about 30' wide. The basket is about 20' onto the opposite bank. The day I played, anything in the water was gone without a chance.

Hole 8 is the first par 4 and the first hole over 500'. It's a straight throw across a wide open field bordered by trees on the left and the creek on the right.

Hole 9 is a short throw up a steep hill in the woods. It looks like a lot of trees and brush were cleared to make this fairway.

Hole 10 is a bit of a walk to another short hole that throws along a strip of grass between the woods on the left and a corn field on the right before diving left into the woods right before the basket.

Hole 11 is a little hard to find even with the map. A bit farther from the previous basket than expected. This is the longest hole on the course, it plays downhill on a strip of grass between a corn field on the right and a playground on the left. I was glad I was here on a day that the playground was empty and the corn stalks were gone for the winter.

Holes 12-18 are on the other side of the turnpike. On this side of the course, the rough is super thick and thorny and the day I was there is was also a swamp. The fairways were a muddy soup bowl as well. On 12-14 I could easily see a griplocked high and right (rhbh) throw making it up to the turnpike.

Hole 12 plays along a thin grassy strip with woods and rough on the left, woods and turnpike on the right.

After a walk long enough to have been another hole, Hole 13 plays along the same patch of grass as hole 12. This time the woods on the left have been replaced with thorny underbrush.

Hole 14 continues skirting along the edge of the turnpike property but this time you're in the woods with no large open area to let the disc work. Between the swampy spots and the large fallen trees it was a little difficult to get to this basket.

15 plays parallel to 14 in the opposite direction with the creek running the entire right side of the fairway, as it also does on 16 and 17. These 3 fairways look like they are still being carved out of the woods. A lot of trees and brush have already been removed leaving tight fairways with an occasional tree left behind to hit. Some of the throwing windows are really small in both width and height. Ricochets here can easily find the creek and again, on the day I was here anything wet was gone forever with absolutely no chance.

Hole 18. The chance to throw under the turnpike. Sounds great! In reality it's a short, straight shot in the woods with the turnpike so far above you that it's a complete non-factor. I'm not saying I was hoping for something unsafe here, heck I'm not even a fan of 12-14 because of the chance of the disc flying up onto the highway, but this throw was a total letdown after hearing, "You get to throw under the turnpike!" from several very excited people. Even the creek that made the last 3 holes more interesting is essentially absent on 18.

Then you're done. And you're about half a mile from where you parked next to hole 1's tee.


Final Thoughts: Bad. This is just a bad course. The amount of walking between holes and especially after you're done is excessive. I can't think of another course like this that I've played other than Windlestrae where you do more walking between holes and after you're done than you do playing the holes themselves, and that course had 8 of it's baskets removed leaving not really a course anymore, this one is still being put in. It would probably be worth another half star in the rating if they could add another hole or two going from 18 back to where 7's tee is so you're reasonably close to where you parked and maybe put in another between 12 and 13 since they're not afraid of short and straight here. Make it so that most of the walking happens on the holes, not between them.
There wasn't really any variety to the throws here, everything was basically straight or straight with a fade. Except for 9 which was straight uphill and a bit of an annie. 1, 5 and 9 had the only elevation to speak of. The chance for disc loss is probably the highest here of any course I've ever played, maybe it's not as bad when the creek settles down? What happens when the corn is growing along side 10 and 11? I threw a really good drive on 11, decided to try a second and the extra power turned that disc out into the corn field. Who knows if I would have found it if the corn was high and what is the farmer going to think about disc golfers tromping around in the corn looking for discs? Also, the current map is a bit confusing as the satellite image is from before a lot of the work was done to the park. Hole 11 isn't really in the middle of a corn field as the picture seems to indicate. And I'm pretty sure there's more space between 14-15 and 15-16 than the lines on the map show. I don't know what this park is like in the summer when it's crowded, but a "Top of the World" shot from 6's tee out into the field where 5's tee box is, would add a ton of interest and a memorable hole to what is otherwise a pretty boring course.

Final Final Thought: With Jordan Creek only minutes away from this course and all the other great options in the area, I can't imagine ever coming here again. It's a shame because there is obviously a ton of work being done by local disc golfers building this course. I guess I just can't get on board with the design.
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