Mahwah, NJ

Campgaw Reservation - Green

3.55(based on 30 reviews)
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Campgaw Reservation - Green reviews

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4 0
Ryal
Gold level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 6.9 years 222 played 184 reviews
2.50 star(s)

Not Yet Keen On Campgaw Green 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Dec 2, 2018 Played the course:once

Pros:

+ Tee signs have a color and shape of their own, distinct from the two other layouts that share many of the same fairways, so the player always knows which sign to refer to.
+ Next tee signs, while not plentiful, are a welcomed sight and point the way.
+ The whole course has that eerie and energizing 'lost forest' feel by limiting what you can see around you. The player will likely forget that there is a ski hill nearby!
+ There are very many rocky hills to add to the challenge: some steep and some steady.
+ Trees everywhere force the player to focus on aim and accuracy rather than brute force.

Cons:

- Most of the tee areas were muddy messes during my session.
- A few of the tee signs were flat-out missing. Holes 14 and 18 come to mind as examples of this.
- Trees everywhere cause most of the holes to feel samey and repetitive.
- Some of the next tee signs were broken or altogether missing in places where they could really be helpful. I did not see one between holes 9-10 or 16-17, and I found the sign between 2-3 shattered and discarded on the ground. I got lost twice here as a result of the lack of signage.
- Deadfall trees are very prevalent. A few holes felt as though I was playing in the rough from start to finish.
- Very many exposed roots, hidden tree stumps and slippery leaves on rocks. Walk with caution.

Other Thoughts:

My favorite hole at this course was definitely 8. I liked 17, too, but I liked 8 more because of how deceptively simple it is. The short distance of the hole tricks you into thinking that it won't be so hard, but the sheer height of the cliff throws that notion on its ear. 8 is a fun challenge to overcome.
My least favorite hole here could be the very first one. It felt plain and underwhelming to me.

As for the course as a whole, Campgaw Green is a course that, to my mind, has yet to reach its stride. This isn't to say that the course is bad. The venue is pretty with a dynamic landscape of rocky hills and trees. I played in early December. I can just imagine what it looks like in spring and summer.
The course is a good challenge, but the endless forest does feel repetitive after a while. Hills and oaks continue as far as the eye can see. While it is, indeed, pretty, it becomes commonplace before long. However, I would rather see the trees stay where they are instead of having them mindlessly chopped down just to carve out a perfect fairway.

Yes, this is definitely wooded disc golf with a few hybrid holes thrown into the mix among holes 11 and 14. I would sooner recommend this course to the accurate tacticians out there before the power arms for obvious reasons. Granted, though, all can have a good time here because it is disc golf, after all. And I do want to say that I did have fun with what is available, but there is still so much more to do.

Tee pads would be a great start. I think it would be a good thing to have something solid for the players to tee off on instead of mud in the days following a rain.
Another good addition would be sturdier signage. The 'current tee' signs will probably be fine as they are for a while longer, but the 'next tee' signs should get an upgrade.

In closing: Campgaw Green is a decent course that takes the player through many variations of the wooded disc golf experience. There are hills to conquer and hundreds of trees to avoid. There are even some stand-out holes for sure, but the monotony of everything else coupled with the soggy tee areas and absent signage may dampen the fun for some.
Go throw at Campgaw if you like an uphill battle.
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6 2
raynger27
Experience: 12.7 years 62 played 19 reviews
2.50 star(s)

identity crisis 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 9, 2013 Played the course:once

Pros:

This course is located in a section of NJ that otherwise lacks a course, so that is a plus. From the main roads, there were "Disc Golf" signs to point you to the parking lot. Speaking of, there was tons of parking available. The Discatcher baskets stand out on this highly wooded course, and overall the tee signs do a decent job of giving you the general trajectory of the hole (you just have to find the sign first). I found the tee signs to be clear compared to over reviewers, so it appears a recent update was made in this area. Underbrush that would hide a disc is minimal.

Cons:

Although the road signs helped point me to the lot, once I got there I had trouble locating the first tee. Luckily, I ran into two helpful gents who pointed me in the right direction. This course doesn't seem to know what it wants to be. With the blue/black and green courses intermingling in the same real estate, navigation was a severe challenge. There were some signs of help, tiny next tee signs here and there, but overall the course just lacked flow and a sense of harmony. To me, it played like baskets in a forest with not much rhyme or reason. Due to the overlapping courses, the baskets also lacked number labels, adding to confusion for a first timer. The tee boxes were natural and dreadful. Roots, water puddles, ruts.

Other Thoughts:

There weren't too many memorable holes overall. That being said, hole 17 was neat, a downhill 405 ft par 3 in a narrow tunnel where you could really let one fly and watch it go and go. I played two days after a heavy rain and the course was a wet mess; impossible to avoid mud and water puddles. Bring a towel for your discs and a pair of shoes to drive home in. It was that bad and unavoidable. Not sure if I just picked a bad day, or if it is always that way after even the smallest rain.

The course would benefit from trimming some saplings just off the fairway. On about half the holes, a decent shot that is unfortunate enough to hit a tree and sail off the fairway can find itself with zero opportunity to get back to par because there is zero throwing lane other than the fairway. I am all for punishing errant shots, but as it stands, this seems cruel and unusual.

I came from the Lehigh Valley in PA, so maybe I am spoiled with some of the courses I play here on a regular basis, but this course seems way overrated to me based on the average scores of other reviews, Maybe that is due to its location in a disc golf dead zone, I don't know. I grew up in NJ (moved before I discovered dg) so this is my home and I was excited to check this course out. Definitely left disappointed.
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