One of many Northern Michigan ski-hill courses, this course on Traverse City's Mt. Holiday establishes itself as one of the best. Unlike some other courses made from ski hills that have one or two bomber holes and several compromised holes, this is a well-rounded course with many hillside holes as well as entertaining wooded holes.

As mentioned previously, this course has two sets of tees as well as two sets of baskets on every hole, with blue and pink colors distinguishing what is in effect four different configurations. Some of the pink basket holes match or surpass the blue baskets in terms of fun factor, but the pink tees seem redundant on occasion.

Holes 1 and 2 get you off to a good start with nearly wide-open shots that track diagonally across the bottom half of the smaller ski hills. The second half of the blue basket fairway of Hole 2 tracks into the woods, introducing the wooded segment of the front nine (Holes 3 through 7). Unlike some courses with many wooded holes, the wooded holes at this course have distinct characteristics, with adequate driving room in all instances. Hole 5 is a thrilling, short downhill bomber that can be a deuce hole, but can also knock you off into thick woods with an errant drive. Hole 6 is a long, challenging hole that starts flat but ends with a 200-foot uphill tunnel. Hole 7 is a terrific tunnel hole leading to a right turn back out onto the ski hill part of the course. Hole 8 is one of the only holes to track along the side of a hill, but is still a fun hole with adequate, yet fair challenge. Hole 9 ends the front nine in dramatic fashion with a wide-open downhill bomber.

Hole 10 opens up the back nine with an elevated tee with wooded rough on the left. Hole 11 adds yet more diversity with an uphill water hole. Holes 14-16 are decent uphill holes with wooded areas providing adequate challenge, leading to the climactic downhill holes at the end (17 and 18). Hole 17 is nearly wide-open, with the blue tee shot being ideal for right-handed forehand shots. Hole 18 is a 500-foot tree-lined tunnel that is just wide enough to drive through, and is wider than it appears in photos.

Has a couple of cheaper holes that don't entirely escape typical ski-hill course shortcomings (Holes 12 and 13). Hole 13 in particular has some shrubbery that eats discs. Carpeted tees were wholly adequate on the dry, sunny day I played, but may be problematic in wet weather. Some of the wide-open sloped areas would be very difficult in higher winds. The pink tees seem to be more of an afterthought, but as mentioned previously the short basket positions are often tempting when playing the blue baskets.

Though not really a con, the extensive photography on the tee signs of the course namesake can leave one with mixed feelings. Maybe time will heal some wounds eventually and the course name could be changed to Carly Lewis Disc Golf Park as a more fitting tribute.

The hard work put into this course shows, with ongoing course tweaks being added to the course. An excellent course design, particularly in the wooded parts of the front nine. Very high fun factor in light winds, and is favorable for all throwing styles instead of just righty backhands. Overall, this is a very solid 4.0-level course, with potential existing for higher ratings in the future.

+Holy elevation changes! Being on a ski hill
they took advantage of the changes!
+Hole 5 is awesome elevation change
thru some trees, can play left or right
from short tee to either basket
+Really cool having 2 tee and 2 basket
choices for every hole
+Really awesome layout, almost every hole
took advantage of the terrain
+Flow is pretty good
+Signs were Awesome! Next Tee signs ALMOST everywhere
+Close to town, so easy to find
+Hole 16 was a riot!
+I liked Uncle Todd's 650' downhill between
16 and 17, really fun! Awesome View!
+Hole 18 is a super long tunnel shot
downhill, A-W-E-S-O-M-E!
+What I like was with two tees AND two
baskets you could mix and match if you
wanted, which made it fun to sometimes
play the hole two different ways
+Was a port-o-jon at the bottom of hole 9
+Very clean, benches here and there
+Very bright baskets, easy to see

-I tried to 'like' the carpet pads, just couldn't,
ended up playing behind them or next to them
-I think it's hole 11 to 12, it's hard to find you have to walk back down the hill towards the clubhouse and towards the road, it wasn't marked and was kind of a pain to find

^As of today anyhow, there is road construction kind of a pain to get to
^Because of the construction it did make a couple of the holes difficult, but still playable
^Be ready to hike! Up and down a lot of hills!
^A lot of uphill holes made it interesting
^A few missed chances, like between 6 and
7 would have been cool
^Bring bug spray for sure
^Good hiking shoes, some steep hills
^This is a MUST PLAY!!!
^No scorecards was a little annoying

The course plays on a ski area with a mix of open and wooded areas. There are two tees and two pins on each hole (pink shorts and long blues for both). I played only the longest blue to blue layout, so this review is mostly based on that, but it was cool to see the amount of variety the dual tees and pins added. The shorter layouts make the course an appropriate challenge for different levels of players and it seemed like all four potential shots on each hole were well thought out.

The elevation is the defining feature on this course, nearly every hole plays up, down or across the hills. You'll have some tough uphill shots, a few fun downhill bombs and plenty of places where you have to be careful how you land your shot or long fade- or roll-aways are lurking. I loved the use of the trees on hole 18 to make a rewarding downhill shot that still required a tight line and punished errant drives. The ctp hole between 16 and 17 is a great chance to just air one out and watch a disc fly, there's enough elevation that throwing a putter 650'+ is definitely possible.

Several holes bring woods into play, requiring a decent mix of left and right turning shots. Each of the layouts seemed to have good length variety appropriate to the level that layout was designed for. The signage is excellent, with good signs at both sets of tees showing distance and layout to both pins from each, and next tee signage as needed throughout the course.

The course is a bit open, I like wooded courses in general and despite the awesome hills it can feel like a little bit of a grip n rip course in a couple places. The grass on the big slopes was pretty long when I played, and chock full of little burrs that stuck to everything. The carpet tees weren't always level, and several had ruts or lumps that made for awkward footing. A few of the short tees require a really long walk from the previous hole which can encourage beginners to play long tees and/or pins, slowing down the course on a busy day and likely decreasing the fun factor for those beginners.

New players will find the shortest layout very approachable as long as they're ready for a long walk and some challenging shots. The blue to pink and pink to blue layouts offer some nice intermediate level challenges, and a ton of variety. The blue to blue layout is a tough challenge and has a great mix of different types of tests. You'll need distance and line shaping skills along with a good understanding of how wind and hills affect disc flight to be successful here.

One main Pro is that there are 4 different routes at each hole which is excellent so a variety of skill levels can play.
Pink Teepad
Blue Teepad
Pink Basket
Blue Basket
Pink - Pink is the easiest of the 4 so those that are new can do that route to make things easier on them. Then Blue - Blue is the hardest path to take and that is for the more experienced.

The signs are amazing. At the Pink and Blue tee pads you can see the distance and where to throw to the basket. They are excellent

Another variety is uphill/downhill shots and forest shots. They are really nice and one of the blue baskets is on top of a mound of Wood chips and it's really cool to see.

The park is really clean from what I have seen. That makes it great and also this course is maintained very well. You can tell they put a lot of work into the course to make it memorable.

The random hole where you just throw a disc as far as you can and you can just pick it up at the end is fun.

At the beginning of the course there is a box where people can donate discs and also use discs for those that are new and don't own a disc can use them. For the most part people bring them back.

The carpet tees are really brutal when it is raining outside. I went once when it was barely a drizzle outside and the carpets are slippery. So if the carpets are wet, be careful.

This isn't a course for those that are not physically fit. It can be very rough because of the hills. They are not insanely steep like Hanson Hills but they are pretty steep.


The walk back to the car isn't the greatest thing because of the steep hill but that is one minor thing I didn't like.

I played this course for the first time in May and it is just absolutely amazing looking. I would highly recommend trying this course in the spring time because it was just beautiful.

I did play this course a couple days ago just to see if there was any difference (and also I haven't played in a while due to work schedule) and I still loved it just as much as I did. It's a really fun course and new player friendly. So give it a shot. It's not the greatest but it is really fun. Hope to see you out there!

4 courses in 1. 2 tee's and 2 baskets (blue and pink) for each hole allow for a variety of shots. Not just a "Righty Hyzer" course. Challenging for beginners and pros alike. Pink to Pink being the easiest and Blue to Blue is the most difficult. Pink to Blue and Blue to Pink are challenging intermediate courses.Signage is very good and course is not difficult to navigate. Blue baskets have an Innova flag for better visibility. Not crowded like the other area courses. Course is clean of trash and there are some outstanding views from atop the hills. Lots of benches to sit down on. Pink basket in parking lot to warm up the putter before teeing off. Tee boxes are leveled and carpeted and carpet is anchored down well.

Some tough climbs. Shady side (1-9) is a tougher hike than Sunny Side (10-18).
Some areas need to be mowed.

Mr. Lewis has poured his heart into this course and is always looking for ways to improve it. He and the rest of his team have done a great job. Well done Toddzilla.

The signage is wonderful, listing distance, location of baskets and easy-to-see hole numbers. With the two tee and two basket options you can really play this course over and over with (4) different experiences. Unique mix of up, down, wooded and open holes. High atop the hills make for some great views.

Being on a ski hill does make for quite a hike from some holes to next.

I had a blast playing here and hope I can get back someday. It was very unique course and I still can't get over how wonderful the signs were.

Great Variety! 2 tees and 2 baskets on every hole. Pink tees and pink baskets are shorter but create totally different lines and shots. Blue tees and baskets are the 'longer' version of Carly's. So, there are truly 4 different courses. And the color distinction of BRIGHT Pink and metallic blue ensure no confusion of which basket or hole you are playing. Short, medium and long holes testing all aspects of your game. Holes #2, 4, 6 and 7 are true par 4s (Blue to Blue) hole 18 with out of bounds left along the entire length of the fairway has to be a par 4 too (OB rope used for tournaments on the left edge of the fairway)
There are many different shots you have to make playing this course. Not only from the tee, but on upshots and putts. Elevation, a little wind off the bay, tree-lined fairways and excellent pin placements make this a super fun and challenging course.
This is in my top 5 fav courses instantly after playing it in the Grand Opening of Carly's Playground this past weekend.

Searching for some 'Con'..... Not really a 'con' but just a fact...The new layout/ redesign has a few new 'raw' areas w/ little trees and newly grown branches w/ leaves that need to be trimmed. it's not out of control..but a few holes have some hanging, thin branches. Not a big deal really.

They plan to maintain the course really well, tweak and continue to improve the course and install concrete tee pads in the near future, which is great to hear!! I love this place and can't wait to get back!!!

-Good variety
-2 baskets/tees on each hole. that rules
-Beautiful views of the bay from the top of the Mt Holiday ski hill

-carpet pads
-sandburs are bad. hope ppl pick them off so they dont spread at other courses

glad there's another high quality course in the traverse city area. the re-design of this place is amazing; much appreciated.