Cascade Township Park is a huge multi-use complex southeast of Grand Rapids, MI. It's near the airport and right next to the I-96 freeway. The 18 holes of disc golf here mostly play around the outskirts of the park, and mostly do a good job avoiding the other park amenities.

The 18 baskets here look old, but they still seem to catch OK.

There is a bit of variety here. The first 11 holes play in open areas of the park, over rolling hills. I wouldn't necessarily say that the mild elevation changes are "used well" so much as "present". These first 11 holes have few obstacles other than the little bit of elevation. A few of them have some decent length, with the longest hole being hole 4 (370' up a slight incline).

Hole 11 is definitely the signature hole on the course. It plays about 250' down an fairly steep hill, to a basket tucked between two groves of trees. As Valkyrie Kid said, it's hard to throw just one disc here.

In contrast to holes 1-11, holes 12-15 are short and play in tight woods - sometimes almost too tight. Hole 15 is a putter throw 120' downhill to the basket, with trees lining the fairway but not too tight. So ace it if it's that easy.

The course opens back up a little bit for holes 16-18. These holes are all short but there is a pond to your left on hole 17 (the only water hazard on the course), and one tree on hole 18 that is placed directly in your RHBH hyzer line.

Dirt/gravel tee pads. These are very uneven and a borderline safety issue. I think sometime in the last year tried to fill in the dirt ruts in the ground with gravel on many pads, but it didn't make them any more flat or level.

The tee signs are just posts with a hole number - no other information. According to some earlier reviews, it sounds like there were detailed tee signs at one point so I'm not sure where they went. They are now missing on all 18 holes.

Navigation/flow is a huge mess. There are no "Next Tee" signs, other than a couple on the wooded holes. On maybe half of the holes, it is not obvious at all where the next tee is. There is also no kiosk/course map posted on site, so downloading/using the map here is a must. The map posted here is mostly correct (note that the tees are represented by circles, and the baskets squares with the hole number - not the other way around). The one notable change from the time the map was made is that hole 15 now starts near hole 13's approach (you have to cross back over hole 13 to get there), and plays west/southwest down to a basket near tees 16 and 18.

Even knowing where to go, the amount of walking between holes is absurd. I think there may be more total distance covered between holes than during them. As others have mentioned, it's particularly frustrating to have baskets 4-6 all close together near the top of a hill but have to walk down the hill to reach #5 and #6 tee pads. Even though it's frustrating, I think if they were going to use this part of the park it had to be that way. If hole 6 in particular went the opposite direction an errant throw could easily carry the park fence and float towards the freeway that is maybe 100' away. Safety and keeping your discs > flow I think, if it comes down to it.

Walking paths and other park amenities could come into play on a couple holes, but overall it's not terrible safety wise.

Not enough length or obstacles to challenge better players, or force a variety of shot selection. I threw almost every hole here with just a fairway driver and putter.

Freeway noise can be heard throughout the park. It's not exactly an aesthetically pleasing round.

The front 9 holes here have the most walking between them, and have no obstacles other than a little bit of length and elevation. You could play hole 2 and then 11-18 for a short 9-hole round that flows pretty well and still has decent variety, without most of the walking. Or if the open holes and longer distances are more your thing you could play holes 3-11 for an open 9-hole round.

This course leaves much to be desired. It is fine for rec-level locals and families to practice, but it's definitely not a top option (or even a worthy option) for those visiting the area.

Update April 2022: No major changes in the past year. Playing here today, I found out that the course also holds a lot of water in the springtime. Holes 1-3 and 11 were basically water holes today. I'm not sure whether that added to or detracted from the course's appeal for me. No change to my 2.0 rating.

*a good amount of fun holes to throw
*decent balance of wooded and open holes

*tee pads are an actual hazard, you're better off driving next to half of them and not twisting an ankle
*the layout and order is very confusing
*could use some signs

its mixed in with a park but there didnt seem to be a ton of overlap with where you were throwing and where park visitors were gathered

+ 18 holes
+ Open and wooded balance
+ Elevation
+ Nicer back nine

- Layout
- Horrible hole design
- Busy park
- Can be very windy
- Horrible dirt groove tee pads
- Not enough trash cans
- Walking paths through holes
- No direction signs
- Useless tee signs

It's convenient for me and a buddy, so we play here often. The township doesn't care about DG, but the rest of the Park is really nice and well appointed. It's always busy with tennis, pickle ball, basketball, dog walkers, runners, bikers, etc. DG runs through the whole thing and somehow became an afterthought. One of the worst course and hole designs I've ever played. It could really use a redesign and TLC. The walk between 3 and 4 is so annoying. Swap tee for pin on 6 and 7. Above all what this course needs is concrete tees. The grooves are horrible and the newer grooves right next to them are also bad now. New hole and direction signs would be really nice. A pragmatic course for just getting out and playing, but by no means is it one you should go out of your way to throw.