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Center Springs Park reviews
8
0
From the Rec Player Perspective 2+ years
Reviewed:
Played on:Nov 6, 2015
Played the course:once
Pros:
• Great Urban Park Layout. Provides a nice mix of hole shapes and distances that are challenging enough for advanced players but don't punish beginners and rec level players.
• Free to play.
• Safely stays away from all other park activity. Never throwing directly at other park activity. Does play along and across some lightly traveled walking paths, but always with good visibility. With just a little awareness players can keep out of the way of walkers and joggers.
• Plays in and around some stately huge oaks and pines. Trees will force you to shape shoots to score well, but with little to no undergrowth not much chance for beginners to lose discs and errant tee shots aren't too badly punished.
• Good use of elevation changes.
• Nice new Innova DisCatcher Pro baskets, well mounted. All of the "greens" are obstacle free. Many of the greens are on a bit of a slope to add a little interest to approach shots. Go for it but risk a roll-away, or play safe.
• Tees are well marked with posts and granite squares. They are currently natural but there are plans for something more permanent in the spring. Navigation was for the most part very easy even for someone playing for the first time.
• Beautiful wide open finishing hole, long downhill with a big pond off the left side.
• Free to play.
• Safely stays away from all other park activity. Never throwing directly at other park activity. Does play along and across some lightly traveled walking paths, but always with good visibility. With just a little awareness players can keep out of the way of walkers and joggers.
• Plays in and around some stately huge oaks and pines. Trees will force you to shape shoots to score well, but with little to no undergrowth not much chance for beginners to lose discs and errant tee shots aren't too badly punished.
• Good use of elevation changes.
• Nice new Innova DisCatcher Pro baskets, well mounted. All of the "greens" are obstacle free. Many of the greens are on a bit of a slope to add a little interest to approach shots. Go for it but risk a roll-away, or play safe.
• Tees are well marked with posts and granite squares. They are currently natural but there are plans for something more permanent in the spring. Navigation was for the most part very easy even for someone playing for the first time.
• Beautiful wide open finishing hole, long downhill with a big pond off the left side.
Cons:
• Only nine holes
• No signage and natural tees, but I expect this is because the course is so new. I may have to come back next spring and bump my ratings by ½ star.
• Great urban course, but not the finish and amenities of a top level course. No benches, no trash cans on the course.
• There is a bit of trash in the park, mostly coffee cups and lids but some empty liquor bottles and beer cans too.
• Goose droppings on the 9th fairway.
• No signage and natural tees, but I expect this is because the course is so new. I may have to come back next spring and bump my ratings by ½ star.
• Great urban course, but not the finish and amenities of a top level course. No benches, no trash cans on the course.
• There is a bit of trash in the park, mostly coffee cups and lids but some empty liquor bottles and beer cans too.
• Goose droppings on the 9th fairway.
Other Thoughts:
I wish every small city in America had such a great urban disc golf facility. This park is set in the middle of a neighborhood of well-kept old wood framed homes and had a good neighborhood feel to it. I expect it will pick up a neighborhood following and hope it attracts many young players to the game.
This course fills a niche within the Manchester area and nicely complements the existing courses. A place where you can get in a quick round when you don't have time to play one of the other courses in the area, or a great course to bring a new player.
When Wickham closes for the winter this park will take up some of the slack from players getting Wick-drawal. Great options within a short drive: Wickham, Cross Farms, Ecker Hill are all within a 10 mile radius of Center Springs Park.
Hole by hole from a rec play perspective:
#1 - Short walk from the parking lot, have an open throw downhill, then have to pick a path through some trees up the hill to the basket tucked on the hillside below the gazebo. Had to walk part way down from the tee to see the basket. At 366' a three is possible with a good drive and a well-shaped approach that misses the trees. For a rec player this is either a tough par 3 or an easy par 4.
#2- 288' and straight and flat, but well treed on either side of the fairway. Fairway is wide enough to be reasonable.
#3 - 235', straight and mostly flat, but a few more trees to contend with.
#4 - Another long and straight hole, well over 400', takes a long drive & missing a lot of trees (at least by rec player standards) to have a reasonable approach to the basket.
#5 - The tee is a bit of a walk up the hill after putting out on #4. Very long slight dogleg left and uphill. This hole measures out at 646 feet and with the big oak trees to negotiate it's a solid challenge. To me I threw a full out drive, then a drive that wobbled badly and blew down the hill a bit, then a pretty solid approach and was still left about 40' below the basket. I missed my putt. Did it feel like a bogey 5 or a missed birdie for a par 5? I think for me it felt like the latter.
#6 - Slightly downhill 337', again with some giant oaks guarding the way, though a fair and clean line to the hole.
#7 - Up hill, a couple of different viable lines to the hole, you just can't go straight at it. 223'
#8 - Long, fairly level 408' again with lots of tall oaks defining some tight lines to the hole. There is both a left-to-right and right-to-left line in there somewhere. Felt like a challenging but fair par 4 to this rec player.
#9 - The signature hole for this course, very nice. Wide open downhill shot to a pin tucked on a slight up-slope 537' away. The fairway is wide open, but some well-placed trees guard the basket once you get past the footpath. The pond is way off to the left but still is at least in the back of your mind at you crank up your drive.
This course fills a niche within the Manchester area and nicely complements the existing courses. A place where you can get in a quick round when you don't have time to play one of the other courses in the area, or a great course to bring a new player.
When Wickham closes for the winter this park will take up some of the slack from players getting Wick-drawal. Great options within a short drive: Wickham, Cross Farms, Ecker Hill are all within a 10 mile radius of Center Springs Park.
Hole by hole from a rec play perspective:
#1 - Short walk from the parking lot, have an open throw downhill, then have to pick a path through some trees up the hill to the basket tucked on the hillside below the gazebo. Had to walk part way down from the tee to see the basket. At 366' a three is possible with a good drive and a well-shaped approach that misses the trees. For a rec player this is either a tough par 3 or an easy par 4.
#2- 288' and straight and flat, but well treed on either side of the fairway. Fairway is wide enough to be reasonable.
#3 - 235', straight and mostly flat, but a few more trees to contend with.
#4 - Another long and straight hole, well over 400', takes a long drive & missing a lot of trees (at least by rec player standards) to have a reasonable approach to the basket.
#5 - The tee is a bit of a walk up the hill after putting out on #4. Very long slight dogleg left and uphill. This hole measures out at 646 feet and with the big oak trees to negotiate it's a solid challenge. To me I threw a full out drive, then a drive that wobbled badly and blew down the hill a bit, then a pretty solid approach and was still left about 40' below the basket. I missed my putt. Did it feel like a bogey 5 or a missed birdie for a par 5? I think for me it felt like the latter.
#6 - Slightly downhill 337', again with some giant oaks guarding the way, though a fair and clean line to the hole.
#7 - Up hill, a couple of different viable lines to the hole, you just can't go straight at it. 223'
#8 - Long, fairly level 408' again with lots of tall oaks defining some tight lines to the hole. There is both a left-to-right and right-to-left line in there somewhere. Felt like a challenging but fair par 4 to this rec player.
#9 - The signature hole for this course, very nice. Wide open downhill shot to a pin tucked on a slight up-slope 537' away. The fairway is wide open, but some well-placed trees guard the basket once you get past the footpath. The pond is way off to the left but still is at least in the back of your mind at you crank up your drive.
