- set in a beautiful and well maintained multi-use park
- area of the park is mostly dedicated to disc golf
- incredible elevation change on holes playing near the ravine
- some decent elevation change on most other holes
- almost entirely wooded with some great technical challenge
- solid Innova DISCatcher baskets
- three tees per hole, though only can find all three on some holes
- concrete paver tees on most holes (at least one of them, anyway)
- picnic tables and garbage cans throughout course
- challenge factor can't be beat with baskets near ravine edge
- rough is very forgiving and light on debris
- nice use of built-in bridges over creek/ravine where needed
- course map on back of course information sign
- not many safety hazards
- huge variety of possible hole lengths across the various tees

- as noted by virtually everyone, tee signs are insanely high up and many are missing entirely
- alternate tees are not clearly marked and in some cases can't be found
- navigation can be confusing; you will want the course map
- next tee indicators and signage in general are pretty terrible
- pars are overly generous on almost every hole

There are clearly some polarizing opinions on Chestnut Ridge. This was my #1 course in the Buffalo area I wanted to check out, and I'm glad I did. It appears there have been problems with vandalism and garbage in the past, and this is why the tee signs ended up mounted on trees 10-12' up in the air. It's definitely weird and they are hard to notice, but I guess there's a reason. While some garbage cans were overflowing here, I didn't find the course exceptionally messy overall.

The reality is the equipment here isn't great. There are 3 tees per hole, but some only have one done in concrete pavers and the others are rubber, or worse, natural and not really marked. I can deal with natural tees but if they aren't well marked, especially on a woods course like this, they just disappear into the forest over time. Similarly, so many tee signs are missing. Navigation was difficult and I feel like it didn't have to be if there were decent next tee indicators. The baskets were fine, but that was about it.

The hardest part of navigation may have just been finding the course itself - the first tee is by the main building you see across the entry drive from the parking lot. If you go towards the back of this building there is a dropoff/sledding sort of hill and this is where the first tee is. This hole is mostly out in the open and after that, you barely emerge from the woods until the end. The natural beauty here cannot be overstated - no, it's not the mountains, but it's crazy hilly with mature trees and is a beautiful park to play disc golf in.

Now, onto the actual gameplay - if you can overlook some of the warts and the navigation, what a fun course. This is not a place to take beginners, and if you are going to get upset about finding a way to climb down a ravine to find your disc - best stay at your municipal park's local flat 9 hole. At least one reviewer referred to the ravines as dangerous - well, yeah, if you fall off the edge it's going to hurt - but this course is no more dangerous than any other course with dropoffs. Exercise care and you will be fine, but you'll want to bring your hiking boots and keep an eye on your shots for this one.

I played the white tees (at least where I could tell which tee was white) which is a nice middle ground. There is lots of variety in length depending on the tee you choose, but for your given tee, lengths are pretty consistent throughout. You be making plenty of differerent shots here and you will be challenged to hit your line. I can't overstate the fun factor here if you love woods an elevation.

There are so many noteworthy holes with cool ravine shots here, practically from start to end. For me, the signature hole is 15, a long shot thrown from elevation out over the ravine, parallel to it's length, finishing at a basket on the ravine edge at much lower elevation - what a cool view and line to hit.

While the course par isn't that big of a deal to me, it is unquestionably too generous here - about one stroke too generous per hole. I scored -17 on my round which... is not a score I get. 17 birdies in 18 holes makes you feel good about your round, I suppose!

I didn't note many safety hazards here - a few holes played near roads and walking paths but nothing egregious. Hole 14 to hole 15 required backtracking through fairways which was not ideal. I was here early on a Saturday morning and it was pretty quiet, but it was still early. This particular traversal would not be great when busier, and it sounds like this course does get busy.

If the equipment and navigation here were a bit better, there's no question this course would be a 4.0 - 4.25. However, with all of the cons noted being fairly significant, I think it's playing like a 3.5 for now. It's still absolutely worth the trip here for a really cool and unique course. Highly recommended if you are in the vicinity.

Great course. It was an awesome walk in the woods with my buddies. Constantly hitting trees gets annoying but it's so cool to be in the woods and crossing creaks and walking up and down ravines and little hills.

Hole 1 starts on the left side of a fence but the basket is on the right side. Don't throw too far right or you'll go over the cliff but take the safe shot in the field and you gotta go over the fence.
Hole 10 is hard to find. After you finish hole 9 cross the road and walk past tee 17 and then you'll find tee 10 on top of the little hill.

Definitely worth the drive. I highly recommend it.

- Great design utilizing the ravine on nearly every hole.
- Lots of elevation change/you will be hiking as well as disc golfing.
- Beautiful water features on several holes.
- 15 holes are spent in the woods; each is unique and fair.
- Lots of risk/reward on tee shots and also on approach shots with baskets next to the ravine.
- Some memorable holes (1, 3, 9, 12, 13, 15).

- Trash, by far the worst course in the Buffalo area.
- Crowds
- Tee signs that are hard to read because they are up so high on trees.
- Takes 20 minutes to get your disc from the bottom of the ravine and several baskets are less than 5 steps from the edge.

I love short, wooded courses with lots of elevation change and beautiful scenery. This course has all of the above in spades. But it also has real issues with crowds and trash.

-Great variety of shots.
-Good Overall course flow
-Handful of Ace runs
-No Gimme Holes
-Plays well for both RHBH & LHBH players.
-Memorable shots and holes

-Signage could be updated/improved
-At times this course can get trashed. I have personally filled a Garbage bag full of bottles and other various garbage and have seen others doing the same, but there is too much left
-Finally, the biggest con about this course are the Treacherous tee pads. Nearly all of them are uneven and are hazardous when dry.
-Tee pads are even worse after a snow/rain storm
-Did I mention, how bad the Tee pads are there?

This is and will always be one of my all time favorite courses to play. On a clear day you can see Ralph Wilson Stadium, Downtown Buffalo, and Niagara Falls from the Tee of Hole 1. Also Hole 15 has a great line to it another one of my favorite shots.

CAUTION: The Ravine is very steep, so you must be careful retrieving discs. After heavy rain or when the snow is melting in the spring the water level can be high and very fast moving, it can take your disc from hole 7 back through the tunnel at hole 3, I seen'd it.

This course is a good variety of 18 holes. It is fairly long in my opinion and took about 1.5 hours to play in it's entirety. It's a good mix where some holes are nice and long while others are shorter and technical. There are also a few really challenging and fun putts where the basket is just feet from the edge of a 10-15 foot ravine. Can make for really ballzie putts.

It's practically on the route from Central PA to Buffalo, NY or Niagara Fall if you're traveling Rt. 219. The park that the course resides in is very large and there are plenty of other things to do there so if you're on a trip with the fam, they can do other things in the park while you disc it up!

One final nice feature is a place just behind the main building (to the left of Hole #1) that can be used as a driving range of sorts. It's downhill and wide open so throw away and get some practice in why don't you!

While the holes have a great variety, some are just down-right impossible. The trees are just too thick on some holes with absolutely no clearing what-so-ever. Basically you'll be launching you disc tree to tree. It really stinks on Hole #18 because you can't even see the basket from the tee and there is basically no way to avoid the trees to get there. It would have been nice if some small clearings were made as tiny fairways of sorts.

Also, I played around 530PM on a Monday and the place was packed! There were large groups playing with 5+ people playing which slowed things down a bit. Groups were kind and let me play thru though. Lots of high-schoolers there playing / chatting / smoking so expect some bizarro stuff if you're going after school ends for the day.

One final con was that it was SUPER muddy. I'm told it hadn't rained there in days, yet some holes had giant mud pits you had to walk / putt through. It's likely due to the high foot traffic.

This being my first time to the park, I had a REALLY hard time finding the first tee/hole. Basically you want to park in the GIANT parking lot at the main entrance (there will be a giant, green sign there for Chestnut Ridge Park). Once parked, head over to the main building (looks like a big camp hall) and go to the right side of the building. The first tee is the dirt pad on the right-back side of the building and you are throwing your disc down the hill, over the fence on the right to hit the hole in the wooded area at the bottom of fence. This was very strange to me.

I also was a little disappointed with the tees. They were just dirt (which I had read in other reviews) but really you can forget about having three to choose from. Most of the blue tees were mud pits and there were tree roots everywhere! It made it difficult to get a big approach for long drives. Frankly all the players I saw on the course throw from the same spot. Sometimes it's the white tees, sometimes it's the blue. It all depends on the mud really. If it's your first time playing there I highly suggest staying behind a group so you can see where they throw from and where the holes are. Better yet, ask if you can join them. With being so close to Canada, you're sure to meet up with some friendly folk! I'll be playing there again next time thru (although I will be bringing some other shoes to wear).

This a very challenging, yet fun course to play. I had fun here and was able to impress myself a lot, but it put up a big challenge for me at the same time. The course has a few open holes in the beginning, and several wooded holes throughout. This is a great course to work on accuracy, but there are a couple holes that allow you to throw bombs in the open

It is very easy to lose a disc on this course. The heavily wooded fairways and deep ravine make some discs difficult to locate. It doesnt help that there are several hills throughout the fairways that sometimes prevent you from seeing where it lands

Overall, this was an amazing course. My first time playing it I played two rounds, and would have easily played more if I had enough time. Although I would not reccomend this course for a beginner or first-timer, it is an excellent challenge for anyone with little experience to several years of experience. Two thumbs up

-Great elevation changes.
-Tight, technical course after the first three holes.
-Restrooms in the main building.
-A HUGE sledding hill in the wintertime. Bring a sled for a few runs!
-"The ridge", which runs through the course offers a great risk factor. You won't really lose your plastic, but you'll hate climbing down to get it!
-There are a few holes here that could be signature holes.
-Very scenic any time of year.
-Multiple tees on every hole.
-Tons of parking, and well marked signs from the highway make getting there easy.

-Tee pads are horrible. This is the busiest course in the Buffalo area, and the natural tees are starting to become a hazard. I've heard concrete is on the way.
-Crowded. Not just crowded, but crowded with a pretty rowdy crowd. Hate to ding a course for this, but unruly groups all around you can detract from the round. Play earlier in the day.

-I had Simpletwist show me around here earlier in the day, but even then the crowd was pretty boisterous. I guess the locals call them "Ridge Rats", and a couple of them tried to grab our discs too.
-They are adding another 18 holes here this year, which should absolutely help with the congestion.
-Crowding aside, this course is worth a stop. The technical side of this course will compliment some of Buffalo's bigger courses making a trip to the area a worthwhile experience!

The Course is beautiful, and well designed. The main path winds in and out of the woods, and is slightly rugged (lots of roots and rocks), but a fairly easy hike... I'd leave your sandals at home though.

If you're looking to hone your thumber, or standard overhand shot- this course will give you plenty of chances, the course layout is almost entirely through a moderately dense deciduous forest. Just be prepared to hit some trees.

Picnic shelters, grills, and garbage cans are scattered throughout the park. For family (or large group) frolfers- its a great day trip if you have kids. If they get tired after the front nine- it's easy to take a sit-down, picnic/BBQ breather at almost any point.

- No concrete tees... would be nice, especially in the springtime- gets a little muddy.

- A little more variation in hole types would be nice- all wood shots can get a little frustrating after awhile (Trees, Trees, and more trees)

- The ravine is beautiful, but terrible. Perfect shots can quickly turn into a 20 minute "slide down the ravine" debacle.

- While the shelters have garbage cans- can placement on the course is pretty sparse- sometimes the emptys can build up.

- Can sometimes be extremely crowded.

Overall, a well designed, fairly challenging course (due to the high level of tree-obstacles)... Definitely worth a drive.

• Heavily wooded and technical rewarding accuracy over power
• Flowing design with outstanding use of elevation, ravine, creek
• Multiple tees with signage at white tees
• Some risky pin placements; many are 'blind' from pro tees
• Worn in and heavily played so nominal amount of undergrowth
• Ravine is a daunting hazard on the front 9, less so on back 9
• Not especially long course so somewhat easier to recover from tree hits (and you WILL hit trees here)

• Not much diversity in holes types as mainly wooded
• Ravine has some severe drop offs and steps/walkways/bridges could use upkeep so caution is warranted
• Bring a map as first timers may have some navigation issues
• Natural tees are worn/eroded from use as is expected w/tees of this type

The first two holes are not representative of this course as they are more open and play primarily on the outskirt of the woods. However #2's pin placement at the edge of the ravine gives you a taste of what's to follow on the front 9 - a tight, technical wooded web surrounded by a deep chasm waiting to gulp up errant throws. Accuracy and shot placement are critical here as tree collisions are guaranteed and even the slightest throw gone astray could end up deep down in the gorge.

The back nine, while still heavily wooded and technical, features a tamer version of the ravine where the drop-offs are not as extreme but pose a challenge nonetheless with baskets at its edge and fairways in, around and over it.

Chestnut Ridge appears to be a popular course and for good reason - it's tough with all the woods but fair in its length with a good deal of risk to boot. Undeniably a recommended play if in the Buffalo area.

Amazing view on the first hole. Nice changes in elevation. Nice tunnel shots through trees. Three different tees for all skill levels.

Poor signage and tee markings. Many, many, many trees. Difficult to see baskets when leaves are on trees. no "next tee" signs.

worth going to play if you are in the area. print the map!

Challenging course that takes you threw the woods at Chesnut Ridge. Good course to go to and practice side arms. Blue tees are one of the hardest sets of tees that i have ever played.

The Ridge Rats. Very popular course. Young kids go to the course and trash it. They will throw their discs at you because there are a lot of blind shots where they can not see the basket.

You get one of the best views of buffalo that you can get on top of the hill at hole 1. Get a nice shot of the city, Ralph Wilson stadium and the Niagara Falls.

I got hooked on disc golf at this course. The front nine are the toughest, starting off going down, then coming back up, a steep grade with the ever present ravine on your right. The back nine is much flatter, though still densely wooded and incorporating the creek and ravine. The ravine on the back nine is much smaller and not so deep. This course is so well designed, so deceptive. They've made excellent use of the ravine as a hazard, often placing baskets within feet of the edge. Going for it can punish your score sheet, and a moment's lapse in focus usually means a hike- which I view as a plus due to the exercise. There are plenty of ways to get safely down into the creek, so don't fret. I've never lost a disc here in two years.

The tees are a mess. Muddy when wet, roots, rocks, uneven- Watch your step- it'd be easy to twist an ankle here.
The saddest thing is that disrespectful people litter and wreck the forest, ruining one of Western New York's gems. This old hardwood forest is a treasure, along with the 'New Deal' free-standing stone structures and architecture. I guess you can't change people, but I agree that more garbage cans would help. Show some respect!!!
Do yourself a favor and print a map from nrdg.net site. Many people get turned around and miss #13 & #14.

I'd love to see improvements in the tees and creek crossings and signage, but until the destruction ends, who would invest in it? Some tree pruning would be great, I've often sworn to bring a saw.