I am struggling big time giving this course only a 1 disc rating. I loved playing the course for the first time yesterday and can clearly see the intent of the design in making a fun and non-demanding winter time experience. Like is said in a previous review, dealing with snow is enough - there is no fun in having to deal with the schule too.

The problem is, I do not have a separate scale for winter courses. So, I am rating/ranking this course like all others (for comparison's sake I gave Abendshein & Wales a 1 disc rating so I think I am being consistent).....but for the beauty factor I have to rate winter beauty only since I will never see it in the summer (and i am sure it is spectacular then!).

Huge thanks to the Great Lakes DG Club for all the work in setting this up every year and providing a great wintertime experience! ......and sorry for the inadvertent slam my rating seems to give your efforts to give us a fun place to play in the winter.

What I personally like and how this course stacks up in my list of 18 and more hole courses:

1) Holes with good risk/reward. Fair, but harsh punishment for bad decisions or execution. == D
(Only 5-6 holes have enough trees to even start forcing you to throw a particular shot, but even those holes do not punish a really bad shot any worse than a mediocre shot. Hole 16 is the lone exception since on this hole there are enough trees and distance to add an stroke for a bad tee shot. I know, because I lived it!)

2) Holes that have rewarding birdie opportunities for me. I'm a Blue level player (950ish skill) who throws 300' accurately, 360' max. == C-
(There seems to be an inordinate amount of holes that are just out of my range (which is shortened by not being able to have a full run-up and follow-through). This makes for the same level of intrigue as throwing on a football field. I also think a lot of the published lengths are shorter than the real lengths - I paced a few of them off to verify.)

3) More wooded than open - lots of variety of shots required caused by hole shape and topography == C-
(Again, this course is almost completely wide open. One thing that boosts things up for me in the fun factor is the long downhill bomber hole (8) - it is all I have to reach the basket.....and it is a blast to see the disc sail that far down a hill!)

4) Natural beauty (Appalachian beauty preferred) and seclusion. == B+
(This would probably be an A in the summer.....if we could play the course in the summer. The first 6 and last 2 holes are in the parking lot area (but it is only DG in that area in the winter), but the remaining 16 holes are very secluded. You feel very alone in nature out there - a great place to just walk around and unwind! I especially love the beauty and seclusion of holes 12-17.)

5) Bonus points for multi-throw holes with defined landing zones, good risk/reward and multiple options to play them. == NA

It's all about feeding the addiction, so I ranked this course subjectively based on my own "personal addiction factor". The grades above tell how well this course will draw me back to itself again and again and again. See my profile for specifics on my rating philosophy.

I fancy myself as a connoisseur of good course design and I am a competitive Blue level (950-ish rated) with mid-level power (accurate to 300' with max D of 360'). Since I have played a decent number of courses (150+ 18-hole, 90+ 9-hole as of late 2009), my hope is that players/explorers who have similar addiction tastes will find my ratings list helpful as they choose courses to play and explore.

I fully expect others with different tastes/philosophies to disagree with me.....and that's the fun of things here.