Nice layout with plenty of challenging holes. The course is very hilly and you end up with a great workout. The course is pretty open and you have no problem figuring out where to go next.

The course has a lot of beer bottles, cans, and water bottles laying around. It's sad that people playing this course feel the need to throw their trash on the ground. The only other gripe I have about this course is that it was very crowded. Lots of people were playing here and we frequently had to wait to play each hole.

It's a good course, not a great one. If it were better maintained and was less crowded, I would have definitely given this course a higher rating.

- good use of elevation (also a con)
- good tee pads
- signs with distances and tees
- nice an open so it is good for beginners
- has a lot of history being one of the first disc golf courses
- very easy to navigate
- holes flow one after the other, no long walks between holes
- 2 or 3 nice holes that stand out 7,8,16
- bathrooms in the parking lot

- elevation is also a con because it is tiring to walk up and down hills throughout the front 9
- the course seems bland at times, especially on the front 9
- no multiple tees or baskets that I can find
- the baskets seem smaller than normal (I could be wrong)

This is a good course to start on because it is very easy to navigate and a lot of the holes are pretty open so a newcomer might not become as frustrated by having their discs constantly hitting trees. There is also some really long shots so better players can air it out. Hole 7 is one you can air it out going down hill. Hole 16 is also unique with a down hill throw over two layers. I would have rated the course higher if their were more "wow" holes like some of the other courses in Rochester.

The course plays through a grassy park with scattered mature trees. Most of the course plays on a large hillside, and the design uses the elevation quite a bit to make tough uphill holes, fun downhill bombs, and some tricky sloped greens and landing areas. The course is pretty open, but a few holes have enough trees to make you hit some tighter lines and low ceilings. A few holes at the end have some brushy rough in play to add some punishment for errant shots.

There is a nice mix of hole lengths throughout, especially with the hills adding or taking away from the effective lengths. The few tighter holes call for some different lines to hit, and the wind makes you think a little in the more open areas of the course. The park is nicely maintained, with mowed grass and no trash or vandalism when I played.

The first two thirds of the course play very open, and get a bit repetitive. The hill shots are fun but there isn't a whole lot of variety or different types of challenges in this part of the course. These holes are also a bit crammed in and with the large numbers of newer players that seem to frequent this course it can be a bit of a safety issue with discs flying across adjacent fairways.

There are no tee signs, just distances painted on the tee pads. This makes it a little unclear where to go next after a few of the holes. A little signage at or between holes would go a long way. The baskets are a little older and don't always catch as well as newer targets. Te tees are a bit lumpy in some spots,though it sounds like they're a major upgrade over the previous situation.

This is a really fun recreational course, and it seemed to be one of the most popular area courses. The distances are fairly reasonable, and less accurate throwers aren't heavily punished. More experienced players won't find too many interesting challenges, but it's a great place to play some fun elevation shots.

The hill! This is obviously what Ellison is all about. You get big uphill and downhill holes here. There's a 500+' hole that many players will reach with a midrange and 300' holes that even REC players are throwing putters at. What disc golfer doesn't love to throw a disc from the top of a hill like this?? The first dozen holes are all about distance management. They aren't wide open, but the trees here aren't the main challenge. #13-15 bring some tighter lines and shot shaping-tree avoiding holes to the course. #16 is a cool shooting down a terrace hole. The course finishes with a good one-two punch of (#17) a 600' two placement shot hole with a tough hillside putt and (#18) a short 270' birdie hole. The baskets are old MachIII's, but still in good condition. Distances painted on the fly-pads seemed pretty accurate. Restrooms on site and ample parking spaces.

Dangerous! On the hillside holes discs can come flying at you from all directions; some of them from tees that are pretty far away. The new rubber fly-pads are still in very good condition, however several of them are "lumpy" which makes me wonder if their installation was rushed and the ground not properly leveled first. This is a multi-use park so you will have to content with other park goers that consist of picnicers, dog walkers, and random aimless teenagers.

If you're not used to playing courses with big elevation Ellison can eat you up. You'll be overthrowing downhill baskets by 100+' and leaving uphill upshots short by 75'. There seems to be a constant echo of "FORE!" ringing around the course as errant throws whiz by your head. The arrows painted on the trees of #13 aren't ridiculous mandos, instead they're path directions for horseback riders. Ellison isn't a technical course in the traditional sense of hitting lines through trees, it requires a different type of skill: elevation management. It has a pretty high fun factor to it.

• Course is on a hillside so plenty of up/down elevation changes
• Mainly wide open with varying hole lengths (some ace runs, long bombs, etc)
• Signage at most tees (I believe there were a couple missing)
• Minimal disc loss possibilities
• Large, well maintained park

• Natural tees are extremely worn - basically dirt/mud ditches in ground - and are in desperate need of improvement
• Some holes are too close together with high potential of discs straying onto fairways, putting areas, etc.
• No alt. tees or pin positions to add variety, challenge, diverse looks
• Crowded - not only DGers but also people walking through fairways to access dog park, walking paths, etc.

Upon first arriving at Ellison Park, I was initially struck at how much it reminded me in appearance to Little Lehigh Parkway in Allentown, PA - a large, public city park, nicely maintained with wide open, rolling fairways which double as sledding hills. But after playing the first couple holes, all similarities vanished. Being located in such a large park with so much potential, I was hoping for an exciting journey traversing through a substantial portion of it. This was not the case as the first 12 holes basically go back and forth/up and down a mostly open, limited area with holes side by side and back to back with one another and playing very similarly. Don't get me wrong though, there are some nice wide open downhill bombs, aces runs and tough uphill drives here which were fun to play. It's just that these holes are too close together and have little variety.

However I really enjoyed the sequence of holes 13-18 - there were more trees, brush and undergrowth on these holes forcing more thought, consideration and shot placement. Additionally, they moved away from the core area where the first twelve holes are located. So the sense was you were actually progressing through the course rather than meandering a limited area where you can see all of the holes and the players playing on them.

Ellison Park is a pleasing play overall and if the tee pad issues are resolved and some alt. pin placements added, my rating would increase by at least a half disc. Certainly worth a play if sampling Rochester area courses.

The course has some decent length and the elavation change is a big plus. There aren't any other people using this space (except for hole 18). Its open enough for new players to begin and enough challenge for advanced players to have fun.

Mach 3 baskets. The crowd in the beginning of the spring (it calms down over the summer). The teepads are craters BUT they will be replaced with concret soon and the course moves up the scale.

An old classic that gets boring eventually as players skill increases.

I really enjoyed this course. Holes were mixed righty, lefty, tunnel, blind, open, up and down hills. The elevation on this course is well used. I emptied my bag on a few holes. Especially hole 7. It is very hard to lose a disc on this course but there are some places where trees can reach out and snag your disc. I appreciated the numerous longer ace runs where you could see the whole flight of the disk. The tee signs were pretty good and showed major obstacles and distance.

There is a major problem with tee pads here. Most of the pads are extremely eroded. They look like 1 to 2 foot deep/wide and 4 foot long ditches. I feel that the condition of a few of them could be dangerous. I would think that during a rain they would be all puddles. You could see that people were playing to the left right and front of these which will only erode them further. Something needs to be done before Worlds in 2011.
The layout of this course could have been planned a little better. There are numerous holes where you are throwing near the fairway, tee box, or green of bordering holes. While throwing on hole 7 you have the potential to hit people on 4 or 5 other holes. I got slightly confused on the location of hole 9 so maybe a few next tee signs would be good.

I created this review by comparing this course to numerous 2-5 level courses from Seattle, to San Antonio, to Charlotte and all along the North East. Framed in rubber or gravel tee pads would increase this course to a 3.5 and I think I would give it a 4 with concrete tee pads. I understand that concrete pads could be "thought" to be a challenge with sledders however, if properly set into the ground they would not be an obsicle. Just little 3" ramps off the backside which is smaller than any snow drift.

In my opinion the layout and openess of the course prevent it from being rated over a 4. This is the first course I would return to when I visit Rochester again.

Great variety of holes, excellent layout, competitive pars. Hole 7 is a REALLY long par 3 straight downhill. Best opportunity around to air out your discs.

Only one set of tees. Lots of uphill walking (about 4-5 holes play directly up hill) Some holes are missing the signs, so it can be hard to tell where to throw (its pretty straight forward though)

nice open course, easy to find and many people around playing... long holes to practice up on your drives...

over half the course is at a slant so bring your V8 with ya!! It can be awfull muddy there... tees turn to ponds when it rains...

Great use of hilly terrain. Really what adds the most difficulty to this course. Really fun to throw down the huge 500' long hill on #7. Mix of really open holes and well protected holes.

OVERCROWED !! With either lots of disc golfers who do not always let you play through or with people just walking their dog oblivious to disc golf.
Lots of similar shots playing back and forth from one hole to the next.
Tee boxes are in really rough shape as they are just gravel that has been washed away over the years.

Get there early if you want to be alone and bring water in the summer can get very hot. Course not open in winter due to use of hills for sledding. I believe that they are in the process of getting the funding to get concrete tees.

This course has some big elevation changes which I always find fun. Holes 13-16 have a nice shady wooded feel. Course flows well.

Tee pads are strait-up bad, simple as that. Tees are a very uneven dirt surface that will only expand as people stand off to the side. A disc fading left on #7 tee could nail someone putting on #4. Walking from #8 basket to #9 tee is a back track right into people teeing off on #8.

The side of a very large hill dominates this course. Most of the holes throw across, up or down the side of this hill. If you have problems with your disc fading too much on elevation throws you will probably wind up in another fairway.

This is a pretty average course. Not great, not bad. The big hill gives some interesting throws. #7 in particular is a very long downhill. Much of the course is open and grassy with relatively few obstacles compared to other courses. If I lived in Rochester I would certainly play here. Although, there are enough courses in the region that you could mix it up easily.

This was my first trip to Rochester, and i will definitely check this course out again. As it's been mentioned there is a degree of elevation change, and for me coming from Buffalo it was a welcome change as our course play mostly flat. The course has a few hyzers and annies, but the having to drive up, and back down the sledding hill is what really makes this course stand out.

I played today with timg and i'm glad i did otherwise i may have had some trouble negotiating the course. And it rained before we got there so the dirt "tee boxes" were just very large puddles. Other than that i thought was a good course, maybe a little on the short side.

multiple tee placement and concrete/asphalt tee boxes would greatly improve this course. score cards with a course map would also be nice for new comers such as myself.

Reasonably well signed course. Holes are mostly short enough to be enjoyed by beginners, but not pitch-n-putt short. Lots of fun with elevation change: some switchbacks, some ups and some downs. Not a dull hole in the bunch.

Most has already been said by others. Biggest issue is the course has only one set of tees and they are all mud holes. In addition some of the baskets near the middle of the course are rather close together - it's easy to play the wrong one the first time through or to throw into another fairway at times.

No course needs concrete tees more than this one. Other than that - a great place to play.

Well maintained One of the only local places with challenging elevation changes.

Often crowded city park. Fairly short by todays standards.