- Excellent variety. Course does really well with elevation and length variation. About 60/40 wooded to open holes, with the back 9 being more wooded than the front.
- Great tee signage and two permanent baskets and two teepads at every hole.
- Approachable for beginners but plenty challenging for experienced players. Birdies are earned here.
- Woods is really gorgeous. Big tall pines, not super dense thick brush in most places, even off in the rough. Feels like you're in Colorado on some holes, not Wisconsin.
- Holes are spaced out pretty well, you're not right on top of each other like you are on some other courses in the area.
- A couple memorable holes, including everyone's favorite the top-of-the-world bomb on 18, but also the plinko hole on 15 (which I think is fun).

- Navigation is tricky in a few spots. Particularly after the first woods hole. Could benefit from better signage in a few spots.
- Can get crowded (it's a popular course).
- It plays in a mixed use park, and while the vast majority of it is in a disc golf exclusive area, the big hill area is often used by other park goers. There are three holes that play across this hill so occasionally there are other park users in the fairway there.
-$5/day, $40/annual. Not a con to me, as it is maintained well, but may be to some.

Elver is the other Madison city park course, making it the sister course to Hiestand. I waffle back and forth on which I prefer, as they are both fantastic courses, but I think Elver probably has the advantage, making it my personal favorite of the "big 4" Madison 18+ hole courses. This course just truly has everything. I think the two things that put it slightly over the top are the signature holes and the beauty of the woods holes. There's also some real length variation here, especially if you are playing from the long tees there are some true bomber holes, so really everyone at all skill levels will enjoy it and can be challenged by it. You will get a workout playing this course, but that just makes it even better imo. I ultimately rated it the same as Hiestand, as I love them both, but really you would be hard pressed to find a more complete course. And for one in a public park? Forget about it. Fantastic all around course, and a must play if you're anywhere close to the area.

The course was lengthened and a few holes redesigned, and a great deal of work was put into remedying erosion issues.

It's heavily wooded and on a massive sled hill and the course winds in and out of those woods. There are very few long and open holes, and even those pose great challenges with slope (Holes 2 and 18 in particular).

It's a technical masterpiece and one of the more exceptional courses in south central WI, rivaling nearby Marshall for top honors.

I don't see any.

My first course, so I'm biased. I've played well over 1000 rounds here and had at least 10 aces and in my second year of playing shot a 39 to tie the course record set by Barry Schulz (the course is at least 5 strokes harder now with all of the improvements).

This course may not be totally "perfect", but I honestly never noticed while playing it. I'll try not to get too carried away here.

> Super scenic course with more variety than any other course I've ever seen.
> Big, level, concrete tee pads for both pro and am settings that are in fantastic shape.
> Most of the signage is great. The tee signs are obviously being improved, but they're good and there are plenty of signs directing players to the next tee which are easy to follow.
> Amazing course design that explores every shot shape I could think of and manages to shake things up at every tee.
> The park and course were both very clean when I visited. Some trash cans needed emptied... but you could tell that folks generally make an effort here. I didn't see anything in the way of graffiti except on one unfortunate bench.
> I found the pin positions (including the alternates I saw) to each offer a unique challenge and were guarded enough to require much more than just a "point-and-shoot" experience.

The negatives on this course are relatively just nit-picky odds and ends, with only one major thing that could improve it.

> The first few holes seem a little uninspired and are mostly just a way to get you to the top of the hill without making you throw straight up the hill.
> Pro tees were not as far back as they could have been in most cases and I saw some opportunity to position them in a way that might make for a bit more variety as well as distance.
> I felt the am tees could also have been further away. Sometimes the course just felt a little short for the space.
> I read that the course is closed between Nov and April. That sucks. This would be a great opportunity for fall and winter games and a great Ice Bowl tournament participant.

This course is a real surprise - when you first start, you think it's a really average one and starts off adequate but uninspiring... until you reach the top of the hill and the view of the terrain begins to take hold. As you finish up hole 4, you begin a process of being transported from one very different type of landscape to another - a Farmers Field, a large pine forest similar to Endor from Star Wars, midwestern backwoods, a bouldered glacial deposit, a steep rock face, an orchard... and like that all the way to 18 for the majestic and fun downhill throw (which could have been further away to make those soaring rips really worth it - I overshot the basket by about 100').
I have to send huge respect to this courses designer(s) and the parks dept./city for allowing them the freedom to really explore this park. Also I want to applaud the Mad City Disc Golf Club for their obvious hard work and efforts at Elver and Heistand parks. You have a true gem of the Disc Golf world here and I thank you for the opportunity. The pictures attached to this course so far are very insufficient to show what it really looks like.
I live many states away and came to Madison to visit the inlaws, so I thought I'd find a couple of courses to enhance the trip. I discovered that there are very few courses in the Madison area by comparison to my home town... but Elver park is now my favorite course and I can't wait to get back soon. Make the trip for this and Hiestand Park, you'll be glad you did.