Energy Rotary DGC is located in an arboretum for the first 12 holes before playing in a mostly wide open field for the next 7 holes. Hole 20 has you back in the trees playing back to the parking lot.

There are concrete tee pads on all holes except hole 12. Hole 12's is a rubber mat. The concrete pads are all nice sized and have good grip. They're level with the exception of a couple. One tee pad per hole.

The tee signs are very well done, albeit in pretty rough shape, but still readable and have all the pertinent info you'd need from them. They have a very descriptive hole layout map that shows all possible pin positions, distances to each pin, hole #, any applicable OB and a next tee arrow. Nicely done with these.

The baskets are blue powdercoated Mach V's. These are really nice baskets. All were mounted nice and level and caught solidly. There's anywhere from 1 to 3 pin positions per hole. Most of the wooded holes seemed like they had 3 positions. Very good variety in this regard.

There's a good mix of shots needed to score well here. Left to right and right to left shots. Even a couple tunnel shots sprinkled throughout. There's some decent elevation throughout too. Nothing too crazy, but enough to keep things interesting.

The wind can be a big factor on the more open prairie holes, though it wasn't too windy when we were there. Even the open holes have a few trees in the fairway to add a little more challenge.

The front half of the course has lots of shade, which is nice. Lush green grass makes it feel very park like. The course was very clean and well maintained when we were here. It's permanent and free to play.

The signs, while very descriptive, have one major flaw. There's no indication on what position the pin is in. This is especially frustrating on the holes with 3 different pin positions. Some have one to the left, one to the right and one straight. Without walking the fairway you're left to guess.

The cacti on the open holes are obnoxious. I was wearing pants and hiking boots and somehow I had at least 4 of the little bastards stabbing me in the leg, through my pants, almost all the way up to my knees. Not sure how but they did.

A couple of the holes have some borderline unfair lines off the tee. Only a couple, and I'm guessing this is due to the trees off the front of the pads growing in to cut off the angle a bit. Nothing too major, but worth noting.

This is definitely the better of the 2 courses in Gillette. But not by much. To be honest it's actually kind of similar in design as Dabley. Starts out more wooded and technical before giving way to some blah openness. The wooded holes here, though, are far superior.

I wouldn't tell anyone to go out of their way to play this one. But if you're passing by and have some time to kill, you could do a lot worse than this place. If the course was entirely like the front half I'd give it a 3.5, but with the prairie holes dragging it down, especially towards the end of the round, I'm going with a 3. If I lived nearby I'd probably skip the open holes pretty regularly.

I did like the variety of trees and shrubs and basket placement.
The course was long enough on the front to have a variety of throws.

The course layout was not the easiest to find the next hole on the front 9. Not too dificult but the only real con I could come up with.

I only had time to play the front 9 on my lunch break passing through town for work. It was a good course with good basket placement. If i was able to play with locals the layout would not have been an issue. I would play it again next time i come through town.

+The first half of the course was awesome. It was fairly wooded with some fun holes. It was also slightly rolling hills which added appeal and fun to this course.
+Great tee signs, very detailed, very easy to follow this course. Hole 9 also goes right near 1 if you only want to play the front 9 a few times.
+Great blue baskets. I like colored baskets better than plain metal.
+Like I already mentioned, fun shots with ups and down and some valley type shots
+You shouldn't lose any discs at all.
+Some ace runs and some longer holes, a good combination.

-This course could be crazy busy. Dalbey Memorial is also a fun course, I would recommend playing there every once in awhile to avoid crowds.
-The second half of this course is much more open than the first and much less fun. The closing holes are among the worst on the course and don't leave a good taste in your mouth.
-Some of the holes are nice tight lines but also leave you with many options to throw around the outside and therefore ruin the challenge. Mandos would be a great addition to a few holes on this course.

+First half: 3.5, second half: 2.5
+This course is very easy to find from the interstate.
+This is the better of two courses in Gillette but this one is also much more busy so it is worth it to play at Dalbey.
+I would stop here to play. If you only have the time or energy to play 9, the first 9 are a lot of fun. Many of the locals that I saw playing skipped right from 9 to 1 as the holes are close together.

- That it's There. This course was a great course for me to break up my road trip with, but not a great course. I wasn't mad at it, it was fun. It just had some flaws that keep it from being really good... even though it's pretty good. It also appeared to be a good thing for the town of Gillette as many locals were out there playing (90% of them with only 1 disc).
- Air-it-Out. This course really allowed you to air-it-out. There was a 600+'er, several 400'ers, and several other fairways where a big air shot (spike hyzer) was the best way to go.
- Use of Vegetation to Create a Putting Situation. The course designer really did a good job utilizing the vegetation to make sure you put a premium on shot placement. A few feet to the right or left and you might have a thick cedar in between you and the chains. This was a good way to make you throw shots, and think about shot placement. It also made the wide open holes more challenging.
- Nice Sign and Tees. The course had professionally designed tee-signs (except for the "yards" part) and huge concrete tee-pads.

- Airways, not Fairways. Because the course was situated in a park that has an "arboretum" of sorts, they were limited in the way that they could design the course. Apparently the land used to be an experimental piece of property where they tested to see what types of trees could grow in this type of environment. Because the park had so many mature trees, and that seems to be rare in the region, the course designer wasn't allowed to cut any of the trees. Therefore, all the fairways are really "AIR"ways... where you're pretty much forced to throw a huge shot over the tops of the trees.

- I got to play with Tom (the course designer) and Wayne and his son Shad. Extremely nice guys... and Shad will be quite a player soon. I even traded a disc with Wayne at the end of the round, one of my local discs for one of his Gillette stamped discs. Hope to see those guys next year in Charlotte.
- I forget the name of the place we ate lunch... but it was good. It was a sports bar/pizza joint on the edge of the main street in town (had a beach volleyball court). Great wings for a decent price and the pastrami sandwich was really good. ALSO NOTE: the Taco Bell that is mentioned in my Diamond X review is in this town... do not eat there and then travel to play a Diamond X!
- My Score: -3

The Energy Rotary course combines an interesting collection of small trees and bushes with moderate hole distances to make for a semi-challenging play fit for players of all skill levels. The mostly unrestricted high ceilings allow big arcing lines on most holes for more advanced players with sky hyzers and tomahawk shots being obvious first choices on many holes. The lack of really punishing rough means that beginners will be able to throw without too much concern for lost discs or thorny lies.

Nice views: If you live in Wyoming or Montana, you are probably quite used to the expansive views of the plains but for two travelers just passing through, the difference in scenery was really cool and the vastness of the surrounding area was beautiful. We played here right through sunset which is a spectacular bursting of colors due to the nearly 360 degree view available at the course.

Memorable: The course is memorable because you almost feel like you are playing through some kind of strange orchard or arboretum. There are tons of different types of interesting trees and shrubs all around and there are rows of trees rather than a natural scattering. This all makes for some unique images that have burned in my memory from this course.

Solitude: We played Rotary on the same sunny late summer day as Dalby and found this course completely empty of both golfers and any other park users with the exception of a few cars driving through. The solitude made for a really peaceful, quiet round with only the sound of the wind whipping through the trees.

Tees/Baskets: Nice big concrete teepads and solid baskets are another upgrade that Gillette has on the neighboring Dalby course.

While comparatively, the Rotary course far, far exceeds the challenge available at the only other Gillette course, very experienced players aren't going to get all that much out of this course. Because of the nearly exclusively low-lying tree obstacles and bushes, anyone with a good amount of power can throw sky hyzers up and over obstacles. In this way, players will likely only have to control distance and manage wind direction. These big hyzers, even if poorly thrown, at the very worst will leave experienced players with easy par approaches because they negate most of the available course obstacles and leave the player with very short distances to the hole. Course variety is plagued in much the same way, with players too often being able to have their choice in route to the pin rather than being pushed to throw new shots.

Filler holes: There are several filler holes which are nearly entirely wide open and serve mostly as connectors to other sections of the course. Because the space is so large and many areas are nearly treeless, I can understand why these are necessary although filler holes are never an ideal course characteristic.

Maintenance: Nothing too bad here, but when we visited the grass was getting pretty high in some places meaning you had to search around a bit to find longer drives into the deep grass.

On the whole, the Energy Rotary course makes for a nice way to break up a long trip and its location right off of the highway means you'll be back on the road in no time. It isn't a course that anyone needs to go out of the way to play but does have a lot more to offer than the nearby Dalby course which I would skip altogether.

A wooded and relatively tight front nine with an open windy back nine gives good variety. Locals were happy to help me find a few baskets. Course is very active when the weather is clear.

Finding the baskets from the tee, especially on the front nine, can be difficult. Some basket placements seem illogical, completely shielded from any approach except "huck it into the tree". Large trees guarding a basket are one thing, but dense foliage all the way to the ground level is another. The only approach to whole 1A is from the rear. You have to climb into the bushes to putt. Maybe this is only a problem in the spring at this course and it plays better all other seasons?

This course was a pleasent surprise. I didn't expect an above average course in Gillette. I also noticed on the bulletin board that a PDGA B-Tier was in the works, huge kudos to the local players for bringing disc golf to the powder river basin!

first nine is vaired. Trees are in play at every hole. Consistiant lenghths of holes. (could also be a negative.) Nice natural setting.

Back nine is hindered by Wyoming wind. Back nine is also not very well maintained. Fairways are mowed but off of that will require some alphalpha searching to get discs.

Course is a nice play. Once the basket is discovered from the tee, it can be a challenging course. I will play it again.