Eugene T. Mahoney put together a hell of a state park in Ashland. The disc golf course is not bad, but there must be a hundred other things to do here. Aquatic center, stables, playgrounds, conservatory, fishing, ice skating, camping, tennis, volleyball and many other activities make it well worth the price of admission. I only went for one reason though.

The disc golf park has to work around a lot of the other things going on there, but manages to do it and has several really good holes. The front nine is grassy with plenty of trees and good size hills in places. The back is mostly links style, way more open and mowed out of tall grass.

The tees are concrete, and have signs. The targets are in place and doing their thing well. As usual I like the elevation change holes the best, and there are five or six pretty good ones here. There is also some water in play, but it is minimal.

I would have liked to give it a better rating, but the course does have some issues. It has three distances listed on each tee sign, but no map or markers for other tees. Par listed on the DGCR app was 64, which was way too high to me. I guess it has undergone a redesign before, maybe this has something to do with it.

Construction near hole three must have taken that box out entirely for now, I couldn't find one. It's too bad because it looked like a cool downhill run, I made my own tee up to get that drive in. Around hole 5 was a bit muddy, and the creek seemed to be seeping out rather than rainfall soaking the ground.

The layout is whacky in places, so print a map for sure. Finding the first tee behind the conservatory was sort of tricky. There are a few transitions that had me searching even with the map. As far as I know, you must walk across hole 5 to get from hole 17 to 18. The Other people in the park are likely to be near some holes, requiring caution and courtesy.

This is a good quality course, but it does have some odd spots and quirks. Clearly a lot of work has gone into designing and maintaining it. Nearby construction was still affecting part of it as of Labor Day 2017.

I would say it is worth a visit if you are in the area. Even on a busy holiday weekend, it was very playable. There is enough there to keep the whole family busy for the entire vacation.

I was able to score a 57 my first time out, which felt like a par round, but is a very generous -7 according to my phone. The two par 5's seemed like they should have been 4's, and some of the 4's were a stretch IMHO. I only had a couple of 2's on my scorecard, one of the a par 4 listed at 281'.

Layout issues and inflated overall par aside, I enjoyed the course a good deal. If you don't mind forking out a few bones to play a new course, check it out. Maybe see if you can get a local to show you the ins and outs, I would've liked someone to tell me what is up with that place. If you go solo, I'm sure you'll figure it out mostly, I did.

-Variation in holes
-Forces you to plan out your shots.
-Well kept
-Clean, no trash.

-If your shot goes off the fairway, be prepared to search in chest-high grass and weeds for it.
-There is a walking path through the first 11 holes, be careful of pedestrians

Course is beautiful. Well mown fairways make good targets. Tee pads are nice concrete. Course maps they have at the main office are nice.Surprisingly challenging course. It has some nice spots.

People can get a little too close for comfort. As we were leaving we saw a couple sitting on a rock by a basket that we had thrown to earlier. It was the 4th, so much more traffic, but still, this is a park with non-disc golfers. You also get really close to the pool. The biggest downside is the tall grass, which I complain about at most parks, but it unavoidable. Just be prepared.

The park costs $5 a day or $25 for an annual. Disc golf is not on major road signs. Stop in at main office for directions if need be. Not to hard to find. I wish all Nebraska parks had a DGC.

-Attractive & well-manicured.
-Close-by modern restrooms & drinking fountain.
-Very convenient paved parking.

-Short course. The play was over way too fast.
-The tall grass prairie, when green & growing, might eat the discs of younger players on some holes. Older ones too.
-The course map doesn't accurately locate Hole #1. Hole # 1 is located just south of the greenhouse.

The course is located next to the James Family Conservatory building (greenhouse) across the street from the horse riding stable. The paved parking lot adjacent to the course is one of the least used lots in the park. In fact, I think the area the course is in is one of the least used areas of the entire park, even though it's been made very attractive over the years with walking paths, bridges and plantings.

Owen Marina (on the other side of the park) rents discs if the only reason you're not playing is that you've forgotten your own. For $3 I don't know what you get as far as discs other than rely on what a female park employee told us, "We'd rather you brought your own because ours aren't very good." lol

The greenhouse next to the course has indoor modern restrooms, as well as a drinking fountain, and is not a horrible walk from anywhere on the course if nature calls while playing. The greenhouse is open year round, unlike some other activities and attractions in the park.

Peter Kewitt Lodge (the largest building in the park) has a course map with scorecard. They didn't have any out with the other park literature when I was there, but happily printed one off for me. You don't really need a course map as the 9 holes play in a pretty logical order and the next tee pad is easy to find, but it's kind of fun to have as a memento of the day.

The entrance fee for the park is now $5 a vehicle for a day pass, or $26 for an annual Nebraska State Park Pass, and $13.50 for a duplicate annual pass. There is no additional charge to play the course if you've brought your own discs.

This is a very well manicured, small, attractive 9-hole course and would be suitable for players of all ages. I think Nebraska Game and Parks has nailed it with this course since this entire park is all about enjoying a family outing together.

6-15-2012 UPDATE: At least another 9 holes have been added to this course as of this date. The fairways are recently mowed but I don't have a course map to share of the recent addition.