Flower City DGC - Black reviews
11
0
A Fun Park-Style Course For All Skill Levels 2+ years
Reviewed:
Updated:
Played on:Oct 30, 2021
Played the course:once
Pros:
Flower City DGC - Black is a recreational park-style course in Palmyra. This course is the original course to the park installed in 2008, and snakes around different creeks and park uses to create a fun round of golf for both new and experienced players.
Location of Flower City Park is on the northwest side of town, requiring you to navigate a couple local roads after getting off Route 61. Palmyra is a smaller town of a few thousand folks but has all of the food and gas needs you may have before or after your round. When turning onto Breckenridge to enter the park, you'll want to turn left before the tennis courts, and then park along the left side of the road by the playground. This is now one of two 18-hole courses in this park, and when also considering courses in Quincy and Hannibal, there's plenty of recreational courses to make a day out of.
Park Amenities are aplenty in Flower City Park, as this park makes up a good percentage of the city's land. The park has 7 total shelters, three of which have water, electric, and playgrounds nearby. There are bathrooms around the park, though it seems like some of them are seasonal. The park also has a large nature trail in the back of the park, multiple tennis courts and baseball fields, and a community pool. There are county fairgrounds in the park as well, making for plenty of infrastructure for larger events. The second 18-hole course began installation last year, and is located further into the park past the nature trail.
Course Equipment is all in good shape on the black course despite showing a little age. The baskets are discatchers that have some rusted chains, but they still catch well for the most part. Each hole has a concrete tee, and all 18 tees were in great shape and nice to tee off from. The tee signs have distances, pars, and graphics of the hole layouts that include directions to the next tee. Each hole also has a nickname, which adds a little character to this course. There is a course map at the start of the course as well for your reference.
Course Design
Shot Shapes and Hole Designs - This course has a nice mix of shot shaping throughout the 18 holes. There are a good combo of hyzers, anhyzers, straight shots, and holes where you can make a call for what shot you're most comfortable going for. I threw just about every disc in my bag on this course, from anhyzers with my Heat to hyzers with my Runway or Blade, to ace runs with my Buzzz or Envy. For being an easier park styler course, this one has a good amount of variety.
Distances - The holes on this course range from 198 to 680 feet, providing a good combination of short ace runs, longer multi-shot par 4s, and plenty of holes that fall in between those categories. The course has 6 par 4s, and they all feel gettable for intermediate and advanced players while being short enough to not discourage new players.
Elevation - This course highlights some of the elevation in the front of the park, providing a fair amount of downhill holes as well as holes that go through shallow valleys. Hole 13 is really the only hole that goes uphill, as most of the other holes with elevation go downhill and are followed by an uphill walk to the next tee.
Navigation - While there are quirks to the course layout, it is not too hard to navigate overall. The course map and tee signs help with navigation from hole to hole. While plenty of the holes are blind shots to the pin, the layouts on the signs make it easy to figure out where you're throwing. This is a course where I felt more comfortable than usual throwing blind shots around corners, even with creeks and tree lines in play.
Use of Land - This course makes the most of the land available, hugging tree lines, the creeks in the park, and other park uses without being too dangerous at any point. I'd say they maximized the land that was allotted for disc golf at the time.
Difficulty - This course is pretty versatile. Newer players will be able to go for a lot of the shots on this course, while intermediate or advanced players will have opportunities to run riskier shots more throughout their round. There's enough variety to keep most players having fun on this course.
Highlights - Holes 3 and 4 are fun, wide-open shots that require long drives to go for a birdie. Hole 14 is super fun, requiring you to throw between two trees on an otherwise open, downhill hole.
Location of Flower City Park is on the northwest side of town, requiring you to navigate a couple local roads after getting off Route 61. Palmyra is a smaller town of a few thousand folks but has all of the food and gas needs you may have before or after your round. When turning onto Breckenridge to enter the park, you'll want to turn left before the tennis courts, and then park along the left side of the road by the playground. This is now one of two 18-hole courses in this park, and when also considering courses in Quincy and Hannibal, there's plenty of recreational courses to make a day out of.
Park Amenities are aplenty in Flower City Park, as this park makes up a good percentage of the city's land. The park has 7 total shelters, three of which have water, electric, and playgrounds nearby. There are bathrooms around the park, though it seems like some of them are seasonal. The park also has a large nature trail in the back of the park, multiple tennis courts and baseball fields, and a community pool. There are county fairgrounds in the park as well, making for plenty of infrastructure for larger events. The second 18-hole course began installation last year, and is located further into the park past the nature trail.
Course Equipment is all in good shape on the black course despite showing a little age. The baskets are discatchers that have some rusted chains, but they still catch well for the most part. Each hole has a concrete tee, and all 18 tees were in great shape and nice to tee off from. The tee signs have distances, pars, and graphics of the hole layouts that include directions to the next tee. Each hole also has a nickname, which adds a little character to this course. There is a course map at the start of the course as well for your reference.
Course Design
Shot Shapes and Hole Designs - This course has a nice mix of shot shaping throughout the 18 holes. There are a good combo of hyzers, anhyzers, straight shots, and holes where you can make a call for what shot you're most comfortable going for. I threw just about every disc in my bag on this course, from anhyzers with my Heat to hyzers with my Runway or Blade, to ace runs with my Buzzz or Envy. For being an easier park styler course, this one has a good amount of variety.
Distances - The holes on this course range from 198 to 680 feet, providing a good combination of short ace runs, longer multi-shot par 4s, and plenty of holes that fall in between those categories. The course has 6 par 4s, and they all feel gettable for intermediate and advanced players while being short enough to not discourage new players.
Elevation - This course highlights some of the elevation in the front of the park, providing a fair amount of downhill holes as well as holes that go through shallow valleys. Hole 13 is really the only hole that goes uphill, as most of the other holes with elevation go downhill and are followed by an uphill walk to the next tee.
Navigation - While there are quirks to the course layout, it is not too hard to navigate overall. The course map and tee signs help with navigation from hole to hole. While plenty of the holes are blind shots to the pin, the layouts on the signs make it easy to figure out where you're throwing. This is a course where I felt more comfortable than usual throwing blind shots around corners, even with creeks and tree lines in play.
Use of Land - This course makes the most of the land available, hugging tree lines, the creeks in the park, and other park uses without being too dangerous at any point. I'd say they maximized the land that was allotted for disc golf at the time.
Difficulty - This course is pretty versatile. Newer players will be able to go for a lot of the shots on this course, while intermediate or advanced players will have opportunities to run riskier shots more throughout their round. There's enough variety to keep most players having fun on this course.
Highlights - Holes 3 and 4 are fun, wide-open shots that require long drives to go for a birdie. Hole 14 is super fun, requiring you to throw between two trees on an otherwise open, downhill hole.
Cons:
Course Equipment could use some refreshment once they are done with the Orange course. The baskets are starting to show their age with rusting chains, and I had some putts that usually go in either spit out or come close. The tee signs are designed well, but some of the wood or signs are starting to show some age. The design of the signs work great - they just need a little touchups to protect them from additional weathering.
Mud and Drainage can be an issue on this course at times. I played this course after some substantial precipitation over the previous couple of days, so I probably saw this course when it was close to its worst in this regard. If it has recently rained, watch out for water runoff around the pin of hole 1 between holes 10 and 11, along 11's fairway, in front of hole 13's tee, and while walking up to hole 16. While I'm pretty sure the course doesn't stay this wet very long, it's clear that soggy ground can stay that way for a while here. Some of the hills can also get dicey with mud, so watch out after rain.
Navigation is weird in a couple of spots. The course starts a little walk from the parking area, which can throw you off when trying to find hole 1 and where to park. There's also a little bit of a walk between 9 and 10, though this walk does take you close to your car which is nice. The walks between 7 and 8, and 15 and 16 and 17 are also a little longer and feel a little disjointed. I get why holes 14 and 15 are designed that way and think they are both a lot of fun, and while 16 is a fun ace run, I feel like there was land to do something different that felt more cohesive. Seeing the tee for 16 next to 15 as you're teeing off down and around a hill doesn't lead to you looking forward to the walk back up the hill.
Course Design - As I touched on a bit already, some of the holes feel like they could have been designed a little better. I agree with Cujo about holes 13 through 16; while I was a fan of 14, it feel like the back part of this course could have been designed to flow better with more fun tee shots. This part of the course stand out mainly because the front 12 holes are designed so well and are so fun to play. The back third of this course isn't bad but doesn't stand up to the front 2/3rd of this course. The course also now just has one pin and one tee per hole, which isn't necessarily a con, but restricts the variety that this land could provide.
Safety - Some shots on the course do feel a little sketchy. Hole 9 plays between a circle drive, so make sure you look before you throw your disc. Hole 15 plays towards the drive to the back part of the park and is a blind shot, so you likely won't see cars that are coming from that part of the park. Hole 18 plays kind of close to the road, but you can see any cars or people, making this less of an issue than the other two examples.
Mud and Drainage can be an issue on this course at times. I played this course after some substantial precipitation over the previous couple of days, so I probably saw this course when it was close to its worst in this regard. If it has recently rained, watch out for water runoff around the pin of hole 1 between holes 10 and 11, along 11's fairway, in front of hole 13's tee, and while walking up to hole 16. While I'm pretty sure the course doesn't stay this wet very long, it's clear that soggy ground can stay that way for a while here. Some of the hills can also get dicey with mud, so watch out after rain.
Navigation is weird in a couple of spots. The course starts a little walk from the parking area, which can throw you off when trying to find hole 1 and where to park. There's also a little bit of a walk between 9 and 10, though this walk does take you close to your car which is nice. The walks between 7 and 8, and 15 and 16 and 17 are also a little longer and feel a little disjointed. I get why holes 14 and 15 are designed that way and think they are both a lot of fun, and while 16 is a fun ace run, I feel like there was land to do something different that felt more cohesive. Seeing the tee for 16 next to 15 as you're teeing off down and around a hill doesn't lead to you looking forward to the walk back up the hill.
Course Design - As I touched on a bit already, some of the holes feel like they could have been designed a little better. I agree with Cujo about holes 13 through 16; while I was a fan of 14, it feel like the back part of this course could have been designed to flow better with more fun tee shots. This part of the course stand out mainly because the front 12 holes are designed so well and are so fun to play. The back third of this course isn't bad but doesn't stand up to the front 2/3rd of this course. The course also now just has one pin and one tee per hole, which isn't necessarily a con, but restricts the variety that this land could provide.
Safety - Some shots on the course do feel a little sketchy. Hole 9 plays between a circle drive, so make sure you look before you throw your disc. Hole 15 plays towards the drive to the back part of the park and is a blind shot, so you likely won't see cars that are coming from that part of the park. Hole 18 plays kind of close to the road, but you can see any cars or people, making this less of an issue than the other two examples.
Other Thoughts:
Flower City Park makes it clear that Palmyra puts some love into its Parks and Rec Department. The park was in great shape, with the grass mowed, no stray branches, and plenty of families and folks enjoying the park as I played my round of golf. This park could belong in Pleasantville.
Based on the past reviews of this course, I'm pretty sure this course has gotten improvements over the years. It's clear that the addition of concrete tees and adjustments to the course design has greatly improved the playability of this course overtime. I didn't have too high of expectations of this course, but as someone who visits Quincy on occasion, this along with the Orange course is now my favorite place to play in this area (with a couple more courses to tryout nearby).
Flower City - Black is a nice recreational course that many skill levels can enjoy. If you're wanting to test out new shot lines, or just want a relatively low-key round as an experienced player, you likely won't leave this course disappointed. If you're making your way along I-61 or visiting the Quincy/Hannibal/Palmyra area, this course is worth a stop to play. With two courses in the park, you may want to leave yourself a half-day to cover both, as the Orange course provides a good contrast to the original Black course.
It's always nice to see towns put this much attention into their parks. Shoutout to Palmyra for a great morning of disc golf, and for a fun round at this nice recreational course.
Based on the past reviews of this course, I'm pretty sure this course has gotten improvements over the years. It's clear that the addition of concrete tees and adjustments to the course design has greatly improved the playability of this course overtime. I didn't have too high of expectations of this course, but as someone who visits Quincy on occasion, this along with the Orange course is now my favorite place to play in this area (with a couple more courses to tryout nearby).
Flower City - Black is a nice recreational course that many skill levels can enjoy. If you're wanting to test out new shot lines, or just want a relatively low-key round as an experienced player, you likely won't leave this course disappointed. If you're making your way along I-61 or visiting the Quincy/Hannibal/Palmyra area, this course is worth a stop to play. With two courses in the park, you may want to leave yourself a half-day to cover both, as the Orange course provides a good contrast to the original Black course.
It's always nice to see towns put this much attention into their parks. Shoutout to Palmyra for a great morning of disc golf, and for a fun round at this nice recreational course.
2
0
dajuicej
Experience:
43.9 years
60 played
11 reviews
I enjoyed this course... 2+ years drive by
Reviewed:
Played on:Jun 4, 2010
Played the course:once
Pros:
After reading the other reviews, most of the cons pointed out have been addressed, except the desire for concrete tees. The park and course are very well maintained. It`s a big park so the course is spread out nicely. A nice mix of long and short holes with some elevation changes. There were a lot of people in the park when I played but they were never in play. I never had to yell, "FORE".
Theres a lot of signage on the course, the white tees are easy to find. The red tees are just the area near the hole sign. There are a few hole in one opportunities if you have a long accurate drive, I do not, LOL.
Theres a lot of signage on the course, the white tees are easy to find. The red tees are just the area near the hole sign. There are a few hole in one opportunities if you have a long accurate drive, I do not, LOL.
Cons:
The only real con was that though there was a lot of signage/directions on the course, some was innacurate or misleading. Particularly holes #5 & #9, the basket is not where the sign indicates. On the front nine when they thought there might be a problem finding the next tee, they put up a "to next tee" sign. On the back nine there are no such signs and the course can be hard to follow. To find hole #10 I had to go back to the main course directory. Then I had to backtrack from the basket on #13 to find the tees and baskets for 11&12. If not for this problem, I`d have rated the course a 4.
Other Thoughts:
WORTH THE DRIVE
