France Park reviews
7
2
Could be better...if someone cared for this place 2+ years drive by
Reviewed:
Played on:May 21, 2011
Played the course:once
Pros:
Fundamentally speaking, there is a lot to like about France park. There would be even more to like if someone actually gave a crap about this place. It's like someone using a treasure chest of gold bars for a cat box really. Yeah, it's gold and stuff, but who wants to dig through all of that cat crap to get to it?
Anyway, on we go.
Variety - The first thing that jumped out at me about this course was the sheer variety of shots you had to make. Very, very wide open short holes, all the way down to incredibly tight, technical wooded shots that demanded accuracy and precision. You'll be throwing very few long shots though, so make sure that your bag is loaded out with mids and putters. My drivers got sit in the car and drink a beer during my rounds. It was nice to play a few rounds with smashing them into trees.
two sets of tees - this course is drastically different from the two different tees. The shorts are pretty short and beginner friendly. The longs (when there is a long alternate) make for much harder shots and a MUCH longer course. As mentioned, not every hole has an alternate, but most do.
Scenery - the course is located in a wonderful park that is just flat out beautiful. a huge rock quarry sits nearby and the bridge to get to the course goes over a waterfall type thing. Very nice! (read in borat's voice)
elevation change - really cool use of the terrain in france park. the wooded holes sir on the back of a big hill and weave themselves through, up, down and all around this thing. #4 was the best use of this elevation change in my opinion, as you throw off of a gigantic, wood screened hill, down to a basket through the trees and brush. There are others like this with blind tee shots that go either up or down the elevation. there are also lots and lots of drop offs, so this can be treacherous. watch yourself.
24 holes - more disc golf almost always equals a more better score IMHO. even if I have to wander around in the woods and guess where in the hell I am going.
Anyway, on we go.
Variety - The first thing that jumped out at me about this course was the sheer variety of shots you had to make. Very, very wide open short holes, all the way down to incredibly tight, technical wooded shots that demanded accuracy and precision. You'll be throwing very few long shots though, so make sure that your bag is loaded out with mids and putters. My drivers got sit in the car and drink a beer during my rounds. It was nice to play a few rounds with smashing them into trees.
two sets of tees - this course is drastically different from the two different tees. The shorts are pretty short and beginner friendly. The longs (when there is a long alternate) make for much harder shots and a MUCH longer course. As mentioned, not every hole has an alternate, but most do.
Scenery - the course is located in a wonderful park that is just flat out beautiful. a huge rock quarry sits nearby and the bridge to get to the course goes over a waterfall type thing. Very nice! (read in borat's voice)
elevation change - really cool use of the terrain in france park. the wooded holes sir on the back of a big hill and weave themselves through, up, down and all around this thing. #4 was the best use of this elevation change in my opinion, as you throw off of a gigantic, wood screened hill, down to a basket through the trees and brush. There are others like this with blind tee shots that go either up or down the elevation. there are also lots and lots of drop offs, so this can be treacherous. watch yourself.
24 holes - more disc golf almost always equals a more better score IMHO. even if I have to wander around in the woods and guess where in the hell I am going.
Cons:
There are no tee pads to speak of. You generally tee off between two markers in the ground and go from there. While I wouldn't generally have a problem with this, this course has gigantic ruts in the boxes in a lot of the tees. If there aren't ruts, then you are teeing off of a gravel road. yes...a gravel road.
the signs at this place are pretty much useless. if there is a sign, it almost never gives you the distance. if it does give the distance, it's rarely accurate. one of the few signs that had distance on it said that the hole was 400 ft away. If that hole was 270 feet away, I would be shocked to know it. Some of the signs were hand "drawn" and a lot of them were flat out rusted through.
the course layout isn't logical at all. you play 1, then 2...and then hope you find the tee for 3 which sits across the road, in the woods, with no signs, arrows or anything to get you there. Some of the holes in the woods literally back track on top of one another and you could literally be walking into the face of someone on their drive as you leave a basket without knowing it. and as someone who doesn't like picking up my broken teeth, I wasn't a huge fan of this.
the mosquitoes in france park were like wolves. I mean that literally. they hunted in packs, they bit me hard and often and no amount of screaming or cursing would make them go away. and yeah, this wouldn't normally count against the course, but in this case I think that problem could be less if someone had mowed the course more than 12 hours before I played there. the rough was waist deep (not a problem. I actually liked the obstacle of this), but apparently the whole course was like this.
the baskets were ok. sort of a con. most of them were in good shape, but a couple of them were rusty and did not catch well at all. I swear I got tetanus from one of them.
the signs at this place are pretty much useless. if there is a sign, it almost never gives you the distance. if it does give the distance, it's rarely accurate. one of the few signs that had distance on it said that the hole was 400 ft away. If that hole was 270 feet away, I would be shocked to know it. Some of the signs were hand "drawn" and a lot of them were flat out rusted through.
the course layout isn't logical at all. you play 1, then 2...and then hope you find the tee for 3 which sits across the road, in the woods, with no signs, arrows or anything to get you there. Some of the holes in the woods literally back track on top of one another and you could literally be walking into the face of someone on their drive as you leave a basket without knowing it. and as someone who doesn't like picking up my broken teeth, I wasn't a huge fan of this.
the mosquitoes in france park were like wolves. I mean that literally. they hunted in packs, they bit me hard and often and no amount of screaming or cursing would make them go away. and yeah, this wouldn't normally count against the course, but in this case I think that problem could be less if someone had mowed the course more than 12 hours before I played there. the rough was waist deep (not a problem. I actually liked the obstacle of this), but apparently the whole course was like this.
the baskets were ok. sort of a con. most of them were in good shape, but a couple of them were rusty and did not catch well at all. I swear I got tetanus from one of them.
Other Thoughts:
As mentioned previously, this course could be great. But someone is going to have to step up and take better care of this place. It needs mowed more often, the signs need updating and/or replacing, the tee pads needs incredible amounts of work, some of the baskets need replacing and the layout could use a revamping.
I would play this place again in the fall when the mosquitoes all died a terrible death. but until then, it's just not worth tolerating the other things for an "OK" round of disc golf.
I would play this place again in the fall when the mosquitoes all died a terrible death. but until then, it's just not worth tolerating the other things for an "OK" round of disc golf.
4
4
Emoney
Experience:
28 years
90 played
16 reviews
Overgrown,Outdated in need of maintenance 2+ years drive by
Reviewed:
Updated:
Played on:Jun 19, 2010
Played the course:2-4 times
Pros:
This is a prime example of a great piece of land but not enough care to make it a great course. It has just about everything a disc golf course needs,long/short/up/down/tight/open holes. Will make for some entertaining shots and some ace runs.
*Has more than just disc golf(swimming,fishing,camping,ect...)
*Has more than 18 holes
*Has trash cans throughout course
*Bathrooms near course
*Has more than just disc golf(swimming,fishing,camping,ect...)
*Has more than 18 holes
*Has trash cans throughout course
*Bathrooms near course
Cons:
*Course is VERY VERY overgrown,no trimming,and not enough traffic to create natural fairways
*Course is very dated,lots of short holes even from pro tees(average 200ft in woods)
*Course is not beginner friendly, even though its short, because the gaps and lines are overgrown and too tight for a beginner to enjoy(in woods)
*Tee pads not concrete and very narrow and short(in woods)
*Paths through woods are narrow and rough terrain, very easy to fall or sprain something
*The open holes are OK,but pretty unimaginitive
*Not all tee signs were up and the ones that were are pretty ruff
*Even with course map it was very hard to navigate
*Course is very dated,lots of short holes even from pro tees(average 200ft in woods)
*Course is not beginner friendly, even though its short, because the gaps and lines are overgrown and too tight for a beginner to enjoy(in woods)
*Tee pads not concrete and very narrow and short(in woods)
*Paths through woods are narrow and rough terrain, very easy to fall or sprain something
*The open holes are OK,but pretty unimaginitive
*Not all tee signs were up and the ones that were are pretty ruff
*Even with course map it was very hard to navigate
Other Thoughts:
This is my first review.I was a little disappointed with the way this course was maintained, i felt like i was in a rainforest jungle on the holes in the woods. Iam an am2 player and i also had a beginner and a pro with me and we all had similar comments.The course has potential but needs alot of help and upkeep.I wont come back to this course unless i want to camp,fish,swim,disc golf all in a weekend, but not just for disc golf .
