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Lowell, IN

Freedom Park

Permanent course
2.15(based on 5 reviews)
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Freedom Park reviews

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9 0
Jukeshoe
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 14.7 years 316 played 268 reviews
2.50 star(s)

Wonky Back Nine 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Oct 21, 2020 Played the course:once

Pros:

- Freedom Park DGC utilizes a corner of a large multi-use park, offering up 21 holes of mostly open, mostly grassy prairie golf with a large (for the area) hill that provides a decent amount of elevation. Trees are sparse throughout much of the course, although there's a fair amount of prairie-like schule to content with in places, especially the front nine and hole #'s 14 and 15. A railroad track bounds the property to (I think) the east, with hole #'s 4 and 5 playing more or less alongside. After squeezing the most out of the hill's elevation on the front nine, with hole #9 being a long downhill bomb, the course crosses a small creek (dry during my rounds) that bisects the course. This creek is lined with tall, thick grasses, weeds, and in places, trees. Hole # 10 uses the tree line to good effect on one of the few holes to actually have a "wooded" feel to it, despite it basically being an open straight shot with a tree protecting the basket atop a small bump of elevation. The rest of the course feels crammed into the remaining space on the far side of the creek. Hole #'s 14 and 15 both play without a real fairway, and are basically just "up-and-over" shots that require little skill; punishment (in the form of the dry creek and super thick grasses) is harsh, and these holes (despite being easy) seem like poor design, especially considering you've got to back track down fairways to complete this sequence. Hole #'s 17- 21 complete the course out in the rolling grassy open area, nothing but wind, distance, and elevation to contend with; hole #21 is the exception with a few red, white, and blue painted poles surrounding the green, I guess to keep it from being another completely open hole. Hole #18 again throws off the large hill, this time from the very top.
- All the elevation on site is used to maximum potential. Hole #'s 1, 7, 8, 9, 10, 17, 18, 21 etc. all are fun holes because of the successful incorporation of the available elevation changes.
- Double mandatory, marked in red on two trees, on hole # 7. For the shorts it's an easy downhill look from the tee, but from the long tee you'll need to layup at the top of the hill to get into good position to hit the mando.
- Good concrete tees for the most part, although a few tees were wood-framed carpet/turf. The two or three carpet tees were fairly beat and springy in a decidedly bad way.
- Good signage with routes, distances, topography changes, OB, next tee, et al. Baskets were flagged and easily visible. Each basket has one spoke spray-painted in order to point the way to the next hole. Unfortunately, a few of the baskets are "spinners" and the "next tee spike" was pointing the wrong direction. Fairways, greens, and OBs marked with orange flags.
- Decent mix of distances, coupled with the elevation, help save this course from falling into a two-dimensional, wide open, disc golf purgatory.

Cons:

- Signs missing on hole #'s 9, 14, and 18.
- Wonky flow on #'s 14, 15 and 16. Now that I think about it, 10 and 11 ain't great in this department, either. Freedom Park's afflicted with the same design hiccup that a lot of local courses seem to suffer from: holes that backtrack down their own fairways to the next hole, which are then in turn too close to another basket placement. It's just a complete cluster in places. This seems all the more unforgivable from a good design standpoint, as the holes easily could have been spaced better without the need to backtrack down fairways if the course had simply stayed 18 holes. The additional three holes don't add much other than completely open, slightly hilly holes (of which there were already plenty). Simply put, there's just too much space available for some of the design choices implemented here, especially the cluster that comprises hole #'s 10, 11, 14-16. I'm fairly certain I could even fit 21 holes in the space provided, keep the best holes, AND not backtrack down fairways or create other egregious course safety/flow issues. It's just sloppy design.
- Not a ton of risk/reward other than hills and wind. Pretty much open, despite some thicker schule and a few trees on the first half of the front nine. Basically, aim-and-shoot without much in the way of line shaping or course management.

Other Thoughts:

- I just don't understand the need to walk back down fairways I just completed in order to get to the next hole, especially with as much room as they had to work with, AND because they clearly had enough room for 21 holes. Hole #'s 14-16, for shame. I'd say, "Well, maybe nobody plays out here so perhaps it isn't an issue?" But I know that not to be the case, as there was a HUGE tournament here a month or so back, when I first attempted to bag this course. I can't even imagine having a packed tournament try to slog its way through the back nine, yeeesh.
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3 1
Chain_Raper
Experience: 21.9 years 44 played 3 reviews
2.50 star(s)

Compact course with some fun shots here and there. 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Jan 10, 2013 Played the course:once

Pros:

-Very well designed using the minimal amount of space, elevation changes, and the scattered trees to create some interesting shots.
-Blind tee shots on 2, 3, 4, and 12.
-Holes 2, 4, 6, 8, & 16 have A & B pin locations. I believe 8 & 16 serve as each others alternate pins.
-Beginner freindly, few obstacles, no water in play, plenty of shorter shots.
-Ace runs are plenty.
-Nice, new, shiny, easy to locate DISCatchers.
-Some big, long holes (#9 and #16 come to mind) in which wind plays a big role.
-If time is an issue or you are trying to get a round in before the sun sets, this is the course to play. It will only take a single person with an average game about 30-35 minutes tops to get through.

Cons:

-The very compact design could result in some dangerous situations and log jammed areas (if there is ever large groups out there at the same time).
-As other reviewers have said, many of baskets and tees are stacked on top of each other. The 'main' hill has 3 different baskets (holes 1, 8, & 16) plus the tee box for 2 and the shared tee box for 9 and 17.
-Navigation can be tricky in a couple of spots due to poorly placed signs or sign layouts slightly different than actual course layout.
-The tee box sign for hole 4 is pointed at the wrong hole.
-The natural tees leave a lot to be desired and the few rubber mats in the place of concrete pads are even worse than natural tees.
-Concrete tees would definitely improve this course. Especially on the long holes (9 & 16).
-No benches, trashcans, other amenities (not a big deal to me, just wanted to point it out).

Other Thoughts:

It appears that this DG course was constructed on an unused BMX track. There are some small hills/berms that are used (somewhat overused; see cons) to create elevated and blind tees. This little course has some potential.

There isn't a huge variety of R-L and L-R shots but there is a good variety of short to average distance, uphill and downhill shots. Holes 1-8 play through the old BMX track and the majority of the elevation changes come during this section of the course. After throwing the huge #9 field hole the course transitions to a narrow area of the park surrounded by tall rough. There is a sign in place directing players to the area for holes 10-15.

Holes 10 - 12 are all short and in a very confined area until it opens up for holes 13-15. These holes are all straight, average distance holes that gradually get longer. These three holes are very different from the rest of the course in that they are in the open but have shrubbery defining their fairways. After hole 15 the course transitions back to the huge, open, field for 16-18.

Hole 16 is a huge bomber that plays uphill and in the opposite direction of the other big bomber hole (#9). I thought this was an ingenious design because this makes you have to throw the 2 longest holes into different types of wind. Then you just finish up with a short downhill shot and an average distance straight ahead shot.

It did appear that they have some large, rather mature trees that are waiting to be put into the ground. Added trees would be grrrrreat!!! One suggestion I would have is to build one big circle tee pad on the top of the hill for holes 2, 9, and 17. That would be the bees knees, just make sure its level (nothing like running down hill trying to tee off on a 663' hole).

Memorable Holes
- Hole 2 is a downhill hidden pin shot.
- Hole 7 is a very short, straight, slightly downhill shot with a small window of trees to throw through.
- Hole 9 is a huge bomber with a slightly elevated tee.
- Hole 16 is a huge bomber in the opposite direction as 9 and slightly uphill.
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