+ French Creek is a wooded course set in a huge, beautiful State park. The layout features some elevation changes (initially dramatic, then gradual). It appears to have an active club, and it enjoys a good reputation among the courses in Eastern PA


+ The tees are well-constructed with rubber surfaces. There are some touches that give French Creek personality: the signs are large hand-painted and hand-carved maps of each hole. A short par 3 on the back nine with a narrow gap features signage pointing to the "Walk of Fame" (directly to the basket) or the "Walk of Shame" (into treekick land)


+ The opening holes are fun: downhill slight dogleg into the woods #1; uphill #2; If you're playing the long baskets, #3 is a fairly amazing throw down a long wide fairway like a ski slope; #4 along a rocky dried creek bed. But then the course settles down and becomes monotonous - pretty, wooded, - indistinct - holes. A lot of "samey-samey" after the memorable start

- Old baskets with some rusting chains don't catch well. They're hard to spot in the woods. The park would seriously do well to invest in new baskets

~ COURSE AMENITIES SUMMARY: Good tees, unique hand-carved signs (which would make hole changes a bitch), old baskets. Bathrooms and other facilities available when park/beach is open

~ Huge park - with a very long drive to the parking area. PRO TIP: You will pass a small grass area that fits a few cars on your drive in - almost a full mile before reaching the main parking area. Jump onto the back nine here


~ The layout is a good flow of two loops with few interruptions. After the first 7, you come back out of the woods near the 1st tee, and head up the road to find hole #8


~ The 18th is a long uphill walk back to the 1st tee. But the parking area is so large you can choose: do I want to walk at the beginning, or walk at the end?


~ A good wooded course, but nothing very distinct to make it a standout. Not worth the tip by itself, but French Creek is close to Kerr Park and Camp Sankanac to make a great day with lots of variety

Varied, challenging course. Lots of woods and distance. Pretty well laid out, easy to navigate.

While the woods can make for a fun course, they can also make for an unpleasant experience for newcomers that simply don't have the accuracy for long, tight fairways.

Also, the course is kind of hard to find, especially with the old signs.

Not bad, could be loads better though.

Nice tee pads. Good signage. Some nice holes and elevation at times. Definitely helps with finesse game. Short and long baskets provides for fun at different levels. Tees well kept and the flow of the couse is done well once you hit hole 1 w/ the exception of a little hike uphill between 7 and 8.

Parking closed for winter. Long walks and transitions. Little variety of shots. Some fairways are downright dangerous to navigate as they are lined with rocks and random brush and tree stumps hidden in leaves.

I have played this course several times since it has been moved and even a few times during the previous incarnation. Some days I absolutely love this course, and others I hate it. Therein lies the charm and the reason for many returns despite an hour and a half drive. This course has some nice shots and a few elevated shots. Only one hole, though, that could be considered a little open, though and that's 3. The charm lies in the narrow fairway through the trees rinse and repeat. If you love obstacles and playing with your head this is definitely a prime location. However, after being beat down by trees for a few holes in a row it can become tiresome and frustrating. But, as I said before this definitely provides the charm because next thing you know you have a nice tee shot right in the fairway and can par out building your spirit again. The short, or "silver" baskets are a fun challenge in themselves, but the "gold" baskets really up the ante. Precision, patience and determination are my best friends here. This was the first time I played here in the winter, and I was surprised to find the road to the course closed off requiring a heck of a walk to actually get to the first tee. It was literally over the river and through the woods with a lot of parking lots and hills added in for good measure. If I hadn't talked to the Ranfer on the way in I would have had an even more difficult time getting back to the course. Also, the terrain is really rough in spots and could surely be considered ankle breaking at times. When wet and with alot of leaves and other foiliage on the ground it is dangerous at times. Persoanlly I don't mind, but I would hesitate to bring the wife and kid along for the round. All in all, the course is a great experience all its own and provides lots of opportunity to practice the finesse game as well as to get different looks with the dual pin placements. French Creek is enjoyable and always worth a trip if you're close.

There were several hole layouts that were very unique and fun, this made the experience very memorable and made up for a lot of the other issues.
Each tee has a big yellow post/sign which makes them easy to locate.

A few of the holes are just way too woodsy, throwing down a path no more than 5 feet wide at times.
The signs at the tees are often misleading and are generally useless for determining where you are supposed to throw. This compounds when you are on the particularly woodsy holes and can not see the hole.
Tons of rocks on the ground even on the paths/fairway, wear hiking boots, I wore sneakers and my feet were very sore by the end.

Only a few holes were really bad when it came to dense woods, they were all relatively wooded but most were manageable.

By the way there is only one course now, make sure you stop by the front desk to get the updated map. Its a pretty bad map for finding you way to the first hole, but once your there it is easy to make your way through the course due to the yellow posts that I mentioned above.

holes 1-2 are a good use of elevation, 3-18 are long drives down narrow fairways. the tee pads and landscaping are great and they spent a lot of time making the course clean. The trails between holes are well kept and easy to manage. silver baskets are short and gold baskets are pretty long shots ( seemed as though they were all nearly 300 + feet )

After the first three holes there is not much use of elevation, no water hazards on any holes, most fairways look alike -- very long wooded and narrow . It would have been great to play downhill shots of throw around the many lakes in this park, maybe even a long open fairway in the end.

I dont want to degrade all of the hard work put into making this course-- but it doesnt live up to the hype. Make sure you get to the park early or the office will close and you will not be able to get a map or scorecard ( early meaning before 500 )