This is your typical little, neighborhood city park, complete with abandoned tennis courts. The park and course both show that they get a fair amount of use. The course is definitely recreational in length and difficulty. Only two holes reach over 300' while five play under 200'. The pars are dialed to easy recreational level so the two 300' holes are both rated as par 5s. No problem, go for those eagles, birdies and occasional Aces.

There are no tee pads, just big worn spots in the dirt which keep expanding as players try to get closer or change their angle somewhat. The course could really benefit by installing some front kick boards and maybe some wood chips around the tee box areas. The baskets are new Discatchers with one feature I've never seen anywhere. They have these great little next tee stickers with an arrow on the yellow band. If they're homemade, someone should market them. They're great. They should be on any baskets all over the world.

The designers did a pretty good job here hiding baskets behind or between trees. # 6 was a fun little throw into a grove of small saplings. # 10 is 275' to a basket tucked into some trees.

The worn, natural tee pads are an eyesore (maybe not such a big deal in this neighborhood). I would love to see front boards installed.

Recreational length and challenge throughout.

Sketchy neighborhood.

There are holes that play over walking paths, parking and close to streets. Not a huge concern but just things to be aware of.

Not a great course nor a great challenge but it fills the need for locals, rec players, huckers, beginners, etc. I must fit into one or more of those categories because I enjoyed my round here. If I lived anywhere close, I'd play here regularly and be sure to lock my car while playing.

Aesthetic-- course plays around the perimeter of a multiuse inner city park. park is HUGE for grand rapids proper. Surprisingly very little trash or broken glass the day I played.

Teesigns/routing-- decent. the tees tend to point toward the pole. Routing is relatively easy with the exception of finding the pole for #13.

Poles-- all in place and in reasonable condition.

Variety-- maximized in this park. there are mandos (sorta), trees, elevation and is a good time!

it's a pole course-- I don't think baskets would survive here.

danger-- plays close to some paths, roads... these areas aren't heavily travelled though.

length/pars-- I don't mind forgiving pars but I threw a -25 the first time I played here.. that's a bit rediculous.

Course is great and not as shady as I thought it would be. I played a pretty quiet round here without being hassled or leered at. good all around.

This park is with in biking distance from my house. It is very easy to navigate, and if you are in a hurry to get in a quick round you can do this course in 25-35 minutes. I find it very enjoyable to play around the perimeter of the park watching everyone else.

It is a stick course with dirt pads, if you are use to cement tee pads and disc catchers than you will most likely not enjoy the course. The signs seem to be a bit off distance wise. You need to be able to throw quite low in order to do really well at this course.

Make sure to park up by the pavilion the tee for hole #1 is just north of there. I feel this course could really be all par 3's. I played this morning and shot 28 under par based on there sticks. This course does make you play low and accurate, if you can not do that then you may have some difficulties. Enjoy this little treasure in the city.

-Signs, The park had said it was redone by a boy scout group, and they have some nice looking signs they made.

- Great to work on Mids and putting. There are some actually pretty well made placement of tees.

-The park seems to be kept up pretty well.

-Easy to find your way around and play in less then an hour.

-Poles, I don't really like poles and I think that is the biggest flaw here.

-It's a park that is multi-use but didn't seem to really come into play besides the first few hole. The road can be in play, but if you are playing smart it shouldn't be anything to go by.

-Natural pads, although some are made on sideways and roads so they kind of are like cement pads.

This place is in kind of a bad part of town, but didn't seem to be very noticeable while I was there. If this place had baskets I would probably play it once a week. It's actually a pretty nice course minus no baskets.

It plays very well around the course and has a lot of good shots to go for. They seem to keep this place pretty clean also for the part of town it was in.

I would say if you live in the area give it a try, it is by far not a destination course at all. It's not even a repeater because of the fact that it doesn't have baskets.... but if I lived in walking distance, I would play it every day.

The course plays around the outside edge of the entire park. nice course to work on your approach shots and accuracy on putting since you are aiming at a post you don't have the luxury of the extra space where the chains might stop your disc. really hard to lose a disc unless you overthrow a hole or shank it badly and it ends up in the street. can play the entire 18 in less than an hour. tees have nice signs stating where the post is located. hole posts have number engraved at the top of the post as well as the par for the hole listed above. fairly easy to navigate your way around.

would normally list dirt tee pads as a con but since the holes aren't really that long there is no real need for any other type of surfaced tee pad. The pars listed for this course i would believe are if you actually used a frisbee and not a golf disc. not really in the greatest of neighborhoods. a couple of holes throw across walking paths or next to sidewalks but when i played there was hardly anyone in the park. the post for 18 is only about 10 feet from the parking lot. so don't overshoot the hole if anyone is parked directly behind the post. a couple of holes have fairways the cross each other.

Hole 1 any errant shot left can hit Burton street on the left of the fairway you have the parking lot and a pavilion that could come into play on the right side of the fairway..
#2 The only hole that doesn't really say it but it is a mando to the right of the building and then back left to the hole. The reason behind it is to avoid the beach volleyball court and what looks like a memorial grave site for who the park is named after.
#3 short hole shooting towards Burton street.
#4 post is over near the corner by the stop light on Madison.
#5 nice little hole with trees guarding the post.
#6 Anhyzer shot around the back edge of the ballfield
#7 straight shot with post just past 4 trees 2 on each side of fairway.
#8 Tee sign may look confusing but blue in this case is for the walking paths not water. shoot over one path post is just before second path.
#9 you shoot across old parking lot area to post near trees by sidewalk and back edge of park.
#10 they want you to shoot from access road to post just left of road.
#11 Shoot from access road again towards 4 big trees near shed post is between the last 2 big trees.
#12 Dogleg left post is tucked in by a clump of trees.
#13 have to shoot almost directly in front of the tee for 14 to get to post.
#14 you are shooting back across the fairway of 13 towards a tree out by the open field
#15 you are shooting back and just to the right of the post for #13.
#16 post is just to the right of the tree line. when i played there was a trash can within inches of the post. you could easily bank your disc off the post and have it land right in the trash can.
#17 straight shot post tucked in by trees.
#18 shooting back towards parking lot. don't overthrow.

All things considered it is not a bad little course. the neighborhood may not be the best but the course itself is in good condition. the sign by the 1st tee said the course was redone as part of a eagle scout project. I think it was done really nicely. just need to adjust pars to take in account for the distance a golf disc can fly. par should be 54 at max.

Logically flowing course (starting and ending at relatively small parking lot) makes posts and tees easy to see -- fantastic signs as well. Post are well maintained and easy to see.

The perfect course for true beginners, or even kids.

Simple, yet effectively satisfying. A great ego boost for the experienced disc golfer.

Park is clean and well maintained/mowed.

Good for a quick round to loosen up or just have some fun. Practically every shot is an ace run; who doesn't like that feeling once in awhile?

We played in the rain and still found the course more playable than, say, Riverside Park. In fact, after playing it in the rain, I will count on being able to go there when other courses are swamped.

No opportunities to "bomb" a disc.

Can a course be cute?

No opportunities to "bomb" a disc. Simultaneously not technical.

Course score is a bit ridiculous. With only a few holes more than 100 yards, it would make more sense to make them all par 3's.

Negligible elevation changes.

Holes, as I mentioned, are extremely short. If you're looking for a long, technical course, Garfield Park would be the polar opposite of that.

Occasionally crowded with innocent civilians and children who would rather not be pelted with drivers.

Dirt tee pads will collect water after a rain.

If I were rich, I'd donate baskets just for the heck of it.

Several holes are extremely challenging, hard to pull off in a small park setting like this. Number 10 is one of the best designed holes I've ever played, the pole is perfectly placed in a clearing surrounded by huge old trees.

Many people in the park causing pedestrian hazards. It's easy to put a disc on one of the busy streets surrounding the park, I've got a couple of "road discs" in my bag just for use on those holes.

The Eagle Scout redesign helped and hurt the course. Number 3 used to be a 180 degree dogleg. Tee off to the southeast past the big tree, then turn and face Burton Street to reach the pole in the grove of trees. Some of the back nine holes are ruined by the redesign. The old 16, 17, and 18 used the trees perfectly. The new 16, 17, and 18 are simply target practice, the trees are irrelevant.