Well groomed and maintained.
Very pretty course.
Good descriptive signs showing OBs, or if the basket is blind there are signs like "basket to the right of the large cedar tree". Fairways and roughs are very clear, mowed to be such.
Lots of small water features by design, not too many.

Mostly short holes, only a handful in the 300 bracket. Most are between 150-250.
Could use better signs at the tee pad
Small course, holes packed into a small area.
Feels a bit like a put put course.

Dont be fooled by the first 3 holes. There are two pastures this course is on, an upper and lower. The upper pasture up by the house and parking lot has the first 3 holes, the lower pasture is stunning and nothing like the other. It's a good course, I'm glad I played it once. It is pay to play with a 2-3$ donation box in the parking lot.

GH Hostel is located right off the road in Elma, Washington about 40 minutes from the ocean. It is on private property, with 18 unique holes. The course has a lot to offer for being a fairly short course, with several elements coming in to play. The first four holes are very short and realistically are par 2's, while the other holes for the most part are par 3. Distance ranges anywhere from 145 - 350 feet, and require accuracy more then anything else.

Although some holes are open, most pins are protected by trees and other foliage, and include several chances to come in contact with the water which meanders throughout the course. Elevation plays a part at times too, with some short but technical down hill throws (holes 5 and 13) as well as a few uphill ones (holes 4, 12, and 18). The rest are flat but require the proper shot or it will land in one of the several ob areas. The ob's are a mix of water (stream and irrigation canals) and tall grass (purposely done to divide fairways and increase overall difficulty to the course).

Each basket does a terrific job indicating what number you're on, but some tee pads can be overlooked so just be careful before you throw. Each tee either has a cone or red spray painted rocks with numbers on them for first timers to navigate. There are new benches throughout the course as well allowing players to stop, rest, and enjoy the peaceful surroundings. There is even a picnic table to stop and eat lunch at half way through the course right along the stream.

Some of the signature holes in my eyes were holes 7, 14, and 18. Hole 7 was a fairly short dogleg right that had you throwing directly under a beautiful tree right along the stream with chances of ob. Hole 14 had the same stream, but it went about two hundred feet straight along the right side of the fairway before bending around the curve, while a group of trees protected the pin on the left. It required either a perfectly straight shot or a huge hyzer over the water with hopes of penetrating the trees for a birdie. Once again, there was a good chance of going ob due to the pin being 15 feet from the stream. Last, hole 18 was a simple birdie hole uphill about 150 feet. However, what made it harder and even humorous were the fake cows (3) guarding the pin. If your disc hit any of the cows you receive a one stroke penalty which I thought was clever.

For the most part, I couldn't find a whole lot wrong with this course considering there is no local club and is entirely maintained by the owner. I know a lot would complain about distance, the fact that the tee pads are dirt not cement, or maybe the need for better signs, but I personally felt it worked for the type of course it was. Bag racks are there but are way too short to actually hold your bag so that would be great if those were fixed because this course can get pretty soggy during the winter and spring.

Drainage is what seems to be the biggest problem here. I know the owner has worked on the irrigation and from what I have heard made huge improvements, making it playable all year long. Just make sure you bring boots that you can go through the muck with and you should be fine.

With some better signs and eventually some better tee pads, this course could be great! It is perfect for amateur players and challenges better players with a lot of high risk, high reward type shots. Most will find themselves using mainly mids and putters, with the occasional fairway driver. This course will never be holding any big tournaments but would be ideal for an Ice Bowl or some other small non-sanctioned tournament.

This course was so much fun and well worth the trip. I was able to get in three course on this day (Yauger, Sam Benn, and GH) with this one being by far the best of the three.

However, if you are in the area or on your way to the beach, I recommend playing all three as they are seperated from each other by about 30 minutes each with GH Hostel right smack in the middle.

Also, please donate a couple of dollars when playing this course as the owner puts in a ton of time and effort for the love of the sport (even though he doesn't play) so that people from all around can come to stay the night or just come to play this little magical place!

This course is a lot of fun and has a lot of different obstacles including prop cows, water, trees, elevation. The first couple of holes are open and short with man made pieces of wood for obstacles, which adds some selective shot thinking to keep the birdie. The owner Jay was gracious enough to help guide our group on our way even though he was out mowing and maintaining the course. I Like the way the designer used the land he had and even though most of the holes are technical and shorter there are a few longer ones and the course is taken care of. I love water hazards and this course has them without the risk of losing a disc.

I would say that if you love to air it out this course may not be for you. There is some crossing of fairways that would make running a larger tournament almost impossible. The course gets soggy in the off season but it seems the owners are trying to address this.

The grass gets very tall and the course is mowed where the driving fairways are which make it feel like a ball golf course to me which is nice. If it is on your way you owe it to yourself to stop in. There is a place to donate to the course fund and also a couple of loner discs in case you didn't bring your own. Overall quite lovely, but watch out for the freeway right next to it.

After the first 3 holes, the course opens up and utilizes the landscape well. Lots of different shots on this course, and tons of well marked O.B. The owner Jay, who is a gracious host, accepts donations for gas and other upkeep needs.

Well, it is Washington, but when it rains, the waterways and swamps on this course become creeks and ponds. I'm sure there are some locals who play a modified course when this happens.

This course is a lot of fun to play. There is wind play, trees, wooden cows, and the dreaded O.B. areas, all of which make this course challenging. And if you've never been there before, Jay will give you the tour.

*Update- 3/1/11
Contact Jay about his "Random Flip Doubles" events. The Ace Pot for these events were in the triple digits last year, with plenty of the holes being Ace runs.

The owner, Jay Klemp has spent 10 years clearing his 8 acre property of blackberries, etc. and the last three building a wonderful, little, private 18 hole disc golf course. Jay walked much of the course with me showing me the way. It would be difficult for the first time player. Jay also supplied the course's history and runs a hostel on the property ($20 a night). Or you could camp, Jay seems mighty flexible. Too bad he didn't putt for me! The course starts out with three extremely short (around 200 ft) open holes before crossing through a gate into the main section of the course. Although only four of the holes are more than 300 ft., I found many to be interesting and challenging. There are two throws where you get to throw off a hillside, #5 is a short 223 ft. kind of a touchy, floater, anhyser shot and the other, # 13 is a 279 footer to a basket protected by a grove of alder trees. There is water to contend with on many of the holes. A small stream cuts through the course and a larger, more stagnant looking stream of some description comes into play two or three times. Stay out of it! Jay, who always seems to be looking out for the disc golfer has provided a number of tools for trolling for your discs in the murky depths.

Because this a private course without the backing of a local disc club, it's lacking a few ammenties such as concrete tee pads, better signage, bag racks. Holes #1, #2, #3 and # 18 are very short. And there is not a hole where you can really air it out. Much of the course can get very flooded in our wet, northwest winter and early spring months.

Okay, if you just gotta air it out every other hole, skip this course. But if you're in the area and looking for a friendly fun, disc golfing experience, I would highly recommend it. A donation box is there and Jay asks for a dollar or two for gas and misc. expenses. It's well off my beaten track but I'll be back. And unless you are really hardcore, this is probably a three season course. That is, unless you live down hereabouts, where the next closest decent course is at least an hours drive away. Then you lace up your boots and tee it off all winter! And where was the last course you played where the owner gave you the Gold Star Individual Tour?