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Henderson Lake Nature Center reviews
10
0
Deep woods...right next to the freeway! 2+ years
Reviewed:
Played on:Nov 3, 2020
Played the course:once
Pros:
Henderson Lake Nature Center is located north of Whitehall, MI (about 12 miles south of Flip City). The entrance to this place is pretty inconspicuous. I think there is a smallish sign but I drove right past it. Trust your GPS on this one.
The nature center has a picnic shelter, plus a nice viewing area of Henderson Lake which you can access without leaving sight of your car. For those feeling a little more intrepid, there is a nice walking path around the lake...or 19 holes of disc golf.
There are two practice baskets near the parking lot, but once you're ready for hole #1 you will have to walk about 1/4 of the way around the (small) lake - following the walking path north out of the parking lot.
When you reach teepad #1, you will see what is clearly the signature hole on this course. It plays 232' according to the tee sign. The basket is located on a narrow peninsula that extends from behind and to the right of the basket, to just barely past the basket on the left/towards you. Between you and the basket is open water. Behind the basket is more water. To the left of the basket extending off the peninsula (where your disc would go if you throw a RHBH hyzer that fades just a little too much, or comes up a little short) were a lot of cattails. I believe those cattails were in the water, and I played this course in November when water levels were relatively low.
I chickened out and did not play the hole (there is a sign at the tee telling you that if you make the same decision I did, there is an alternate hole between #14 and #15 so you can still play 18 holes). But even so, I can confidently state that this #1 would be a challenging and memorable shot for any DG'er who chooses to play the hole.
The remaining 17 holes (plus the extra hole numbered 14.5) are all tight and wooded. There was a good mix of straight shots, dogleg lefts, and dogleg rights. Most holes play in the 200'-300' range but there are a few outliers, like the 483' #15 and the 154' #9.
The tee pads here are all cement - smallish but adequate and in good shape. Same with the DISCatcher baskets, including the two practice baskets. The baskets are the yellow banded models, which were highly visible when I played late in the day. The tee signs are wood posts with the hole number, rough flight path, and distance painted on them in red. Many of the tees had trash cans and benches.
There was clear signage at the #14 basket directing you to the alternate hole if you wish to play it, or #15 if you do not.
There is a rough course map posted on a kiosk at the parking lot, which I took a photo of and uploaded on here. It's enough to give you a general idea of the layout but not enough to give you a feel for what individual holes are like.
The nature center has a picnic shelter, plus a nice viewing area of Henderson Lake which you can access without leaving sight of your car. For those feeling a little more intrepid, there is a nice walking path around the lake...or 19 holes of disc golf.
There are two practice baskets near the parking lot, but once you're ready for hole #1 you will have to walk about 1/4 of the way around the (small) lake - following the walking path north out of the parking lot.
When you reach teepad #1, you will see what is clearly the signature hole on this course. It plays 232' according to the tee sign. The basket is located on a narrow peninsula that extends from behind and to the right of the basket, to just barely past the basket on the left/towards you. Between you and the basket is open water. Behind the basket is more water. To the left of the basket extending off the peninsula (where your disc would go if you throw a RHBH hyzer that fades just a little too much, or comes up a little short) were a lot of cattails. I believe those cattails were in the water, and I played this course in November when water levels were relatively low.
I chickened out and did not play the hole (there is a sign at the tee telling you that if you make the same decision I did, there is an alternate hole between #14 and #15 so you can still play 18 holes). But even so, I can confidently state that this #1 would be a challenging and memorable shot for any DG'er who chooses to play the hole.
The remaining 17 holes (plus the extra hole numbered 14.5) are all tight and wooded. There was a good mix of straight shots, dogleg lefts, and dogleg rights. Most holes play in the 200'-300' range but there are a few outliers, like the 483' #15 and the 154' #9.
The tee pads here are all cement - smallish but adequate and in good shape. Same with the DISCatcher baskets, including the two practice baskets. The baskets are the yellow banded models, which were highly visible when I played late in the day. The tee signs are wood posts with the hole number, rough flight path, and distance painted on them in red. Many of the tees had trash cans and benches.
There was clear signage at the #14 basket directing you to the alternate hole if you wish to play it, or #15 if you do not.
There is a rough course map posted on a kiosk at the parking lot, which I took a photo of and uploaded on here. It's enough to give you a general idea of the layout but not enough to give you a feel for what individual holes are like.
Cons:
Besides #1, the holes kind of start to feel the same after a while. They are all just tight, wooded shots. There isn't much elevation change, and no raised baskets or other features to make things interesting or challenging besides the trees.
There aren't any "Next Tee" signs. The leaves were down when I played(early November), so some of the paths between the holes were pretty well covered and I had to look around to find them. This is probably less of an issue in the spring and summer.
Lengthy walks between some of the holes, and particularly to #1/from #18.
Most holes are pretty short, and there are no "grip it and rip it" opportunities to be found.
Lots of road noise throughout the course, but especially on holes #2-6 or so. On some of these holes I could see cars zipping by on northbound US-31 (to be clear, that was through a lot of trees with leaves down. There is no way you will ever throw a disc within several hundred feet of the freeway). If you have read a few of my reviews you know that a lot of road noise can really take away from the experience for me.
Other reviewers mentioned bugs. This wasn't an issue for me in November but I can definitely see where it would be a concern in the summer months.
There aren't any "Next Tee" signs. The leaves were down when I played(early November), so some of the paths between the holes were pretty well covered and I had to look around to find them. This is probably less of an issue in the spring and summer.
Lengthy walks between some of the holes, and particularly to #1/from #18.
Most holes are pretty short, and there are no "grip it and rip it" opportunities to be found.
Lots of road noise throughout the course, but especially on holes #2-6 or so. On some of these holes I could see cars zipping by on northbound US-31 (to be clear, that was through a lot of trees with leaves down. There is no way you will ever throw a disc within several hundred feet of the freeway). If you have read a few of my reviews you know that a lot of road noise can really take away from the experience for me.
Other reviewers mentioned bugs. This wasn't an issue for me in November but I can definitely see where it would be a concern in the summer months.
Other Thoughts:
#1 might be a little less intimidating in a couple years if water table levels drop.
This is a nice course and worth a stop if you are in the area, but other than #1 there just aren't really any memorable holes here. No "wow" factor and not much challenge or variety other than the trees. If it were located away from the freeway I might have given it a 3.5, but as is I settled on a 3.0.
This is a nice course and worth a stop if you are in the area, but other than #1 there just aren't really any memorable holes here. No "wow" factor and not much challenge or variety other than the trees. If it were located away from the freeway I might have given it a 3.5, but as is I settled on a 3.0.
