-Shot variety off the tee
-Mix of open and wooded holes (front 9 mostly open, back 9 mostly wooded)
-Good signage makes the course easy to navigate
-challenging

-no concrete tee pads
-lack of upkeep
-Gravel tee pads are worn down and full of puddles after a rain
-poor drainage on holes 2, 4, 13, & 14
-Baskets are dated and because of lack of upkeep are never moved to alternate positions (which are available)

I live about 10 minutes from Hickory, I play it once or twice a week. It can a 4+ star course with some TLC. Trimming some branches that have grown in over the years, Adding gravel to the tee pads to help with footing and drainage.

The course is challenging, scoring under par is achievable but not easy. The course gets pretty busy in the summer time with picnics, campers, and swimmers in the lake by hole 8. The state park does a good job keeping picnic tables out of the fairways, but look before you throw.

NEW SEMI-PERMANENT SIGNAGE - Previous reviews had noted navigation issues for first timers. Upon my first and only visit, I was pleased to find that white painted plywood arrows had been cleverly hung from the bottoms of the baskets, clocked such that they pointed precisely to the next tee box. Absolutely no trouble navigating to the next tee, great addition. The front nine is open, grassy and well groomed which always makes the obstacles seem less daunting and makes for a more chill round. I hit my share of trees on the front though, but never had to hunt more than a second for any disc. The back is almost entirely wooded, but with little underbrush to contend with. As you would expect on a fall day lots of leaves for discs to skid under. The little bit of give the more open front had, the back takes away with frequent need for precision and route selection. The entire park is wooded with a lot of old growth which I imagine would keep the wind in check pretty well on blustery days.

I'll speculate that the State Park didn't give the course designers free reign and a chainsaw crew when putting it in. It struck me that it was for the most part woven into the existing fabric of a well established recreational area - Hence, they did the best they could have with some of the holes and were left with some awkward obstacles and uninteresting distance management. The holes were all quite fun, but they often lacked for 'Wow' factor.

Interaction: Having played on a relatively quiet, late fall day, I can't imagine trying to play the front nine on a well attended day. For how empty the huge parking lot was this day, I more than occasionally had to wait for picnickers and kids playing to be safely out of the way, as well as having to take very conservative shots around occupied picnic tables. I'm sure the locals have become accustomed to this interaction, but I found it very unsettling for a first timer. If you are touring courses as I was, please pick a slow time, like a weekday morning possibly, for this one.

The course only has maybe +/- 10 ft of elevation change throughout. I only noticed this because I was really enjoying how much elevation plays into this region's other courses, not like home.

I went to this course in particular because I thought with all the disc courses in the area, plus things like Dorney park, this might be a great place to take the family camping for a week, with a course right on premise. The Park is great, good looking camping area and the facilities look clean and modern. The only hitch in the plan for us might be that it's a bit far to get to say the courses and other activities in Allentown area, a little less than an hour.

As nice as this is for a state park, it is not as picturesque of a disc course as other reviews made it seem. Being primarily wooded, there are no dramatic views. The 8th hole tee box is on a lake which is a small impoundment with trucked in sand for a beach, very nice park feature, but not a grand spectacle as far as courses go.

Folks from this area probably don't think much about it, but I was sure appreciative of having so many public park courses that play for free and come with ammenities. Back home all the courses are pay courses and the good ones might have a porta-john.

At time of this review, a few of the natural tee boxes were worn to the point of risking ankle injury - Ready for refilling and packing. They were large enough though to allow you to back it up five feet and still take a run-up though.

#5 gets Most Memorable notation from me - Long open fairway with a straight line of evenly spaced trees right across the fairway, out around 120 feet, that need to be fired through.

MOST of the tees well marked, first 8 mostly open, Back 9, in the woods and in my opinion the best part of the course. Great scenery, Nice lake with a beach.Clean restrooms and snack bar right there. Hickory run is an awesome park.

Beware picnickers on holes1,2,3.Some baskets too close to each other,On the 4th hole You'll see Pin 6 before Pin 4. As for hole 8, Where is the tee? I see here that they play from the beach, we just guessed from the map. They have a map on the bulletin board, which will help.It is only 18, not sure why this site says it's 19

I would play this course again, great scenery fun course.

I liked the course in general and it is somewhere between a beginner to advanced course. I like that it had a good mix of open and wooded holes. The course plays like two completely different courses. The back 9 was my favorite with tightly wooded holes that are more technical.

I played a warm up round before the tournament and before the tee signs were added and a few times I got confused on where the next hole started. On one of holes in the back nine there is a nasty left dog leg that throws directly at another tee box. There a bunch of pieces of wood put up on the tee box to stop discs from hitting players but I still think it could be unsafe. There was also a family sitting at a picnic table towards the right side of one of the fairways when we were teeing off. Nowhere to eat near the course.

Although I don't mind gravel/stone tee boxes, some of them were a bit uneven. I think this is a nice course to take a family to in the summer. Some of the family can sit on the beach and go in the lake and the other members can play disc golf. There are picnic tables to eat at and public restrooms.

Nice area and scenery.

I agree with the previous review. Not much good to talk about. The course was average as far as difficulty. Not many long holes. Very poorly marked. It took a while to locate tee box number 8, which really isn't a box nor is it marked. Fortunately, I remembered seeing a video of this course during the Ice Bowl. Didn't have a map and couldn't find several tee boxes. Twice, I found that I had been shooting at the wrong basket and had to go back and start over. Wooded area, 10 thru 16 were very hard to follow. I still don't know if I played 10 and 11 in the right order. Tee boxes were only okay.

I'd play it again, but my expectations must have been too high.

a lot of the holes on the front 9 are birdie opportunities with the right drive. a lot of the holes have tables near the tee. nice scenic drive on your way into the park. nice views of the lake from different locations on the course. challenging shot selection on the back nine.

Since it was my first time i had a hard time navigating my way around the course. i eventually found all the holes. downloaded the map so that helped a bit except that hole 10 was moved from where the map is to right near the basket for nine. A lot of the tee markers for each of the holes were laying on the ground near the tee. gravel, dirt maybe red clay for tee pads wasn't sure what it was exactly. if clay they could get really slick possibly in wet weather. i noticed that a lot of the next tee signs were laying on the ground not even pointing in the right direction. Hole #10 basket has Hole #11 number on it. Hole #11 has #10 written on it. Hole 8 tee is not really there just shoot from the edge of the beach up the hill. there were people at a picnic table in the middle of the fairway up the hill when i played.. so i moved over near the volley ball net and threw uphill. #9 throws across a walking path so you have to watch who is around when you throw. some holes on the front you have to throw near picnic tables with people at them or near drinking fountains in the park. so if anyone is using them and you throw late or the wind catches a disc it could hit someone. couple of the holes had water drainage issues so you could get your shoes wet just trying to get down the fairway

i did enjoy the course. this could be a really great course if some of the issues could be taken care of. i have played better courses but i have also played a lot worse courses. if i am back in the area i would really want to try this course again. one other improvement i would suggest is tee post with hole direction and maybe direction to the next tee. I saw signs like this at shore acres park in saugatuck michigan and thought it was a great idea.

Simple, short course. A few dog legs to keep things interesting. Best holes occur once you get to #8/9 by lake for a bit of elevation and continue out of the picnic area. I love that stone wall on 14(?)

Near lake so there were lots and lots of bugs. The first few holes don't cross over eachother but logical landing areas from one hole will interfere with play on another. I was also expecting this course to be much better based on reviews on this site. Even with map it was hard to match up tees to pins. Still fun though.

First 6 holes are very open and dangerously close to picnic tables.