Hughes Park reviews
15
1
Extremely unsafe pitch and putt 2+ years
Reviewed:
Played on:Nov 29, 2020
Played the course:2-4 times
Pros:
Hughes Park fills a small, wooded, pancake flat piece of land in Hudsonville, MI.
The concrete tee pads are all cement and in good condition. They are quite small, but more than adequate for the length of hole (also see Cons). At the front of each tee pad is a wooden kick plate with the hole number, a distance, and the par (which is always 3).
Each of the 18 holes here has a few trees scattered between the tee pad and basket - good shot shaping practice. The trees are all old growth, so there is no way you will lose a disc here (unless you throw it into the road or private property bordering two sides of the park - see Cons).
There is a kiosk at the first tee with the same map posted here (black and white version), and that map is accurate.
The concrete tee pads are all cement and in good condition. They are quite small, but more than adequate for the length of hole (also see Cons). At the front of each tee pad is a wooden kick plate with the hole number, a distance, and the par (which is always 3).
Each of the 18 holes here has a few trees scattered between the tee pad and basket - good shot shaping practice. The trees are all old growth, so there is no way you will lose a disc here (unless you throw it into the road or private property bordering two sides of the park - see Cons).
There is a kiosk at the first tee with the same map posted here (black and white version), and that map is accurate.
Cons:
Safety, safety, safety. Holy cow....where to begin. Out of the 50ish courses I have played to date, I think this one might be the most unsafe. Just take a look at the map uploaded here and you will start to get an idea.
- There are 18 "holes" but only 9 baskets. This means that each basket has two tee pads throwing to it. On a couple other courses set up this way that I have played, that means that you basically play around a loop twice (#1 and #10 share a basket, #2 and #11, etc.). Here, that is not the case. Instead, someone thought it was a good idea to mix it up and throw back and forth across the park to different baskets. This creates fairways that not only converge on a single basket, but actually cross. It makes it much easier to be unaware that someone is aiming at the same basket as you. And it creates more traffic at tee pads as you have to wait for multiple holes in your firing line to clear.
- Most tee pads are literally 10 feet from the previous basket, making each one in play on 2+ other holes.
- Holes #1, 2, and 10 play close to a busy road. Holes 3 and 4 play close to a fence with private property on the other side.
- Oh yeah, this is still a multi-use park too. A path runs through the middle of the park right next to two of the baskets, making it in play on four holes. Other holes play close to a playground, swing set, and other park amenities.
The course is incredibly short. The distances listed on the tee pads are longer than the actual length of holes here (must be a RHBH hyzer line or something), but even those distances listed are all short of 300'. Many holes are shorter than 200'. Leave your distance drivers in the car. The nearby Rush Creek Park course is almost as long as this course despite having only 9 holes.
Zero elevation change and zero challenge other than the trees. This is one of the easiest courses I have ever played, including many city park 9-holers.
Baskets are not terrible but have clearly seen better days - understandable given that each one sees your disc twice a round.
- There are 18 "holes" but only 9 baskets. This means that each basket has two tee pads throwing to it. On a couple other courses set up this way that I have played, that means that you basically play around a loop twice (#1 and #10 share a basket, #2 and #11, etc.). Here, that is not the case. Instead, someone thought it was a good idea to mix it up and throw back and forth across the park to different baskets. This creates fairways that not only converge on a single basket, but actually cross. It makes it much easier to be unaware that someone is aiming at the same basket as you. And it creates more traffic at tee pads as you have to wait for multiple holes in your firing line to clear.
- Most tee pads are literally 10 feet from the previous basket, making each one in play on 2+ other holes.
- Holes #1, 2, and 10 play close to a busy road. Holes 3 and 4 play close to a fence with private property on the other side.
- Oh yeah, this is still a multi-use park too. A path runs through the middle of the park right next to two of the baskets, making it in play on four holes. Other holes play close to a playground, swing set, and other park amenities.
The course is incredibly short. The distances listed on the tee pads are longer than the actual length of holes here (must be a RHBH hyzer line or something), but even those distances listed are all short of 300'. Many holes are shorter than 200'. Leave your distance drivers in the car. The nearby Rush Creek Park course is almost as long as this course despite having only 9 holes.
Zero elevation change and zero challenge other than the trees. This is one of the easiest courses I have ever played, including many city park 9-holers.
Baskets are not terrible but have clearly seen better days - understandable given that each one sees your disc twice a round.
Other Thoughts:
If you are trying to bag every course in the area, maybe try to come play this one on a weekday morning or something when there is no one around. If you could play this course with zero other DG groups or other people in the park, it could be kind of a fun practice round. But add just one or two other DG groups and the danger (and time waiting at tee pads) increases exponentially. Beyond that, I can attest from personal experience that it just gets silly. You will spend more time waiting at tee pads than actually playing.
I have shared similar thoughts to this in a few reviews now, but I don't understand the reasoning behind trying to cram 18 holes into a space that is really too small for that and would be better suited to a 9 hole course. Maybe I am in the minority but I would much rather play a more spread-out, safer 9-hole course (twice, if I really want to play 18 holes) vs. a cramped 18-hole course that has other DG'ers to contend with on every shot. In the case of this park, even a 9-holer would be tight but I could at least not have to worry about people shooting at the same basket as me.
Give this place a miss. There are multiple better options - both 18 hole and 9 hole - within a short drive.
I have shared similar thoughts to this in a few reviews now, but I don't understand the reasoning behind trying to cram 18 holes into a space that is really too small for that and would be better suited to a 9 hole course. Maybe I am in the minority but I would much rather play a more spread-out, safer 9-hole course (twice, if I really want to play 18 holes) vs. a cramped 18-hole course that has other DG'ers to contend with on every shot. In the case of this park, even a 9-holer would be tight but I could at least not have to worry about people shooting at the same basket as me.
Give this place a miss. There are multiple better options - both 18 hole and 9 hole - within a short drive.
18
10
Pitch and Putt Chaos Theory, Hucker Style 2+ years
Reviewed:
Updated:
Played on:Jul 23, 2017
Played the course:once
Pros:
- There are 9 baskets in decent shape
- The grass is mowed
- The playground is nice along with the other non-disc golf amenities
- Navigtion is a snap. I mean when you put the tees so freaking close to the baskets obviously it should be no problem.
- at least the course is playable.
- The grass is mowed
- The playground is nice along with the other non-disc golf amenities
- Navigtion is a snap. I mean when you put the tees so freaking close to the baskets obviously it should be no problem.
- at least the course is playable.
Cons:
- Egad. Outside of Lake Township parks old layout this has to be the absolute worst layout I have ever seen. With the people on this course paying VERY close attention to who is throwing where is an absolute must unless you enjoy getting struck by flying plastic. With the odd layout of 9 baskets and 18 tees there is a plethora of crossing fairways and other assorted nonsense. More specifically:
> 17 and 6 cross
> 16 and 7 essentially thrown RIGHT AT each other.
> 11 throws right at the 12 tee.
> 2, 11, 13 all criss-cross in a spaghettified mess.
> 9 and 14 cross
> There's at least 6 or 7 spots where a tee pad is WAY too close to the previous basket.
- This course offers no challenge. At all. Boring wide open fairways with stupidly short holes and a park with zero elevation change. So short, you could conceivably play an Ace Race here with no adjustment to tee locations. But then there's all the layout issues to deal with...
- Tee pads on the front 9 are decent concrete pads but then the back nine reverts back to dirt with a toe-kick.
- Distances on a lot of these toe-kicks are totally wrong.
- There weren't any benches or trash cans that I recall seeing but by the time I even thought about that I was way too focused on trying to not be hit by random discs coming from everywhere.
> 17 and 6 cross
> 16 and 7 essentially thrown RIGHT AT each other.
> 11 throws right at the 12 tee.
> 2, 11, 13 all criss-cross in a spaghettified mess.
> 9 and 14 cross
> There's at least 6 or 7 spots where a tee pad is WAY too close to the previous basket.
- This course offers no challenge. At all. Boring wide open fairways with stupidly short holes and a park with zero elevation change. So short, you could conceivably play an Ace Race here with no adjustment to tee locations. But then there's all the layout issues to deal with...
- Tee pads on the front 9 are decent concrete pads but then the back nine reverts back to dirt with a toe-kick.
- Distances on a lot of these toe-kicks are totally wrong.
- There weren't any benches or trash cans that I recall seeing but by the time I even thought about that I was way too focused on trying to not be hit by random discs coming from everywhere.
Other Thoughts:
This is the worst layout I've ever seen. Lake Township and it's wonkiness doesn't compare to this insanity. Also, its just too easy.
I just do not understand why in the world anyone would think 18 holes would fit in this space. 9 holes...maybe. 9 holes with dual tees? That's really pushing it. But even using 9 baskets using 18 tees needs way way more space than this. If all the playground equipment and pavilions were removed you might have enough space for a ridiculously short 18. Just goes to show huckers on copious amounts crystal should never, ever design a course. Like ever.
Play here when there are few other DG'ers on the course. Otherwise skip it and and play somewhere else. I mean like, ANYWHERE.
I just do not understand why in the world anyone would think 18 holes would fit in this space. 9 holes...maybe. 9 holes with dual tees? That's really pushing it. But even using 9 baskets using 18 tees needs way way more space than this. If all the playground equipment and pavilions were removed you might have enough space for a ridiculously short 18. Just goes to show huckers on copious amounts crystal should never, ever design a course. Like ever.
Play here when there are few other DG'ers on the course. Otherwise skip it and and play somewhere else. I mean like, ANYWHERE.
