Probably my favorite course in the area. Isolated from (but still close to) other park activities. Scenic and secluded, it's like taking a nature walk while playing a round. Course is well designed, well executed and well maintained. Whatever "it" is, they got it right:
• Great mix of straight, left and right fairways with plenty of subtle to significant elevation changes coming into play throughout the course. Well placed guard trees force tight lines, deflecting drives and slapping down upshots. Tight fairways to challenge your control, with others playing in fields that give you several open lines, but force you to hit the fairway or risk losing a disc. Shot variety and lines required give you an opportunity to use all your plastic, as well as all your skill. Many visually appealing holes, all of which grab and maintain your interest. Nothing boring or repetitive. Wonderful balance of challenge and playbility.
• On most holes, the Pro/Am cement pads are distinguished by more than just distance. With very few exceptions, the Pros require far more control over quite considerable distances. Red tees (not concrete) provide easier looks for less skilled players - but this is no beginner course.
• Most informative signage I've ever seen. Simple, yet highly effective and cost efficient - easily replaced or broken/defaced. Full color print of hole layout w/distance, showing all tea areas, and total elevation change from tee to basket (+ or -). It's nice to know how much terrain gives or takes on your drive. The tee posts even have a place put scorecards even a while jotting scores from the previous hole.
• Cement tee pads for Pro/Am, and all orang DGA baskets are easy to spot and in great shape. Trash cans located throughout, with Recycling bins in parking area. Picnic tables/benches located in several shady areas. Clean Porta-Potty with hand sanitizer in parking area. And if you really need a restroom with running water, one's available across the way at the water park.
• Hole 6 is blind due to elevation, but has a flag so you could see your target from the tee.
• Several aesthetically appealing means to avoid any possible confusion are employed to show the way: logs lining paths, manicured path of wood chips, mowed paths to next tee pad, "Next Tee" signs. Throw in tall, easy to spot tee posts and navigation's a snap.
• Recent improvements include 6 new holes (A-F) in a loop of the original 18with which you can elect to play after hole 3 or after hole 12 based on the pace of the group in front of you and the terraformed fairway on 16. Retaining wall to combat erosion between holes 13 and 16 was added Nov 2014.
• Only 8 miles or so from Hudson Mills,

$9/car for out-of-county residents, (not enforced at all during fall and winter)
• Really no wide open holes you could let rip without concern for disc loss - even the open fairways have 3 feet of grass lining them.
• The rough really is (and can be thorny)=high risk of disc loss... but that seems to come with the "Championship Caliber" package. If you wanna run with the big dogs, sometimes you get bit.
• Still hurts from kicking myself for not having played here sooner!

One of the best courses I've played anywhere. In terms of course grooming and overall appearance, Red Hawk set a high standard for a pleasant day's discing. The only thing Hudson Mills had up on Red Hawk was convenient location of the Activity Center, with it's snack bar, dining area and restrooms.
What Red Hawk concedes to some of the best very best courses in terms of sheer challenge, it makes up for in playability.

BRING FRIENDS!!! Non-Resident Admission to Washtenaw County Parks is steep ($9/car), but the course is immaculate; split 3-4 ways, it's not so painful. Bonus: play Rolling Hills (another great course) the same day with your park admission.

This course is now fully planned, developed, installed and DONE (ok so they still need to finish the signs for the white tees, whatev). Concrete tees on all 18 holes, great and spacious course design in a beautiful natural area. Joins the ranks of Southeast Michigan's BEST courses, easily. Clean course with a surplus of trash cans, and some benches. If you litter on this course, you are an idiot.

Hmmmm, cons? I dunno, right now I am loving this course. Lots of areas of rough are straight up thorns, ouch.

Don't come play here. Keep it quiet, empty and available for me. haha.

There is room to expand the course... 6 extra holes would be tasty.

- Favors forearm shots, but has a nice variety of every shot type
- Usaully free to play
- Not too crowded

- Course changes often, which can be confusing.
- While the course is usually free, its expensive when the park booth is staffed. $5 for residents of washtenaw county, $9 for everyone else.
- Tees can be hard to find if you're not familiar with the course.

One of my favorite courses in the area. Its challenging enough for some good competition between players, but not so hard that you're sent home crying. The 6th hole is a blind water shot, so keep your discs to the right or use a spotter and you should be okay.

Challenging shots, lots of finesse shots and big hooks. Well marked tees. Easy to find your way around. Lots of neat wildlife to observe. I watched some frogs and garter snakes today.

Rough roughs, and insects are bad when it's been hot and wet. No running water on site.

Great quiet course with just a touch of elevation changes. Well maintained, and well respected.

Two tees per hole were very easy to find. The overall design was excellent with alot of different type of shots required. Water comes into play (rather surprisingly, thanks for the heads up marked on the tees!).

None of the holes were on top of each other, very spreadout course which lessons the interference from other holes/golfers.

Benches and/or picnics tables were near the tees every few holes.

Very close to another great DG destination, Hudson Mills.The park entrance fee keeps the 'riff raft" out. Just minutes from highway 23.

Very clean and maintained course, the cut grass and carved fairways along with the tall grass in spots really made it feel like a "golf" course.

I got the feeling as if it were almost private since there were a minimal number of golfers playing on a nice summer afternoon. Drinking appeared to be tolerated, we sat with beers afterwards and the park employee said nothing to us.

$9 per car for non-county residents. Can be wet/muddy in places even on the holes not with the water hazards, I was glad I had proper waterproof footwear.

When the cement tees are installed, this course will even better. My group of 3 from Philly really enjoyed playing this course a lot.

I love this course i live 5 min from kensington and i play this course more then any other.
A wide arrange of shots Great for a Drivers dream.
Well maintained and great friendly players that are regulaurs as well.
Hole design is fantastic and well played everytime.

Very few that are ever a game ruiner, truthfully almost a great time everytime i play.

Iv'e played boh summer and winter courses here and many others around michigan, not only a great fun course but a beautiful park and wildlife is very frequently seen on the holes. Truthfully had to wait 15 min for 3 deer to clear the hole before we could continue playing.

**UPDATE**
Awesome upgrades have put this course in with the elite in the area!! New Cement tee pads have been put in for both Pro and Am, and they have added new red-marked dirt tees as well, offering different sight-lines and shorter distances. Fantastic! They drained and destroyed the mire that was the only water hazard on the course (I wonder how many hundred discs they found under the slop) which was an eyesore not to mention horribly placed on hole #6. A few pin adjustments (like #7) make the course much more enjoyable. They've also filled in some of the low-lying areas with mulch which makes your round more comfortable while adding some class to the links. In time this course will be broken in a bit more and really feel like home. Now on par with rolling hills, the other 18 hole course controlled by Washtenaw County. Highly recommended!!!
**END UPDATE**

-Great variations between pro and am tees, both clearly marked. I have a feeling playing the pros would make the course COMPLETELY different
-Moderate mix of hole types throughout
-Clean course, nice folks, not very busy
-Signs on every hole and in between some holes with long walks for guidance
-Makeshift bridges put down over low-lying areas keeping you dry

This course is hellacious in the summer months, when the brush is at its thickest and the bugs devour your soul. Very challenging and you must harness your Chi to keep your disc on the straight-and-narrow. Thorns everywhere - tell your legs you love them when its all over.

This course is becoming one of my favourites. Right up the way from work, it's perfect for an afternoon delight. Still not as good as Rolling Hills, but I think that will come with time. RECOMMENDED!

This is a wilderness-hike type course. Lots of ambience and critters abound. Beautiful scenery and great sights. Tee boxes are marked black for pro, white for am and footages are listed with great signs. Signs have more info than I've seen, covering distance to and elevation of the target. Great cement tees. The two sets of tee-pads enable a cornucopia of sight lines. The am-tees aren't always just short pro-tees. They are set up along different lines towards the basket. The use of elevation is optimal. Great elevated tees. Excellent baskets. A nice mix of open and closed fairways. More than an ample amount of grip & rip type holes mixed in with some obscenely difficult tree filled holes. Very challenging throughout. Trash cans on about half the holes. Picnic tables are on about a third.

The course flow is decent. A few long walks between some holes. Missing a few key 'next tee' signs. It really gets confusing at some areas. No scorecards/maps but there is a course diagram at hole #1. Its out in the middle of nowhere, so stock up on your essentials. And wear your hunter's orange in the fall.

This is one of my favorites. A great challenge, great scenery and a hell of a way to spend a day. With a superb mix of difficulties and top notch amenities, this place should rise in the rankings.
As it is right now, its a great start to a very good course.
Right now its free to get in the park. During the warmer months it will not. Me thinks that it belongs to the same county park system as Rolling Hills. They charge $9 per car for non-BFE residents. That is steep, so play them both during the same trip if you can. I sure hope that there will be no additional pay-to-play charge. Unless carts are included.

-Amazing land bursting with wildlife. I've seen many red-tailed hawks, honey bee hives, praying mantis, deer, huge frogs. Coyote's have been heard not seen. Wild boar have been spotted.
-Every hole is different and has it's own personality.
-Three different layouts (Black, White, Red) for fun for all skill levels and variety.
-HUGE Concrete Teepads. 6x12 long and 5x10 short.
-Distances measured by a registered land surveyor.
-Elevation measured and printed on the tee signs.
-Feels like a National Park when you are inside.
-Professional staff that knows the game of disc golf.
-Recycle bins in the parking lot.

Closes at dusk.
High price for a daily pass.

I'm one of the designers so my opinion is biased.. I do feel that this is a great course and worthy of a 5 disc rating.

Design took into account course flow, scoring spread, aesthetics and just plain fun-to-play-ness.

The land here is really great, and our club was lucky to have the opportunity to add disc golf here. This project is a labor of love and we did the complete design on volunteer time.

HEY, it could have been a mountain bike trail or a campground.. Now it is disc golf and should be for the foreseeable future. Enjoy!!

mix of small elevation and flat, some tree obstacles. nice new baskets. tees marked with orange cones.

course was dry, even after 4-5 days of rain. a definite plus!!!

course is large enough to keep holes seperated.

all of the holes have tall grass and brush. must keep your eyes open. some fairways are a bit tight (10ft wide). kind of confusing to find the next tee.

the walks from basket to next tee are on the long side, but its not a con for me, just fyi.

water comes into play on two holes (one small swamp pond near basket/fairway).

nice large DISC GOLF PARKING HERE sign. course has some mosquitos and bees. a few picnic tables and trash cans too.

lookout for freshly cut stumps and a few gopher holes to trip you up. wear pants as the raspberries and roses are still out, not to mention the poison ivy.

no one at ticket booth the last two times i've been to independence lake, so i have not had to pay for park entry fee. ymmv.

Many long field shots with punishing rough for throwing wide, mixed with a few shorter, but never easy, deuce opportunities. Some narrow hardwood tunnels.
Long tees really challenge a pro to break par, short tees fair and cleaner for ams.
Balances out winter "Picnic" layout perfectly.
Score variation will be high.
New white layout is harder than before, and sadly the new black layout is not as good with #16 being a weak reachable yet not park-able hole.

- Many blind tee shots, lots of discs will be lost, hard to watch it fly.
- Lots of poison ivy, more than any course in the region, and probably won't diminish over time- wear pants.
- Park entrance fees always a con i.m.o, but this is the same as Rolling Hills so at least now it's double the value and worth buying.
- Short tees seem like an afterthought, thrown in after the layout.
- Long walks between holes, not laid out in a logical pattern.

- Still keeping it at 3.5 stars even with cement tees now due to extreme poison ivy (though I love this course and will be there in the fall/winter) I literally cannot play it in the summer until someone does something about some of that ivy PLEASE.