A course with plenty of entertaining shots, but lacking the basics.

This is an unlikely blend - a homemade, backyard-style course on the land of a courthouse. It's solid terrain, though, with decent elevation change and plenty of shrubbery to work around for a course. The views are also excellent, as Golden is located just in the foothills of the Front Range.

The shot shaping is definitely the part of the course that keeps it afloat. The holes use the elevation and shrubbery well to create a nice par-3 run that isn't too easy. This ranges from downhill shots into guarded greens (like (1), (3) or (7)) to valley shots over the open part of the course ((2) and (8)) to longer drives with OB right ((4)-(5)) and ace runs ((6) and (9)). Distances are about 200'-400', so plenty of variety within a par-3 scheme. In terms of gameplay, this is one of the best put together courses at this rating I've played.

The course is homemade, and thus lacks many important hardware features. Tees are not even marked, so it's impossible to play without UDisc. Of course, no tee signs, next tee cues, or indication of the existence of the course beyond the app. The baskets are homemade from tires and chains, which catch solidly but are small.

Navigation is difficult. The flow isn't always intuitive, and there are a couple of overlapping fairways in the (2), (8)-(9) area. On the bright side, the path to the basket from the tee is pretty well worn, or marked by pea gravel.

The maintenance isn't top notch either. Tall, but not thick grass, is found throughout the course.

Limitations of scope also apply. The longest hole is just over 400', and there aren't any tall trees, which definitely limits the shot shaping and makes it possible to play basically any hole over the top if that's your style.

It seems all my courses in the Passable category are strong in some respect but very lacking in others - like a course with great navigation but wide open lines. The courthouse course is no different. The shots required to play here are fun and interesting, but the infrastructure is at a backyard level. Overall? Hard to rate. I think locals who learned the layout could enjoy it a lot, but it isn't a particularly quick bag for traveling players.

-Parking: I used the DTA garage and it seemed to be totally fine.

- decent use of land
- good variety of distances ranging from 225 to 450 feet

- homemade baskets made out of tires
- tee pads range from sidewalk marked or not marked, to dirt patches with rocks stacked in front of it
- no tee signs
- navigation is tough, a few tee pads are impossible to find without Udisc.
- several holes where safety issues comes into play, pedestrian and throwing back at other holes

Course is almost impossible to play without Udisc or a guide.

The home-made baskets from large tires are very unique.
Good use of the land and terrain.
The course is well laid out to offer a variety of shots.
You will have the course to yourself.

Holes 1-3 have blind tee shots, but they are pretty cool once you figure them out.
On 2 holes there are tee boxes from the sidewalk, but the chalk is faded and they are hard to find.
I used UDisc to look at the course map and it helped me find the approximate spots.

Overall, it is a fun course and it isn't overly short.
But the land is a bit limited, so don't set high expectations.
I parked at the police station and walked across the street, while the directions are to park at the county courthouse.