This course will teach anyone how to be the best disc golf player you can be. It will test and challenge the best of the best but is still attainable by the new. The front 18 will allow the finesse player to shine while the back 9 allows the power to show through.

This is my home course and I wouldn't want any other course to be so.

The pros and also the cons. This course can be VERY frustrating. Other than Hudson Mills this course is one of the longest I have ever played, but the short holes are equally as challenging.

This is a great course and everyone who is willing to travel should come play asap.

I played the old Tunnel course in 2000 and liked it yet this new configuration provides much more of a challenge. Two sets of cement tee pads on most of the holes along with tee signs made it easy to navigate. Lots of variey such as open, wooded, up and down.

27 holes.

Lots of picnic tables near the tees act as benches.

Mostly lefty friendly, a lot of holes started out straight (as most do in Ann Arbor) but a majority of them ended up left to right.

Tall grass can make the course rather wet and mud can be found in places. After paying $5 to enter the park and $2 to play, I excepted better maintenance.

The last 9, 19-27 were longer and geared to the experienced player which I enjoyed, this is why I bumped my rating up to 3.5 as the first 18 is only a 3.


Drinking beer is allowed, simple rule per the
starter "no liqour".

This course gets crowded despite the pay to play, get there early!

*27 holes
*Excellent large, concrete teepads
*Located in huge park, set off in its own area, nice wooded setting
*Easy to navigate 1st time playing

*As noted in the other reviews, the course is biased to a lefty ... not a problem for me as I have a good forehand, but if you don't, you'll notice
*It seemed like every hole was blind. Not every hole, but like 20 of 27 .... why??
*Many unlegit fairways, especially from the long tees ... no reasonable flight path. I played shorts on a lot of the holes because the shot from the longs was ridiculous. Or maybe it was supposed to be a par 4 on those ... wouldn't know as par wasn't on the sign?
*Crowds - even midweek there were lots of big, slow playing groups .... the guy i was playing with said it gets completely jammed up on nice days

This course was fun to play, but definitely not as good as expected from reading the other reviews. I wouldn't go out of my way to play unless you are in the area, as i was.

Having 27 holes is nice, but it seemed like 1-18 were crammed in pitch n putt shots with repetitive holes. Heavy schule on both sides, you can't see the basket from the teepad on most holes, and there was a long stretch of holes in the middle that were all 240' ... in short, a bit boring. I enjoyed the back 9 more, but several of the holes had ridiculous lines from the long tees that really didn't follow a realistic flight path.

Also it gets really crowded. I went middle of the week on a cold, wet day and there were 40 cars in the lot.

Erosion issues everywhere from the heavy foot traffic ... i bet it gets muddy when it's raining.

The biggest Pro - Kensington is almost in my backyard! Great for people who throw both fore-hand and back-hand, favors lefties and fore-hand in my opinion.

I miss the old course!

I enjoy this course alot, I throw both fore and back hand, that's a HUGE benefit here, the extras are great!

Great distance, great variety, great elevation (for SE Michigan anyway), blends old with new, very challenging. 27 Holes. 19-27 will bring your score back down to earth.

Can't really think of any, but if I had to pick something, it's the number of left to right holes. There are plenty of righty hyzer shots, too so it's not a huge problem. Maybe the rough can be unruly at times. I think that will get better with time.

Great new course. This plus the Toboggan, Independence Lake and Hudson Mills will make the Ann Arbor area a prime location for Worlds. You could even work Lakeshore in. Can't wait.

This course has an excellent up north feel. The view from the first tee pad (long) is incredible. Because of the location of this course within the park itself it has an isolated feeling. Nobody who is not playing frolf is gonna get in the way. This course is getting a reputation for being too hard for beginners which keeps the course moving right along.

The course is very clean, which is something to be said for a course in southeast michigan.

From the shorts, this course is very technical. Par is not hard to achieve if you can throw it 200 ft. and land in the fairway (at least for the first 18).

The extra nine offer a completely different experience than the first 18 (read much more difficult). It is like a completely different course. Even landing in the fairway is not a guarantee for par, because of the technical nature of the course. Sometimes it pays to lay up!

Makes excellent use of the land that I used to gaze out at before the course was 24 holes. Everything is easy to find, with the exception of hole 6. The pathway directly behind the basket is way more clearly defined than than the new pathway to the next basket. Maybe some shrubbery behind the basket would prevent any confusion.

From the long tees this course is probably the best I have played in Michigan. You don't have to be able to throw it 400+ in order to par every hole, though it helps. A solid 300 ft. drive, with accuracy, is all you need to have a chance at par on every hole. The longest holes don't play as long as they are due to elevated tees.

WAY too many rhbh anhyzer, or forehand shots for a righty. This is the most friendly course for a left handed thrower that I have ever played.

The short tees could stand to be a little tougher. Most of them are pretty short/easy. Would be comparable to the old Kensington course before it had cement tees, with the original pin positions, and only 18 holes.

In another year this course is going to be the best around. I imagine a slight adjustment of the pin positions, in order to compensate for the drastic lefty bias, and some thinning out of the rough due to more play making the course a little bit more forgiving to errant drives.

I thought this course was great. You have to utilize all sorts of throws. Almost every hole has two pads to throw from. Great pads, concrete, and very long. Score cards/maps,and pencils were available. Very easy to navigate through the course.

The only con I can really think of is that you have to pay to get in, but I think it was worth every penny. This course was very clean and well kept.

Saw lots of people, all of them friendly, and even had a group of guys help us look for one of our discs. I really enjoyed all the different ways the holes were set up, doglegs left and right, some straight, some with trees in play, some wide open, and many with changes in elevation. I thought the basket that was mounted on the stump was real cool too. I will play again anytime I have a chance.

-Challenging tee placement if your playing the pros
-Spreadout layout so your never really on top of other players
-Big enough where my dog can go nuts and run non stop
-Challenges to throw many anhyzers when most courses do the opposite
-Score Cards w/map
-Terain comes into play
-Technical Design
-Well maintained
-Enough Trash Cans

-Metro park staff are standoffish
-Mesquitos
-Toilets needed service
-Random Rocks in tall grass my friend completely ate it going for a disc

The pay to play thing kind of sucks because I am cheap person but it shows on the course that are like this one. Also it being so new makes it a joy to play and it is clean. I would recomend it, it is as good as Hudson Mills.

- Fairly complete course featuring elevation changes, short techinical holes, longer winding holes, and a couple of nice bomber holes that have you throwing from elevated tees. Course challenges all aspects of your game.
- Nice mix of flat and gradually sloping fairways, a few small valley-like dips and a couple of serious hills thrown in for good measure.
- Great shot variety: Excellent mix of L & R dog-legs, tunnel shots, and holes that really reward a good S-shot. The thick brush may favor a Tomahawk or Thumber, or other creative escape shot when drives stray from the fairway (and sooner or later on this 27 hole behemoth, they will). Several baskets are tucked away off the fairway and well guarded by trees. Up-shots that don't land in the sweet spot where basket comes off the fairway may require straddle or hyzer putts.
- Spacious dual concrete tee pads on most holes. Long and short play differently, even when the change in hole length is minimal.
- Fairways clearly defined and neatly mowed.
- Navigation may be a bit tough for first timers, but most paths are obvious.
- Decent tee signs with distance and crude (but effective) hole layout (same as Hudson Mills & Willow).
- Scorecards with maps, pencils.
- Course comes back to parking lot after holes 15 & 18 for abbreviated rounds.
- Party store across from north entrance (Milford Rd.) has a nice assortment of discs.
- Pay to play: If you saw how run down the previous course was, you'd understand. This course pays for itself and it's maintenance. The $2 fee keeps DG from being a cash drain on the park and filters most of the trouble that ruined the old course. Park presence helps to keep trouble from happening.

- Could use more variety in distances from the Am tees, and many of the Long tees are really nothing more than the same look with another 60 ft tacked on.
- Would benefit from rotating, alt pin placements.
- Elevation only a comes into play on
- Park entry fee for cars in addition to the fee to play disc golf (annual car pass is good at all the metroparks).
- I've heard park will charge pedestrians to enter the course because local kids say, "I'm just walking along with him," but play anyway
- Grass just off the fairway is extremely tall and thick, Shots just off the fairway can be tough to find.
- Rough is thick and hungry for discs (especially the last 9 holes). I recommend "safety in numbers" because of this. If you plan to play solo however, it's a busy course, and there's a very good chance you'll be able to hook up with a group of locals who will be happy to let you play in with them.
- Bugs can be a nuisance on last 9.

I delayed writing this review because I needed some time to let my bias for the old course fade, and wanted to judge this course on it's own merit (or lack thereof) after having played a few rounds here, and... I really like this place.

This course will expand your game. I throw mostly RHBH, playing here has helped me improve my FH shot, develop control on annie releases, and use understable discs to turnover then fade back to carry S-shaped fairways.

- Glass containers are not allowed, but dogs, beer and wine are.
-Many blind holes.
- They just put a few neat branch and rock lined paths between a few holes on the final 9 to make it easy to find the next hole.
- Basket for 18 is mounted on a large tree stump - looks cool.
- This is essentially Discraft's home course. It's only 10 miles from their building, and Jim Kenner and Discraft Pros heavily influenced its design. The first 18 are challenging, the last 9 were meant to be championship caliber.
- Course's hunger for discs has diminished; it has become a bit more forgiving now that it's "broken-in."

Great tee-pads and signs at every hole. Well defined fairways. Great baskets. Easy to follow from basket to next tee. The course is spread out very well, nullifying most waits. A wide variety of shots, short to long, open and closed fairways, hyzers and anhyzers galore. The maintenance is immaculate. Utilizes the terrain and the scenery very well. Lots of hills and valleys.

No water holes. The signs at the tee-boxes could be a little more helpful. Better than nothing, I suppose. Very easy to lose a disc in the rough bushes and high grass. Still has a lot of casuals roaming around. That should change due to the challenge of playing here. It needs tissue paper at the tee boxes due to the constant crying of some players.

They really did a great job with this course. The changes to the old holes, while minimal, sets the bar high for the rest of the course. Lots of variety and plenty of what makes a golf course great- a challenge for all. Both pro's and am's will find this place very demanding and will want to play more than one round just to try and conquer this place.

Holes 1-3 are incredible from the longs. Holes 19-27 are simply amazing. The new holes represent what I'm sure the old kensington course looked like before the hordes of graffiti and underage drinkers took over the course.

The holes that we all grew to love, the "old holes" are now the same exact tee pads with the pin moved over to the RIGHT. I'd say that 70% of the holes on Black Locust, the pin is located off to the right. Not being a forehand thrower, this became increasingly aggravating and painful from having to carry my 20 disc bag around the long course when all I needed to use was my Valk. and flip it on every hole.

Its a Lefty's dream, or a forehanders dream for that matter. Backhanded flip-discers, prepare for a sore shoulder.

2/10

I'll stick to Hudson Mills.

The Locust is a great course which offers a variety of hyzers, anhyzers, and straight shots for lefties and righties alike. The front 18 are a real confidence booster, even from the longs, with lots of birdie runs (and even a few ace runs), and the champion 9 really bring even the best players back down to Earth.
I played the tunnel course for the last 7 years or so, and I love the pay to play, it really thins out the crowds and keeps the course much cleaner. The crew even carries a broom on their golf cart for clearing those sandy pads!!!
I must confess, I love this course because it has helped me to develop my backhand, forehand, and thumber shots.

Very few... I've lost a few discs (which, sadly, have not been returned, even with my name and number on them).
My score has suffered 4 or 5 strokes, but that has made me a better player and put me in the mindset to par every hole rather than going for birdies on every drive.

Once the Toboggan course is up, I cannot imagine a better place to play a weekend tournament.
Also, don't expect to shoot the round of your life out here. I've only played from the longs, and a 4 over was my best round on 27, averaging more like 8 over. The front 18 are great (not too hard to shoot an even, which is about what I avg) and the back 9 are as challenging as any holes I've ever played (avg about 7 over).
Great job Mark and the Discraft crew!!!

A huge departure from the previous course. Although the original was a nice play, it was far to easy and allowed for bloated scores. The new layout boasts consistent elevation changes without just throwing off a hill. Plays through hills and valleys.

The distance doesn't need to be increased as the vast majority of the holes are more technical than anything. If you shoot an errant shot you will be losing an extra stroke the majority of the time.

Heavily wooded. Technical. Challenging. Unforgiving.

Great mix of hole styles with the last 9 being more of a pro caliber layout.... even from the am tees. I would say the majority of the holes are blind.

Not too many. SInce the course if brand new, the rough is VERY rough. I have played two times and have bled both times. Hardly any grip and rip holes. Gets a bit tiresome when you really want to utilize your max distance throws.

People came on immediately dubbed this a course that favors lefty's. This is a major cop out. There are a good deal of right turns but this only makes you reach in your bag more for understable, roller, and towahawk shots. THose who depend on throwing a desroyer/Surge type disc may be sour but it makes for a far more interesting round. Also, over time the course will ease as branches and trees are removed. Overall a big time pro caourse from the longs and the shorts are super challenging as well.

Hole 18 is affixed to the top of a massive stump. My first play through was plus 15 through 27 holes.

Flowing layout with great use of new and original holes. Tee pads can be dusty sometimes but always in great shape. Short pad on the front 18 offer many ace runs while the longer layout offers a better challenge. The final 9, short and long, provide an entirely different and more challenging experience.

Gets very crowded during after-work hours and on weekends.

I think its a huge misconception that this course (first 18) heavily favors lefties or RH forehand shots. Most holes do finish right, but take a closer look. I used to resort mostly to my forehand until i realized a lot of the "lefty" or "forehand" holes merely require a more effective mild to moderate righty anhyzer backhand shot.

--The course is maintained very well. There are both am and pro concrete tee pads on most holes, and every tee pad has a sign with distance. The new booth that says "Black Locust" where you play to play, next to hole #1 adds to the professional appearance of the course.

--Black Locust is layed out on some nice land with decent elevation hear and there. With 27 holes the lay out conveniently comes back to the parking lot after the first 18 (so you can stop by your car if need be, or just choose to play front 18 or back 9.)

--Theres a somewhat lack of variety here. It feels like theres too many holes with open fairways and unforgiving brush on both sides. Also the course was just built and hasnt been walked on much, so theres gonna be some lost and found discs.

--Also I didnt like was how they changed the pin placements on some of the old holes, a couple nice runs got taken away with the change.

--Alot of tight long distance shots and blind baskets make this course very challenging and demanding.

--The course is patroled by staff on golf carts who will randomly drive around hole to hole and check for passes.

big course with elevation. love that elevation. my legs were a bit sore after 18. beautiful new long tees. baskets and chains were all in working condition.

friends both liked it.

holes 19-27 are long holes. lots of distance scares off the weenies.

UPDATE---
the quarry nextdoor must have screwed something up, now after it rains there is a GIANT WAIST-DEEP LAKE on the side of hole 2/3.
--END OF UPDATE

for a course in the middle of the woods, it sure doesnt have a lot trees on the fairway. lots of sun on the new holes.

most holes surrounded by tall grass, which wouldnt a problem if the holes also werent mostly blind shots.

those black locust trees have thorns, i've gotten stabbed by them in half of the rounds i've played. BEWARE OF THEM TREES.

made my mom pay $2 to walk the dog with us.

course would be a solid 4 if the pay-to-play wasnt such a pain in the ass.
----------
after playing this new course i got very nostalgic for the old one, so i went to play the old one.

i finished playing 6 holes of the old course on the lake side of the road, not interfering with any of the new course (old holes 1-3, 15-18). ranger rick told me to get lost, that 'people werent supposed to be over here'. no problem for me , as i was tired as hell.

i guess paying the park fee and the disc golf fee wasnt enough to be able to play/walk the old abandoned course. a true shame the way they are handling this whole affair.

Brand new course so everything is marked and well layed out. This course offers both wide open "field" shots and some technical holes through the original woods. Not very busy, but we played the first five holes in a monsoon, which everyone has to try at least once. It was awesome!

***UPDATE***
Course has had a lot of time to break in and it is progressing nicely. Great signage throughout is still standing; good to see our fellow DGers respecting the land. Pay to play I'm sure comes into play here as well. This course has become as flooded with folks as Cass Benton!

Locust really challenges you to hit your lines. From the bomb off of tee #1 to the tunnel shot on #18, errancy will be punished. It is challenging without ruining your fun factor.

Now, the bonus 9 are hard as hell. Seriously, they should be par 4's. Some impossible lines to follow through these long and winding holes; also some thicket shots through Sherwood... BE PREPARED FOR THESE HOLES. They are almost worth a play just by themselves - these are on another level from the rest of the 18.

We only got to play 21 of the 27 holes because we lost the daylight, which was upsetting because the last few holes looked like a great challenge. I was kind of disappointed that we didn't get to travel back through the tunnel under the road and play the other side at all. I figured they would have kept a hole or two on the other side. The bugs weren't too bad when we played but that was most likely because of the storm, so bring some spray (we even used some).

I gave the original Kensington course a 3.5 because I couldn't rate it equal with Hudson Mills or Rolling Hills. Those courses are just better. I was very excited to play the new course, and I really love what they've done with the new land. These holes were the most fun to play. The "redesigned" holes form the OGC were OK, but they still had the same feel about them, which was disheartening. Moving a pin location over two feet from where it was does not make it a new hole. Overall this is a great course that is designed well to offer as much variety as the land will allow. Recommended.

***UPDATE***
Black Locust is really starting to warm on me. Each time through I like it better than the last, and I find myself wont to come back. Now on par with Rolling Hills/Hudson Mills in my book as one of the better courses in the Metro Area. DO IT TO IT!

New course so all new pads
Good maintenance I've seen them blowing off the pads both times i've played

Lack of garbage bins so there is some litter at a lot of the holes
Pay to play but i guess that covers maintenace
lot of lefty holes only a con for rightys

Nice long shots, good terrain, miss the old course but like the new one just as much, would have liked to see some water hazards though

Lots of long distance shots, tough pin positions, I like the new tee-signs. Tunnel course didn't have ANY. Front 18 I could enjoy all day.

Lefty course without a doubt. Not balanced what-so-ever. Lots of poison ivy. I'm not allergic but pretty much everyone else is. Could definitely use some trees removed so maybe I can get a line at the basket. Every shot that I was able to get around the corner was shut down soon after by a tree off the fairway because the lane was impossible righty and I ended up with quite a few bogeys after some hard work out of the schule. Back 9 is like impossible. It is a MUST to bring a friend otherwise discs are BYE BYE guaranteed. Front 18 is great except they moved the baskets of the good holes and didn't move the baskets to the shittiest holes that they kept.

It is all FH and the designer should re-think a few of the holes to keep the RHBH'ers coming back. As of now I will only come back if I have no choice in the matter, which is never. Love the long shots, hate the really rough rough everywhere and the need for a steel elbow to make it through all those FH shots.

Much more challenging than the old course. Nice tees, basket placement.

Sidearm almost every hole.

I agree ninety percent with the first reviewer only I would rate the course higher, very well done if unfairly biased towards sidearm shots. I am sure over time they will change some of the basket placements to even this out, once they do this course will rise to a 4.5 in my eyes.