What I personally like and how this course stacks up in my list of 18 hole courses:

1) Holes with good risk/reward. Fair, but harsh punishment for bad decisions or execution. == B
(About half the holes are pretty wide open, so that cancels out the 5-6 holes that are very well designed in this regard: water, heavy rough and challenging shaped fairways.)

2) Holes that have rewarding birdie opportunities for me. I throw 300' accurately, 360' max. == B
(A full 1/3 of the holes are too long for me to have a realistic chance at birdie. This turns them into ho-hum par holes for me.)

3) More wooded than open - lots of variety of shots required caused by hole shape and topography == B+
(About half the holes are pretty open and do not force you too hard in this area. The wooded holes are pretty much all excellent in this regard. Terrain is used superbly!)

4) Natural beauty (Appalachian beauty preferred) and seclusion. == B+
(Idyllic setting for great beauty. Although it is in a park, too much of this course runs close to the main park roads. This knocked the score down from what would otherwise be a solid A.)

5) Bonus points for multi-throw holes with defined landing zones, good risk/reward and multiple options to play them. == C-
(The multi throw holes only add length....no added strategery really.)

It's all about feeding the addiction, so I ranked this course subjectively based on my own "personal addiction factor". The grades above tell how well the course will draw me back to itself again and again and again. Since I have played a decent number of courses (149 18-hole, 91 9-hole as of late 2009), my hope is that players/explorers who have similar addiction tastes will find my ratings list helpful as they choose courses to play and explore.

I fully expect others with different tastes/philosophies to disagree with me....that's the fun of things here. See my profile for my rating philosophy.

Referencing the review below...The water problem we've experienced this year is caused by a small colony of beavers that have dammed the south part of the lake, right where 9's pin is located. The water encroaches on the left side of the fairway right by the pin tightening up an already tight 250 (or so) ft shot. This is also the cause for the submerged teepad on Blue 13 (which has been fixed) and the encroachment of the water on hole 10. Oddly enough I just heard that the beavers were relocated here from a park in a town just north of Lemon Lake. Plans for their 2nd relocation are in the works.

The 'bog' between blue holes 11 and 12 is actually a creek that drains the higher lake into the lower lake. With the beaver dams it has turned sluggish but this is being remedied.

Comments on Lemon Lake Manifesto:

The red course is 16 of the original 18 holes installed in 1999. Blue 1 and 15 were the other 2 original holes (subtract current red 8 and 9). We got permission to make it 24 holes around 2001 and 27 holes shortly thereafter. When permission came for another 9 we divided up the existing holes in a manner that would flow as well as possible. The parks saw the tremendous results and ponied up the land and baskets for the Gold in 2007/2008 and the White in 2009. Lake County, IN Parks Dept has gone further with their support and is paying all the bills for concrete, benches, and other improvements. They've even hired 2 of our local disc golfers part time to work exclusively on the courses. We have about 16 more teepads to improve and they will all be done....we've poured 18 pads in the last month (summer '09).

The White course was designed to attract newer players. It has optional long placements but will still be beginner/Super Class friendly. We redesigned our original design to facilitate the parks desire to showcase holes 1 and 18 by the main building. We plan on designing, with existing holes, a 9 -hole handicap acessable course as well.

This course is probably the most diverse of the 4, as well as being probably the most open.
Like most of the others (besides red) it has a mix of concrete and rubber pads, with the same good tee signs and maps as the others. Like Red, this course has a few alt pins though more than half of the holes only have one.

This course starts off with some long holes on rolling hills with enough trees to force careful drive placement and to weave through.
The hills make rollaways a threat, and trees keep baskets protected for added intrigue.
Also, a marshy area comes into play on hole 2 long tee, to make you sweat a bit.

From there, the course moves into flatter fields with scattered trees for a few long, ripper holes, but forcing you to go through trees to get there. Thus, the open holes stay fairly intriguing and keep big arms more honest.

The grass fairways are well-manicured and clear of brush or shule, which is nice. Wind also comes into play on the front side, due to the openness of the course, which makes the trees loom larger than they would otherwise.

I'd compare the front 8 holes to Crystal Lake Park in Beaver Dam (with better drainage), and more strategically placed trees.

On hole 9, this course pulls an O'Hauser and kicks it up a notch, by bringing water into play like no other course here at Lemon Lake. If you go right or long of the basket on 9, your disc is in a legitimate river aka lost.

The following hole, kicking off the back 9 is IMO the signature hole of Blue. A hillside sloping to the lake on the right, you curve your shot around lakeshore to the narrow opening of the basket on the lakeside. Risk-reward, scenic, very memorable. Great hole, scary and tough, everything you want.

After that, the course goes into the woods, with a series of what my partners-in-crime called "Rich Martin Special"s aka Throw and Pray. To put this in context, Rich Martin designed O'hauser Park in Appleton, so similar vein to the wonderfully technical, tough holes there.

The only difference is, where O'hauser is flat and wooded, the holes in question here are fairly steep wooded hills with a nasty bog running between them. Ya. Scary. After the bog, the course keeps weaving through wooded hillsides, like Silver with fewer ravines or long holes. At the end, the course brings the water back into play on the last few holes.

Overall, this course is a wild ride, from testing your distance, to pushing the envelope of shot accuracy and placement in the woods. Many memorable holes, lots of terrain and water on the back half.

Unfortunately, with water comes, well, water. This course has probably the worst drainage of the 4. White probably has more holes with soggy fairways, but Blue has several tees underwater, hole 13's was completely submerged when we played. Thats pretty bad.

The river on 9 looked close to engulfing the basket, but it didn't.

Also, the first 8 holes are just ok, IMO. Yes they are pretty interesting and test your distance, but there long holes on Red that are waaay moreso. However, it is nice to have some more open holes on a course besides Silver, where the open holes are loooong.

Also, this course probably has the most confusing layout of the 4, mainly at the first few holes, where it crosses back and forth between the Red and Silver sides of the road.

Though its the second-oldest course here, Blue still needs some TLC before it reaches its potential. It also seemed to have more trash on it than the other three, which further detracted from the experience.

Be mindful of Holes 11 & 12, the wooded hillsides of doom. Place a spotter down to the right near the water's edge, because otherwise your disc can easily roll down the hill and disappear into that stagnant pond. You won't see it if someone's not watching.

This is the second hardest course in Lemon Lake, with plenty of blind hyzers, tight gaps, and risk reward to go around. Not perfect, but pretty darn good, and will be even moreso once all the concrete pads are in.

AS one of the course designers told me, the goal by Worlds (2011 i think?) is to have an alt pin or tee on every hole of White, Silver and Blue, since Red seems all set. I believe they truly will accomplish this, and am curious to see what the courses look like by the time the tournament is here.

Playing all 4 courses back-to-back in the same day, it was tough, and tough to pick which one was my favorite, since they were all so good. Silver and Blue were both great, however, I think the crazy water holes (9-12) here are what tip the scales slightly in Blue's favor, plus the fact that it isn't as ridiculously long as silver, nor does it beat you up as much. (we didn't even play from gold tees on silver, either, to compare)

LEMON LAKE MANIFESTO
(This is me extrapolating alot, not to be taken as pure fact, but you'll find that the shoe fits)

To accurately evaluate these four courses (this body of work, if you will), its important to note what order they were built in. Here's how I interpret it. First came the Red course, compact and concise, in a section of woods off in one corner of the park. It was wooded and technical, and it got used.

Then, once they got the green light to start building more courses, they built the Blue course next to and across the street from Red, bringing the Lake into the picture. This time they chose to do longer, more open holes, wicked water holes, and some more terrain, three things Red lacked. They shot for making a course a bit longer and a bit tougher than Red, and succeeded.

Then came the building craze. They decided to step it up another notch, with an extremely tough course, like Wisconsin staples Highbridge Gold and Justin Trails Big Brother. The championship course, the flagship, the one that the Pros will talk about. Thus Silver was born, with the eventual goal of adding Gold tees as well to truly elevate the difficulty to the next level.

Meanwhile, they saw the need to add a course for newer players, to get never people into the sport, and introduce them to disc golf, while still providing challenge for the more experienced. And then there was White.

So, Lemon Lake has a remarkably diverse range of courses, both in style and difficulty

White->Red->Blue->Silver->Gold

It shows remarkable vision and foresight, on top of superb course design, to manage such a project, and pull it off so well, and for that, I commend everyone who had a hand in this project and continues to improve upon it. The best part is they are NOT done building courses here, either. Not even close. This place is gonna explode onto the scene once they have Worlds here.

The way I see it, you have two choices:
1) Wait till Worlds and you'll be hearing about Lemon Lake from everyone, including Top Pros
2) Go to Lemon Lake now, and BE the one in the know, telling everyone else about this place.

You've got to check this place out for yourself, its worth a weekend just to play here.

Awesome course with plenty of wide, open, long fairways on the 1st nine. Well-maintained with guide signs and concrete pads.

Wind (fall/spring). Mosquitoes (summer). Heavy woods and forest could foster ticks.

Although many people have complained about the wind here, I think it is attributable to the distances involved in the holes, which will suggest it affects your disc more. There is a really good video on Youtube.com that shows the last 6 holes of the Indiana State Championships Masters Division, which even though shot on the red course, will give you an idea of the course design.

A bit of folklore: the Lemon Lake swamp/lake complex is fed by an underground stream that connects all the lakes in the area. It is a naturally beautiful area that I have enjoyed visiting since my childhood.

One of the best reasons for this course is the possibility to play three rounds of 18 with different challanges on all three rounds. Blue offers a open start with woods coming in to play on the back 8, first 10 offer mostly open power shots but still offers enough trees and bushes to make you think about your approach.

Wind plays big on the fist ten. Beware the water on 10 and 11 because you will not want to go in after a disk in the swamp.

No real complaints here, fun course.

Challenging for an amateur. Hole #6 is 650 FT!! hole #10 is 4somethin but looks like it could be 5somethin with the lake there eating all your discs..

Not for the windy days..too open.

The ultimate reason for my disc golf obsession.