Pros:
-Located in a family-friendly park that has nice bathrooms, plenty of parking space, multiple playgrounds, soccer and baseball fields, multiple pavilions, and of course, disc golf. Lincoln Ridge is easy to get to off of I-71 and is located near a very nice golf course and neighborhood. It truly is in one of the most picturesque park settings I've played in and is very scenic in the woods and out in the open.
-Tee signs are in good shape, and tell you the pars, hole numbers, and lengths (except for 18 which is a hand-written tee sign). There are multiple tees on some of the holes, and 2-3 pin positions on every hole. The tees are long and wide concrete pads, while the baskets are Chainstar, have numbers on most of them, and are in good shape.
-This course is very well maintained and the grass is low on all the fairways. Also, the holes in the holes would normally be pretty rough, but there has been obvious steps to reduce this. It looks like the trees are often trimmed and the weed are often whacked, very much appreciated.
-Very friendly and helpful locals who volunteered to show me around the course and even helped me look for a lost disc without me asking.
-Only 20 minutes from Idlewild and 30 from Cincy courses
-Great variety of hole types and shots! It is split almost perfectly in three ways for hyzer, anhyzer, and straight shots and about 50/50 for wooded and more open shots. Use of elevation is one of the greatest aspects of this course and many holes (1, 2, 7, 14, 18, 20, and 24) offer pretty rapid elevation changes. Other holes play on slopes (3, 4, 5, 15, 16, 19, and 21). Also, this course allows you to bomb a few holes (1, 2, 11, 12, 13, 21, and 24) as well as play some very tight, technical shots (5-8 and 16-20). This course flowed very well as far as constantly changing from open to wooded and so on, not causing shots to seem repetitive and keeping the fun factor high. Water also comes into play on many of the holes, with a stream on the right of a steep slope from 14-16 and two separate ponds from 21-24.
-This is a great course to bring a beginner to, as there are multiple open shots, but they would get to see the technical side of the sport with the many wooded shots, and the fact that the water holes are fun but not very risky.
Cons:
While Lincoln Ridge offers great variety and very fun, unique holes, there are certain aspects that hurt the course's overall rating a little bit.
-Navigation is a little rough at times, as some of the holes run back and forth to each other (I'm thinking of 11-13, 19-20 here). What makes it more difficult is that a few of the numbers on the baskets are worn off, so it makes it harder to figure out which basket belongs to which hole a few times. It would be helpful if there were more next tee signs and if the tee signs themselves pointed you in the right direction. It also got confusing after 21, where you have to cross the road and play the two holes around the smaller pond. I played 24 after 21because they are so close. A sign pointing across the road would also be helpful here.
-This course is over 30 years old, so a bunch of the tees are cracked (a bunch still being less than half though).
-Hole 2 plays dangerously close to the road.
-It was very crowded when I was there on a Tuesday evening. This bothered me because some of the holes plays close together, so discs were flying into my hole's fairway at times.
Other Thoughts:
Lincoln Ridge truly has a high fun factor, with great variety of hole types, great use of elevation, and very scenic holes. While there weren't any throw-away holes here, some were pretty plain, even 1 or 2 in the woods. However, the best ones were unique, technical, and fun enough to give this course a 4.5 rating. My favorites were:
1- Great open downhill shot with a pin position in a tight corner of the woods
6- Very fun hyper then anhyzer that plays through a tight line in the woods, plays slightly uphill and has a tough pin position behind a few trees
7- Very fun tight downhill shot with a mango through 2 specific trees
13- A beautiful straight then anhyzer shot with the basket on a slope
14- Possibly my favorite hole on the course, extreme downhill shot that's goes left forces you to hyzer throughout a tight line of trees and then fade back to the right. Death putt scenario with the pin on a steep slope and the creek behind it.
20- Anny through a very tight line between trees. Plays downhill then uphill to the pin
24- Great way to end the course with a long downhill hyzer shot. Very picturesque shot
Took me 1 1/2 hours to play.