The difficulty of this course is very consistent. This alone in my opinion makes it a good course. 14 probably being the hole that requires the most skill. 150 foot tree lined hallway 10 feet wide, to a 100 foot wide spring and fall time marsh with the basket another 40 feet after that (est. distances). Partially protected on the right by a bush and tree. The whole thing is a flat, straight shot, but definately requires some skill and is more than note worthy to sink it in two.
Rubber pads over limestone make for good tees.
Hole signs are accurate with good amateur pars.
Many possible ace holes, 8 or so that'll get your heart pump'en.
Many wooded holes, 4, 13, and 14 come to mind as holes you really need to focus to make the shot.
A few full out, "let 'em rip" holes make this a good course to develop power and accuracy, 15 being one that you need both.
The course 'flows' very well, other than 6 to 7 which crosses 4's fairway, tees are basically adjacent to baskets. 15's tee is maybe a hundred feet to the west of 14's basket.
Many trashcans and provided dog waste bags provide the opportunity for a clean park.

Mostly short strait holes. If a hole does turn its to the left. (Depending on how you throw, 10 could be played with a right turn, same with 2 and 13.)
5 will hold water for a day after heavy rain and 10 and 14 have marsh land in play during the spring and fall.

This is the course that I learned the game on. It seems to be that way for many people. Don't be surprised if the group in front of you moves at a slower pace. Lines do form at tees at times. Usually the first three holes and then people spread out after that. Its not that bad.
Holes 1 and 2 are played along side a soccer field. 18's fairway boarders the entrance to the dog park. So on a Friday or Saturday afternoon or Sunday Morning in summer don't be surprised to see the park filled with people. 10 holes either cross or run along the parks trail so having to wait for people is a common occurrence.
There are some thorn bushes mixed in with the shrubs so be sure to look at what your sticking your arm into!
Mid-summer bugs can get really bad, bring bug spray!

Theres a bit of diversity here, especially on the front 9. There are two holes where you can let it loose and there are one or two tightly wooded holes. This was the most enjoyable part of the course. Tees and signs are great and the course flows well. Different types of shots are required, however most holes seem to go left.

A couple holes are almost exactly the same, an example being holes 1 and 2. Both shoot from left to right across a gravel path into a grove of trees. Most holes seem to favor a rhfh player, there are few doglegs to the right. The back nine gets extremely repetitive. Most of these holes follow a gravel path through the woods, and most are doglegs to the left with scattered trees on the fairway, a nice design for one or two holes, but the whole back nine seems to follow this design. This course also seems to be very crowded. I played at 12:30 on a Friday and had to wait at every hole.

To be honest I don't think I will be coming back to this course anytime soon. There is almost no fun factor. I hit an ace on hole 4 and still didn't enjoy 18 holes.

- Makes use of the land
- A lot of short holes challenging your accuracy
- 2 longer holes add to the variety of the layout
- ALOT of ace run holes, always fun to empty your bag if you're in the mood.
- I go about 5-6 times a week and am rarely waiting.

- Soccer fields border the first 2 holes
- Dog park on hole 18, watch out for the pups
- Course runs along a bike path with some sharp corners, watch out for walkers/riders.

Fun course, to me it's worth the drive out if your within 15 minutes away.

- Course makes good use of land to provide a wide variety of holes. Pretty even mix of wide open shots, lightly forested runs, and tight woods.
- A few wide open shots require length over accuracy. The longest hole was added in the last re-design, so it is there for one purpose only - bombs.
- There are also some holes that are on the longer side, with decent obstacles to avoid. #3 comes to mind, a 423' shot with a pretty well protected basket, especially from a typical RHBH hyzer. #14 is another good one, over 300' with a tunnel tee shot to another protected basket. Great mix of length and obstacles on these.
- Shorter holes make great use of the forest to add some challenge. Plenty of holes with narrow, wooded fairways, as well as holes with individual trees and bushes to avoid. For the most part, the trees are skinny, but numerous. Holes that seem easily deuced can play pretty tricky, hitting a good line is almost always key.
- Good mix of left and right curves, as well as straight shots. Overall, probably more friendly to a typical RHBH player, but there are some tricky holes for that as well. An extreme left curve in the woods on #12 can be tough to reach with any shot.
- Some very short and very wooded holes help to provide a different look.
- Good tees, good baskets, great signs

- Park is as flat as can be. There is one small hill to tee off of on the longer hole, but that's it.
- Course does play small, in general. A lot of short, wooded holes that can be easily conquered with accurate shots.
- Walking path winds around park with holes, very little seclusion to be found.

- Quality 18-holer that makes good use of the forest it is in. There are a few large, mature trees, but it's mostly skinny trees that provide defined fairways. For the most part, there are always one or more lines that can be hit, some are more obvious than others.
- In my book, this is more of a fun course than a hard one. There are some pretty tricky holes, but there are also some extremely easy ones. I could see an experienced player being let down with the overall experience. Probably just right for most casual players.

Incredibly easy to navigate.
Very close (within 2 miles) to Chains Disc Golf Store.
Open, very little low-lying brush.
Good location (in a large park district athletic complex).
Nice tee boxes.
Accurate signs.
Good distance variation from hole to hole.

Standing water on 5th hole (basket was surrounded by water).
Very windy (open fields)
Very crowded (had to wait in line to tee off)
Close proximity to soccer fields.

Good 18 hole course for the area

Lippold has a nice mix of open and wooded tunnel shots. It works many different parts of your game. Hole 14 is a long tunnel shot opens up over a grassy area (that at the time I played was flooded with about 4 inches of water). There is also a good mix of shorter and longer holes ranging from sub 200' ace runs to 500'+ holes.

The signs at Lippold are very helpful. They have the distance and landmarks to help locate the basket. They also show the direction of the next tee. I had never been there and had no trouble finding my way around.

The rubber tee pads and Mach 3 baskets are nice and in good shape.

Many holes (1-3, 7, 9, 10, 15-18) shoot across or down a pedestrian path. You have to be on the constant lookout for runners, dog walkers, and the like.

As typical with the area there is little to no elevation change at Lippold.

When I was there, the basket of hole 5 and a good 30 feet around it was in 5 inches or so of water. Lots of recent rain and melt snow makes lots of standing water. This isn't a con because many of my usually courses are almost unplayable this one was on the drier side.

There is also a baseball diamond in the park, but at the time I was there no one was using it. I would expect when games are going on the civilians on the course increases a lot.

Chains Disc Golf store just open up down the street from Lippold. So, if you are in need of discs there is a place nearby.

In the other thoughts section there is a link to pictures. You can get a good feel for the park.

Nice new tees signs were installed last summer (June 2009).

The rubber tee pads are pretty nice and a good upgrade from the previous limestone pads.

Nice Mach3 baskets.

There is a good mix of open, semi wooded, and heavily wooded holes.

This course gets an unbelievable amount of play. Be prepared to wait and be patient during prime evening hours and weekends. Not only is the course busy but the walking path and sports fields near are always in use. Pedestrians are always an issue.

The terrain is flat as a pancake.There is no elevation at all.

This course is pretty short and a par 54 course.

Here is a link to the image gallery. Since these photos were taken new tee signs and tee pads have been installed.
http://discontinuum.org/index...2_itemId=1472

The skeeters can get pretty bad during the warmer monthes. Bring bug spray.

There are a ton of activites in this park to bring the family. During solfball games you can enjoy a beer on the deck. Here is a link to all the activities.
http://www.crystallakeparks.o...k/general.htm

Check out my Illinois Top 10
http://discontinuum.org/index...1486.msg68704#msg68704

Lippold Park has a good variety of shots and features some heavily wooded holes, some lightly wooded holes and a couple of long wide open shots. It's a very flat course but the variety of holes mixes things up and keeps things interesting. The tees have a rubberized covering and are in good shape with good tee signs. The course is in a large park with a lot of amenities and is kept up very well, so the course is usually in very good condition. Shot for shot it's a pretty decent course, especially considering that there is no elevation to work with.

Lippold was originally a 9-hole course that played over and along a walking path. Many of those original 9 holes are still there and that part of the course flows well. It's the 9 added holes that don't fit in well. Holes 1-3 are basically original holes and flow nicely, but then hole 4 (the first of the added holes) shoots right back at the pin for # 3. The putting circles for these two holes overlap, they are that close together. You then walk out into the open to play two wide open shots that are set too close together with the other fairway to the left (read: RHBH distances shots hyzering out land in the other fairway) then cut through a path that enters # 4's fairway IN FRONT of the tee to get to # 7. The flow is bad and the holes are too close together. This problem repeats itself on many of the added holes. Where the added holes come back into the original course at holes # 14 and #15, the holes overlap badly and players on #15 can easily end up throwing at players on #14. Add to this the fact that many of the holes play over the walking path creating potential conflicts with people using the path, and you have a course design that just does not mesh well. The conversion from 9 holes to 18 holes just did not work well IMO, and the overall course suffers because of it.

This is a case of more is not necessarily better. I thought the course worked better as a part of the overall park when it was 9-holes. The 9 additional holes do add some variety to the course as the original nine was fairly repetitive, so shot for shot it has added quite a bit to the course. However, there is more to good course design than just adding the shots. The Lippold expansion creates too many conflicts to be considered an improvement. The overall effect is an OK course, but nothing special.

The course plays through a wooded part of a large multi-use park. There is a nice mix of more open holes and some tight technical holes that will test your accuracy and punish errant shots. There are different lengths, from 4-500' holes, to ace runs under 200'. There are also a good mix of right and left turning holes, with lots of straight shots, making for a mixture of shots if you want to card those birdies.

Though many of the holes are pretty short, they still make you hit your line or risk ending up in the thick trees and brush. Even on many of the more open holes, a bad skip or roll could easily take you into rough that could add a stroke. Many of the pins have great protection by trees, taking away obvious routes to the basket and promoting shot creativity.

The park is well maintained, and has plenty of amenities. The tees are rubber, and are flat and in good shape. There are tee signs that have the layout and distance, along with direction to the next tee, and these make it very easy to get around the course.

The park is extremely busy, both with disc golfers and other park users (mostly soccer players/spectators). This makes for some parking issues, along with some crowding on the course, which wouldn't be as big a deal without giant groups of players who don't know course etiquette. Some of the tees are too close to the previous basket, and when players don't know to yell fore it can be an issue.

There is a trail going through the course, and it was full of walkers, joggers, and bikers. This meant we had to do a lot of waiting so we wouldn't hit someone, on tee shots and on many fairway shots where the trail ran the length of the hole. There were a few especially bad spots where there was a blind corner on the trail, and it would be very easy to hit one of the oblivious trail users.

The lengths on the course seemed like they got pretty repetitive. Though there were a couple (wide open) longer shots, it felt like most of the holes were between 250-300', and I would have liked a little more variety.

This course is accessible for beginners, but newer players might find the punishing rough, and more technical holes a bit frustrating at first. More experienced players will enjoy the accuracy challenges, along with a couple opportunities to air it out a little, though it's not a terribly challenging course over all.

This is the best course in this immediate area, and is worth a stop for a fun round if you're in the area. If you have the time though, there are better courses within a reasonable drive, so don't make this one your top priority.

- Good mix of open/long holes and shorter, technical holes let you work out both sides of your game.
- Clear signage at each hole
- Rubber mat tees on crushed limestone bases.

- Bind shots in the technical sections can punish new players unfamiliar with the park.
- Jogging/walking path comes into play in the middle of the course
- Tough rough to pull bad shots out of, especially if you don't have someone spotting for you.

Fun course! For me, what I would consider and beginning/average player, it was a challenging course that tested my ability to play a tight, technical line on quite a few holes. To balance that out, the front part of the course offered opportunities to grip and rip a few long, open drives. Several blind holes around, over, and in some tough rough made me glad I wasn't playing alone as a spotter help track down wayward discs. Bug spray was a necessity, and I would guess that several of the holes could be very wet after a rainy day. Of the three courses in town, this has the most to offer someone who has been playing for a while and would like to fine tune their technical game. Worth the stop if you are in the area.

great course maintained very well. variety of range and setup from straight short shots, shots over marshes from in woods to long shots between trees and alleys. AWESOME DOUBLES COURSE.

whole 5 floods bad whenever it rains and holds water for days, crowded course and thorns every at hole 18

play lippold

What I personally like and how this course stacks up:
1) Holes with good risk/reward -- B-
2) Holes that have rewarding birdie opportunities -- B-
3) More wooded than open - lots of variety of shots required caused by hole shape and topography -- B
4) Natural beauty (Appalachian beauty preferred) and seclusion -- C+
5) Multi-shot holes with defined landing zones, good risk/reward and multiple options to play them -- NA

I ranked this course subjectively based on my own personal enjoyment factor...more accurately my "personal addiction factor". Since I have played a decent number of courses (115 18-hole, 50 9-hole as of early 2009), my hope is that players/explorers who have similar tastes will find my ratings list helpful as they chose courses to play and explore.

Over time, I expect to fill some of my reviews in with more descriptive verbiage...if what I say adds anything to what has already been written. For now, my list is more important to me than the verbiage of my reviews.

I fully expect others with different tastes/philosophies to disagree with me. See my profile for my rating philosophy.

Good mix of closed and open holes which will allow you to work on a variety of different throws. Altho most of the holes are relatively short, pin placement makes things challenging. I aced #17 back in '06 for my very first hole in one, so this course holds a special place in my heart. That might be worth half a star....

There are plenty of opportunities to find lost discs. Also plenty of spots to crack open a cold one.....or hit a jogger.

Hole #4 is very, very aceable. Having said that, I always get close, but no cigar. Holes 5 and 6 let you grip n' rip, and the rest of the holes are more precision shots that anything; they're fairly short.

The proximity to Rockford is a huge plus for this course. The "Rockstock Expressway" will get you to Anna Page Park in Rockford in about 35 minutes.

There's a walk/jog path that cuts thru the majority of the park. A loud "FORE!!!!" will serve you well - I nearly hit a jogger on hole 8 because there's blind corner the jogger turns.

The course shares the park with a lot of soccer fields. When the weather cooperates, there are a LOT of soccer enthusiasts here, so parking can become scarce. They can also interfere with play on the first 6 holes and the final 5. It's more annoying than anything else, but I have had to skip a few holes due to swarms of soccer folks.

Bring bug spray!

I heard that cops are hanging out here now. If you need to, watch out!

Not bad for the area it's in, but should be used as an opening course before heading out to Rockford, Kirkland, Round Lake, or some other park. This park is huge - would love to see either an additional 9 or 18 holer built alongside this one.

Flat, very tight and challenging, very cool to look up and say to yourself "where am I" due to the tall trees everywhere

a few tight fairways, easy too loose discs

The park is very well kept, always mowed and easy to follow.

Many holes designed for righties. it is packed after about 6:30 in the evening

Hole 5 in water after it rains.

Challenging mix of open and tight holes. I am beginning to appreciate the rubber tees more and more!

A few of the woods holes are nearly impossible for lefty's!

played during a tournament and they had 4 extra holes setup. Really enjoyed this course. Reminds me alot of Syracuse's Jamesville Beach course

This is a fun course. I do think it is pretty challenging for most people. I feel it has something different to over at each hole. My review may have no merit if they have changed the course since 2005. I played it often up until 2005-2006.

Bring bug spray

Easy and fun to play quick rounds. As the course overgrows its getting a little better. The park district added rubber tee pads a little over a year ago.
Holes 1-3, 10, 11, 15-18 are fairly open with mature trees and bushes to contend with.
Holes 4, 7-9, 12-14 are tighter shots through woods.
Holes 5-6 are wide open bombs.
Wind is always a factor here. For several parts of the course it swirls through and can cause some major air bounces and flips.

FLAT! Repetitive shots, a slight hyzer or straight shot will get you were you need on 17 of 18 holes. Chuckers are a huge problem during summer months. basket heights are grossly inconsistent. Warning to some, cops like to hang out in woods. also watch out for people on the path... they have right of way.

Monday leagues run from spring through fall. We usually a couple hours before sunset. During summer it starts at 6pm.
**Update**
I have decided to move this to a 3 star. This summer alot of the trees really grew and its starting to shut down alot of the easy lines. Also, chuckers are slowly becoming more respectful to the course and litter is down. The pads could still use some better fondation to make them more even.
******
Hole by hole:
#1 - Depending on wind a large hyzer shot or a straight low shot will easily get you to the basket.
#2 - Most play a straight to anyhyzer shot under the low trees. Some go with a large spike hyzer over the trees.
#3 - Just a long straight rip at the hole. Two main trees to avoid in the center of the fairway. the first one will knock down any low running flex shots and the second will knock down a the really straight shot. the basket is protected by a thin tree line with a large gap to the left.
#4 - Short little shot through several thin trees with several choices in possible gaps. Ive seen people throw everything from hyzers to thumbers on this one. most the time hitting a tree deflects you into a hard upshot.
#5 - A wide open (except for the small trees around the basket green, not really a factor) 390'-some throw. Generally a headwind to combat.
#6 - Another wide open huck (520'). Generally has some kind of tailwind.
#7 - A simple midrange shot straight up the middle. Fairway is split into 2; the first half is open with a pine tree to the right to knock down on grip-locks. the second-half of the fairway begins with a tiny gap into the wooded area. after this gap it opens up a bit more until you reach the basket. Ive also seen several people consistently park this with a tomahawk.
#8 - Is a slight hyzer threw a tight fairway 10-15' wide. Opens up to the right about 2/3 of the way down. basket is protected on the left by short trees and bushes. Tomahawks also work well here.
#9 - A straight tunnel shot. Thick trees along the right side that tend to soak up your disc. The left has a few large trees that also get in the way. To the right and behind the basket woods continue and directly left are some helpful trees if you hyzer out at the end.
#10 - A slight anhyzer with many shot choices. Sidearms also work very well. Trees and bushes cover the fairway. Along the left side is the main gap to hit thru the large trees. some take a risker hyzer line thru a very tight gap. the green area is very open with no obstacles.
#11 - A long gentle hyzer shot. A swampy area runs along the right side ending with trees protecting the entrance to the green. The left side is heavily wooded. If you do go into this there is a tight low tunnel up to the basket. The basket is located in the woods to the left. lots of trees protect it.
#12 - A tight fairway (altho every year it gets bigger since the chuckers continue to rip down trees) that hooks hard left. A putter easily covers the distance. Basket is protected by several trees and in summer months the rough gets a lil think to the right side.
#13 - A straight shot thru a tight tunnel fairway. The basket is protected by a line of trees. The green is surrounded by trees and skips are very common. its better to actually not land directly by the basket as you will skip deep into the woods.
#14 - Probably the course's signature hole. The first half of the fairway is a <10' wide tunnel that opens up to a swampy area (recent years there has been water year round) that is wide open. The fairway then quickly narrows to a ~15' wide opening and then the basket is on the right. Wind can be a large factor as you come out of the woods, it tends to swirl here so it is difficult to predict.
#15 - A fairly open and straight hole with woods along the left side (known as the "graveyard"). About 3/4 of the way the woods tighten up the fairway along the right side. The basket is protected by a bush in front of it and several trees along the right and behind it.
#16 - A straight shot with a tree along the right and a few along the left. A line of large trees lined up in front of the basket protect it. Behind the basket is all open. 1/3 of the way down certain wind directions (West to East mainly) your disc can be flipped easily.
#17 - Sadly the original hole 17/ 9 (when it was a 9 hole and a 17 hole course) was destroyed. 17 is now a 180' straight shot into some heavy bushes (thorns too). the basket is protected with a tree in front of it and a bush to the right. The basket is just before the heavy bushes.
#18 - Is a fairly open straight shot with several small trees to mess with low shots. Wind is always a factor. There is tall rough along the left side (keep a good eye on your disc if you go in there). The basket is protected by bushes to the front and left.