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Niles, MI

Madeline Bertrand Park

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2.955(based on 31 reviews)
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Madeline Bertrand Park reviews

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2 5
Jpopi1995
Experience: 9.2 years 30 played 6 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Awesome 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Apr 1, 2015 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

Very well Maintained.
Tee's are nice and clear
Holes are challenging but not impossible
Shop is loaded with goodies
Nice staff.

Cons:

Paying to play on top of a fee to park you car is annoying
Last tee off is relatively early (6 P.M. on the day we went)

Other Thoughts:

Worth visiting
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1 2
Mattheus
Experience: 27.9 years 22 played 1 reviews
4.00 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 13, 2010 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Clean, well kept course. Trees and tight areas force you to use all your throws and keeps things fresh.

Cons:

A bit short for those with the big arms.
Pay to play is a downside. Although I don't mind because I am local and buy a season pass.

Other Thoughts:

Also a nice park for a picnic with grills, a playground, and hiking/biking trails.
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2 1
MGroothuis
Experience: 33.9 years 7 played 7 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Been playing this course for 15+ years 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Mar 25, 2010 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Hole 1: Good opener. Mid-short length to warm up your arm. Few trees near the basket set the stage for the whole course. Aces possible.
Hole 2: Over the top of the trees to the right is a fun challenge when you can't see the basket. Trees have thinned over the years resulting in less discs caught high in pine branches.
Hole 3: Short hole. Easy float to the right for a moderate putt.
Hole 4: GREAT long hole to open up your throwing arm, but keep it tight. Fairway is somewhat narrow. Very tough to make in 2.
Hole 5: Sharp right turn with accuracy imperative around the large forked tree just off the tee.
Hole 6: Another great long hole perfect for right handers. Narrow fairway, fade at the very end to the left, approaching a downhill putt to the basket.
Hole 7: Slight uphill, short hole. Easy 2.
Hole 8: Very straight, great hole to try out your approach disc off the tee. Aces highly possible.
Hole 9: Thread your tee shot thru the large trees to a high fade to the left. Good shot leads to aces or easy deuce.
Hole 10: Mid-range hole with two large trees dead center 1/2 way down fairway. Uphill putt to an open basket.
Hole 11: Ravine hole with hidden basket, course par is 4. Good drives can lead to 2s often.
Hole 12: Nice hole throwing over a deep ravine. Accuracy is tested to keep distance under control. Shorter hole than it looks from the tee.
Hole 13: Longest hole. I throw a Leopard or a Dragon to s-curve it thru the long narrow fairway, if I get lucky. Used to be a huge tree 10 feet off the tee, dead center. Multiple hits with unlucky discs finally brought it down a few years ago.
Hole 14: Very narrow fairway opens into a fairly open putting range. Just clear the pine in the middle for a clear putt.
Hole 15: Release any frustration for a long, perfect right handed hyzer shot.
Hole 16: Very narrow drive with two choices: brave the bruised and battered center trees with hair splitting accuracy, or anhyzer around the left side off the tee.
Hole 17: Long, low and narrow. Slightly unnatural basket placement for right handers. Can be a challenge.
Hole 18: Heavily wooded with lots of trees. Fun, but your drive is crucial!

Cons:

Hole 1: Playing crowded course conditions can cause other players to be directly in the landing zone of your first shot.
Hole 2: Really no cons other than being unable to see players by the basket.
Hole 3: No cons. Good birdie hole.
Hole 4: Keep an eye on your disc if knocked into the woods on each side.
Hole 5: No cons.
Hole 6: No cons.
Hole 7: Used to be a bit more scenic and challenging. A tornado a few years back toppled some key challenging trees. Seems a little "messy" now with fallen trees half cut up.
Hole 8: No cons.
Hole 9: No cons.
Hole 10: Placement of the hole 11 tee is bad for drives that go right. Your drive can easily hit other players on the next tee.
Hole 11: Hard to tell if hole is clear. Basket completely obscured behind a hill.
Hole 12: No cons.
Hole 13: No good "path" to throw for a drive. Bomb it and keep your fingers crossed. The tee is high, so a drive is naturally in high branches of the trees.
Hole 14: None,
Hole 15: None.
Hole 16: None.
Hole 17: None.
Hole 18: No cons, but stay out of the thick woods or you're done.

Other Thoughts:

This course is really thinning as the years go by. Though the course is still a fun challenge with lots of obstacles, many, many trees and branches are gone opening up the fairways a bit. It's tree purgatory on many holes. They're alive, but cut, bruised, and dripping sap heavily. The missing signs on a few of the tees need to be replaced.
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11 0
DiscChick
Experience: 25.1 years 10 played 5 reviews
4.00 star(s)

My first and favorite 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 25, 2008 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Excellent pro-shop. Large disc selection. Friendly people. Scorecards with course maps available. Drinks & snacks for sale. Bathrooms & water fountain. There's even a water bowl at the pro-shop for your dog.
Cement tees. Beautiful wooded area, so as the seasons change it feels like the course does too. Recycle bins on the course (trash cans too). Benches at at least 4 holes. Signs at most holes.

Cons:

I play in shorts quite a bit, and though I've never had a problem here with poison oak or poison ivy, watch out for the pricker bushes.

Other Thoughts:

Some may have issues with the pay to park and pay to play, but when I look at how well kept the park is I figure I get what I'm paying for. Also, season passes are available for parking and for playing. If you're going to play the course more than 6 or 7 times in the season buy the pass and you will soon be throwing for free on a really nice course.

It's a well planned course. The next tee is usually within sight of the last basket. No crossing fairways. Unless you count the elevated tee at 13 that has you throw over the tee for 7.

The people that throw here are genuinely friendly and often encouraging. Slow groups let faster ones play through. I've had strangers tromp through the woods with me trying to find an errant disc.

It was my first course and is still my favorite.
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3 0
djext1
Experience: 27.9 years 15 played 6 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Fun course 2+ years

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Jun 13, 2008 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

This park makes excellent use of the small strip of land this course sits on. The course offers a variety of shots to let you play every shot in your bag, except maybe big arms. It's pretty much a bunny hop course for most seasoned players, yet it's still very fun.

The park staff are some of the best i have encountered, very friendly, very helpful. They truly seem to care about their course. It's not uncommon for staff to do quick walkthroughs of the course (check for non-payers, illegal activities, etc) and sweep off dirty tee's or clear stuff off fairways.

There is a pro shop filled with mostly Innova, but does have a variety of weights/colors to choose from.

Cons:

No real open holes that can put a big arm to work. Everything here is 300' or less. Mind you, most holes are still technical and require at least some accuracy, but still 300' or less.

Other Thoughts:

It's a good course to take a trip out to. We get a season pass (which if you play just a few times a year is worth it) and play quite a bit at this course. We enjoy the staff, the park, and the course. I really wish they would consider putting in another 18 holes on the property, or at least adding a few more holes to give some open, big arm holes a shot.

I always recommend this course locally, as the staff of this park have my full respect. Be sure to check it out.
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