Valley Center, KS

McLaughlin Park DGC

Permanent course
2.065(based on 9 reviews)
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McLaughlin Park DGC reviews

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s3bvikingasw
Experience: 16.2 years 39 played 1 reviews
2.50 star(s)

Nice Pitch-and-Putt for a quick round 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Nov 26, 2009 Played the course:once

Pros:

The course consists of 9 home-made baskets that, for the most part, catch discs well. The course flows fairly well, and tends to go around the perimeter of the park, circling a pond, with OB roads to the south, and an OB parking long and fence to the north and east. The course also features some moderate elevation (actually severe elevation for South-Central Kansas) on holes 5-7. The risk of losing discs is moderately low, but a very errant drive could wind up in the murky pond or over the fence in some unforgiving tall grass. Most people won't argue the toughest hole on the course is hole 2, a 410' blind shot with a tight fairway, and OB parking lot left (and disc eating spruces to the right). The park itself is well-maintained- the city mows it regularly and keeps it fairly trash-free. Other amenities are also available, such as restrooms, trash cans, benches, and even a sheltered picnic area.

Cons:

Other than the second hole, all the holes are fairly short (under 350', hole 4 is only 197'), and after the second hole, all the holes can be birdied easily. The walk from hole 6's basket to hole 7's tee pad is long, and the two holes are almost identical in distance and elevation change. The tee pads are all natural, and ruts are beginning to form on all holes, which are frequently muddy. The tee pad for hole 6 is on the side of a hill, which is beginning to wash out, which creates a hazard that could lead to injury. The basket on hole 4 is missing its outer ring, so all of the outer chains float freely, reducing the ability of this basket to catch discs. Holes 5 and 6 are at the back edge of the park, and are not mowed as frequently as the other holes are. Other activities in the park can also be in the way. A splash park was (stupidly) placed just off of the fairway for hole 1. Also, a softball field's fence can be reached easily with an errant drive on 3. Fishermen also can get in the line of fire on hole 8. The potential for incident is amplified with a strong south wind (which isn't uncommon in this part of the country in spring/summer/fall). The city has a tendancy to over-water, so the low spots are always marshy, and the whole course gets marshy and stays that way for a few days after rain, which leads to horrid mosquitos in the summer.

Other Thoughts:

This course is completely unprotected from a south wind, and is fairly unprotected to the north too. That may be a con to some, but makes this a great place to practice your wind game, especially in the summer.

The course does have some very basic tee signs that show a few landmarks, and give the hole length, which is really all the information required to play the hole.

Summer days can lead to a large crowd of children on the splash park by hole 1's fairway. These children are usually oblivious to disc golfers, and may run onto the fairway with little to no notice, so use caution (and the course was there BEFORE the splash park for the record).

Ultimately, this course could probably be labeled as a 'pitch-and-putt', but most of the holes are around or over 300 feet long, and throw in one of those strong Kansas winds out of the south, and suddenly this place becomes a little more challenging. In my opinion, given the space to work with, the designer did as good of a job with the course as was possible. Great for a quick round if you're in the area, but definitely not worth a road trip to play alone.
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