- O'Hauser's 18 holes are located on a flat stretch of park land. About half of the course plays through or along woods while the remaining holes work their way over open grassy areas dotted with trees and large bushes. Part of a multi-use park, some holes come in close proximity to walking trails, a baseball diamond, etc. It does not appear as though other park-goers become much of an issue, though, and the course feels fairly secluded.
- Tight fairways and some very protected pin placements make this course an outstanding technical challenge. You'll need to shape your lines fairly well or risk getting into some bad situations. The schule isn't an issue in most places, but the rough can definitely punish your off-target throws. A few places have tightly spaced trees that can pin-ball you around if you get into them.
- Descriptive signs (although distances are not correct in many places). Asphalt tees are the first I've seen. Although a bit "wavy" in places, they do an above average job and were not a problem during my round.
- Dual tees (with a few holes having 3 tees, if I remember correctly) and multiple basket placements keep things fresh and exciting.
- A small creek and a marsh/small pond come into play on several holes. One hole has you teeing off over the marsh and requires a decent length anhyzer to cut back right into the fairway before continuing down a wooded tunnel to the pin. A super fun hole that does provide a safe route, albeit through a very narrow window that leaves a less-than-stellar upshot.

- In the current layout, and with the cutting beginning for some of the new holes, there are a few places where navigation can become a bit tricky.
- One hole on the front nine had a long berm of earth added by the park department (without consultation with the designer, Rich Martin) that has created a bit of a flooding/ standing water issue on the fairway. Nothing a bit of tip toeing around can't avoid, but a towel might be needed.
- One hole does not have a teepad.
- A designer can only work with what he has, but the flatness of O'Hauser gets a little old. Not much elevation here at all.

- I want to stress that O'Hauser is an established course undergoing an exciting redesign. This review only takes into account course conditions as of the review date above. My round was played with one privy to some of the design ideas, and he gave me his insights as to what the course will be like in the future (thanks much, tallpaul). Length will be added, as well as difficulty. Several of the new holes are already taking shape and provide a glimpse of what O'Hauser will transform into in the near future. I'm excited to return when the new layout is finished: O'Hauser currently has some great holes, and only stands to get better!

Dual tees every hole (a few have three tees).
Asphalt tees every hole.
Multiple pin placements on 12 holes. (New design is going to have two placements on all tees, and three placements (the third being for tourney only), on nine holes.
Long term effort to keep this course improving. (This course has been in three completely different layouts over the years; and is about to undergo a major upgrade; to be completed in 2011.)
Only a couple of throwaway holes; and these are still fairly tough deuces from long tees.
Almost all players who play here, many times a year; will find themselves with a double digit over round at some point during the year. Back nine especially challenging.
Grignon and Plamann Parks are our other two best ; O'Hauser is .5 tougher.
O.k....so, I really want to stress these last two points, because these are the most important in my mind. FROM A TOUGH PLAY STANDPOINT, O'HAUSER IS OUR BEST COURSE. Scoring here, even for 1000 rated players, is not easy. Par is a quality score. The new design will make 54 a VERY good score.
The Spring Opener made the top 50 payout tourneys is the country in 2010 (47th). Field comprised of well over 100 players, with 20+ open field, including 10 near 1,000 rated. Only two players shot double digits over (with some easy extra holes added), for two rounds of 21 holes played!!
Cale Leviska, Roger Brandt, Adam Olsen, Terry Miller, just to name a few, were in attendance. This course isn't going to "wow" you with scenery; but, should "wow" you regarding skills needed to score.

Yes, O'Hauser is flat. If elevation is your end all, you may well find this course repetitive.

Asphalt tees not liked by some when wet. I, personally, have found them to be quality and am surprised that very few courses use them. At some point in 2011, the asphalt tees will begin to be replaced with concrete tees. As of now, fall 2010, tee for hole #16 is covered over by some landscaping in progress. (I will try to get some colored stakes pounded in next time I'm out there).

While tees signs are visually pleasing, and will give you the general layout of the hole. Do not believe yardages; they are off. New signs on the way for the new layout next year.

Course stays in the ground for winter play. Long tees, always kept shoveled for winter play. Course designer has added a bit of a "mean" streak, that I like, in recent years, in 2009, holes #3, #5, #6, #9, #10, #15 and #16 were in long placements for winter play!!! (7, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 18 have only one pin placement).

I will address a couple of concerns expressed by other reviewers: In many years of playing, I do not believe there has been much issue with holes 3-9 being dangerous. However, whatever issues may have existed there, will soon be gone, as that area is going to change dramatically, and few of these holes will exist in the new design. From a certain stand point, this is sad; as a couple of these holes...#5, #6, and #9 are classic disc holes. Come out and enjoy this design in 2010, before the change and then make some comparisons. But, I do suggest to you all to play this design while it's still here.
Hole #3 also lost a large number of trees that used to run down one side of the fairway; due to trees dying (discs did not cause their demise!).
Hole #10 has been called a throw away hole in a couple of recent reviews. These players happened to play it will the pin was in the short placement; which it rarely is. They were actually getting a deuce opportunity treat. In the long placement, this is one of the top three toughest holes in "the valley", that finishes in the woods, with the creek not far away, after a long tee off. This hole also has three tee areas.
Complaints about hole #13 are primarily resistance to change as well. The newest version of this hole is still a signature type hole; it's just a tough anheiser (rhbh) in it's newest layout. #13 has had three different pin placements over the years; and all, including the most recent, have been very challenging.
There are some new, huge mounds of dirt on the edges of fairways to #3, and #10. These are some of the early stages of mounds designed to separate some new walking paths coming into the park; from the disc play area. As of fall 2010 these appear to have always been there; but they are pretty new. These are going to be beautiful in the spring, with wild flower growth. A couple new holes are nearly finished, in the area where #18 is now; which will be the new beginning to the course. Main parking area will move to the other side of baseball field when new design is finished. Course designer is hoping to have new design completed in 2011. O'Hauser will then be a couple of strokes, at a minimum, tougher than it already is. Parks department is very supportive of this change, and all of the changes here over the years. They enjoy our sport and the value the course has given to their community.

I can promise you that course designer considers this to be the "signature course in the Fox Cities, in terms of toughness" and so the new design is going to be even more of a challenge than it has already been. The "in the woods secluded" feeling that is already present on many holes here, will only increase in the newest design. The new design will also be designating a couple of ares for native prairie atmosphere, which will be nice; and will allow these spots to rest from what has been years of disc play.
Saturdays are work days. Get in contact with the parks department, or any of the many local volunteers, to offer services, if you would like to assist with the new renovation.

I like this course. It has a good disc golf vibe, every time I go I see many people who are taking their game serious which you have to because its a difficult course. The birdie shots are their for the most part but you have to earn them I cant really think of any gimmi's. Lots of trees, a few holes look more difficult then they really are, dont be greedy, go for placement shots at least on the back nine.

Does it just annoy you when you get to a course and there is a half hour wait to start your round. Well dont worry here it will be an hour wait sometimes, at least early in the season when none of the other appleton courses are open. Then after that wait you will probably have a ten minute wait on every pad while also putting up with people waiting behind you. I think this is the only course where I have multiple groups that are watching me tee off on every pad through out the round. bottom line its a busy course. The people are usually cool atleast.

I recommend doing the back nine first and getting the more difficult ones over with.

1) Large dual asphalt teepads. They are nice and knobby so footing is good ont hese pads, although the local I played with said they get a little slick when they are wet. I supposed some of the oil comes out of the asphalt and slicks them up.

2) Nice tee signs with a good map of the hole. These are some of the most unique teesigns I have seen. The spent a lot of money on these plastic signs and it does help to make the course look better.

3) Creek doesnt really become too much of an issue, although you do play over it once, and along it another couple of time.
It's always nice to incorporate water into a course design even if it is just asthetic. The marshy area (I would imagine it is marshy int he wetter seasons) does also create another hazard to be aware of.

4) Awesome design and layout on this piece of property. The first 2 holes are dense through the wooded area, then holes 3-10 open up slightly although they go through grassy areas, there are a lot of trees to consider your shot selection. Then you head back into the denser woods again for some really tough shotmaking holes. This variety of design features is certainly a huge positive for this course and what allows me to give this course the 3 1/2 rating I have.

5) Every hole and every shot had some sort of challenge except hole #10. I love it when you have to think about every shot not just step up and throw.

6) Tree placement on many holes forced some shotmaking, but also some luck. #17 is a long anhyzer shot with a small grove of those scrubby trees on the right. You have to hope to knife through them at the end of the shot. Its those little things that can really frustrate you when you think you have throw a great shot, but at the same time it really helps to challenge how precise your s curves, and what angle you come intot he basket.

7) Facilities seem to be adequate, although I would imagine the parkign lot fill sup on nice days. There is a practice basket, a picnic area at the start, benchs at most every tee (perhaps every tee I just cant remember), garbage cans are adequate

1) Course lacks elevation completely. I am not sure if at any point you are 10 feet higher than any other area. You may be lower when you end up in the creek that runs through the course.

2) Granted I played this course after almost all of the leaves have fallen, but it seems to be there are a lot of little scrubby trees on this course. They may not be dead, but they are not healthy trees and simply upright. There are not reallymany majestic trees on this course, they all seem to be scrubby lanky trees. I like to enjoy the surroundings while I play disc golf too and this took away a little bit from my overall impression.

2) Holes 3-9 are slammed into a very small area of this park. I don't know if there is more land elsewhere to be used, but these are tight and dangerous at times. I saw discs flying every direction because it was busy out there today. I could see some injuries with teepads not too far from baskets, and with all those little scrubby trees you are more likely to get some random bounces off those trees.

3) #10 is almost a complete throwaway hole. Dead straight, across a grassy field. The only interest to this hole was the massively long pile of soil that has been placed there. I ended up on top of it and laid up a really nice approach for my 3. It was kindof fun to be elevated 6 feet above the basket for that throw!

4) This is only listed as a con because it detracted from the look of the course, but the two areas with all the soil (#3 and #10). I know this will be used to improve the course someway, but that is some thick red clay I can't imagine getting grass to grow in this soil anyways, so I hope they are creating berms as opposed to raising the land. I will not consider this comment in my overall disc rating, but I felt it should be mentioned and I know the work is ongoing.

5) Not really beginner friendly because of how dense some of the wooded holes are, and even the ones in the grassy areas have some serious shotmaking requirements. The forward teepads dont look to be that much easier either.

This course is for sure a local favorite and I woule be thrilled to play it everyday, but it is a little lacking in a few ways. There seems to be a big local presence in terms of volunteering (I was supposed to help them out today but needed to get home earlier than I expected so I skipped the work and just played the course). I absolutely love the layout and the different challenges that come into play on this course, but it just seems to be lacking something keeping me from giving it a 4 or higher. If I could give it a 3.75 I would and that truthfully would be right along the lines with other ratings, but I cannot give it a 4 because of a few issues mentioned above. I played 6 courses today including both Plamann courses and the Kaukana and Kimberly school courses as well as Grignon Park. I thoroughly enjoyed all of these courses even the school courses, and this course ranks just a little below Plamann and maybe comparable to Grignon. All of the courses have some great holes, and all of them are very well designed and pretty well maintained.

My update to this review happened within 10 minutes of writing the review. I cannot give this course a 3.5 simply because of how funa nd challenging it was. I would play it everyday along with plamann and grignon if I lived in the area. Any course that would keep me coming back everyday deserves a 4. I have some issues with this course in comparison to Grignon and Plamann, but it does deserve the 4 not the 3.5 I initially wanted to give it.

Great holes. Challenging

Easy to lose discs. Lots of trees for hazards. Hole 13 is the hardest hole. Many mosquitoes. Too many blind tee shots

Makes a great course for amateurs and beyond. A good tee shot is the most important thing on this course. The holes are very challenging. Water hazard is a creek on hole 2; is'nt much trouble. Get it over the marsh on hole 13 to save a half hour's worth of looking for your disc

Front nine gets you rolling; back nine can kick you in the rear when the pins are back and the leaves are in. Open year-round.

Can get soggy after a deep rain.

League in the Spring. Lots of fun. Check out the Appleton Area Disc Golf Club for details.

Excellent use of available land. Long tunnel shots on back nine are some of the more challenging holes in the area. Need every drive in the book. High, low, long, straight, hyzer, thumber, you name it.

Loss of significant trees over the years on the front nine. Redesign on front needed to keep up with disc technology.

Home course. Would like to see it grow into a course that a club uses to promote disc golf. Many local young players could benefit.