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Hanover, PA

Penn Grove Retreat

25(based on 1 reviews)
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Monocacy
Gold level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 24 years 493 played 75 reviews
2.00 star(s)

But will the briars retreat?

Reviewed: Played on:Mar 14, 2024 Played the course:once

Pros:

Fun short course in a moderately hilly deciduous forest. Nice variety of right, left, and straight holes, including wooded alleys, gaps to hit, and pick-your-line holes. Excellent practice for your woods approach game, but also fun in its own right if you enjoy short, technical courses. Which I do, very much.

I was pleasantly surprised to see sturdy, nicely textured concrete pads. Not huge but plenty big for my short run-up and the short distances needed.

Course includes a couple of semi-open holes for variety. #11 plays 248' out of a gap and into the open, with the basket at woods edge. #12 is just 166' back across the field, but there is an OB pond left and OB creek just past the basket. The creek can also come into play if you miss the initial gap on #13.

The course is compact, with short walks between holes. Sometimes too short (see cons).

My favorite holes were #6, a 269' downhill straight tunnel with slight right finish. I also enjoyed #9, a 151' tunnel with the basket tucked left in the woods. Distance control is needed because if you fade into the woods early or late your putt may be obstructed. #15 was also fun, a 197' right-turning uphill to a blind basket. There is a fairly generous fairway, you just need to hit it.

Cons:

Rough is very rough and prickly. Getting off the fairway, even in mid-March, was a painful adventure. Briars were even reaching their grabby tendrils into fairways when I played. This will be a problem come summer without a dedicated maintenance program.

Risk of disc loss was fairly low in March as long as you are willing to shed blood to retrieve your disc. I expect risk of disc loss to be much higher during the growing season.

A few teepads were in range of the previous basket. This might be a problem if the course was crowded, but I did not get the impression that crowding happens very often.

Finding the start of the course was confusing. I parked in a gravel lot near the pool and #17's basket and bushwhacked my way back to the starting holes. Consequently, I do not know whether there is parking near hole #1. Either way, the start and end of the course are not particularly close.

There was a downed tree on #18's teepad.

Other Thoughts:

Holes average 190' and range from 115 to 269', so there is some variety despite the short course length. Some of the longer holes are downhill and shorter holes uphill. The design seems quite suitable for beginners and children, presumably the intended audience.

Old school single-chained Innova baskets caught just fine for my floaty putts, but could be a problem if you putt hard.

I rated this course 2.0 for the conditions when I played. If the briars take over during summer, I could see knocking the rating down to 1.5 or maybe even 1.0.
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