Situated in a camp setting near a noisy interstate, the Rhodes Grove DGC offers a blend of cool park-style holes, some wide-open and flat holes and a couple of puzzling designs that lead to metaphorical head-scratching.

The first half of the course is the most varied and interesting with Hole #1 starting at the back door of one of the main buildings on site. The front half provides several lightly wooded challenges with some elevation featuring on a few holes.

The tee signs are nicely designed and I found them easy to spot, which aided my navigation. The concrete pads are a little short but usually on level ground, so a longer run-up is possible.

For beginners, playing just the front nine would be a reasonable option and the Hole #9 basket isn't too far from the start of the course. Plus, the lengths are good for beginners, especially on the front half, though several holes require some shot-shaping to avoid trees and cabins.

There's a lovely creek near Holes #2 through #5, but it shouldn't come into play.

There are several holes on the back nine that are confusing and egregious in design.

Hole #10 plays behind cabins through a heavily wooded section without a defined fairway. The safest play might be a drive to the right over the supposedly OB road, though I chose to ignore that demarcation in order to avoid potentially hitting one of the housing units.

Hole #14 is a long, L-shaped par 4 that includes a ridiculous mando about 100 feet from the basket. Instead of utilizing the wide-open field to the left, a telephone pole displays a mandatory sign directing throws to the narrow opening on the right, which is especially an issue when the nearby softball fields are used and dozens are cars are parked in that vicinity.

Hole #15 is only 175 feet but the extreme L-shape basically requires a straight 75-foot throw, then a 100-foot toss directly to the right in order to avoid the thick mass of trees and brush. Maybe a skip forehand or anhyzer roller can get a drive into the circle off the teepad.

There are several more holes where safety could be a concern. Hole #4 is only 184 feet but the fairway goes between two cabins. Hole #9 plays toward buildings and if the parking lots are utilized, caution is necessary to avoid striking a car. Holes #17 and #18 play near more cabins.

Holes #11 through #16 are flat and in a wide-open field, qualifying this six-pack as the safest but most boring holes on the course. These appear to be some of the holes that were added to convert this course from a 9-hole layout. However, according to the tee signs, the fields are mowed at different lengths during summertime to offer more of a challenge with OB areas.

The Rhodes Grove layout was a fun play, though a few of the throws were a tad stressful with vehicles and cabins close by. There were some people at the camp when I played my evening round, but I didn't feel like I was intruding. Obviously, there are times when the course would be unplayable due to camp activities. I would agree with the previous reviewer who said the course is worth playing once but probably does not merit repeat visits.

I believe the Rhodes Grove course has the bones to be a 3.0 course, but right now, the poorly designed holes coupled with a few boring designs on the back half drop its rating.

Very nice tee signs with mostly accurate depictions/distances and clearly defined OB and mandos. Navigation mostly easy. Attractive area with the "fun" of playing between buildings on some holes. Variety of hole lengths: 4 under 200 feet; 6 in the 200-300 foot range; 5 in the 300-400 foot range; 3 over 400 feet. Variety of styles: first nine holes are park style golf while the back nine is a mix of woods and wide-open shots. Definitely some interesting holes (see details below). Nice Discatcher baskets with clear numbers. Concrete tee pads. Plenty of parking in multiple locations. Locals were friendly to me as a non-camp user.

Could be a lot of conflicting traffic if the camp is busy. A couple of holes throw directly through camp activity areas (see below) and a couple of blind throws. A couple of holes with unclear fairways. Tee pads are a little short although there are a lot of short holes as well. Transitions not always clear. Tee #4 was not hard to find because they had a sign along the way. Tees 10 and 11 took some hunting around. One basket/tee position on each hole.

Hole 1 is a pleasant 200-foot starter down a hillside with a few trees. Hole 2 is an open field 436-footer (slightly downhill) where you have to avoid a fenced-in pool area but that is not really a factor. Hole 3 is a 222-footer in a field with the woods on the right side edge. Then you have to walk a little ways to tee #4. Hole 4 is 184 feet long between a couple of cabins but again not dangerous. Hole 5 is a 247-foot park style hole (a few trees and a few cabins but plenty of fairway). Hole 6 is 181 feet slightly uphill with a couple of trees guarding against easy aces. Hole 7 is 282 feet with some scattered trees. Hole 8 finally provides a little challenge: 399 feet with a mando and some OB near a possible landing area. Hole 9 is 359 feet with trees and some more OB to negotiate.

At the end of the front 9, I thought that this is a really nice pleasant little camp course. Good to play when camp is not in session and probably good during camp with someone leading groups of campers around. Fun to play a few times but nothing to make you come back again and again. Then came the back nine which was a very different experience. The first problem was finding tee #10 which is back closer to tee #9 than basket #9.

Hole #10 is a left-turning 328-foot fairway that goes directly behind a row of cabins. The tee sign makes it look like the fairway has a row of trees between it and the cabins but there isn't. You are really throwing right behind the buildings so you need to make sure nobody is back there. After holing out, I headed toward where I thought tee #11 would be and found a tee which turned out to be #17. Tee #11 is the first of the field holes down the road past the cemetery on the right hand side. Hole #11 is a 398-foot field hole with a fairway cut out of the tall grass and with a landing circle about 200 foot out. But the fairway is so wide that you can really land anywhere if you keep it straight. Hole #12 was more interesting: 308-feet with three landing circles and everything else OB. But basically I just threw for the pin and landed in the 'second' circle safely. Hole #13 is a 500-foot field hole with a circle at 250 feet but again with a wide enough fairway that you can land at any distance you want. Hole #14 is a 470-foot hole that has a couple of wooden walls on the right (next to the woods) and which turns right about halfway down. There is a big circle at the turn and a mando afterward so it is safest to throw the 230 feet to the circle and the turn and from there negotiate the mando. The mando is a little weird in that it forces you to throw on the parking lot side (small baseball field) of a pole. Hole #15 is 175 feet where the fairway turns continuously right around the woods and thus is a blind shot. The basket is tucked in some trees which makes it a little more interesting. Hole #16 is the last of the field holes: 170 feet with only a landing circle (everything else is OB) and an elevated basket with interesting rocks. It is a pretty but not difficult hole.

Then came #17 which is back in the woods. It is 200 feet uphill and throws directly through an amphitheater. It's a fun hole with lots of trees to hit and an interesting basket position at the top of the hill. But definitely needs to be played when nobody else is around. Similarly, #18 is a 220-foot slight uphill hole that throws directly over a camp fire circle which seems to be the only choice for your fairway as there are trees everywhere. The elevated basket position is blind so again you need to make sure nobody else is out there when you play. The depiction of the buildings on the tee sign is not very accurate. These two holes are not cart-friendly.

Note that if you don't want to (or can't) park at the camp, you could park at the baseball field and start on hole #15. My overall experience was mixed; it was as if I played three different courses. I'm not a big fan of a bunch of field holes (#11-#16) even though they tried to make them interesting. The front nine was simple but pleasant. Holes #10, #17, and #18 brought woods but a little peril. I would say that it is worth playing once but wouldn't have a high multiple-visit value (at least for me).

The entire layout of the course was really varied and forced you to play a wide array of shots.

Beginner friendly for the majority of the course, but also had tougher lines for more experienced players

The back nine layout was very nice, especially 12, having the two mown patches to choose from before the final green, and 16 is a neat little ace run elevated basket with hazards all around.

Navigation wasn't as easy as i'd expected. Without Udisc, i would have taken much longer to find the teepad to 11 after 10, and even the teepad for 10 after 9. Some kind of sign under/near the baskets telling the player where to go would help tremendously, on the more non obvious ones.

I really couldn't find much more than navigation to be a con for this course. I had heard that it used to be only 9 holes, but somewhat recently decided to add another 9. I'm glad they did, as the back nine was amazing, with the OB being the rough and having to decide whether or not to go for it or lay up, especially on 12, 13, and 14.

I will definitely be coming back and playing more rounds here in the future!

Nice variety of shot types for a nine hole course, including left- and right-turns, short and medium-length moderately technical shots, and open to semi-open bombs. Well-maintained grounds and friendly, helpful camp counselors when I played.

Most holes are shorter than 250' but there are 3 holes in the 350-450' range. Low ceilings often make the relatively short holes more challenging than expected.

Tee signs list hole number and distance. No hole map on the tee signs, but most baskets are easily spotted from the tee.

Next tee is generally not for from each basket; look for the white-and-green pole-mounted tee signs.

This is one of the more enjoyable 9-hole camp courses I have played. Each of the holes reflects reasonable design choices and "makes sense" from a disc golf perspective, given the available space. This course is well suited for new players to develop skills while still being an enjoyable quick spin for more experienced players.

The course winds through and around camp buildings and activity areas, so for safety reasons it makes sense to limit play to Saturdays during camp season. I did skip a FH tee shot near where camp counselors were working past hole #1's basket, and I was a little worried about breaking a window on hole 4 if I turned my drive too early.

There is not much elevation change on the course, but a few holes take advantage of what little elevation is available.

Older baskets with fewer chains may allow putts to cut-through or bounce-out, but caught most putts reasonably well.

Most holes are semi-open park-style, with trees and buildings used as obstacles.

Refer to the course map on DGCR to see suggested flight path for each hole, including the mandatory on hole 8. The course map and a directional sign help with the transition from basket 3 to tee 4 (follow the path around the pavilion).

Level concrete tees on each hole are fairly short, but so are most of the holes. Ground near most tees was fairly level for those who prefer a longer run-up.

Short beginner friendly course
Most fairways have trees, so you do have to shape you shots.
Navigation is a breeze. All tees are within site of previous basket.

Some tees are rather close to previous basket, if more than one group is playing, you'll have to stagger the holes you're playing to avoid hitting people on the next tee.

Fun course for locals. I wouldn't recommend traveling for this course, but if you're in the area hitting up the other local courses, then definitely stop by and play a round here.