This is one of the most naturally beautiful courses I've seen in Central Indiana. It is a very short course, many of the baskets are under 200 ft from the short tees. Every basket is played through the woods, but most have easily identifiable lines to the goal. Whether you can hit those lines is another story, of course. There are tons of baskets perched on the edge of disaster, so there are no easy birdies for the average to rec player, Your putters and midranges are going to get a workout on this course, and you can almost leave your distance drivers at home. Even with all the trees, I rarely felt like I was poking and hoping as I went around the course. If a fun, technical course full of shaped shots is your cup of tea you'll enjoy this course. If your idea of disc golf fun is bombing drives, this isn't for you.

The signage for the short tees is excellent, with distances and layouts easily recognized. The long tees signage was carved and stained wood, which I'm sure was beautiful in it's day, but many are now unreadable. Crappy maps are available at the gate house, but there is a very nice map at the first tee. Take a picture. There's also an iffy chart telling you what pin location each basket is currently in. We didn't pay enough attention to see if it was accurate.

The final stretch, 15-18, is gorgeous, and the approach on 15 is one of the most beautiful basket locations I've ever seen. The baskets are Discatchers and are still in good repair. There are multiple bridges over the dry creek bed, all in good repair.

Unfortunately this course has not been maintained well in spots. The first hole is a blind shot from a cliff top down into a valley that doesn't look like it ever has seen a disc golfer in its life. The basket is behind a group of trees directly in front of you. Getting down into the valley is okay, a switchback trail with a handrail, but finding discs in the undergrowth could be hard. Use a spotter. We had our first thrower go, and we watched her disc land before she went down into the valley to spot ours. I highly recommend this.

The second basket is another blind shot back up the other side of the ravine, and there is no assistance in getting up the hill, and I had some trouble, but I am not a young person and I have some mild balance problems. The others were fine. After that I was seriously worried about the playability of the course and was wondering what I'd gotten my friends into, but that was the last significant problem we had.

Spotters could also be useful on 16 - 18. There is some dense undergrowth near the dry creek bed and we almost lost a disc.

The tee pads are an issue. Clearly whoever put in the course ran out of money and was unable to complete all the tees. Most are concrete, but a couple are gravel and two are nonexistent, and you throw from a dirt path by the tee sign. Some of the pads are dirty and mossy, and haven't seen kept up well, if at all. This didn't significantly affect my enjoyment of the course. You're not running up for power shots here anyway.

There are next tee signs on most holes, but again these are in poor repair, as they were carved and stained wood. As of now, they are useable if you look closely, but I don't know how much longer that will be true.

There are a lot of stinging nettles on the course. Long pants recommended.

The park the course is located in costs $7 to enter per car, so keep that in mind. To get to the first tee, turn left at the flag pole straight ahead from the gatehouse and head towards campsites 1-12. There is a shelter to the right just before those sites, and the first tee is tucked in behind it. There is a practice basket on the other side of the road.

This course is a story of unused potential. It's located in a small town and I understand they probably don't have a lot of money in their budget for what is, let's face it, a niche sport. The land, though, is beautiful, hilly and wooded with minimal undergrowth through much of it (this changes in the deep valley). With a little work and some investment it could be absolutely beautiful, one of the best short courses in Indiana. i found myself sighing often, wishing I had the money to donate to fix it up.

After the first three holes, 4-9 play through a low undergrowth woods, up and down hills with some neat shots. The only real difficult basket to tee transition was between 9 and 10, where you walk through a small field and past tee 3 and basket 2 before reaching your destination. Just stay to the left of basket 2 as you approach and you'll be fine in finding tee 10.

10-14 play along the edge of a ravine, and be ready for some serious pucker putts. I had an up shot run long, maybe twenty feet beyond the basket, and ended up forty feet below it. Even so, we were always to get to our discs. Enjoy 15, it's the signature hole, imho. So pretty, and 16 and 17 are also picturesque, long (for this course) drives down a lush valley. But there is the possibility of lost discs in thick undergrowth along the dry creek. Spotters are your best friends here.

Despite the proximity to the lake, it only remotely comes into play on one basket (7). The campsites nearby are similarly present, but not a factor.

As it is, I very much enjoyed my walk in the woods around this course. We were there at noon on a Saturday and had the course to ourselves. There are campsites nearby, and we saw a few kids playing in the woods. Nothing that affected our round, but stay aware. I'd recommend going when the weather has been dry, as rain could make the course unplayable for a time. For how long I don't know, but I get that impression.

I worry about the long term viability of the course, so if the above seems like a good time to you, and it was for us, and you're up for a little bit of an adventure, make sure to give it a try soon.

Many people never get beyond the stereotypical belief that Indiana is flat and boring. This course does a good job conquering that erroneous belief. Hole one starts you out on the edge of a deep valley through which you throw. Hole two brings you out of that valley. Many other holes, especially five, six, and fifteen, are similarly hilly. On many of the flat holes, like twelve, the terrain sharply drops behind the basket, discouraging go-for putts.

Every hole has two tees and two pins. Almost every pro tee is concrete with a wooden sign, indicating all four distances and the current pin position. The amateur pads have a printed sign with the amateur distances, and do a much better job of showing the hole layout. You'll probably want to confer with both signs as they each provide helpful information.

Navigating the course is fairly easy, and maps are provided free at the gatehouse. The park itself is nice, and the artificial lake is beautiful, but very few people were there the Tuesday I went. The course traffic was small; approximately eight others in three groups were on the course while I played.

The course plays very short; most people will prefer the pro tees regardless of skill. My group had already chosen the amateur tees, but they provided a good short game as well. The course makes up for its length by requiring good shots to avoid the dense woods. Using sidearm drives on five holes really gave me an edge.

My favorite hole was #16. Fifteen through eighteen travel down a lush valley, and sixteen is longer than most holes on the course.

The biggest con is the upkeep. The woods have grown up with 2-foot tall green stem plants all over the place. Fairways are still present, but they're a third as wide as the pictures show. Don't get me wrong; the course is still easily usable. The only issue is that the course photos on this website are deceptive. If someone just push-mowed the whole course it could look worlds better.

The course is very forgiving. Even with a sloppy drive on a hole you can probably save par. Some might see this as a good thing, and it's okay if you do.

A few tees are not yet concrete, and #17 has a pebble amateur tee, which was absolutely awful to drive from. It seems like the park is working on all-concrete tees.

The course has very little grass. This is okay until it rains.

This course makes a great end to a day at Turkey Run State Park, only a short drive away.

Despite the dense woods, the underbrush is minimal and generally thornless, so losing a disc is highly impropable (provided you stay out of the lake on six and seven).

If all tees were concrete and the course was mowed, it would deserve 3.5 or even 4 stars.

All these factors combined make this course a great one for amateurs to increase their short-game skill. Better players can relax here, and hopefully won't get bored. If you're nearby, bring your favorite newbie here for a round.

Tee Pads - For the ones that are done they are great. Would love to see all concrete pads on the blues and the whites. From what I understand they are all going to be concrete pads at some point.

Elevation Changes - LOVE the elevation changes. This course utilized them to perfection.

Signage - Awesome tee pad signs on the short tees. Wish they were like this of the longs.

Hand Rails/Bridges - You can tell a lot of thought went in to the safety of traversing the land. Lots of sturdy bridges over creeks and large gaps. Hand rails down steep inclines. This is overlooked a lot on some courses.

Staff - Very friendly staff to greet you at the gate. If you lucky, like us, you will get to talk to the designer himself. Great guy, you can tell this is his passion. Take a minute to talk with him!

Distance - Short tees are SHORT. Some of them felt like they were under a 100' or so.

Long Tees - I know this is temporary but the long tees need permanent concrete pads and better signage. If they end up being anything like the shorts it will end up being very nice.

Long Tee's Cont - Again I think this will be temporary but some of the lines from the long position need a little bit more work and development. #2 is coming to mind, which there was no line whatsoever. There were a few more but that is the one I can specifically remember.

This was a fun course. Something different than what you'd normally see in the area. I understand what they are trying to do. You can definitely bring a new player and have some fun from the short tees. An experienced player will easily shoot -5/-10 on their first time through. It's very helpful to play the shorts your first time through to get the lay of the land. Go back for round 2 to be challenged from the longs. Leave your drivers at home though. You can easily play with a couple mids and your putter. There are some very technical shots, be prepared to think a little. I understand this course is still very young but it could blossom into a very, very nice course. It has the feel of Honeybear, but shorter. If you are in the area, stop by.