Wow, what a course! I had heard terms like "scenic" and "championship caliber" used to describe this course, and to be prepared to get destroyed by this monster course... well, it's ALL TRUE....

Nestled in the middle of nowhere, Rogers Lakewood is a gorgeous multi use park, with great terrain, making disc golf a no-brainer. The course is phenomenally maintained by the parks dept. and local DG clubs. As for the course being championship caliber, it is, a monster, it's not.... that hard.

Bring EVERY shot/disc in your bag, you will need them.... The course requires long accurate drives, long L>R and R>L, pinpoint accuracy through the woods, uphill, downhill... Water only comes into play on the 1st hole, you can bail to the left, but it's probably a 250' carry off the front tee... (ie don't throw your fav. disc, if you turn it over it's wet). Aside from 1,4,5,9 the first 13 holes play through the woods... or a beautifully mowed fairway with floor to ceiling shule on each side. Bad drives are punished by the shule, where most likely you will be flinging a disc back out to the fairway, rather than finding an "advancing" line out of trouble.

Note: for floor to ceiling shule/deep rough, it's the nicest I've seen, LOTS of trails throughout, so you're never really searching an area much larger than a kitchen table...

Holes 4 and 5 play in a little open field plateau main obstacles being high grass off of the fairway, 2 great holes to air it out...

My personal fav, 9 is a shot over a Gorgeous valley requiring a huge anhyzer/FH to the right/far basket. (Left/short pin is pretty much beeline to the otherside of the valley)

After 13 holes of wooded hell (in a good way) it's time to tee off on the N/S continental divide... Hole 14 is an awesome 590ft hole that plays down a sledhill with shule tightening up the last 200' or so... Definately one of those holes that will make you want to empty your whole bag going for that super drive.

The rest of the course plays through more of a traditional park area, while not as thrilling as the first half of the course, it still has some great elevation changes and superb use of the land.

Most tee areas have a bench, all have garbage cans, and GOOD signs... most signs even have hooks to hang your bag on...

I never thought I would say this, but bring bug spray.... seriously. The woods get really thick, and covered in sweat, with bugs swarming you makes throwing a little annoying to say the least.

Unfortunately, for a well funded park, there doesn't seem to be restrooms/water anywhere near/on the course itself. (*1 apparently there are bathrooms by hole #1, the "boathouse/old pro shop) New proshop is the small building on the hill between the 2 practice baskets. The building on top of the sledhill (#14,15,16) seems to be a bathroom, but alas, it's always locked up tight.. These are the only real cons that I can think of.. it's going to be a long grueling round.

This is a PRELIMINARY review, I could write a book on this place, and will comeback with more in depth hole descriptions...

This course is an absolute MUST PLAY if you are in the area... depending on which exit you take off of 90/94, it's really only about 15-20 min off the expressway. For anyone playing in worlds at Lemon, you must stop here, I haven't played silver/gold yet at Lemon, but this course easily beats the other 3...

This course is a workout, LOTS of up/downhill hiking, not a lot of breeze in the woods... be sure to bring enough water, as there really isn't a convenient place to take a break until the 14th hole, aside from benches by most tees.
(*1) 10/7/09 edit... I needed to re-evaluate the course after playing Winter Park.. gave the course the last .5 star, as there are bathrooms by 1st tee

What I personally like and how this course stacks up in my list of 18 (or more) hole courses:

1) Holes with good risk/reward. Fair, but harsh punishment for bad decisions or execution. == A
(The rough is very dense and punishing, so in a lot of areas a pitch out is all you get when you miss the fairway. The fariway widths are pretty generous almost everywhere, so punishment is only for bad shots. If there was a little more punishment for so-so shots and a few more fairways with multiple paths to the basket I would have given this an A+.)

2) Holes that have rewarding birdie opportunities for me. I throw 300' accurately, 360' max. == A+
(This course sets up perfectly for me - and others of my skill level. Of course there are a few holes that are easy birdies or hard threes, but there are a ton of holes that feel great to bag. Much fun to be had....or frustration if you do not bring your A game.)

3) More wooded than open - lots of variety of shots required caused by hole shape and topography == A+
(Not wooded in the classic sense, but mainly tree-lined fairways with dense underbrush. When these fairways bend you usually have no choice but to be forced into making the shot the designer wanted you to make. Great variety and an amazing use of terrain!)

4) Natural beauty (Appalachian beauty preferred) and seclusion. == A
(With grassy fairways throughout and lush woods all around it is as beautiful and secluded as can be. The first few holes and the last ones are more in civilization, but it is a beautiful park, so very few demerit points there.)

5) Bonus points for multi-throw holes with defined landing zones, good risk/reward and multiple options to play them. == C
(There are only 2 par 4's, but #14 is way cool! Huge bomb off a sledding hill necking down and then opening up to a sloping green. #10 is a 2 throw hole that is a pretty easy par 4 but is very interesting nonetheless - probably my favorite hole on the course design-wise.)

It's all about feeding the addiction, so I ranked this course subjectively based on my own "personal addiction factor". The grades above tell how well the course will draw me back to itself again and again and again. Since I have played a decent number of courses (149 18-hole, 91 9-hole as of late 2009), my hope is that players/explorers who have similar addiction tastes will find my ratings list helpful as they choose courses to play and explore.

I fully expect others with different tastes/philosophies to disagree with me....that's the fun of things here. See my profile for my rating philosophy.

This course has a great variety of holes starting with a drive over water off the first tee, then continuing with varying types of through trees, uphill and downhill shots, as well as some elevated and over ravine shots. This course is definitely not for the faint of heart with some holes going through tight shurb guarded fairways and others with long elevated drives off a snow tubing hill.

There really aren't many cons to this course other than a lack of markings, I would suggest grabbing a course map on the way in to find your way around.

As always bring bugspray, if you get lost don't get discouraged, I think everyone does the first time.

Beautiful course. Water, thick woods, and elevation changes all come into play. There are some open holes, but most have tight fairways. Thick woods make it easy to lose a disc, I would recommend a spotter, or playing it safe your first time out. You need to bring your long and short game, some holes reach over 500'.

Not necessarily a con, but there is a $5.00 Park Fee for non-Porter County residents and $3.00 Fee for residents. Some tee pads are nicer than others, nothing that should really effect your round.

Get your hands on a scorecard if you can to help navigate. There are now 24 holes.

Rogers has much to offer in the variety of contextual sensations and empirical doubts. Its well designed course lay out as well as its impeccable variety of shots turns this course into a 24 hole blunder of fun! Typically for rather experienced players, a challenge is always waiting along the horizons of this high caliber course.

Not to many, watch out for your discs and they're easy to find. I dont know what those kids are saying about expect to lose at least 2, its not that hard to watch your disc and pick it out of the shrubbery.

A worthwhile investment in an unfavorable economic crisis.

Favorite course I have played and one of the toughest. Very well maintained. Alot of elevation changes, alot of extremely hard shots and a good variety of mid range to long drives. This is the course I learned to play on and have played it 100's of times and it is still a challange every time I go out. The course is nicely laid out and shout not present any problems in that respect. Nice area, nice people, and great course.

YOU WILL LOSE DISCS ON THIS COURSE! Ha, there are alot of woods in play that are pretty thick, watch your discs carefully and a spotter is recomended if you're not use to the terrain. Also some tees are better then others ranging from brick to mulch but no major problems

Have played with several people from different states and they all enjoy this course. If I could have a course in my back yard this is what it would look like. Different pin placements changes the difficulty of this course but overall a right hook is extremely important on several holes. ALSO the numbers on the photos are not correct there are 24 holes now.

Awesome use of terrain. HUGE hills, beautiful tree lines. Very challenging. Watch your discs!!

THICK THICK THICK! Unless you bring a machete, say goodbye if you shank it.

All 24 holes are beautifully set up w/ garbage cans on virtually every hole. A few ace runs ( I know personally because I nicked the chains on #12)

Beautiful and scenic course just a short distance south of I-94. Elevation, water, Trees, well groomed fairways, and sometimes brutal rough. Good mixture of right and left doglegs, and challenging pin placements (which I get the impression change from time to time). 24 holes available, so you can mix 'n match to create an 18 hole course of your choosing.

inconsistent tees, some rubber, some wood, some bricks, some dirt with wooden tee boxes to trip over. Always use a spotter, even on holes with only a slight chance of going astray, because the rough is brutal and lost discs can be a problem.

We played this one late in the day under a tight deadline, so didn't get to complete the course (played through 14), but will be back soon to try it again, as it is a beautiful layout.

Good mix of short, technical holes and long, open holes. Some elevation change, especially near the tubing hill.

Tees could be better...bricks for some, rubber mats for others.

Not really a deuce or die course, but plenty of deuces available.