Rush Creek Park is a quiet park nestled deep inside a residential neighborhood. The park has many of the usual amenities such as a tennis court, baseball diamond, soccer pitch, pavilion, basketball court, and playground. Despite all of these attractions there is still more than enough room for a 9-hole disc golf course.

Simply put, this is one of the better designed 9-hole courses in the area. Based on the earlier reviews it sounds like this used to be one of those quick pitch-and-putt courses. That is no longer the case! Of the nine holes, seven of them exceed 300' and one exceeds 500'. That said, the pin placement and amount of obstacles was what really impressed me especially given that this is a 9-hole course. On all nine holes, there are at least a couple of trees that could come into play between the tee and basket. Several of the holes go further and have baskets that are actually guarded by trees. The rough in the woods is thin enough that you probably won't lose a disc, but thick enough to punish your errant throws. All of this makes for a solid amount of fun and challenge.

#5 is definitely the signature hole here, and also the most difficult. A small creek runs parallel to the hole on your left for the entire length (it was pretty dried up when I played but might be more of a hazard in the springtime). The first 200' or so of the hole is a pretty tight tunnel shot through the woods. Then it opens up more for the remaining 300', with scattered trees preventing a direct line to the basket.

The infrastructure here is lacking. The baskets are all there but some of them are looking a little worse for wear. There are no tee pads other than wooden kick plates with the hole number on them. All of the kick plates were present when I played, but several of them were basically just 4x4 boards sitting on the ground - not even dug in at all. There is no other signage, so navigation could be confusing for a first-timer. The map uploaded here is pretty good - I think #4 plays more west-to-east than what is shown but overall it's a close approximation. I would recommend referring to this map especially on 1-2 and 6-7.

No other challenges besides the trees - the park is pretty flat.

I think the course designers did a great job avoiding the heavily trafficked areas of the park like the playground, basketball court, etc. That said, holes #1 and 7-9 still play in parts of the park that are easily accessible and could be busy. Even on the remaining holes there could be issues because the park backs up to several backyards. One of the times I played, I was walking down the #2 fairway after my tee shot when I was surprised to see two children pop out onto the edge of the fairway, presumably from their backyard.

With better infrastructure I would increase this rating to a 3.0 for sure, possibly even a 3.5. Beyond that it is limited by the land available. This is a pleasant place to play a round and it offers something different from many other 9 hole courses. You could also play it twice and you're at a solid length 18. My recommendation...if you're in the area, give it a try!

Update December 2020: This is one of the better 9-holers around the Grand Rapids region, and I keep coming back. It doesn't seem to get a ton of DG traffic, which helps the appeal for me. Sometimes I choose to come to this quiet park and play 2-3 solo rounds in one go, vs. going to one of the popular 18 hole courses and spending a lot of time waiting for other DG'ers.

Decent mix of open and tight drives. Clean course in a nice suburban park. I played on a warm Sunday afternoon and the park was very quiet, Disc golf didn't interfere with other activities but if the park was busy, you'd have to be cautious. There was some Pokemon gym there too so my daughter was happy.

Tee boards just don't stand out so first time around you have to spend some time to figure it out. Pads and a some vertical tee markers would be very helpful. The tee areas are very sandy and we all like par and distance. I'd like it if the long #5 was a little more open for the drive. A long hole like that you really want to rip one to start and the trees kind of force you to play a little more cautiously.

It's a fine course and I'd play it again if I was in the neighborhood.

I coulda liked it more if I would have been more successful navigating this small course. I would have been more successful had I read rhsrevo's review and navigational hints. Starting with the first hole, I was more than a little confused. My DGCR sheet says the first tee pad is just left of the basket. rhsrevo says it's way over there by the entrance gate. Not figuring out where the # 1 basket is and finding no tee pad makes me a sad boy.

The course is a rec course in it's challenge and length. There is a rare sighting, here in Michigan, of DGA baskets with the red, hard to read, numbers. The tee pads are natural and are fine for this course. Some of these pads have a small kickboard and some of these boards have the distance Sharpied on.

Amazing enough, old Daniel Boone finally found his way to the second hole. # 2 says it's 354' and you have to hit a gap in the woods to have any sucess on this hole. # 3 is the three's hole. # 3-300'-par 3. # 4 is a nice little 183' needing a slight hyser to reach the basket. Being lost in the woods set in here. I couldn't find # 5. # 6 is 297' through the trees. # 7 tee pad is close to the tennis courts. Someone has written the distance (297') with Sharpie on the kickboard. It took me way too long to figure out #'s 8 & 9.

Navigation-Navigation-Navigation.

Not much room to air it out.

Natural pads.

Lack of signage.

This course is better than this. The problems navigating Rush DGC really soured me on the course. How about updating the information sheet? How about adding a few simple navigational signs? This is normally the kind of course that I would like.

Sure, all the parts and pieces are there but they're super short and compacted.

Aesthetic-- plays through a small muti-use park in Georgetown Twp., MI. Plays along grass walking trails in the back side of the park so watch for walkers.

Baskets-- brand new Mach III's. great condition and orange bands add much needed visibility in some places.

Routing/nav-- pretty easy for the most part. even with the lack of teesigns, finding the next tee is pretty easy. #7 to #8 is the only place it's a little confusing and even that is simple.

Use of trees-- decent. once you escape 1,2,3 the use of the small scrubby trees definitely makes the course a little more interesting.

stroller friendly-- this will be a new one for me this year as I'm toting around a kiddo now but this place is easily navigated with a jogging stroller. It's a little rough in the areas where they removed trees but not terrible at all.

Challenge-- bring a mid and a putter and leave the rest at home. Although distances aren't listed or marked I'm pretty sure no hole is >200'. #7 and #8 are pretty legit holes that use the trees and natural topography to make things interesting. The big tree on #8 guarding the basket is cool. Other than that, this place is pretty wide open.

teesignage/kick strips-- just list the hole # and don't necessarily point towards the hole you're throwing at. #9 for example points about 45 degrees to the left of where you are actually throwing but #9 is the only hole on that side of the road so it's intuitive.

This is a great course to teach someone to disc, like their very first time throwing plastic. Other than that, for someone experienced, this place is very vanilla with a low challenge/fun rating from me.

Mach III baskets. Course has undergone a massive redesign. It is no longer a pitch and putt course. Has some shorter holes and a couple of long bomb holes. Next tees are not right next to the previous hole as was the case with some holes on the old design. There are two red flags near each tee board to located new tee pads. Added a whole lot of length to the course.

without playing course before the new layout tee pads might be hard to find. they have the correct board on the ground for each tee. Hole 5 is a little long for the beginner to moderate player. would think it would play as a par 4 or 5 for beginners.

Tee board for 1 is located by the entrance to the park. Basket is tucked into the pine trees behind the tennis courts.

2nd tee board is near the fence line of park. Basket is located where #5 basket was by the trees way up on the left.

3rd tee board is on the other side of the path. Basket is straight ahead towards the trees by the tennis courts.

Follow the path from 3's basket to the 4th tee. Fairway goes across path into woods with basket located on the edge of the woods tucked in behind trees on the left.

5th tee board is on the other side of the walking path towards the creek. fairway plays up the path and across the wide open field to the basket tucked in behind the brush way up on the left. Hole length would estimate around 700 or more feet.

6th tee is near the new walking path that appears to connect to port sheldon. Basket is straight ahead. right now there is a lot of rough ground because of the tracks from the equipment used to clear a path to the hole.

7 tee is tucked into the woods by the parking lot near the tennis courts. Basket is located towards the soccer field at the other end of the park road could come into play if shot is errant.

8 tee is other side of road Basket is located by the ball field near the entrance to the park.

9 tee is on the third base side of the backstop and basket is towards the pavilion on the other end of the park.

Right now tee boards only have hole number on them. Baskets currently do not have the correct hole number on each basket as of yet. but that will probably soon be corrected.