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.