Belding, MI

Smash Park DGC

3.065(based on 16 reviews)
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5 1
Reniger
Experience: 21 years 49 played 11 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Hidden Gem in the Making 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Jul 16, 2016 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

• Scenery: SMASH is laid out through a nice wooded park in Central Michigan. Beautiful walk through the forest with plenty of elevation and wildlife to enjoy.
• Baskets: Arroyo Vortex Baskets. Best of the best. Bright colors for visibility, 20 outer chains, interlaced inner chains, ZERO chance for cut throughs, however they require firm putts.
• Variety: Plenty of elevation, left-to-right holes, right-to-left holes, wooded tight lines, a few more open holes, bunkers, water, only a few repetitive shots.
• Challenge: Pick a line and hit it! This is a densely wooded forest with tight lines. They are most definitely there, but there are several holes that you have to nail a gap or three. Not a poke-and-pray course, but certainly not large openings. Hit your line and be rewarded, get off your line and risk some great punishment and additional strokes.
• Maintenance: Plenty of trash cans, very little garbage on the ground, brush has been cleaned up and tee signs are on point.
• Layout: Several great walking paths that do not at all interfere with the disc golf course! Always great to see. Very easy to follow the course from hole to hole, no confusing "where's the next hole" moments.
• Extras: Nice pavilion and picnic tables at the entrance, plenty of parking even for good sized local tournaments, and a solid practice putting area with a good basket and some small trees/elevation to practice different putts.

Cons:

• Stumps: The crew did a good job of clearing out lines and making a challenging wooded course, however, there are lots of small stumps left for you to trip over and/or break a toe.
• Short: The dense forest requires you to hit your gaps, however, this is mostly a mid and putter course. Most holes require accuracy over bombers. Not the worst thing in the world, but some long open holes are always fun to air out. There is open land to the west of the main course that could be utilized. (more in the "Other Thoughts")
• Bugs: No surprise in Michigan and not a lot can be done, but be prepared and bring some repellent.
• Tee pads: They aren't horrible, but they are artificial turf. Good grip, but not always smooth and some are a bit short.

Other Thoughts:

While I do greatly enjoy the course, there is room for improvement. With a few stumps trimmed closer to the ground and a few (few, not many at all) trees removed, this would easily bump my rating up. I would love to give this a 4-star or more as it's one of my favorite courses, but it's not quite there.

For a few local tournaments, they have used the very open sandy field area to the west of the main course for alternate holes. There is a GREAT opportunity to add in some more challenging signature holes (super narrow tunnels through low fir trees, downhill sandtrap shots) and also allow for 3-4 bigger air shots without any forest. I would absolutely love to see this area used for some open bombers to make this into a 24-hole course! That would get me up to 4.5 stars and make this my top course in the Grand Rapids area.
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5 5
Michael K
Experience: 1 played 1 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Smash Park Is a piece of heaven 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 21, 2015 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Smash is a great switch up to the other courses in the area. It has a great layout, and the up down elevation provides excellent aerobic activity for those looking to shed a few. I encourage others to take advantage of this park before it becomes a popular destination, and all the holes have groups waiting, like the others in the area.

Cons:

As for any cons i would have to say mosquitoes are an issue, as with most Michigan parks and my backyard. Bring your preferred method of insect control.

Other Thoughts:

Come have a good time and leave your review.
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4 1
stndpenguin
Experience: 25 years 53 played 7 reviews
3.50 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Apr 12, 2015 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

- Scenic, well maintained and extremely technical
- Well laid out with minimal backups even on busy days
- Constantly improving and growing.
- Trash cans on every hole
- Amazing up to date baskets
- Great course for experienced players working on accuracy with risk/reward factors based on disc selection. Punishing rough if you miss your line
- Every hole has a line so luck is only a factor if you're counting kicks off trees, avoid them and there is no luck needed
- Teepads (artificial turf, not carpet) could be a pro or con depends on how you look at it. Though relatively short, they've proven to be much easier on my knee/hip than concrete pads at other courses I play. Even on wet days I've yet to slip, ever..
- Hole 18 now has a raise basket on a pyramid shaped structure. neat finish

Cons:

- Still in infant stages there are pleanty of stumps and small trees that still need to be removed
- Relatively short * (several holes have been lengthened and improved but still needs more)
- Not much for seating * (course now has several picnic tables throughout as well as some large natural seating implemented

Other Thoughts:

This course is quickly growing into one of the better in the area. Friendly locals in a quiet area just outside of town. Course improvements weekly with pleanty of room for expansion.

Seems to be a ton of bad feedback on mosquitos... welcome to Michigan during an extremely wet spring/summer.. downgrading a review because of something completely out of control to the people who maintain it is asinine.

The course seems to be hated by scrubs that like to hide behind screen names. Check out the reviews from real people:

http://www.discgolfscene.com/..._Park/reviews

Updated review to reflect changes to course
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8 1
sgamerp
Gold level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 16.1 years 102 played 73 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Dem Trees

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Apr 12, 2015 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

UPDATED ON 7/5/2023

Baskets - Nice New baskets that are easy to see from the tee. Green Poles

Park - Has bathroom at entrance, good amount of trash cans and beautiful course that is only used for disc golf in the area

Sings- Has tee signs that show where all the holes are and the distance. (They are small, but I heard they will get new ones)

Routing - easy enough but i noticed on some holes they had the next hole arrow(Not sure if all as some you didn't really need it)

Challenge - I had this as a Con on the 9 hole course, but with the added holes it makes it much harder and actually have to bring your drivers out.

Cons:

Trees - This is on a tree sanctuary, which adds to the over all beauty of this course, however you can not cut down certain tree which makes some of the lines horrible. I want to let it be known that I think this is a double edged sword of this course, but makes for more of a Con. Maybe with a few more times out this will change, but it seems t be the biggest flaw.

Management - There are a ton of stumps that are being worked on getting removed, I am sure this will change, as this is a new course, but it's still a big flaw as there are a ton of them.

Tee Pads - They are better than Dirt, but the carpet pads are really the reason why this course isn't at a 4 to me.


Hole 6(Shorts) - This one is more of me just nit picking, but Hole 6 on the shorts is my favorite hole from the shorts, and it doesn't play in when you play the 18 longs.

Other Thoughts:

The changes has made it much more than just the Pitch and Putt course that it was. Starts and ends that way, but has some nice length in the middle.

This has become one of my favorite parks in the Grand Rapids area, and is a very fun course. It seems to be getting worked on regularly and things will be changing in time, but still needs a lot of play and some TLC. It has 19 holes, and the pictures here need to be changed in order as they have a short 9 and an 18. This now has 18 holes and is an 18 and a 8 hole course if you play around.

In a way this course kind of reminds me of Bertha Brook Mini.

______________________________________
If you do not like my review, please give me what I can improve to help. Thanks!

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