The pro shop is pretty legit. A good selection of discs from a variety of brands. I spoke to two guys that worked there, one was Jeff the course designer. Both dudes were so friendly, and were really interested in fun conversation and were helpful in explaining what they knew of the discs I was eyeing. They wished me and my friends a good game and we were off.

The course itself was very fun. Its got red, blue, white, and gold tees. It was challenging yet fair. Fun hyzer lines to blast, and quite a few tunnel shots that will give you easy birdies if you hit them right but will give you a rough scramble if you dont. It is wooded, but its not too thick, its just right. I cant stand when there are too many trees without rhyme or reason, but this course has good fairways with clear lines to take.

The gold tees are mostly sweet stone blocks. The rest are rubber matts, wood, and gravel. I enjoy the distance differences beteen the tees.. Id say its quite fair. Makes the gold tees a nice challenge while keeping the reds simple approach and putt shots.

My buddies and I were confused repeatedly about where to go for the next tee. While most holes were decently marked with 'this way' signs, some were a guessing game for the most part. To go along with that, quite a few of the holes are quite a hike to get to. Its not too big of a deal, but it can add to some fatigue.
Some of the tees (especially reds and whites) werent marked well, as well as had some rough tee pads.

While there were lines through the trees to the basket, there were not -many- lines. Usually one one or maybe two.. I kept looking for huge spike hyzer lines, but there are almost none. A lot of straight long window shots to make, but not much more variety than that. There WERE some holes that did have diverse lines, but there were few.

I liked the course and staff enough to overlook the cons, and I did very much enjoy the course and will recommend.

They've made Smuggler's Notch a true disc golf destination. The drive up here is scenic, especially the incredibly tight, twisty turns of Smugglers Notch Pass, the Green Mountains are beautiful and once you arrive, there are a bevy of golfing options available to you.

To start with, the total package of amenities, takes a back seat to probably no course I've seen. Maybe only Bryant Lake Park, in Eden Park (Minneapolis) compares to Brewster in it's total package. The pro shop is well stocked with discs and anything else, you'll need for your playing time here, including discs, drinks, snacks, and most any other disc golf related items. Just outside are honey buckets and a wonderful shaded area with picnic tables.

One of my favorite aspects of this course was the four tee pads for each hole. Playing from most challenging, the Golds to the Blues, Whites and on down to the beginner Reds gives players the option of playing to their own level or splitting their group. Each tee had an informative sign giving all the useful information. Sometimes, two colors would play from the same tee pad. I like this as it forced the easiest Reds to play a longer shot on # 11. There is a professional scorecard available that is first class all the way showing not only the distances for all four tees on both courses but also the course map for both courses.


The tee pads are packed gravel with a wooden border. I thought they were fine although some previous reviewers weren't overly impressed with them. The baskets were the Chainstar models. There were lots of helpful little bridges and wooden walkways built over wet areas. There are benches at every tee pad.

I really like the fact that there are some shorter holes here, actually giving you that chance for a ACE or the tough birdie.

Nick, the Pro Shop guy, knows his stuff and is very helpful. $10 to play all day is more than fair.

While I loved the option of having four totally different off the tee options here, there wasn't a single hole that really got me fired up, either in it's natural beauty or it's clever, creative design or sometimes just it's sheer difficulty. The golf part of the course just flat out lacked the "Wow" factor for me. I got more excited about a basket placement (# 9 basket sitting up high on a pile of boulders) on the little Village 9 course than anything here at Brewster Ridge. Storr's Pond in Hanover, NH, had maybe 7 or 8 holes that I really loved, usually combining extreme elevation with creative design. Those holes I always end up remembering and think about as I'm falling asleep nights.

With the lovely, challenging 18 holes and four tee pads option of Brewster Ridge, the 9 enjoyable holes of Fox Run and the little Village 9 close by, Smuggler's Notch really is a destination worth driving to. Challenge yourself from the Golds and then enjoy a more casual round from the Whites. Brewster Ridge offers great disc golf for the entire family.

Note to Nick: The course we could not locate on DGCR, Rivendell Academy, is located in New Hampshire. And sorry about the 4.0 rating. That is still considered excellent.

The drive to the course through Smuggler's Notch (the pass, not the ski resort of the same name) is probably the most dramatic approach to a course I've seen. You climb quickly up some windy short switchbacks before driving through several huge boulders that the road had to be built around. The walls of the mountains tower on each side, and then you're flying down the other side toward the course.

There are four configurations here: red, white, blue, and gold. Many holes feature separate tee pads for each, but some holes combine two of them.

The design here is great. It takes some work to make multiple compelling configurations on each hole. I played the blue tees and enjoyed the holes with multiple lines and challenging features. Elevation here is significant and is used well.

Among the best holes:

Hole 11: A fun downhill toss through the woods. The basket is basically straight ahead, but you'll need a straight arrow shot or some kind of S-shot to negotiate the shape of the fairway.

Hole 13: A 520-foot hole that starts flat, disappears over a slight hill, and curves right once you are on the downslope into a grove. A three would take a couple excellent shots.

Hole 9: An uphill tunnel shot that is barely over 200 feet. If you have an accurate drive, the birdie is waiting for you. But unlike most holes on the course, the rough on this hole will give you no looks. The dense, spindly trees will have you tossing back out to the fairway. I got the score I deserved on this hole, and that's as much as I'll say.

Holes 1, 6, 10, 17, and 18. None of these are signature holes, but they are what I would call "meadow golf." Lightly wooded, well manicured greens, with trouble here and there but deceptively easy holes. Highbridge in Wisconsin is the pinnacle of these types of holes, but Brewster Ridge reminded me of them.

Tee signs are great, and navigation wasn't hard with the map.

If I could give this course a 4.25, I would. And the reason is the tee pads. Most of the gold tees are rubber, but the rest are crushed gravel, and the tees are not long. Put in rubber tee pads, and I can justify a 4.5.

Lots of good holes here, but no real signature holes.
While I didn't play the gold tees, many of the holes didn't look that challenging. I felt like I could have managed okay on the golds, whereas at Maple Hill and other places, the golds require shots I just don't have.

At $7 per round or $10 for the day (including the adjacent 9-hole Fox Run course), the fee is more than reasonable. Note that while Smuggler's Notch is a ski resort, the course is not on the ski trails. This is a good thing. Courses on ski trails are usually mediocre design with tee shots that are fun until you're searching for your disc that went 500 feet down the hill. Anyway, no lift ticket required here.

Whether you like skiing, hiking, disc golfing, drinking top notch craft beers, eating Ben & Jerry's, or simply never showering, this is one of the best corners of the country. I love the scenery. While the Rocky Mountains are majestic and imposing, the Green Mountains are accessible and inviting. Everyone here is glad they came.

The scenic beauty of the region rivals or exceeds any other place I have been. Driving through the mountains of Vermont is a great way to spend a day. The highways were full of people taking advantage of the wonderful Saturday afternoon in late August, biking, hiking, fishing, and of course, disc golfing. I did not catch any trout, but I did play a really good course on Brewster Ridge. The pro shop furnished a scorecard, and I was on my way. The course had picked up rainfall recently, but was still very playable. You can tell course is maintained impeccably, grass was mown, some mulch had been put down recently to improve paths, and zero litter. There are four sets of tees, ranging in difficulty from easy to very technical, and really nice DISCatcher bastkets. Rubber pads on the gold tee boxes were expertly installed, roomy and level. I played the longest set, and was 6 over par (66). There are 3 par fours on the front nine, and 3 par fours on the back nine. I made four of my six bogeys on the par 4 holes, so it is safe to say the long holes gave me the most trouble. I think the subtle to moderate elevation change along with the extra distance makes them very tricky. I did not make any birdies, but the chances are out there, with 5 holes under 300' from the gold tees. Pin locations are tucked into some great spots, near large rocks, or underneath or behind clusters of trees. There are signs in between holes that point out transitions fairly well, and a map on the scorecard. The ratio of open to wooded holes is good, and none are flat out, wide open boring. There is usually elevation change, up or down, but gradual slopes that affect play, but are not extreme. Layout changes directions and mixes lines well.

There are trails for walking or cross country skiing that cross over the course in several places. I did get confused and lose the way once or twice. There are streams running near a couple of holes, but no big threat.

Brewster Ridge is a challenging, professional caliber course in the gold layout. The equipment and amenities are super. Excellent is the least you can say about it. Every hole is good or great, but none stood out as a signature hole. I did not play the Fox Run 9, or the beginner level Village 9, but it can only make the resort that much better.

Brewster Ridge was a fun course well worth our drive from Maple Hill. Here are some of my thoughts:

1) For the most part navigation was very easy. I don't remember too many confusing areas and to me navigation is a big deal when playing a new course.

2) The course had four distinct set of tees ranging from beginner (think 110' holes) to gold level tees. I thought this was awesome as it really gives beginners and pros alike the chance to enjoy the course.

3) The scenery was absolutely stunning. The drive to the course was beautiful for the last 90 minutes and the Green Mountains didn't disappoint. There were plenty of amazing photo opportunities.

4) The elevation was really a great feature to the course. The front 9 felt like it played uphill most of the way and the back 9 played mostly downhill. The back nine had some super fun downhill shots to throw.

5) The course had some distance variety, even from the long tees. A lot of times hard courses (Iron Hill, Nockamixon) have no chances for deuce but this course actually offered some nice chances for scoring. Even though this course was nearly 7,000 feet there were 5 holes under 300 feet that offered a chance for deuce. Its actually refreshing to play a long course and have a couple mental breaks and have a shot at birdie. Iron Hill is a great course to play but this course succeeds in giving you a few, nice opportunities to score.

6) This course had a pro shop...need I say more? Any time a course has a pro shop you know they are doing something right.

Honestly this course doesn't have a lot of cons for me. Just a few things worth mentioning. Keep in mind I am rating this course "Excellent" and that's a deserving rating:

1) Honestly this is probably the only major con for me on the course. The teepads were pretty rough the day we played. Some were just gravel and the guy I was playing with slipped a few times on the pad. I understand why this course wouldn't have concrete teepads but if concrete teepads were installed I would immediately raise my rating to a 4.5.

2) This is a minor con but on some of the longer, uphill par 4's we found that the landing area was very distinct and sometimes a bit lucky. A few times I threw what looked to be a great drive and my partner threw a bad drive but his disc ended up getting lucky and being in a correct landing area/lane to get to the basket. This course may just need a few landing areas for some of the uphill par 4's on the front nine to make sure that good shots don't get punished. As I said this is a minor con but just a small design preference.

3) This is also a minor con but a few of the holes had walking trails that did intersect with some of the holes. There was one hole when we threw our discs and then saw hikers at the last second. An errant shot could have hit them as their hiking trail went right across our fairway. Not a huge con but just worth nothing.

4) Finally, I thought the course had some really great holes. All in all it was a very SOLID course. However, besides hole 10 I didn't think the course had any amazing signature holes that made this course worthy of being the "best of the best". As I said, this course had a lot of good holes but nothing that was spectacular. There were a few times when we walked past a nice stream or I could hear water rushing in the background. If the course designer could have somehow brought some water into play on some of the holes I really think that would put this course over the edge and give it at least a 4.5 rating. This is not a knock on the course at all - it was well worth our 4 hour drive!

NOTE: This course is literally in the middle of nowhere. We were starving by the time we had finished our four hour drive from Maple Hill and couldn't find anything to eat around the course. The pro shop had a few candy bars and that did help! I would recommend getting drinks and food well before you hit the course.

I also like to always point out nice amenities and views for those that travel to play courses and have a wife that maybe doesn't like disc golf - this course has PHENOMENAL views of the Green Mountains. Very picturesque! This is a course that you can bring someone along with and they will enjoy the walk.

Great informative guy working in the shack
Nice variety of holes
Fresh woodchips on many paths
Flypads for golds
also has blue white and red tees
Reds were highly advantaged so my wife really enjoyed staying on par
Played in the rain but the canopy lets very little rain through in the woods
Well marked and easy to follow
Scenic area
Great hike

Temporary type signage - some missing or laying on ground.
Maybe the fee because I live in a free to play area but it is very well maintained. 5 bucks very reasonable.
Best tees at golds - usually seen at the whites in my experience
White tee boxes a little short

Discs for sale and rent
Thanks for the loaner umbrella