+ The whole course takes place in a quiet and pretty neighborhood park.
+ Tees are long, wide and sturdy pavers.
+ Signs are easy to understand and well illustrated.
+ A "tossed and found" by hole1!
+ Bright orange guiding arrows in the wooded holes.

- The baskets are on the old side with weak chains. They don't visibly stand out, either.
- Safety hazards abound in the second half of the course. Walk with care.

I've been dreading the day when I review a 9-hole course as good as Unami Creek.

Unami Creek has really good natural features and infrastructure that it is quantifiably a better place to play than several 18-hole courses out there. It's also among the best 9-hole courses I've played, too. But 9-hole courses are held to a different standard, right? How high of a rating can a 9-hole course realistically receive? Maybe instead of a numerical scale, reviewers should just have a recommendation scale. That way, all courses can be appraised honestly without worrying about converting my complex opinion into a number? Skipping to the end, here, I strongly recommend Unami Creek. Go play it. But a 2.5 for me could feel like a 4.0 or 1.0 to the next guy.

Anyway!
Unami Creek packs a punch. It sneaks up on the player and uses the first two holes as a disguise. Hole1 is the most boring hole as a flat, wide open and straight-forward ace run. Then the player stands on the tee at hole3. "Now you've got my attention!" I blurted aloud when I saw that magnificent downhill fairway. I was stunned! How could a 9-hole course have such a great elevation feature?! It's always a refreshing experience to have my expectations challenged and humbled.

After that, the course turns into a lovely walk in the woods with plenty of tunnel shots and tree dodging to keep the tactician happy. Numerous bright orange arrows keep you on the right path. Hole5 was my favorite to look at because of the titular creek on the right and the bumps and grooves in the land giving the fairway texture. Hole8 could be my favorite one to play because of its upsloping landscape with trees all over the place and large rocks on the ground providing that rugged atmosphere that I like.

The entire course is nice to play, though. It doesn't really have any lengthy wide-open glides for the power players, but that's okay. This course's primary focus is about managing obstacles, and Unami Creek nails it. Just make sure you watch where you're stepping. No matter how many holes a course has, those rocks, roots and inclines are to be taken seriously.

In closing, I was pleasantly surprised with Unami Creek. Despite its small footprint, there is a great time to be had here. Those hills and trees make this place an ideal training ground. Come see for yourself.

My first visit here was in late 2019 when the course was still just a battered post-Superstorm Sandy mess. Unami has benefitted from countless labor hours since: excellent paver tees and signage, a few new holes, and keeping the best of what was there originally




+ The first two holes are short run-of-the-mill park holes to play for easy birdies with mids or putters. Then comes the Big Hill Hole (now #3), pretty much the same - and just as much fun - as I remember it. PA's version of The Toboggan - this hill must be a blast when there's snow cover


+ Hole #4 is a field hole that benefits from a lot of clearing. It's just a 300' hyzer into a wooded hillside - but the brush has been cleared to make offline throws quite a bit easier to find (and maybe the pin is farther up the hill than it used to be?)


+ Then you're into the woods for the rest of the round. I was happy to see some old favorites remain (#5 with the basket placed on rocks up to the left of the narrow fairway, and #8 - the uphill boulder hole). #9 remains a short, straight but very uphill finisher with huge downed trees blocking any low shots

- Long walk from #5 to #6, but well marked; some intersection with walking trails

~ The loop finishes and you come up midway through the #2 fairway, with the pavilion and parking lot in sight


~ The lowest parts of the course (areas around the new #6 hole and the #7 tee) are going to be very wet and muddy after rains - it's the "creek" in Unami Creek


~ Unami has been rebuilt into a fun community course with some memorable holes and plenty of challenges for beginners and relatively new players. A quick fun play and probably a great place for weekly leagues. The course is a nice wooded complement that's much better than other close-by nines like Branchwood, Earl, Plains, or New Hanover. Unami isn't a destination course, but it's a bagging stop well worth a re-visit just to admire all the work that's been done

Unami is reborn. The two big wetlands holes have been dramatically shortened. Three problematic holes have been deleted while three new ones have been added in various spots.

Unami now it's a bit closer to a typical community park level. Almost all the big elevation is still intact, distances not so much, in return for much greater active care and a more consistent course.

I think the two new upfront holes, located very visibly in the general park, are a great idea for luring the locals not already privy to the game, and by extension uDisc/DGCR, to easily behold at these Pagan Metal altars and perhaps inspire them to try the game out. That's how I started.

The big downhill, currently on loan from a Swiss ski slope somewhere in the alps, is still there but only 400' now. The next hole now starts nearby, it has been shortened into a slanted hyzer, from the long distance bomb it used to be. It still has the same uphill basket, tucked into the woods. These edits are fine by me, it avoids much of the perpetually soggy wetlands that were undermowed as well.

Tip: The big downhill has a concrete staircase to the right behind the rink/basketball if you have problems walking down steep slopes. Took me only six visits to notice it.

The rest of the course is forested and is mostly the old course with a new hole added and three gone -- the swamp hole is retired as are the two lost to thorny wineberry pickers.

The immediate next three are a bit of a precision game. #5 is a bit of a tight, left curved fairway. #6, a ways away, is a wider and straight-on tunnel shot. #7 is new. A gap upfront with a bunch of trees throughout to play DG Pachinko with until the basket far left.

#8 is the longer fairway with a huge boulder to zen out on and enjoy the view. #9 is a short but nice uphill, but nowhere as punishing return the big downhill made me anticipate.

+Great signs, great navigation, greater big paver tees, just a pleasing experience overall.

There is little in the new Unami to complain about. All I recall is #7's sign having two pins but only the shorter basket being present.

A few people will remember of the Unami of old, a miniature Nockamixon, when the old upfront holes and the swamp hole seemed to have State Park level potential before superstorm Sandy hit. At the same time, I think the old layout had left the old course unbalanced, with unevel levels of play trying to attract a crowd that doesn't travel to play community niners. Now it's far more consistent throughout and kept.

-#3/4 and other areas might be soggy during wet seasons.

Out of OOOOO discs:

Terrain: OOOo - Very good. A downhill seldom seen elsewhere locally and beautiful PA forest unmatched in most other community parks.
Execution: OOOo - Very Good. I had no major complaint and an easy time of it.
Upkeep: OOOo - Very Good.
Difficulty: OOo - Low intermediate. One of the more difficult community parks, requiring precision.
Fun Factor: OOOo - Very good.
Overall: OOOo - Excellent niner for initiated beginners and intermediates.

Wow, Unami Creek is quite an adventure for a 9-hole course. The first two holes are short and fairly open, but do not let this benign start lull you into complacency.

Hole 3 gets your attention with a 395' bomb off a big hill, with woods right and trees to miss left. I threw a fairway driver and even with my noodle arm landed pin high. Big hill = big fun. Hole 4 is also semi-open, teeing across a meadow to a well-protected basket on a steep, wooded upslope.

Starting with hole 5 the course shifts gears again, entering a rocky forest for the rest of the round The forested section of the course is gorgeous, challenging, isolated from the rest of the park, and makes me want to come back here and play again. You will need accuracy, line shaping, and some distance to score well. Several of the woods holes have significant elevation in play.

Boxed-in paver tees are long, wide, and level. Mach 3 baskets with a number plate were well mounted and in good shape. Next tee signs were helpfully posted to aid navigation, and there were no excessively long walks between holes.

Tee signs are mounted on short posts and include hole lengths, par, and a stylized map (but see cons). Course was dry when I played but boardwalks have been installed to cross seasonally wet areas.

The first two holes are pretty bland, but give you something to do while walking to hole 3. If the pavilion is in use you might need to share the mown grass field that serves a hole one's fairway with non-disc golfers.

Occasionally I found the stylized tee maps a bit confusing, leaving me unsure where I should be aiming my drive. Also, the tee signs list two pin positions but there was no indication of which is in use. When I played the map app listed the correct basket position, so perhaps the signs need updating.

Mach 3's are not the most visible baskets, so adding a brightly colored flag would be helpful on the wooded holes. Tees are raised slightly, sometimes leaving a bit of a drop off. Building up the area in front of the tee would reduce the risk of twisting an ankle.

I had a blast playing here, and would happily play this course again. Strongly recommended if you happen to be in the area.

Risk of disc loss seems fairly low, although I spent a few minutes hunting for my drive on #3 in one of the un-mowed meadows off the fairway. I also noticed some poison ivy in these meadows, but not too bad. Rough in the woods was generably manageable.

Since the redesign, getting hole lengths updated on various websites seems to be a work in progress. I relied on UDisc and had no problems.

The creek did not come into play but provided pretty views when walking between two of the holes. I did see people fishing and hiking during my round, but never in places that interfered with play.

Re-design to address some of the old issues with the original layout of the course to make it playable throughout the year.

Hole 1 - Gives you that false sense of "oh this is going to be an easy course" Get your birdies while you can.

Hole 2 - Original hole 1 has been separated into 2 holes (2 and 3). New 2 is a 400' downhill shot that you need to get under the tree branches and finish right. Easier said than done.

Hole 3 - We've cleared out the RHBH hyzer lane to go along with the RHFH lane. Both shots call for a 300'+ Hyzerflip shot if you want to make it to the circle. There is also a direct line to the basket that is a very high-risk high reward shot. You just need to hit a 3' wide gap 200' down the fairway.

Hole 4 - Original hole 3, clear the field and land center to have an uphill upshot at the basket, watch for roll-always. We've widened the mouth of the gap to make it a little easier for all levels of play.

Hole 5 - Original hole 4, a 300' foot shot down an access road to an elevated basket on the left. Don't go left too soon and don't go right.

Hole 6 - Original hole 5. A 350' dead straight shot with thick woods on the left and woods and a creek on the right, watch out for the guardian trees in the fairway.

Hole 7 - With the original 6 and 7 being too overgrown to be saved, we've moved 6's teepad to face 7's basket. A short 200' shot that will require you to shape a shot down the narrow fairway or go for the high backhand anny or RHFH shot over the thick woods to the left.

Hole 8 - Nothing changed on this hole from the original layout, if you've ever played Nocki or Bootleggers you'll be very comfortable hitting tight lines and missing big boulders, some danger on the green if you overshoot the basket leaving you with an elevated putt.

Hole 9 - Nothing changed on this hole. 205' elevated hole making this play close to 275'-300'. Another must get.

Tee pads are old flymats that we're looking to replace/salvage. Please tee from the sides when possible if the flymats are wet.

*** We've recently held a tournament to raise funds for new teepads. Tentative date for new pads being installed is April 9th, 2022 ***

A great amount of effort has been put in to make this course playable again.

Raynger27 has done a great job bringing this course back to life. It offers a unique playing experience reminiscent of Nockamixion.

As I mentioned in the Cons, the flymats are very slippery when wet. We're hoping to address this ASAP.

A lot of the holes have had the thorn bushes removed and fairways cleared out. Direction signs are made and should be installed in the next couple of weeks to help with the direction between holes 5 and 6.


****UPDATE****

Course has installed pavers on all teepads.

Also a new hole 2 was put in to replace old hole 3. Old 2 (downhill shot) is now 3.

Hole 4 is now a shorter more technical hole to take out the field that only gets mowed a couple times a year.