Willow Metropark reviews
6
1
BogeyNoMore
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience:
19.9 years
484 played
183 reviews
WILLOW METROPARK: because bugs like disc golf, too! 2+ years
Reviewed:
Updated:
Played on:Jul 8, 2008
Played the course:5+ times
Pros:
Pretty good as far as design/layout, with dual tee pads, tee markers, decent baskets - plays well. Navigation is pretty simple, with decent flow from hole to hole. First timers may have some difficulty finding next tee after some baskets, but only on a few holes.
Least traffic of any of the Detroit area Metro Parks, means peaceful rounds at your own pace. Pleasant, quiet, park setting (if you don't mind the the sound of cars on nearby highway or an occasional airliner soaring just overhead).
Well maintained with hardly any signs of vandalism: tee markers and everything look fine after several years - thanks to low traffic.
Scorecards w/map available mailbox near 1st tee (not always present).
Short tees: tight, with challenging fairways that require control and finesse.
Longs: prepare for a beat down
Limited shot variety means you can play a decent round with a few discs or so:
- straight fairway driver
- stable mid that holds the line you put it on
- putter
- get outta trouble disc for overhead throws
- Cart Friendly: Very.
Least traffic of any of the Detroit area Metro Parks, means peaceful rounds at your own pace. Pleasant, quiet, park setting (if you don't mind the the sound of cars on nearby highway or an occasional airliner soaring just overhead).
Well maintained with hardly any signs of vandalism: tee markers and everything look fine after several years - thanks to low traffic.
Scorecards w/map available mailbox near 1st tee (not always present).
Short tees: tight, with challenging fairways that require control and finesse.
Longs: prepare for a beat down
Limited shot variety means you can play a decent round with a few discs or so:
- straight fairway driver
- stable mid that holds the line you put it on
- putter
- get outta trouble disc for overhead throws
- Cart Friendly: Very.
Cons:
- Not as much variety as there should be over 24 holes, most holes are slight variations on the same theme; tunnel shot after tunnel shot.
-No elevation changes.
-Low lying fairways (as well as walk from hole to hole) get very swampy, muddy, in the spring or after a hard rain. This course does not drain well.
- From most of the shorts, shooting par is only difficult if you're trying to park your tee shot for deuce and shank it in the woods or take a bad bounce. If you're willing to play an uber-safe (i.e. boring) round, you could just use a putter or mid with relatively low power off the tee right up the middle to set up a simple upshot and quite makeable putt for par after par. This leads me to say the course design lacks imagination - not completely bad, just a bit lackluster.
No single hole sticks out as that bad, but on the whole, they feel repetitive, and few are memorable (15 being the exception).
Except for hole 15, leave your max distance driver in your bag; simply not necessary on this course.
- BUGS & BRUSH!! The insects seemed seem to laugh at my Deep Woods Off. Tight fairways and VERY thick brush in the dog days of summer = lots of time spent searching for discs - don't expect a quick round. Don't plan on playing a second round (anywhere) after playing here. Between bugs and searching in the thick brush for 24 holes, you just want to hit the shower.
-No elevation changes.
-Low lying fairways (as well as walk from hole to hole) get very swampy, muddy, in the spring or after a hard rain. This course does not drain well.
- From most of the shorts, shooting par is only difficult if you're trying to park your tee shot for deuce and shank it in the woods or take a bad bounce. If you're willing to play an uber-safe (i.e. boring) round, you could just use a putter or mid with relatively low power off the tee right up the middle to set up a simple upshot and quite makeable putt for par after par. This leads me to say the course design lacks imagination - not completely bad, just a bit lackluster.
No single hole sticks out as that bad, but on the whole, they feel repetitive, and few are memorable (15 being the exception).
Except for hole 15, leave your max distance driver in your bag; simply not necessary on this course.
- BUGS & BRUSH!! The insects seemed seem to laugh at my Deep Woods Off. Tight fairways and VERY thick brush in the dog days of summer = lots of time spent searching for discs - don't expect a quick round. Don't plan on playing a second round (anywhere) after playing here. Between bugs and searching in the thick brush for 24 holes, you just want to hit the shower.
Other Thoughts:
Favors accuracy over big arms - big time!!. Creek along on #'s 1 & 24, as well as # 15 is usually dry (or at least very low).
Control/finesse courses play to my strengths, so I like them, and while I have fun here, Willow simply lacks the variety I think a course needs to be considered "good."
The lack of variety only seems magnified because it's 24 holes rather than 18. OK for an occasional round, but I wouldn't want to play here on a regular basis. Too many holes seem like slight variations on the same theme: a tight, controlled tunnel shot, with an occasional variation of dogleg left or right instead of straight. The biggest difference is whether you have to thread the needle through trees, or down a hallway between walls of brush. The lack of variation in fairway types combined with the flatness of the land, and the sheer number of holes begins to feel redundant towards the end. It's probably better than just decent/typical (2.5), but I can't say a course is good (3.0) if it makes the game boring.
Throw in the bugs and thick brush, and it can turn something that should be fun into something that isn't.
TAKE MY ADVICE: Play Willow in the fall, for a much more enjoyable round. The lack of foliage in fall doesn't necessarily make staying on the fairway any easier, but certainly makes finding your discs (as well as escape shots) a lot easier, and the bugs aren't nearly as much of an issue.
Control/finesse courses play to my strengths, so I like them, and while I have fun here, Willow simply lacks the variety I think a course needs to be considered "good."
The lack of variety only seems magnified because it's 24 holes rather than 18. OK for an occasional round, but I wouldn't want to play here on a regular basis. Too many holes seem like slight variations on the same theme: a tight, controlled tunnel shot, with an occasional variation of dogleg left or right instead of straight. The biggest difference is whether you have to thread the needle through trees, or down a hallway between walls of brush. The lack of variation in fairway types combined with the flatness of the land, and the sheer number of holes begins to feel redundant towards the end. It's probably better than just decent/typical (2.5), but I can't say a course is good (3.0) if it makes the game boring.
Throw in the bugs and thick brush, and it can turn something that should be fun into something that isn't.
TAKE MY ADVICE: Play Willow in the fall, for a much more enjoyable round. The lack of foliage in fall doesn't necessarily make staying on the fairway any easier, but certainly makes finding your discs (as well as escape shots) a lot easier, and the bugs aren't nearly as much of an issue.
3
6
wasted energy
Experience:
15.3 years
64 played
3 reviews
2+ years drive by
Reviewed:
Played on:May 31, 2009
Played the course:5+ times
Pros:
It's a discgolf course. Concrete tees. And it's close to me.
Cons:
Bugs. And is built on low land, last week was the first time I could play all the holes.(2 holes were under water and everything else was soaked a month ago)
Other Thoughts:
This course is tough, it's tight,buggy and easy to lose disc's. In the fall this course would rock.
