Winnebago County Park - Yellow reviews
5
0
As Fun As Lighting Hundred Dollar Bills On Fire 2+ years
Reviewed:
Played on:Nov 22, 2018
Played the course:once
Pros:
(2.693 Rating) A challenging park style course.
- CHALLENGING - Clearly this course was not designed for the average Joe. Advanced players may be delighted though. Nine par 3s are over 350 feet in length. Water hazards and/or waste high grass have to be avoided on 14 of the 18 holes. I'd say that it would take about a 950 rated player in nice conditions to average par 56.
- RAW BEAUTY - The better looking of the two course. The run of holes (8) thru (11) was an absolute delight using 20-foot high manmade hills and carving greens and fairways into the 3-foot-high grasses. Hole (16) is a beautiful shot too, for those that can clear 500 feet. Otherwise it will likely be a "Oh, no thank you." thought and then the disc goes back into the bag.
- UNIQUENESS - Mostly longer shots from the mid 200s to over 600 feet. A couple listed par 4s, but there really should be five listed par 4s. Water makes an big impact on three shots and elevation in the 20 foot range is present on four holes.
- CHARACTER - The Yellow layout pretty much has everything the Green layout has. The basics and extras are a touch above average. Nice concrete tees being 5 feet by 12 feet. Adequate baskets, although not top of the line models. There is seating at the tees for about 5 or 6 holes and there's a nice shelter with numerous picnic tables. I believe there are restrooms in the park, but everything was locked up on my round.
- NAVIGATION - Good. Course map of both layouts at the community board. Tee signage shows layout of the hole with obstacles, par designation, distance and next tee direction. There are navigation arrows indicated on the number placard on top of the basket. For some unknown reason to me this arrow is missing on (12).
- CHALLENGING - Clearly this course was not designed for the average Joe. Advanced players may be delighted though. Nine par 3s are over 350 feet in length. Water hazards and/or waste high grass have to be avoided on 14 of the 18 holes. I'd say that it would take about a 950 rated player in nice conditions to average par 56.
- RAW BEAUTY - The better looking of the two course. The run of holes (8) thru (11) was an absolute delight using 20-foot high manmade hills and carving greens and fairways into the 3-foot-high grasses. Hole (16) is a beautiful shot too, for those that can clear 500 feet. Otherwise it will likely be a "Oh, no thank you." thought and then the disc goes back into the bag.
- UNIQUENESS - Mostly longer shots from the mid 200s to over 600 feet. A couple listed par 4s, but there really should be five listed par 4s. Water makes an big impact on three shots and elevation in the 20 foot range is present on four holes.
- CHARACTER - The Yellow layout pretty much has everything the Green layout has. The basics and extras are a touch above average. Nice concrete tees being 5 feet by 12 feet. Adequate baskets, although not top of the line models. There is seating at the tees for about 5 or 6 holes and there's a nice shelter with numerous picnic tables. I believe there are restrooms in the park, but everything was locked up on my round.
- NAVIGATION - Good. Course map of both layouts at the community board. Tee signage shows layout of the hole with obstacles, par designation, distance and next tee direction. There are navigation arrows indicated on the number placard on top of the basket. For some unknown reason to me this arrow is missing on (12).
Cons:
An overzealous design.
- LACK OF FUN - Despite some really nice aspects on the Yellow layout, the thing that holds this course back is the high possibility of unforgivable punishment and unrealistic lines. There is only one set of tees on this layout. So unlike some courses that offer a similar Advanced challenge, there's no way for us common folk to dial it down a bit. 3-foot-high grasses were present on a dozen holes and sometimes only a 20-foot-wide fairway cut was available to hit. Had it not been for late fall conditions, I likely would have spent a half hour or more searching for discs instead of 10 minutes. At least three holes are gravely flawed. (16) is listed as a 629-foot par 3 over water. (roll eyes emoji.) The hole is actually about 585 feet as the crow flies and is a 500 foot total water clear. There's a wonderful guardian tree at this 500 water mark that laughs as it swats discs back into the pond. Just because McBeth can deuce it doesn't mean you list a hole as a par 3. To make matters worse, for the hoards of us that have to play around the lake edge on (16), there is no enlarged landing cut and a 300-foot water clear is required to take the trees out of play. I personally took a 6 on the hole. Hole (17) is moronic. A 459-foot 90 degree right bending par 3. Even McBeth would be happy with a (3) as the fairway isn't much more than 20 feet wide and punishing 3-foot-tall grass is to the left the whole way. The only way to successfully achieve the arc required on the hole from tee to basket is to carry the disc. Hole (10) is an unrealistic 439-foot uphill par 3 requiring a low drive under the trees, then catching a miraculous updraft sending the disc 20 feet into the air and then pushing it to the right. These three noted par 3s are all more difficult than the two listed par 4s. The only thing that may be enjoyable about this layout is that it may be fun to watch a fellow clubmate have a complete meltdown.
- WATER HAZARDS - Yes. Read first con.
- LOOSE DISC OPPS - You batcha. Read first con.
- FORGIVENESS - None. Read first con.
- OVERGROWTH - Lots. Read first con.
- BEGINNER FRIENDLY - No. Read first five cons.
- MULTI USE HAZARDS - The Yellow layout I think has less impact on other park amenities impact than the Green layout, but walkways and roads may come into play a few times. During the traversing of this course, players will have walk across a park road 6 times. So be cognizant of traffic.
- TIME PLAY - I got in and out in just over an hour. During the summer at pear overgrowth I would add an additional half hour for disc reconnaissance. Groups of four would likely take 3 to 4 hours.
- TRASH - I didn't spot as much compared to what I saw on the Green Layout. However there are no garbage cans along the layout, so please pack-in and pack-out.
- LACK OF FUN - Despite some really nice aspects on the Yellow layout, the thing that holds this course back is the high possibility of unforgivable punishment and unrealistic lines. There is only one set of tees on this layout. So unlike some courses that offer a similar Advanced challenge, there's no way for us common folk to dial it down a bit. 3-foot-high grasses were present on a dozen holes and sometimes only a 20-foot-wide fairway cut was available to hit. Had it not been for late fall conditions, I likely would have spent a half hour or more searching for discs instead of 10 minutes. At least three holes are gravely flawed. (16) is listed as a 629-foot par 3 over water. (roll eyes emoji.) The hole is actually about 585 feet as the crow flies and is a 500 foot total water clear. There's a wonderful guardian tree at this 500 water mark that laughs as it swats discs back into the pond. Just because McBeth can deuce it doesn't mean you list a hole as a par 3. To make matters worse, for the hoards of us that have to play around the lake edge on (16), there is no enlarged landing cut and a 300-foot water clear is required to take the trees out of play. I personally took a 6 on the hole. Hole (17) is moronic. A 459-foot 90 degree right bending par 3. Even McBeth would be happy with a (3) as the fairway isn't much more than 20 feet wide and punishing 3-foot-tall grass is to the left the whole way. The only way to successfully achieve the arc required on the hole from tee to basket is to carry the disc. Hole (10) is an unrealistic 439-foot uphill par 3 requiring a low drive under the trees, then catching a miraculous updraft sending the disc 20 feet into the air and then pushing it to the right. These three noted par 3s are all more difficult than the two listed par 4s. The only thing that may be enjoyable about this layout is that it may be fun to watch a fellow clubmate have a complete meltdown.
- WATER HAZARDS - Yes. Read first con.
- LOOSE DISC OPPS - You batcha. Read first con.
- FORGIVENESS - None. Read first con.
- OVERGROWTH - Lots. Read first con.
- BEGINNER FRIENDLY - No. Read first five cons.
- MULTI USE HAZARDS - The Yellow layout I think has less impact on other park amenities impact than the Green layout, but walkways and roads may come into play a few times. During the traversing of this course, players will have walk across a park road 6 times. So be cognizant of traffic.
- TIME PLAY - I got in and out in just over an hour. During the summer at pear overgrowth I would add an additional half hour for disc reconnaissance. Groups of four would likely take 3 to 4 hours.
- TRASH - I didn't spot as much compared to what I saw on the Green Layout. However there are no garbage cans along the layout, so please pack-in and pack-out.
Other Thoughts:
A total mind game of a course. Hole (1) is just sitting there saying "play me, I'm nice and easy." Only to then ratchet it up continuously through hole (17). I liked a bunch of the elements on the course. It's definitely more beautiful and offers way more wow holes over the green layout. However, some of the design is just so wack you hope the designer never gets to do another layout. (My apologies to the designer, I'm sure he or she is a nice person). Although I've scored the course approximately average, there nothing average about it. I scored Character, Uniqueness and Beauty all roughly a 3.0 and Difficulty a 4.0, ie Advanced level. I rated Fun Factor a zero. Although, players that like to machete through tall grasses or that like to leave souvenirs may like this place. I personally will never play this course again and I'm so grateful for the frozen ponds and dead tall grasses on my appearance.
