Holland, MI

Winstrom Preserve - Old Layout

2.385(based on 33 reviews)
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3 0
nickster51
Experience: 10.6 years 28 played 1 reviews
2.00 star(s)

Perfect for casual and beginners 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Dec 15, 2013 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

- Easy, approachable course.
- Fun, short, and open course for a beginner
- good course for working on approach shots and putting

Cons:

- A few holes are crammed together making it easy to throw onto other fairways and even onto other tees.
- Not a lot of technical/challenging throws
- a couple confusing hole transitions (5 to 6, 10 to 11, 14 to 15).
(rough Course map just added)
- A lot of dead wood and stumps.

Other Thoughts:

I never played this course before it was "gutted." I've heard it used to be quite a bit more difficult. I think it's a fun local course for the more laid back and/or newer disc golfers. I live just down the road, and I'll often stop and play a few games quickly.
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7 1
Jukeshoe
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 14.7 years 316 played 268 reviews
2.00 star(s)

Tight As A [Censored] 2+ years

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Mar 10, 2012 Played the course:once

Pros:

- This tightly-wooded course plays through tall, mature pines. The fairways range from partially wooded to ridiculously tight. Dense clusters of trees make up the "fairways" on more than a few holes, but undergrowth is largely absent. The final few holes work out of the woods into more open ground with a few deciduous trees. A small water hazard on the back nine spices things up a bit. Winstrom is comprised mostly of shorter-length holes, but these present enough of a challenge to not be mindless.
- The course winds back and forth over and around a modest scrap of elevation, but the spills and thrills come from navigating through the wall of pine.
- Concrete tees in average shape.
- Perfect for putter or one-disc rounds. Trust me, you'll feel utterly ridiculous bringing a bag along.

Cons:

- Signage, where it exists, is basic. Several holes have defaced or missing tee signs. The flow is a bit awkward with one or two improbably long walks that might be a bit tricky your first time through.
- While squeezing the most out of the available land, Winstrom feels pretty cramped in places, with several safety hazards in the design quickly becoming apparent. Baskets near each other with a blind shot leading to one of baskets. Baskets near tees. Fairways near walking paths. Having to backtrack one hole's fairway to get to the next hole (still a bit of a distance off). Exacerbating this list of safety hazards is a "rules" sign on the first hole that explicitly forbids any "formal" or "league" play; and most on the course (at least the multitude that were out when I played) exhibited a very relaxed etiquette. "Casual" only. And the casual come in droves.
- The design tries its best, but ultimately Winstrom falls a bit flat. Repetitive and one-dimensional, not to mention more than a bit unsafe.

Other Thoughts:

- Winstrom feels just a bit like a relic from the days of Steady Ed: throwing lids through the trees and whatnot. In that sense, the course succeeds. But in the end, the cramped conditions and frenetic traffic spoils a lot of the charm. As long as you can hit it during an slow time when the traffic isn't overwhelming, Winstrom is good in a pinch. But don't go out of your way or expect it to blow your mind.
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1 0
Trespayne
Experience: 15 played 3 reviews
2.00 star(s)

Home Course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Jun 5, 2011 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

-Location is great. Right by the beaches in Holland. There's also a nice field nearby to practice.

-Good cement tee-pads at every hole

-Super quick course, If you're playing in a group of 4 it should take no more than 45 minutes.

-Good mix of backhand, forehand, tomahawk-people say it's forehand happy, but you can throw a backhand on every hole with the right disc.

Great to work on short mid-range shots and long puts. The course is also great if you're going for a low score because all the shots you can birdie with the right first shot. The only difficult birdies are #15 and #18.

Cons:

-Very short holes, there's almost no need to break out a driver except maybe on holes #15 and #18.

-Can get pretty busy at times, but I've rarely had a problem with people not letting my group play through.

-A few holes don't show the length of the shot, but if you have played the course you'll know exactly where it is the next time through.

-Course layout is somewhat questionable. Many holes go right next to others, but there's usually enough trees to protect yourself from getting hit by a random disc. Aside from hole #9 to #10 and hole #14 to #15, the layout is pretty easy to follow (after 9, walk on the sidewalk to the right along the path until you see #10 on the right, after 14, walk back to where you started 14, then keep walking the path a bit further and it's on the right)

-After clearing out well more than 2/3 of the trees on the course, the holes are much more simple and completely took away the charm of what was a heavily wooded, challenging short course. It is now lightly wooded and short which is not nearly as much fun.

-Also due to the clearing of the trees, there are branches and twigs all over the course and you can get cut up or slip if you're not paying attention.

Other Thoughts:

It's a decent course, not a good course. It's great for mid-range shots and long putts. It's definitely NOT worth a big drive to play, but if you're in the area it's a nice one to play. I live about a mile away so I play it a lot, it's just not the same as it was before the trees were taken down, but is still fun and quick.
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1 0
rshrevo
Bronze level trusted reviewer
Experience: 45.9 years 45 played 34 reviews
2.00 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Jun 15, 2012 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

Nice challenging course. makes you think about shot placement. Fairly easy to navigate through the course. with it being in tress there is hardly no underbrush to hide your errant discs. Lots of shade. was almost like a nature walk saw lots of squirrels running around while playing my round.

Cons:

Since it is heavily wooded some holes are hard to reach in three unless you get lucky enough to miss all the trees on each shot. was hard to know where some of the baskets were actually located on my first time there. no hole layout listed on tee poles. tight fairways are really close to other holes. like Number 2 basket right next to #3 fairway.

Other Thoughts:

When playing this course if there are others you see playing it then watch out for errant discs. was almost hit trying to putt on #2 by a drive hitting a tree on #3 fairway. plus other times while walking to my shot was seeing discs land off to the sides of me. I do like the course. would play it again. nice secluded area. only people i saw were the other disc golfers and some people using the paths that meander through the woods.
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2 0
Jak3
Experience: 5 played 5 reviews
2.00 star(s)

Ehh... 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:May 9, 2010 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

Tee-pads are decent... bout it really

Cons:

Poor basket placement, some baskets are super close to others. You can get lost easy. Theres one hole where you actually have to walk back up the fairway from which you just came. Fairway after fairway back and forth, some fairways only have like 10-15 feet between em so look out for discs bouncing off trees...

Theres like 3 or 4 holes that are almost identical, tree placements and all.

The park (im guessing) put these plastic cover things on some the trees in the fairways to i guess protect the trees from disc damage.. So look out for small trees that are twice the width they should be because of this.

Pretty busy, no smoking, no drinking. There was one sign that said no swearing like 3 times over and over... Full of retards the two rounds i played, kids throwing sticks at baskets, old clueless people throwing beach frisbees etc...

Hole 5 is pretty pointless....

o ya, theres one hole thats only 112 feet with zero obstacles... common now.

No holes over 300 feet.... maybe #18... maybe

Other Thoughts:

Overall pretty stupid course, you can tell whoever designed knew nothing about disc golf... Maybe it was designed for beach frisbee throwers...
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3 6
MDeezy
Experience: 20.9 years 132 played 14 reviews
2.00 star(s)

Teenage Wasteland 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Jun 5, 2006 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

18 baskets and 18 concrete tee pads. Great place for beginners or someone looking to work on their short game. Hole 14 has a great water hazard.

Cons:

Some very short and some very narrow shots. Fairways are tight, even unreasonable at times. Course is filled with casuals which can get very busy and annoying. Constant vandalism and trash devalues the course. Not recommended for serious players.

Other Thoughts:

I think this course is good thing, but also a bad thing. On one hand I think this is a waste of baskets, and a very poorly designed course. I live in the area and rarely play this course. On the other hand, Winstrom provides somewhere for the not so serious disc golfers to go and play. I feel this course is used and abused as many people just go there to drink and smoke. If you are in Holland and want to play a good course, head south to Shore Acres DGC instead.
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4 0
phishbrained
Experience: 18.2 years 23 played 13 reviews
2.00 star(s)

Technical, too wooded for my liking 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Apr 18, 2009 Played the course:once

Pros:

Very technical, will challenge your accuracy.
Some elevation changes, mostly very tight woods.
A pretty useless map and scorecard are available at hole 1.

Cons:

There is not real way to tell where the next hole is as there are so many paths and the tee markers blend in with the trees. The map did not really help.
Most Tee markers are broken, so you have no idea how far or where to throw.
Some holes aren't that wooded, but most are so tight its almost impossible to make it through for a birdie.

Other Thoughts:

Would be so much nicer if they would clear out a bit larger fairway on some holes that are 5 feet wide. Maybe arrows to next tee or a better map.

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1 4
joelinator
Experience: 16 played 3 reviews
2.00 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Apr 4, 2009 Played the course:once

Pros:

Clean, nice looking park. Challenging holes and difficult obstacles.

Cons:

Tight fairways with lots of trees. Very poorly laid out. No maps to aid with finding the next tee. Can't really open up and throw a good toss.
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2 3
FoleyT
Silver level trusted reviewer
Experience: 18.9 years 86 played 85 reviews
2.00 star(s)

Close Quarters 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 25, 2006 Played the course:never

Pros:

Concrete Tees & Baskets, lots of wooded scenery, rewards conservative play, holes aren't too long to make up for the slim margin for error.

Cons:

very tight fairways verging on ridiculous. If you go off the beaten path, it will take you several throws just to wack your way through the dense tree cover
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