Zobel Park reviews
13
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Experience:
18.8 years
256 played
238 reviews
A Great Course But Not one of Wisconsin's "Greats"
Reviewed:
Played on:Oct 20, 2023
Played the course:once
Pros:
- dual concrete tees
- tee signs have full color maps
- blue Prodigy baskets in good shape
- amenities: practice basket, outhouse, fair amount of parking
- multiple pins for each hole (populated position on tee sign)
- next tee indicators on most baskets
- benches on each hole
- built in bridges over creek beds
- some great technical challenge in wooded portions of course
- a few more open holes to add variety
- some good elevation change incorporated throughout course
- short (red) tees provide easier shots for newer (or tired!) players
- long (blue) tees provide some opportunities to rip longer drives
- a few really neat tight corridor shots in woods that include up/down elevation
- peaceful setting away from heavy traffic
- tee signs have full color maps
- blue Prodigy baskets in good shape
- amenities: practice basket, outhouse, fair amount of parking
- multiple pins for each hole (populated position on tee sign)
- next tee indicators on most baskets
- benches on each hole
- built in bridges over creek beds
- some great technical challenge in wooded portions of course
- a few more open holes to add variety
- some good elevation change incorporated throughout course
- short (red) tees provide easier shots for newer (or tired!) players
- long (blue) tees provide some opportunities to rip longer drives
- a few really neat tight corridor shots in woods that include up/down elevation
- peaceful setting away from heavy traffic
Cons:
- upkeep is a bit on the rough side; course is a little wild
- a few tee signs missing
- concrete tees are a little bit smaller than desirable
- pin position indicators on tee signs are inaccurate in places
- navigation gets fairly squirrelly near the end
- hole 16 doesn't really have a straightforward line/fairway to hit
- a few tee signs missing
- concrete tees are a little bit smaller than desirable
- pin position indicators on tee signs are inaccurate in places
- navigation gets fairly squirrelly near the end
- hole 16 doesn't really have a straightforward line/fairway to hit
Other Thoughts:
Zobel Park is a high quality course amongst many other giants in the state of Wisconsin. This state truly is a disc golf paradise. While Zobel is definitely worth a stop and has some unique features, it didn't quite blow me away. The current rating around 4.4 is definitely a bit overblown; I could certainly see rating this a 4.0 but not really any higher than that. For me, it's a respectable 3.5.
With that said, there aren't a ton of huge cons here - safety and navigation are generally good, although the end of the course does get a bit confusing, especially with hole 16 kind of crossing in to what looks like a different fairway - I couldn't figure out what was going on here until I hiked out and found the basket. Otherwise, the equipment is pretty good here - quality baskets, dual concrete tees (if admittedly a bit small), and serviceable tee signs - also a bit small, but full color and providing the information you want.
When I started the course I thought it was going to be pretty flat, but a lot of the course turns out to be quite hilly. There are definitely some challenging shots through tight wooded channels here, and you will have to fight for par on some holes, but there are definitely some birdie opportunities too. The length is fairly average, with the red tees being notably shorter than the blue. There is a mix of open and wooded holes and you will throw a variety of shots. The course felt a bit wild and rough around the edges to me, which sometimes, subjectively, increases the "cool factor" for me - and other times it just gets annoying. Perhaps that's my own personal problem though
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I think one of the most frustrating things was that while they have added indicators for the pin position on the tee signs, these clearly aren't always keep updated. As others mentioned, baskets are not all in 'A' or 'B' position, it varies with each hole. Some are marked incorrectly, which in one case caused me to throw an entirely incorrect type of shot even though I could see the basket - thinking it was for a different hole. This is not the end of the world but can certainly get irritating.
Zobel does a lot of things right, with some decent amenities and generally fun disc golf. It's a good area to pass through with Wilderness nearby as well. However, I'd hit Wilderness first - it is fairly unquestionably a 4.5+ course, and Zobel really isn't in the same league. Still, it is probably better than 70-80% of courses out there and definitely worth a play.
With that said, there aren't a ton of huge cons here - safety and navigation are generally good, although the end of the course does get a bit confusing, especially with hole 16 kind of crossing in to what looks like a different fairway - I couldn't figure out what was going on here until I hiked out and found the basket. Otherwise, the equipment is pretty good here - quality baskets, dual concrete tees (if admittedly a bit small), and serviceable tee signs - also a bit small, but full color and providing the information you want.
When I started the course I thought it was going to be pretty flat, but a lot of the course turns out to be quite hilly. There are definitely some challenging shots through tight wooded channels here, and you will have to fight for par on some holes, but there are definitely some birdie opportunities too. The length is fairly average, with the red tees being notably shorter than the blue. There is a mix of open and wooded holes and you will throw a variety of shots. The course felt a bit wild and rough around the edges to me, which sometimes, subjectively, increases the "cool factor" for me - and other times it just gets annoying. Perhaps that's my own personal problem though
.I think one of the most frustrating things was that while they have added indicators for the pin position on the tee signs, these clearly aren't always keep updated. As others mentioned, baskets are not all in 'A' or 'B' position, it varies with each hole. Some are marked incorrectly, which in one case caused me to throw an entirely incorrect type of shot even though I could see the basket - thinking it was for a different hole. This is not the end of the world but can certainly get irritating.
Zobel does a lot of things right, with some decent amenities and generally fun disc golf. It's a good area to pass through with Wilderness nearby as well. However, I'd hit Wilderness first - it is fairly unquestionably a 4.5+ course, and Zobel really isn't in the same league. Still, it is probably better than 70-80% of courses out there and definitely worth a play.
12
0
A good course that I (may have) hit at a bad time 2+ years
Reviewed:
Played on:Sep 25, 2021
Played the course:once
Pros:
Zobel Park is located on a mostly wooded hillside in rural south-central Wisconsin. For travelling disc golfers, it's about 2/3 of the way from Rollin Ridge to Wilderness Campground. The park has a couple of other amenities, but the main attraction is definitely an 18 hole disc golf course.
Zobel DGC plays as a medium length, mostly technical round. The hillside is generally not particularly steep, but affects play on many holes. You will play up, down, and along it several times each. The holes range from tightly wooded to mostly open, and everything in between. The foliage is mostly old growth (very tall) pine trees, with younger deciduous trees and bushes filling in the understory. There were lots of what looked like huge nuts lying on the ground during my early fall round, which was cool though I would hate to get hit by one of those things falling from the tree! The rough was thick in a few places, but overall I didn't really worry about losing discs.
There seemed to be a decent mix of left turns, right turns, and straight shots through the woods. A couple holes are more open, like #13 and #18 which both play downhill and have nice views of the Wisconsin countryside from the tee (particularly #18). The distances range from a couple of 200'ish tight throws, up to 2-3 more open holes in the 450-550' range. My favorite hole was #6, a 400' sweeping left turn that starts out on a flat section of the hill then slopes downward with a line of the tall pine trees in the center of the fairway.
The baskets catch well and are painted blue. I think they are Chainstars. A couple of the baskets are elevated, most notably hole 11's which is on top of a large boulder. There is also a practice basket next to the parking lot.
The teepads are cement and in good shape. Most holes have two pads. Many of the long pads had benches nearby. In theory, there was a tee sign at each pad. They were fine, with distances shown to an "A" and "B" pin position.
There is a vault toilet between holes 9 and 10 (not at the beginning of the course).
Zobel DGC plays as a medium length, mostly technical round. The hillside is generally not particularly steep, but affects play on many holes. You will play up, down, and along it several times each. The holes range from tightly wooded to mostly open, and everything in between. The foliage is mostly old growth (very tall) pine trees, with younger deciduous trees and bushes filling in the understory. There were lots of what looked like huge nuts lying on the ground during my early fall round, which was cool though I would hate to get hit by one of those things falling from the tree! The rough was thick in a few places, but overall I didn't really worry about losing discs.
There seemed to be a decent mix of left turns, right turns, and straight shots through the woods. A couple holes are more open, like #13 and #18 which both play downhill and have nice views of the Wisconsin countryside from the tee (particularly #18). The distances range from a couple of 200'ish tight throws, up to 2-3 more open holes in the 450-550' range. My favorite hole was #6, a 400' sweeping left turn that starts out on a flat section of the hill then slopes downward with a line of the tall pine trees in the center of the fairway.
The baskets catch well and are painted blue. I think they are Chainstars. A couple of the baskets are elevated, most notably hole 11's which is on top of a large boulder. There is also a practice basket next to the parking lot.
The teepads are cement and in good shape. Most holes have two pads. Many of the long pads had benches nearby. In theory, there was a tee sign at each pad. They were fine, with distances shown to an "A" and "B" pin position.
There is a vault toilet between holes 9 and 10 (not at the beginning of the course).
Cons:
As alluded to above, there are two teepads on most holes and two pin positions shown on the tee signs. However, the execution of the multiple layouts here is not great. It seemed like there were quite a few holes where the different layouts wouldn't really change much about the hole. My bigger frustration though was that the pin placement was not consistent. On some holes the basket was in the "A" position and on others it was in the "B" position - with no indication of that anywhere. Most holes here are blind, and after the front nine or so I got tired of walking up the fairways before teeing off and just tried to place my drives in such a way that I could approach either pin position without losing too much distance. This worked OK overall...but that's also kind of why I concluded it didn't seem like the different layouts would change several holes much. IMHO, the ideal situation for multiple layouts is always to install baskets at all of the pin locations. I get that this is a free-to-play course so maybe having 36 baskets isn't feasible, but at least keep the pin positions consistent (all "A" or all "B") and/or clearly let DG'ers know (e.g. via the tee signs, kiosk, or both) which pin position is currently in place.
The "Next Tee" signs are little orange arrows hanging on the bottom of baskets via keychain rings. These are better than nothing, but in my opinion just barely because they can easily fall off or be tampered with. When I played, several of these pointed the wrong way and a couple were missing entirely. A couple of additional signs between holes do help clarify things where paths cross, but overall I would say navigation could definitely be improved. I pulled up the course map found here several times.
Many of the tee signs were damaged or missing when I played.
I feel like the lines are unrealistically tight on a couple of holes. I'm remembering hole 7, but not in a good way. This one plays about 220' up a hill between two straight orderly rows of tall pines. These rows weren't separated by much further than my arm span. I will admit, it was fun to look at the neat rows of trees and imagine my disc threading the needle between them. Maybe I just need to get better.
There is a kiosk, but no map posted on it.
I did not see a single trash can in the park.
The "Next Tee" signs are little orange arrows hanging on the bottom of baskets via keychain rings. These are better than nothing, but in my opinion just barely because they can easily fall off or be tampered with. When I played, several of these pointed the wrong way and a couple were missing entirely. A couple of additional signs between holes do help clarify things where paths cross, but overall I would say navigation could definitely be improved. I pulled up the course map found here several times.
Many of the tee signs were damaged or missing when I played.
I feel like the lines are unrealistically tight on a couple of holes. I'm remembering hole 7, but not in a good way. This one plays about 220' up a hill between two straight orderly rows of tall pines. These rows weren't separated by much further than my arm span. I will admit, it was fun to look at the neat rows of trees and imagine my disc threading the needle between them. Maybe I just need to get better.
There is a kiosk, but no map posted on it.
I did not see a single trash can in the park.
Other Thoughts:
The course starts and ends on the south side of the park (bottom of the hill). There is another small parking lot on the north side of the park/top of the hill, which would be a good place to park if you wanted to start at hole 10 for some reason. The vault toilet is also here, and if memory serves me correctly a playground as well (well out of the way of any flying discs).
The disc golf is solid here and there are a couple of nice views to take in, but overall I wasn't blown away. I wanted to like this course more, but the various signage-related issues and pin placement woes dampened my experience a bit. I had to wonder if I just hit the course at a bad time. If some of the issues were cleaned up, I could definitely see this course getting a 4.0 from me. Beyond that I would have to play it again to make a judgement, but my feeling now is that it would still need a lot more "wow" factor to get into the same arena as Wilderness or Rollin Ridge.
If you are visiting the area, this course is definitely worth a play - but only if you still have time after you get in at least two rounds at Wilderness.
The disc golf is solid here and there are a couple of nice views to take in, but overall I wasn't blown away. I wanted to like this course more, but the various signage-related issues and pin placement woes dampened my experience a bit. I had to wonder if I just hit the course at a bad time. If some of the issues were cleaned up, I could definitely see this course getting a 4.0 from me. Beyond that I would have to play it again to make a judgement, but my feeling now is that it would still need a lot more "wow" factor to get into the same arena as Wilderness or Rollin Ridge.
If you are visiting the area, this course is definitely worth a play - but only if you still have time after you get in at least two rounds at Wilderness.
