St. Cloud, MN

Calvary Hill Park

3.315(based on 18 reviews)
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6 0
wolfhaley
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 19.9 years 970 played 542 reviews
3.00 star(s)

2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 31, 2017 Played the course:once

Pros:

The course spans both sides of the road at Calvary Hills park. The first 12 holes play on the north side of the road and the last 6 play on the south side. Hole 1 starts by the east side of the north parking lot. From there it is pretty easy to follow. A little goofy in a couple spots early and late but nothing to hard to figure out. The middle wooded section had plenty of metal directional signs making navigation basically a non issue. The baskets are Mach 3's that were all in solid shape and caught well. The wooded section was the real saving grace for this course. It starts pretty open with a couple trees and slight elevation as your main obstacles. It could be a little tricky if it's windy out though too. Then the last 6 across the road are the same type of holes with 13 being longer than the rest at least. There are signs by most if not every hole. They have hole #, par and distance on them. This is all you really need for a course like this anyway. The course is permanent and free to play.

Cons:

The open holes get repetitive but at least they're broken up to even things out a bit. Erosion is starting to really show in the wooded area. The whole front of 8's tee pad is sticking out of the hill with no ground under it. This needs to be addressed as it is a safety concern. As I said above it is a little bit wonky as to where to go next in a couple spots but nothing too glaring. After 15 you have to walk south past 17's tee to get to 16. Also after hole 8 you kind of have to walk back up 9's fairway to the tee. More a safety issue than navigation since you walk right past 9's tee to get to 7.

Other Thoughts:

This course was a better than I expected. Especially after reading all the reviews saying Riverside was better and having just played that course and not being that impressed. And after the first hole I thought about just trying something else instead. I had to check it off the list though and I'm glad I did. It's not overly challenging but if you tree kick in the woods It'll be hard to recover making it pretty interesting in that section at least. Definitely not a destination course but if you're close by and got an hour it's serviceable if not spectacular. Worth a play once at least.
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2 3
Spike Hyzer 23
Experience: 30.7 years 92 played 87 reviews
2.50 star(s)

Could Be Better 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Jan 15, 2016 Played the course:once

Pros:

Hole Ratings:
***** 7, 8, 10, 11, 12
**** 13, 18
*** 1, 4, 5
** 2
* 3, 6, 9, 14, 15, 16, 17
This averages out to 3.1, but I'm lowering it for the reasons I will list in the Cons.
The course gets off to a decent start, warmup holes with some challenge. It becomes great in the woods, with some of the most majestic and difficult holes I've ever played.

Cons:

The signage is poor and the distances often inaccurate.
The second pin is too close to the 6th tees.
The 5th tee is almost impossible to find after the 4th hole and should be eliminated (or should become the short tee for the 4th hole).
The sixth hole crosses over near the parking lot.
The 9th hole requires backtracking toward the 7th tee and should be completely redesigned.
You cross the road for an interesting 13th hole, but the rest on that side are terrible (except for 18).
It's an enormous walk to 14 and it's a short boring hole.
The 15th is equally short and boring (protect the green).
What appears to be the next pad is the 17th pad and you end up having to walk the entire length of 16 back to its tee pad. Ridiculous. The 17th pad should be the 16th pad and it should go to the large tree with overhanging branches near the 16th pad. Then put the 17th pad somewhere to the right of that as you face back toward the main road.

This course would be great if you could slightly redesign #s 3, 4, 5 and 9 so that you don't cross fairways and backtrack. Perhaps shorten a few of the wooded holes and try to get a couple more in those woods (maybe three or four).

Then eliminate a few of the holes across the road and redesign the number remaining that have to be over there.

Another MN course, like Willmar, that needs a major redesign to be both more interesting and safer.

Other Thoughts:

I am almost 55 and shot the AM tees and posted -11 without ever having played. It's too easy. I think I would have scored well even from the pros, as the only challenging holes are in the woods.
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1 2
EliteSt4lk3R
Experience: 12 years 8 played 2 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Good Course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Sep 19, 2014 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Easy to Find, Good Flight Paths, not to advanced... good beginner course

Cons:

Road Splits the course in 2 so it is a big factor on a couple of the holes.

Other Thoughts:

Generally there is quite a few people here, so you may have to wait to play.
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1 3
EnderSP
Experience: 4 played 2 reviews
1.50 star(s)

Badly maintained 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:May 26, 2014 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

This is a great beginner course, most of the holes are wide open and don't require much power to make course par

the wooded holes with the exception of two have a clearly defined route they want you to take but have enough space for creative shots

Dual tee pads for the illusion of a challenge

Hole 5 has a blind throw pro tee pad that is ridiculously fun to throw from

Cons:

Poorly maintained, This course has trash everywhere, no park authority comes through to clean it more than once a month at best, signs have been vandalized for months with no fix coming, inconsistent permanent tee pads on some holes

back 7 are boring wide open holes without any real challenge

Other Thoughts:

This course SHOULD be the place to teach new players how to play in st cloud, but anyone who already plays only wants to play riverside, so riverside ends up overcrowded and calvary completely empty

too many of the tee pads are very close to the last holes tees, making for dangerous situations where an intermediate player could overthrow their basket and hit you

considering riverside, becker, clearwater, and hidden lake are all within a 30 minute drive of here there is absolutely no reason to play calvary unless you have transportation issues
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2 1
ajkuck
Experience: 16.8 years 55 played 31 reviews
3.00 star(s)

No Riverside 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:May 10, 2012 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

The course offers a wide variety of shots, with many open holes out in the open and some challenging holes in the woods that offer some unique shots with the elevation change and tight lanes to hit. It also has decent tee pads with signs on every hole.

Cons:

The holes out in the open are not very impressive. The mosquitoes are also quite bad in the woods.

Other Thoughts:

It's not as busy as Riverside and it's close by, so if Riverside is busy, make the trip to Calvary.
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3 0
notapro
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 20.7 years 568 played 281 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Intermediate 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 22, 2012 Played the course:once

Pros:

- Course is set amongst a city park, with some parts out in the open, and others inside a hilly forest. The course plays near some tennis courts, the parking lot, a playground and near some houses, but it seems like the area is mostly dedicated to discing.
- The best holes here are situated inside the woods, which offer tight lines and hilly terrain. #4, #7, and #10 play up a pretty steep uphill slope, this adds a great deal of difficulty to these holes. #5, #8, #11, and #12 play down the same slope, with #5 long being a very long downhill shot over the canopy. The lines in here are not easy either, #4 is a long skinny RHBH flex shot, #7 is a tight anny, #8 and #11 are tunnellish shots in the woods, and #10 is a very tough uphill shot that finishes into a skinny window on the right. The long pin position is very tough to get to.
- Most of the other holes are out in the open, with the odd mature tree to worry about. #1's basket it tucked behind a large cluster of skinny trees, #9 has woods on the right and larger trees on the left, #15 has some trees by the pin, and there are a few easier hyzers and anhyzers. A few gentle elevation changes out here, like a slight uphill on #2 and #18, and a slight downhill on #15.
- Some really cool holes here, with #5 standing out the most. The pro pad is a hike to the top of the hill with a huge, blind downhill shot over the canopy of the forest below. Plenty of danger to end up way off course into the woods. #10 is probably the toughest hole, an uphill RHBH anny that finishes in a low window behind a tree.
- Good pads, with pro pads on about half the holes. Good baskets, with alternate pin positions that add a lot of challenge. Signs are good, and lots of navigation aids to help get around.

Cons:

- A lot of the holes here are pretty wide open, with one or two trees to worry about. Most of the ones out of the forest fall into this category.
- Part of the course play right next to a residential road, like #1, #12, #13, and #18, and #6's basket is right by the parking lot. Never fun to have the concrete and asphalt in play, it can be a major distraction.
- A few places where holes brush up against each other, but nothing too dangerous. I would be wary of errant shots from #5's pro tee, those things could end up nearly anywhere, heh heh.

Other Thoughts:

- Well, this course has two faces. A pretty vanilla section out in the open, and some tough, hilly areas inside the woods. The pro tees and/or long pins add a huge amount of difficulty, with plenty of rough and jail to get into. More advanced players won't find much excitement in the open, but everyone else should find it enjoyable and/or tough.
- This course is listed as mostly flat, oh geez... my legs were tired after going up those wooded holes.
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5 1
The Valkyrie Kid
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 45.9 years 1563 played 1507 reviews
3.00 star(s)

Course Khloe Kardashian! 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 20, 2011 Played the course:once

Pros:

This course is just like Khloe, the kinda fat, not near as hot as Kim, Kardashian sister. Calvary sits just 1.6 miles from Riverside Park. Calvary is a nice course. The problem is, she's not nearly as hot as Riverside.
Calvary Hill Park plays in and out of the woods. There are two tee pads for each hole. Each pad has a tee sign with all the usual info.
Nice mix between open and technical wooded holes.
Some elevation especially on the signature hole # 5.
Many of the pars listed are a little bit underwhelming such as # 7= 235' Par 4, # 18 = 235' Par 4. Golly, I hope you guys are shooting under par here.

Cons:

The holes across the street are kind of open and unimaginative.
I wasn't too impressed with the wooded holes.
There seemed to be a fair amount of trash left around, especially in the woods. Pack it out guys.

Other Thoughts:

Calvary suffers by comparison with Riverside which I really liked. That's too bad, as this is a decent little course in it's own right. Coupled with Riverside, these two would make for a great tournament set-up. I'd say the players in St. Cloud are pretty fortunate to have these two course available to them. Take advantage and play your little hearts out guys.
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1 0
Sargentgeneral
Experience: 13.9 years 111 played 11 reviews
3.00 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:May 10, 2011 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

- Multiple tee pads
- Multiple pin positions
- Decent course signs
- Doesn't get as crowded as the nearby Riverside Park

Cons:

- Holes 4 and 7 riddled with trees
- Can get boring in holes across the road
- Some mosquitoes and poison ivy
- Some tee pads could use improvement or even replacement

Other Thoughts:

Fun alternative to Riverside.
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2 1
pallen03
Experience: 15.9 years 9 played 9 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Decent, challenging course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 3, 2010 Played the course:once

Pros:

-Hole variety, you see around half the course in thick woods, another portion in areas with light trees, and on hole 5 you have a chance to test out your arm
-Forgiving pars for newbies, however this is not the case in the woods.
-Can potentially find new discs in the woods, I did.
-Multiple tees for different skill sets
-The hills make it a good workout
-Spacious park area for a lot of walking

Cons:

-Sometimes tricky to navigate course
-Baskets are sometimes hidden, can't see the baskets from a lot of tees. This means you have no idea where to throw if its your first time.
-Road can be a dangerous hazard on a couple holes, I wonder how many cars have been hit

Other Thoughts:

A nice course in a nice park with variety. Hole 5 is epic. You feel challenged and a bit tired after the course, especially on a 95+ degree day when I went. Definitely worth the trip to STC.
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2 1
revmatty
Experience: 32.8 years 12 played 10 reviews
4.00 star(s)

fFirst Impersions are good 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 23, 2009 Played the course:once

Pros:

-Tee Signs in fairly good shape
-Practice basket at the begining of the course
-Multiple Tees and Pin Placements
-Excellent use of elevation changes
-Up in the hills is challengeing, real tight fairways and tree's to navigate around.
-Great place to practice your hyzers and anhyzers as a couple holes require them.
-Tee #5 comes off the top of the sledding hill to the basket at the bottom, so even weak arms can make par as you dont have to toss hard to get it down bellow. Go for the 460' tee up there, and chose a light stable driver and let it rip. Be suprised at how close you get to the pin. Even my wife ripped on halfway down the hill, and she can barely throw 100ft.
-A few blind basket shots
-For as busy as it was a fairly clean park.

Cons:

-Pin 4 was missing the day I played.
-The hills and woods may not be sutiple for beginers as they require pin point accuracy or some fancy navigation skills. Excluding #5 which is wide open downhill throw.
-The the mosiqutoes in the woods are bad
-Few holes play near the road, so a bad throw could mean trouble if you hit a moving car.
-Can be pretty crowded, so pay attention to the other players as not to hit them.
-Tee #14 was missing the sign.

Other Thoughts:

-Weekends the local founder of the St Cloud DG Club (Ken) is there in the afternoons selling discs from his shop, great prices (or find him at Riverside)
- #5 would be my epic hole choice. As I tee'd off at over 400 ft (down hill of course) But it was awesome to see that disc just buxxr (what looked like inches) above the ground.
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2 5
Mopbrothers
Experience: 12 played 12 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Nice Course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 24, 2009 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

i like this course because there are signs posted (unlike most courses). the trees and hills also make good scenery and give it diversity. i live close by so naturally thats a pro also.

Cons:

some of the holes in the forest area can be hard to find and navigate, so sometimes i just skip them.

Other Thoughts:

FUNNY STORY: I was throwing terrible on this course one time and got so angry i flung my putter into the street. of ALL the places for the disc to go, it went into the SEWER GRATE!!! To this day it's still there and you can see it! good luck trying to get it out!
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2 3
Da Bonger
Experience: 14.9 years 23 played 3 reviews
3.00 star(s)

Very cool course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 1, 2009 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

Very challenging front 11 holes. Throwing up a huge hill and then back down is a lot of fun if you catch the breeze. The last few holes across the street are pretty much wide open for clean drives. The people are always friendly and quick to offer tips and bug spray to new players. A lot of players since it's located in a neighborhood.

Cons:

Dirt tees, some of which are tiered with a foot and a half drop coming down the hill. Kinda dangerous if you get a lot behind your throw. Bring some bug spray.

Other Thoughts:

Beautiful natural course. If you're ever in St. Cloud, MN look it up.
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2 3
slash87
Experience: 15.8 years 153 played 17 reviews
3.00 star(s)

Fun 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Jun 8, 2009 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

This is a great course. You have trees that are in play on almost every whole. There are short and long wholes and they move the baskets into alternate spots often.

Cons:

There is not water and there can be crowds at times.

Other Thoughts:

The new holes 7 and 8 are still being worked on. There still is no easy path through the woods for these two holes. I wish they would of left the other two wholes which were awesome. I have to change my rating after playing many more courses and realizing that this is a great course but not as highly rated as I originally thought.
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2 1
kjtw55
Experience: 15.9 years 38 played 7 reviews
4.00 star(s)

2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:May 25, 2009 Played the course:once

Pros:

This is a well-layed out 18 hole course. Most of the tee pads are concrete and there are multiple pin placements. Both the short and the long tees have signs that tell the hole number and the distance to the pin. The course is easy to follow and once in the woods, there are signs telling you where the next tees are located. There are a good mix of wooded/tight holes and open holes. The fairways are nicely mowed and there is not much underbrush, so not much chance for losing discs. There is also some elevation on this course. There are 3 pairs of pins where the first hole is an uphill shot, then the second shot is down another part of the hill.

Cons:

Some of the holes in the woods you cannot see the basket from the tee. A quick walk down the fairway to find it is needed. After hole 12, you have to cross the road to finish the course. There should be some signs warning cars to watch for people crossing the road here.

Other Thoughts:

The parking lot has a porta-pottie and this is also where the only garbage is located. The course layout is roughly divided into thirds. After the 6th hole, you are back at the parking lot. Then after hole 12, you are at a little playground located across the street from the parking lot. Hole 18, of course, also ends across from the parking lot.
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5 0
Guurn
Silver level trusted reviewer
Experience: 37.8 years 90 played 40 reviews
3.00 star(s)

Par 3 for real? 2+ years

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:May 24, 2009 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

This is a different sort of a course. On most courses I play I use a par 3 on every hole and at most courses if I have a good drive I get a shot at a 2. This course is not like that.

Hole 1 starts just off the parking lot and the challenges the course are going to throw at you are immediatly apparent. A short shot into a grove of trees with a OB road just to the right. Yeah, you can Hyzer in (rhbh) but if you clunk a tree and roll in to the street your round is off to a rough start. Several holes are like this, especially once you get into the woods. I found myself wondering how many times out of a hundred I would get a 3 on several holes. Actual par 4's that aren't really long? Unpossible!

I would call this an advanced intermediate course except many holes are pretty easy. Maybe a place to take the buddies after they are starting to get a good hold of their midrange and fairway drivers.

It should be mentioned that the long downhill hole is very well designed. Even if you have a big arm you may not make the shot.

When I played it last all holes were in and in good shape with mulitlple pin and teepad placements on many holes. Parking is adequate and there are porta potties.

Cons:

Signage was damaged and teepads are not all in. Has where to go markers on several holes but really needs a pointer to the pin on many in the woods. The teepads don't always point towards the pin and they are hard to see in the woods.

Other Thoughts:

This is one of the 3 courses in St Cloud I make sure I play when I spend time there. Perfect skins game sort of course.
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4 1
Cradical
Silver level trusted reviewer
Experience: 16.8 years 110 played 61 reviews
3.50 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Apr 2, 2009 Played the course:once

Pros:

The course layout is fairly easy to follow, except it was a little tricky to find out what you were supposed to do after hole 4, as two holes were closed and you were supposed to play from some place else. I guess they are putting in two new holes soon in a different spot to get back up to 18 holes.
There is a great mix between partially wooded holes and wide open holes with pretty much everything in between.
My favorite hole, as well as I'm sure many peoples favorite, is a long downhill throw over some trees.
There is a good amount of distance on a few holes, though nothing undriveable.

Cons:

There were two holes missing and it was really not clear where to go. It said they were closed for erosion but it didn't direct you to anywhere else. After a while of wandering, we just decided to play number 7?
There aren't a whole lot of hazards, though the street comes into play a few times.

Other Thoughts:

Once the two other holes get added in, I'll be sure to bump it up to a 4.
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1 5
RadarRandall
Experience: 1 played 1 reviews
4.50 star(s)

Play before 3pm 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Nov 16, 2008 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

It is a great course with lots of challenging holes. Some long & some skill holes. I always play the long tee boxes.

Cons:

In the spring before Riverside opens all the local youth and collage kids take over the course after 3 makes it hard to play a couple of quick rounds

Other Thoughts:

all 18 holes are reopened now that the watertower is built
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6 0
mndiscg
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 15.8 years 480 played 478 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Very Interesting 2+ years

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Aug 18, 2008 Played the course:once

Pros:

-Dual tees. Concrete and while not too big, are big enough.
-Interesting to follow. Has a good variety of length shots.
-Lots of challenges from trees and vegetation. Also OB comes into play here and there.
-Its called Cavalry "Hill" for a reason! Its on a nice sized hill which makes for some fun shots. Definitely variety in ups and downs.
-Porta-Potties located at 1+9 holes.
-Local disc shop owner is often at the course selling discs at good prices.
-Takes a variety of power to get distances and accuracy to cut through the wooded holes.

Cons:

-It was a little busy when I was there.
-Have to cross road to get to last 5 holes, road could be a little busy.
-A bit confusing at times to find next hole for first timers.
-Overall not too challenging. Length was definitely aimed at beginners.
-Back 7 holes are not as fun as the first part.

Other Thoughts:

I'm not sure which course I enjoyed more of the two major St. Cloud ones. I think this one may overcome the far more popular Riverside park.
-Bring water in the summer because there isnt any at the course.
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