Ozark, MO

Grubaugh Park

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3.685(based on 25 reviews)
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2 0
Upshawt1979
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 20.8 years 548 played 429 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Grubaugh the Great 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Nov 24, 2019 Played the course:once

Pros:

Grubaugh Park is a leading example of good things in small packages. Not a lot of real estate to work with, but 18 holes that mix it up nicely and are a lot of fun to play. Elevation changes will factor into most holes, with a few hilly pin placements that have some potential for roll aways. There are quite a few trees in play on nearly every hole, and the lines are often dictated to work in the gaps.

Every hole is par 3, and there are a lot of opportunities for birdies. Only two holes exceed 300 feet. I used a driver from the tee on three holes, and a Roc for fifteen. There is a mando on hole 14, and the path that winds through the park is often in play as OB.

Tee pads are concrete, and they are at least standard size. The tee signs are pretty good, with a hole map showing OB and distance. The baskets were in good condition, and the rung that points toward the next tee is wrapped in tape.

My favorite holes were 12 and 14, which have a similar feel. Elevated tees that run downhill to the basket. On 12 there is a mature tree that has a fork in the branches that frames the pin beautifully. Hole 14 has a window down the middle between trees on either side of the line that create a mando about halfway to the pin.

Hole 2 had a downhill throw from the tee that has trees taking up a lot of airspace in the middle. Multiple gaps to choose from, but they require a fairly precise throw with a low ceiling. The pin is on a ridge that can leave you with tough putts. I also liked the risk/reward on hole 3. There are options to choose from on the drive, but either way you have to navigate around trees, to a hillside pin that has the path threatening an OB penalty on the low side.

Cons:

The park is small, and the layout is compact. Many of the holes are in close proximity to one another, and the path winds across or along side many of them. If the park is crowded you may have to wait for pedestrians and other disc golfers occasionally.

There are not really any advanced level holes, and no par 4's or 5's. If you are a pro that wants a technical course that requires strategy and extreme versatility, you will be left wanting more from Grubaugh.

Other Thoughts:

I was lucky to play this one on a lovely November day, with low wind and lots of sunshine. We got there a little before noon, so we were there before most of the other folks that showed up to take advantage of it.

This is one of those that I give a good rating to because of the fun factor more than the level of challenge. The amenities are nice, and the use of the land is fantastic. It reminded me of a small scale version of Earlewood Park in Columbia SC.

I started poorly, but was able to get to 3 under par by the end of the round. My first drive was great, but I missed an easy putt for birdie. I two putted for bogies on holes 2 and 3. From there I was bogey free and shot much better, with 5 birdies between holes 5 and 14. The 51 overall score felt good for the first time there, but on a good day I think i could get well under 50. I would love to go back and give it a few more tries.
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3 0
tyler4coop
Experience: 20 played 8 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Beautiful Park 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Sep 1, 2018 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

- This course goes to show that you do not need a lot of land to create something fun and challenging.
- Several elevation changes
- Each hole poses a different challenge and obstacle.
- It's a finesse course.
- Concrete tees with helpful and professional signs
- Beautiful park with nice grass
- Very beginner friendly

Cons:

- There is a long walk from 14 to 15.
- Because it is a small park 16 holes are under 300 ft.
- Pedestrians sometimes can get in the way
- Very beginner friendly

Other Thoughts:

A great course for a casual round and to see who can control a disc other than throwing it the farthest.
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1 0
JtTanzi
Experience: 12.4 years 17 played 1 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Home Course Love 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Dec 20, 2016 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

This course is great for beginners to learn what they are doing. It has mainly open holes with the well placed tree occasionally making things a little more challenging. This course has a walking trail and a small playground so is well equipped for families.

Cons:

Once you have advanced out of the beginner stages this course becomes slightly trivial.

Other Thoughts:

There are many alternate versions of this course that keep it exciting for every skill level just make sure there are not a lot of other people or groups out playing as you will be crossing many fairways to play these alternates.
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2 1
vonWangus
Experience: 6 played 6 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Nice place to begin 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Oct 15, 2016 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

- Teepads sized well and concrete
- Good signage for navigation
- Maintained well
- Difficult to loose a disc
- No woods

Cons:

-Spring/summer there are LOADS of mosquitoes
-Popular/busy course once 5pm hits..

Other Thoughts:

This is a great 18 hole course for someone to learn their driving skills without risk of losing disks.
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1 1
SirDreward
Experience: 14.7 years 38 played 22 reviews
3.00 star(s)

One of Top Five in the SGF Area 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Dec 24, 2015 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

- Utilizes the trees and elevation changes to good effect.
- Concrete teepads
- Good hole signage.
- Park is overall nice too.
- Shade galore!
- Difficult to loose a disc.

Cons:

- Walking paths that interrupt fairways.

Other Thoughts:

A great little course to practice up and down shots and just to work more on the technical side of things. Watch out for kids though, the park had quite a few of them running about when I was playing. Pretty repetitive, but not really sure how they could make it not so.
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2 4
theRHW
Experience: 10.9 years 9 played 9 reviews
4.50 star(s)

Best course near Spring-town 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Feb 24, 2015 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

+Beautiful landscaping
+Paved tee pads
+easy to navigate, with little metal arrows to point you at the next tee
+full 18 holes
+well maintained
+baskets in great shape
+many elevation and terrain changes
+many different distances

Cons:

-there is a foot patch and sometimes walkers get in the way
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6 1
idahooldguy
Bronze level trusted reviewer
Experience: 11.8 years 40 played 36 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Rare Treat 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jan 24, 2013 Played the course:once

Pros:

• Best navigation of any course I've ever played! (see "Other Thoughts" below)
• Crushed rock at the base of all baskets to cut down on mud.
• Lots of elevation change.
• Most holes are short to medium in length, which is what I prefer because I am a finesse player.
• Beautiful park with nice grass.
• SW Missouri is beautiful country.

Cons:

• Could use more long holes for some par 4's and 5's.

• A little hard to find the course. I had to ask a local for directions because the Google Maps directions were not accurate.

Other Thoughts:

Very nice course. The rolling terrain of SW Missouri suits this course well. There are some challenging tree obstacles including the massive "Hand of God" tree on #12. Most holes are short to medium in length with only a couple of long open holes where you can cut loose a bomb. The long chuckers probably will get a little frustrated, but I loved it because I prefer shorter and more technical holes. Every basket had a small metal plate welded to it that pointed you to the next tee. This was awesome for a first timer like me. Every course should have these!
I'm from Idaho, so playing here was a rare privilege. I doubt I'll ever get to play it again, bummer! For any northwest residents reading this, it reminded me of Sunnyside Park in Pullman, WA. I also got to meet the course designer while playing. Overall, it was a great experience. Definitely make plans to play here if you're in the area!
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5 4
euclidbr549
Experience: 6 played 5 reviews
4.00 star(s)

My favorite birdie course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Nov 16, 2013 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Beautifully maintained, quality teepads and baskets, nice use of elevation and obstacles. Nice shot selection. Wonderful challenge to get those 2's on windy days.

Cons:

Not a particularly difficult course. Every 3 feels like a disappointment.

Tournaments would be hampered by interference between golfers on adjacent holes.

Other Thoughts:

Great course for new players or casual players. I love to take my wife and preteen son to play the course.
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3 2
Tribefan
Experience: 6 played 3 reviews
4.00 star(s)

My favorite! 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Oct 8, 2013 Played the course:once

Pros:

Lots of roughage to keep you on your toes. 2-3 open tees to let some fly. Feels like a real golf course with huge hills and some minor valleys.

Cons:

Im not a fan of the raised tees.

Other Thoughts:

This is simply an amazing course that uses obstacles to the advantage. It is a beautiful park and well taken care of. Lots of fun, a must!
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6 5
jayhawker737
Bronze level trusted reviewer
Experience: 15.2 years 52 played 41 reviews
3.00 star(s)

Good, but way overrated on this site... 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jan 8, 2013 Played the course:once

Pros:

This course is set in a very pretty park. The neighborhood is good, and I feel I would be willing to play by myself at anytime of the day. The use of elevation here is great. It is not as elevated as some make it out to be, but you do have to be wary of roll-aways near the baskets. This is a great park for people in the process of learning the game as only 2 holes didnt require a mid-range or an ultra-slow fairway driver. The holes are positioned well enough to make a lot of the trees interesting to play around. This course also flows very logically for the most part. Best of all I met a nice local who was willing to play the round with me and show me the course.

Cons:

The first main con isn't of the course itself, its of the rating on here. How can a course that averages 240 feet have 2 ratings of a 4.5 and one of a 5.0 (not to mention the multips 4.0 ratings). Those are meant for the best courses in the world. It made me want to make my rating lower to average this out. There is no way this course is over a 3.2. Anyways, that being said, a main con is the lack of distance. I only needed a disc faster than a speed 6 on two holes. Those two holes seemed forced and unlike the rest of the course. There were a couple spots where I would not have known exactly where to go after completing a hole.

Other Thoughts:

Once again the people who rated this a 4.5/5 and a perfect 5/5 (and even a 4) are honestly out of their minds. Normally I don't get negative like this in my reviews, but its unfortunate they did that because now this course will never have the proper rating. This was a very interesting and fun layout, but the lack of distance and overall variety makes this a 3.2 for me, which rounds to a 3 (especially because two certain individuals over-rating it). Fun course!
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2 7
flick
Experience: 2 played 2 reviews
4.50 star(s)

Great Course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 23, 2012 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Great course, with hills,a good layout,plenty of space, and some tricky holes.

Cons:

Not enough woods for my taste, but there is some.

Other Thoughts:

A very fun course to play. One of the best in the area for sure. If you're close by it is worth the time to check out.
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2 8
Bigben932
Experience: 15.1 years 8 played 6 reviews
5.00 star(s)

Best in Spf area 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 5, 2012 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Concrete tees, Well marked, little traffic, quiet.All around the best course I have played. No uphill shot, Which is a pro for me, could be a con for others who like those shots.

Cons:

the big hill can destroy you round if it rolls down.
Sometimes pedestrians on the walk way don't understand that you are trying to play a sport and are sometime inconsiderate.

Other Thoughts:

Look for the road with the water tower on it. The road to the course kind of looks like a drive way and I have to do a U-turn every time I go to it. Ha..
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4 0
TheGoldenPutter
Experience: 15 years 52 played 9 reviews
2.50 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:May 25, 2012 Played the course:once

Pros:

+ Maintenance - Grass cut, trees well kept. (Nice large trees)

+ Elevation - Nice elevation, especially on putting greens that make putts risky.

+ Different looks from some tee shots ( under, over, left, right)

+ Concrete tee pads
+ Practice basket by #1
+ No underbrush for an easy round
+ Navigation is easy enough
+ Bathrooms in the pool house right by parking.

Cons:

- Short and scrunched - not aired out at all..

- Interference - Some holes run very close to each other. #8's fairway is right over #10's pin, (so when I played here I shot for 10's pin from 8's tee) #15 and #16 literally share the same fairway. So just keep an eye out when playing this course.

- Not enough challenge. The holes are basically straight shots. Most holes are dueceable and some ace runs.

- The holes that let you throw for distance are just open fields ( 15 and 16)

- I personally don't like the baskets, they booted a lot of fast putts.

- I can't say this is all the time, but by the time I left ( 5 ish ) it was pretty crowded.

- No underbrush to create obstacles. ( In both pros and cons for different reasons )

Other Thoughts:

>If you want a relaxing quick round of disc golf, this is a really great place to go.
>Even though I had a lot of cons, I enjoyed the round I played.
>The park might be crowded in the evening, which creates some safety issues if you're not watching.
> Overall a very beginner friendly course.
> This could be a really nice 9 hole, but it's scrunched into an 18.

*** If you found this review unhelpful or would like some more info, please send me a personal message here on DGCR so I can help out.
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1 1
Freebird
Experience: 15.8 years 19 played 19 reviews
4.00 star(s)

I like it 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 9, 2012 Played the course:once

Pros:

Great cement tee pads, nicely marked, great baskets with arrows pointing to the next tee, nice layout with a great mix of challenges, high shots, low shots, rights & lefts & some that you can choose which way around or over an obstacle. The people we met here were nice. 18 finishes up right along the fence by the pool and on a hot summer day the scenery isn't bad.

Cons:

The basket for 11 is right along the park boundary and a throw past the basket ends up in some serious OB where I'd be worried about poison weeds, bugs and snakes. It was 95, sunny, and dry the day we played and we were getting KILLED by HUGE mosquitoes. I can't imagine what this place would be like if it was wet.

Other Thoughts:

I wish I'd brought bug spray, a jungle hat, and a swimsuit so I could jump in the pool after, but it was worth the drive to get away from the hustle of Branson and play here. Ozark is a nice town and if we get back I'd probably play a round and then check out some of the other stuff to do.
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2 0
Bender
Experience: 19.6 years 68 played 5 reviews
3.00 star(s)

Great beginer course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Dec 4, 2011 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Enough elevation and trees to make it interesting. It is a miniature Waterworks Park, KC. It is a great place to take the Wife or g/f who might not play very often. They will find it a fun and easy course to play. Never had any beef with Johnny law for drinking a few brews during the round. Good course if you wanna practice upshots and putter shots off the tee.

Cons:

Course is really short, and not very challenging. The two holes that let you stretch your arm out a little bit are wide open.

Other Thoughts:

Fun place to take the ladies. My girl loves this course which is usually about the only time I play this course. One of the more fun courses in the area to play due to the trees and elevation. Just wish all the holes were longer.
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2 1
chiz414
Experience: 12.6 years 32 played 1 reviews
3.50 star(s)

new tees 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Nov 17, 2011 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

Well kept, various trees and terrain, not too difficult for beginners. not as busy as some city parks. Every hole has concrete tee box. One of my favorites. I drive 65 miles one way to play this course.

Cons:

more advanced players may think it too beginner friendly.

Other Thoughts:

Recently several baskets and tees have been moved to make it a little more challenging.
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5 0
dudiablo
Experience: 18.1 years 97 played 12 reviews
3.50 star(s)

More fun than expected! 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Mar 13, 2011 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

This course is kept VERY well. The grass has been short, there hasnt been garbage, or tree limbs all over the place. Its just a very pleasant place to play.

Loads of ace runs that keep you coming back for more.

The concrete tees are nice (a little short for my taste) but are in good shape. The holes are all short enough that you don't need much of a runway to generate power, but the size of these could make some feel cramped.

The baskets are top notch, they grab the discs great and hold them.

You will get the chance to throw just about every shot you could want (hyzer, anhyzer, straight, even an overhead if you like going the high-road.)

ALL of the baskets have a little arrows pointing toward the next tee which is VERY helpfull on a course where there are 2 or 3 tees in near sight from each basket. This makes navigation a snap, even if its your first time out.

Cons:

The course is crammed into a pretty small area, and as such there are only 2 holes where you can let your arm go, and even those aren't exactly 'bombers.'

You could get through this course with 3 discs without hurting your score at all. (I threw an aviar, roc, and a beast on 17 of the 18 holes) This could be seen as a positive, but I like being put in a situation where I really need to make a disc as well as shot selection.

The walk between 13 and 14 (might be 14 and 15) is pretty long (for this course at least) and very uncharacteristic for this place so that could be confusing. Its not a long walk by other course standards. (maybe 400 feet?)

Other Thoughts:

If your looking to get 18 holes in and not spend a boat load of time or torch your arm then this is the place for you. The 18 holes can get covered in less than an hour (if your moving pretty good.) This is MY personal favorite course in the Springfield area, I wish some of the other courses around here had the funding that this one seems to have because this one is just NICE.
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5 1
birdman101
Experience: 14.7 years 59 played 24 reviews
3.50 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Oct 13, 2010 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

I love playing this course wish it were closer to where i live. this course is beginner friendly however it still has the difficulty to make it enjoyable for seasoned players.
there is an arrow under almost every basket pointing you to the next tee and all of the teepads have the number engraved on them.
tee signs have also been added since the last time i was out there

UPDATE:
Recently moved baskets and tees make several holes more difficult, and add variety

Cons:

the 18 holes are crammed into a fairly small amount of space, which means you have to look out for other DGers, and there are also a few walking paths that come into play

Some may not like the baskets on the mounds/hills surrounding drainage areas, because if you go for it and miss chances are your next putt is as long or longer then the last one

Other Thoughts:

almost every hole has an ace run, the question is do you want to risk it.
Also mature trees come into play on most of the holes making it a little more difficult and taking way some shots
Some new smaller trees have been planted to add a little more variety and difficulty, but will defiantly change the course as they grow.


UPDATE 3/9/2012
like 20 new trees added making the course more difficult, and #10 is now a pie piece shaped island hole using the drainage ditch and the small gravel line drop zone is the 2 flags on top of the drainage ditch

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1 2
JackT
Experience: 1 played 1 reviews
4.50 star(s)

grunbaugh 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Sep 6, 2010 Played the course:once

Pros:

I really enjoyed the cchallenge of the hills in this course. It is a beautiful course that is laid out in a way that might be confusing if the tee pads didnt have hole direction.

Other Thoughts:

Recent rains produced extra water hazards that made play abit more challanging. The course seems a bit cramped at times and cann be conffusing at times.
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2 0
DaddyD
Experience: 13.8 years 9 played 7 reviews
4.00 star(s)

18 Holes That Go By Like They Were 9 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 23, 2010 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

The best features of this park also could be seen as drawbacks. It is very compact, which makes a round seem to go by very quickly. This is partially due to the fact that it was originally an 11-hole course that was expanded to 18, but using the same amount of acreage.

Most of the drives are short, but the variety of trees and hilly terrain require skill in placement.

The concrete pads are good and have the hole number and distance engraved at the end, but they may be a little short for some DGers.

The concrete base of each hole has an arrow engraved in it that points you (accurately) to the next tee pad.

Cons:

Because there are 18 holes crammed in an 11-hole space, some of the back-nine fairways cross over front-nine fairways, so you have to be aware of other players on this popular course.

The location is a drainage area for the surrounding neighborhoods, so the valleys might be a soggy after a good rain.

There are only a couple of 400-foot holes, and they feel like they were just tacked on, since they're side-by-side on the back end and really outside the park area.

Some may not like the number of holes that are mounted on the berms surrounding the drainage valley, because if you overshoot a putt, you'll end up 30 feet away down the hill on the other side, but I like the challenge.
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